So I brought 2 Camembert size Bries and 2 St Marcellin size ones. The first bigger one was munched on by her, Justin and I…. little wedge by little wedge and woosh it was gone. The second one, I wrapped it in a pre-made (didn’t have the patience to go for homemade) puff pastry. You know how many times you have to fold the dough to make puff pastry? Too many, that’s how many.

Anyways… puff pastry with some homemade jam (see, I make other srtuff than cheese) and some crushed almonds. I baked in the oven for a good 30-35 minutes and it turned out golden, melty, yummy. Maybe a little too doughy for me, but still really yummy. The Brie practically dissolved.

Next time, I might try Phyllo dough.

And to kick off the New Year… I’m not making resolutions because I know I will break them and I don’t like to be disappointed. Instead, I got a hair cut (well, before the New Year, but it still counts) to have a fresh look on myself. The new me will do all sorts of cool things that won’t even fit on a list…. I will let it unfold as it comes.

Off for the wonderful year of change that I’m hoping 2010 to be. Happy New Year everyone!

I don’t feel like I ever got the full story, or at least not consciously – you know, when you’re younger and hear your family’s love stories, you say “yeah, yeah, very cool, mmhmm, that’s really cute” – so this time, I didn’t want to miss it.

To paint the picture a little bit, my grandmother’s family owned a farm for several generations in the town of Egaules, central France. My grandfather’s family lived in Clermont-Ferrand and his dad was a train mechanic. Now in those days, we have to realize that there was a big difference in social class between industrial workers and farmers. This will be relevant later in the story…

Part of Mamie’s family business was to deliver butter and other foods to people in the towns nearby. One day, in 1942, the government required young male students to join a farm to help out during the war. At the time, Papou was studying medicine to become a family doctor. He had to drop his studies and his mom sent him to Mamie’s farm, since she knew the “butter lady”.

Papou ended up spending 3 years at the farm, leaving lots of time to get to know the daughter… one thing led to another, they started dating when she was 14 and he was 20. He got to return to college for a short while during this time, but only to come back to the farm instead of being sent to work for the Germans.

The photo below was taken with Papou’s camera… on self timer. Notice Mamie’s dress and how the fabric wasn’t uniform? She told me they didn’t have enough fabric at the time to make full dresses, so they would patch up different pieces. Turned out quite nice if you ask me!

Papou would take her to his family once in a while, in Clermont-Ferrand. But one day, his Dad decided to refuse to ever see her again. The reason being they were getting too serious and she was the daughter of a peasant, which was too disgraceful to approve of their love. They ended up getting married at the farm, with close family, except for Papou’s parents who didn’t attend the ceremony. His sister walked him down the aisle instead.

Below is a picture of their very modest wedding, with Papou on the left and Mamie’s brother on the right. It was on July 23rd, 1949.

Papou and Mamie ended up having 3 children, Bernadette (center), Christiane (right-Mom) and Alain (left). They were all three born in their house with the help of Dr. Roux at Ardes-sur-Couze, a very snowy part of France in the winter.

To get away from the snow they would take vacations on the French Riviera in little towns like Seillans (which is their current next door village) and Le Bar-sur-Loup. I believe that this picture was taken along the shore, near L’Esterel. I love the Vespa leaned against the wall! Classic.

So can you believe it? I was born because my Mom was born because her Mom’s Mom delivered butter to my Mom’s Dad’s Mom!
I think that’s pretty cool.

I packed two of them tight is a double zip-lock bag for both exposure to air and to prevent the smell to leak! Uh yes, it was smelly. I didn’t want any airport dogs detecting it and wanting to eat it, so I sealed it really well and put it in one of those thermal lunch bags. Turns out it came out pretty soft and stinky, but apparently, so my family says, pretty good!

I loved writing on that label, origin: USA, producer: Stephanie, and crossing out “purchased” for “made”. Ha! So funny… to me.

The first glimpse of the small wheel was promising.

A nice white and yellow, wrinkly crust, wrapped a soft body when pressed down gently.

