TASTY TUESDAY - IN SOUTHERN FRANCE

instead of the usual international recipe today i'm going to tell you about food in southern france. we noticed breakfast is often a pastry and hot drink, lunch is the biggest sit down meal, and dinner is much smaller than in the states. they serve meals in courses (usually three) that can occasionally leave you sitting at the dinner table for hours! sometimes we felt like antsy americans, but we also enjoyed taking this time to actually get to know our company.

 at our relatives house each meal began with bread. the bread usually had something delicious on it like tomatoes or fish. then we would sit at the table for our main course. one night we had shrimp and the other night we had quiche. dinner was always followed with bread and cheese. oh wow they have so many stinky cheeses! my favorite was the round one and drew's favorite was the moldy looking log. my grandma's brother (christian) kept helping me try to remember the name of these cheeses, but i have failed. cheese goes well with wine, but if you don't drink coke always does the trick.

 dessert and a hot drink usually followed the fancy cheese. this particular dish is flan; which tastes like eggs, pudding, and caramelized sugar. quite tasty with a cup of hot chocolate. other times we would just have an apple or banana. i finally understand why our grandma considers fruit a dessert, and not always a big bowl of ice-cream or rich chocolate cake. 

 the olives in the vineyards might look tasty, but they are not. trust me.

 i was so happy when i found this juice at the store (casino)! i fell in love with pear nectar in honduras. this thick and delicious drink makes me feel healthy, even though it's all a lie. i still love it.

 some days we just grabbed a few cheap groceries and ate our food by the beach. this is a tiny tapa. remember tapas in spain? we found a pack with four different varieties of cheese and something delicious in the middle like salmon or chorizo.  

the sweet things are always my favorite, and this eclair was to die for! i love pastries for breakfast, and this flaky bread stuffed with chocolate pudding topped with frosting was amazing! i could eat these all day long. food in france is so good! now somebody needs to tell me how french people stay so thin eating all this bread. mmmmmmmm...