Tarte Normande and French opening hours

The most difficult part of my adaptation to living in France is getting used to the French opening hours. I’m still struggling with these after living in Moscow:

* Pharmacies close for 2 hour lunch
* Food stores close at 1 pm on Sunday
* Hairdressers are closed on Monday
* Coffee shops close at 7 pm

To give you an idea of how patisseries work:

Pain au chocolat aux amandes and Artisan Boulanger

Pain au chocolat aux amandes and Artisan Boulanger

Yesterday I went to a new patisserie in Fontainebleau and found a pleasant surprise there. The place is called ARTISAN BOULANGER and is located in the heart of the downtown (11 Rue Grande).

French pastry: Mille-Feuille

Once more I’m standing in the Sunday morning queue leading into my favorite Fontainebleau patisserie. Old ladies, mothers with baby carriages, men with dogs crowd in front of colorful window with beautiful gâteaus. ‘Deux traditionells’ (which means two baguettes classic) is the phrase with which most of them approach the counter.
As always, I’m staring at the sweets. Today I feel like Mille-Feuille. I see it everywhere, since I came to France.

Party #3 Indian dinner

Party # 3

Feb 21, 2010
Club members count: 105
Nationalities count:  32

When I just came to Fontainebleau Prashant, one of my housemates, proposed to prepare an Indian dinner in the culinary club. He comes from India, but has lived in US for the last several years. We arrived at implementation of his idea last week.

The Indian population in INSEAD is the strongest one: over 40 Indians in my intake. Many of them have come with their partners. We were lucky to have many of them cooking for the event.