Indeed pretty soft when the knife went through.

Ta-da! A really creamy, gooey thick edge with a slightly firmer center.

By now Justin was in another room pinching his nose. Just kidding, he had a piece. I think. Hmm I’ll have to ask him. Maybe he’s traumatized forever with my stinky, but – so my Mom, Dad, Sister, aunt and grand-ma say – accurate cheese.

I can’t believe it! I made Camembert! In my kitchen! In San Francisco! I put it on a plane for 14 hours and it made it onto plates in France! And people liked it! Or everyone was very polite with me. Hmm…

My sister, Aurelie, just turned 25 while we were there. She’s married and has an adorable two year old, Luna. Her life is full to the brim which makes talking window opportunities a little slim at times, especially with the time difference. I love her very much and wish I could chat with her like we used to when I still lived in France or would visit for a whole month.

But this visit, we managed to carve out some time to just the two of us…. at a spa. Yes, in a spa! How perfect. The spa day was a gift for our birthdays from Dad (our birthdays are not really close together, but who cares). So the next day I arrived, we headed to the Thalazur thalassotherapy center in Antibes (specializing in sea water treatments) for the day.

Check us out in our robes! That was pretty much the outfit for the following 6 hours. (Photo not so awesome, but the thrill and anticipation was there).

In the morning we had 4 treatment each, including a sea water massaging bath (awesome!), a marine mud wrap for joints (heck of hot, but completely erased all pain from my right knee), a sea water high pressure -super jet- shower (invigorating) and a massage (so relaxing).

Once we were pampered and loose, we had a wonderful lunch with a view from the mountains to the sea.

They served us a fresh fruit smoothie.

And a delicious 3 course meal.

As if this wasn’t enough bliss, we had access to their pools for the afternoon.

Sure enough a sweet nap took place on our lovely poolside spot.

When do we ever get to be pampered like this? It was such perfect time (right after the long, body-wrecking plane trip and before visiting people and eating like *French* pigs).

Thank you Dad for giving Aurelie and I the very rare opportunity to relax together and enjoy ourselves. This moment is very dear to me. I love you Lili! Big bisous :-)

And here’s a cute picture that makes me smile… in lieu of a real one. Coming soon!

Aurélie and Michelangelo (Michel) celebrated the events in the lovely village of Valbonne. The festivities started at 10am and we decided to wrap it up at 2am (suggesting that people we still partying after that).

Happy times.

With my Dad, we’re trying to find an online version of the film named “Ce qu’il en reste“, with no luck so far. The closest I got was finding an excerpt of the film. You can find it here or here (it requires Real Media Player… and the ability to either speak Hungarian or read French subtitles). There’s also a wonderful blog post here quoting her talking about the film. Again, it’s in French, but Google Translate does a pretty good job at, well, translating.

My great uncle, Peter, is actually going to meet with her in Paris this spring. We might get juicy information on genealogy and maybe a DVD? I can’t wait to get more information!

Here are a few of my favorites…

Me in Oct 1979. Look at those chubby cheeks! Still haven’t totally lost them.

Mom cutting Dad’s hair… classic.

My Grandfather, Papi Claude, teasing my cousin Jill.

Group family shot. From Left to right: Renee (my grandmother), Chantal (my aunt), Barbara (my half great aunt) Edith (my great-grandfather’s wife), Claude (my grandfather), me (facing back), Christiane (my Mom) and Jean-Claude (my Dad).

Kelly is my grandfather’s half brother’s daughter. We had a wonderful brunch in their lovely home and took the old pictures box out! A treasure of late ’70s memories. Justin got to see me as a toddler, as well as my Mom with her super long blond hair and my Dad with his beard and dark sunglasses.

David, Kelly’s husband, who is a professional photographer, treated me with scanning all these photos and put them on a CD. What a precious collection!

Below, here we are all on their front porch.

From left to right: Justin, Aaron, Stephanie, Benjamin, Kelly and David

Oh and Kelly’s sister is Jill, who we saw in California last August. Just connecting the dots…