21 septembre, 2008

Cooking Cuestion


So, in my quest to be a real live grown-up, I have recently been adding to my spice collection. I kept it basic for a long time with just the herbs and spices that I used all the time. Whenever I needed something for a recipe, I would buy it, of course, but I didn't have things just hanging around au cas ou. One of my recent additions is none other than paprika. I decided to buy it because I thought, hey my mom has this, so it must be good for something. I clearly neglected to think about the fact that my mom has spices from circa 1970 that just sit there collecting dust. Ok, I miiiight be exaggerating a tad, but you get the picture. She's a great cook, but she def has some spices she uses more than others. So, I find myself asking the question, what DOES one do with paprika? I know I can look online, but I'd love to hear from you cordon bleus out there that already have experience using paprika and maybe even have recipes on hand that you'd like to share. So, bring on the paprikaness!

12 commentaires:

MilkJam a dit…

lots of things but i loooove chicken paprikash (its hungarian) and tasty!
i'll try to think of other things but the only thign that comes to mind is that when i make homefried taters i usually sprinkle paprika on them - yum!

J a dit…

I bought paprika a few weeks ago too... I've only ever eaten it on deviled eggs though!

Eileen a dit…

I actually keep that one around for making chili. I didn't try finding the other ingredients for chili in France though...

Katia a dit…

I LOVE paprika. It has so many uses! Two of my favourites are a home-made cajun seasoning (including paprika, finely chopped onions, salt, pepper, garlic, chilli) and jamaican fajitas (chicken, capsicum & onions marinated in olive oil, salt, pepper, chilli, oregano, paprika, lime zest and lime juice). YUM. It's a really versatile spice!

Princesse Ecossaise a dit…

I use it for chilli con carne normally and the other day I added it to a rice, vegetable and steak haché mixture which was then stuffed into red peppers. It turned out pretty good!

Leah a dit…

K-That looks miammy, never even heard of that before. Will def have to try that, thanks!!

J-Isn't it fun adding to your spice collection? I feel all Martha Stewarty minus the corruption. ;)

E-Yum, I love chili...will have to try that again soon. Made some when I was home in the states and it was delish. I miss ground turkey!

K-Thanks for the recipes. I've only ever made Mexican fajitas, but those Jamaican ones sound pretty darn good!

L-Yum, stuffed peppers! I've always wanted to try making those, but have never gotten around to it. Thanks for the suggestions!

shannon a dit…

I have no idea... my one friend always used it to give color to things. She swore that it was all it did. Though I'm not quite sure about that...

BlondeInFrance a dit…

Fried chicken! Put it in the flour you coat the chicken with.

Oneika a dit…

Leah!!
Thanks so much for commenting. I have been a long time lurker on your blog as well (it's totally awesome how all of us like-minded people can post and read each other's blogs, by the way)!!!

I have been following your adventures and you are an inspiration and are providing me with the impetus to get up and move back. I am Canadian so I am eligible for a year long working visa for France so I am SERIOUSLY exploring that option... I am also a certified high school English and French teacher so I am going to try and contact some private and international schools in France in the next couple of months! I think that I will apply for the assistantship again as well. I was talking this evening with a French friend who lives in Paris and he was totally like "you have a place to crash when you get to Paris so come!" so that is super encouraging...

So how do you find Rennes? And was it hard to find all of those jobs? Am I better off just showing up in France with my work visa and knocking on doors to find work?

Leah a dit…

S+A-Thanks for the info!

O-Yay for delurking! I had no idea you were following along on my blog! The blogworld is pretty cool, eh?(I'm half Canadian, I'm allowed to say eh!) Anyways, I wouldn't call me an inspiration, yikes, but just a girl who prefers life on this side of the pond who hasn't given up even when France wanted none of her. Oh, and a lot of it is just due to luck.

I really love Rennes, I've been here about 3 yrs total now(not consecutively, this is technically my third time hence the part trois title of my blog) and I've never wanted to live anywhere else. Ok, Paris is tempting, but I'm not really a big city gal. Two of my jobs I got from sending out CVs to private schools(one because of a tip from a friend that they were hiring) in the area and the other was a former job of the girl I replaced at my newest job. Connections and luck go a long way here.

That's great you have a)the chance to have a 1 yr visa and b)somewhere to crash once you start getting settled. As for what to do, I would try to put as many "irons in the fire" as possible...wow, sound like my dad there, yikes. I would sign up as an assistante/lectrice as a back-up plan or just do it to get yourself to France to start with. And/or try to get the 1 year visa. If you decide not to be an assistante or lectrice, I would just send your CV to private schools and language schools in and around Paris and see what happens. Otherwise, if you want to just get to Paris however, send out CVs to any job-it'd be cool if they'd get you the visa, but if you can already get the visa through the CDN gvt, you have an advantage over a lot of people wanting to come over and maybe they could get you your visa later on.

Schools that have an international section or american section, that sort of etablishment might be ideal for you as they need native speakers. Otherwise, private schools are good because you don't necessarily need the CAFEP-CAPES to be able to teach.

Here's a list of schools that have the OIB which is the international bac:
Dans la région parisienne (centre d'examen au Lycée International)
Le Lycée International de Saint-Germain-en-Laye : sections allemande, américaine, britannique, danoise, espagnole, italienne, néerlandaise, norvégienne, polonaise, portugaise, suédoise et japonaise
L'Ecole Active Bilingue de Paris (section britannique)
L'Ecole Active Bilingue J. Manuel de Paris (section américaine)
Le Lycée Honoré de Balzac à Paris (sections allemande, britannique et espagnole)
Le Lycée Montaigne à Paris (enseignement portugais)
Le Lycée François 1er de Fontainebleau (section britannique)
Le Lycée de Sèvres (sections allemande et britannique)

- En France:
Le Lycée d'Aix-Luynes à Aix-en-Provence (section britannique)
Le Lycée Magendie de Bordeaux (sections américaine et espagnole)
Le Lycée de Ferney-Voltaire (sections allemande, britannique, espagnole, italienne et néerlandaise).
Le Lycée Europole de Grenoble (sections britannique, espagnole et italienne)
Le Lycée International de Lyon (sections britannique, espagnole et italienne).
Le Lycée des Pontonniers de Strasbourg (sections allemande, britannique, espagnole et italienne)
Le Lycée Marc Chagall de Reims (section britannique)
Le Lycée de Saint-Jean-de-Luz (section espagnole)

I hope some of that made sense. Good luck and keep us in the blog world posted!

Oneika a dit…

Leah!!
you are truly magnifique, lol. I will be sure to check all of those out! I think that January is a big recruiting time for international schools so I have a few months before having to get my ass in gear re: applying.

Have the schools that you're working at now gotten you the visa that you have? or have you technically gone back to france as a student?

Leah a dit…

Awesome, glad I could help! I have no idea when they normally recruit...I personally didn't hear til June, but my case was probably special since they were waiting on the exam results of the person I replaced to see if she would even need to be replaced at all. She did pass the exam, but was still going to work 7 hours at the school if her schedule permitted. Then, they didn't know the total number of hours I would have until the very end of August because they were waiting on her schedule at her internship school and it ended up that they kept giving me more and more hours, which was good, but at the same time, seriously delayed the CDS process. So, I will be a student until they get the accord from the labor dept and then I will be either salarie or travailleur temporaire. So, I think my point is is that the school would have gotten me my CDS(and they have for several people before me), but the timing just wasn't there. They're apparently supposed to get things going 2 months before you start working. The international schools are a good bet for a CDS, though, since they have international sections, they can easily prove that they cannot hire a French person to do the same job. Bon courage!!