Monday, February 18, 2013

Weekend Reflection

Weekend Reflection

Bonjour!  My husband and son went up north ice fishing with the Boy Scouts this weekend.  So my daughter and I decided we would create a weekend in Paris at home.  We would do things the French way.  Watch French movies or films that take place in France, make and eat delicious French food, listen to French music, learn some new French words, and most importantly have a lot of fun.

Friday night:  Watched Chocolat, starring Juliet Binoche and Johnny Depp.  Chocolat is based on the book of the same name by Joanne Harris.  My daughter really loved this film.  Half way through, we stopped to make our own chocolate creations.  Strawberries dipped in chocolate, hot cocoa with cinnamon, and a bowl of melted chocolate goodness to dip graham crackers in.  It was a wonderful evening.

Saturday:  We woke up early to go ice skating and wore the colors of France for the day, red, white and blue.  Then we met my mom at a theater for a viewing of Les Miserables.  A French classic based on the book by Victor Hugo.  We loved it.  We munched popcorn all day, bought some yarn and stopped off for dinner at French restaurant, Salut, in St. Paul.  We ordered a variety of things from the menu and Georgia was willing to try some new things for her first experience at a French restaurant.  We ordered Pomme Frittes of course, French onion soup, Gnocci, Mussels, Cordon Blue chicken nuggets, and a delicious dessert.  We were stuffed.  Bon Appetit!


We came home and watched two short French films.  The Red Balloon and Linnea in Monet's Garden.  The Red Balloon was wonderful and enchanting.  We both loved it.  Linnea in Monet's Garden is based on a book of the same name and I gave this book to Georgia when I returned home from a visit to France years ago.  She still has the book and the doll and so watching the film was kinda cool for her.  Plus it teaches you about Monet, his family and his beloved garden.

We were going to watch another film after this but I ended up with a touch of the stomach flu and had to go to bed.  Definitely not feeling well.

Sunday:  Woke up feeling better so we made plans to go to the Mall of America to visit the Ice Castles there and then have crepes for lunch.  So that is exactly what we did.  We dressed warm for our outside experience and the ice castles were beautiful.  I thought it was overpriced to get inside but we had fun taking all sorts of pictures and finding hidden spots in the ice.

Next stop:  Inside the mall for crepes at Magic Pan crepes.  We ordered a strawberry banana crepe with chocolate.  Yum it was so good.  Dessert for lunch.

Afterwords Georgia got a bad stomach ache and we decided to head home.  The tummy ache didn't go away and so she went to bed quite early.  No, French movie tonight.  Sad.

Sunday:  Woke up and put on some French music.  We danced around the kitchen a bit and decided to make French toast for breakfast.  She helped create the recipe and cook the toast.  Yummy.

We had a lovely weekend.  It went by so fast.  Looking forward to the next adventurous weekend to plan.  I wonder what country we will choose to highlight.  Maybe, Italy?

Au Revior