Joyeux Octobre!

Ahh, the month of pumpkins, colored leaves, long sleeves... I love it. October is my favorite month.

The end of September was good too: Saturday I hosted an "American Afternoon" where five of us American exchange students (Becky, Mandy, Melissa, Susanna, and I) ate Domino's pizza and watched Young Frankenstein. In English. It was a lot of fun-- the kind of group where there's lots of laughing and lots of intellectual discussion, just normally. Girls who are as likely to mention that they saw a hot guy on the street as they are to explain why the Languedoc region is called that. [Incidentally, the south was called Langue d'Oc and the north Langue d'oïl because those were the old words for "yes": oc and oïl.] Domino's has a deal on Saturdays that all their pizzas are about 7 Euros, so it wasn't even very expensive. However, it's impossible to order a simple, one-topping pizza. You can't get "cheese," so we got a Margherita pizza. Couldn't get just sausage, so we got deluxe without some of the vegetables.

Sunday Mandy and I were again in the same pew as a little one-and-a-half (or so) year old girl who has more energy than I have ever seen in a child before. When she's in the pew, she changes position about every thirty seconds, climbs on the kneeler, experiments to see which chair slats in front of her are far enough apart to admit her head, pokes her brother (who looks like he's about four), plays with the program, and stares at the other people sitting in the row. Us. We were also sitting with a fellow Maîtrise alto of mine, Lyre, who is from China. The little girl was fascinated with the zipper on Lyre's coat, and came over frequently to get a closer look. I admit that she was much more interesting to watch than the homily was to listen to. We're all getting better at knowing what to say in French. After Mass (which is always ended by very modern organ music, which I think sounds like what you would get if you transcribed heavy metal to be played on the organ) Mandy and I went out to lunch with Becky at a little café that had cheap pizza and pasta. I had lasagne, and it was excellent. Yet another dish I would make if I had an oven...

And today's October! I already have a new recipe to share, which is in fact why I decided to post at this time of day. I want to get the recipe down before I forget what I did, because it was good.

Pasta with Fresh Tomato-Mushroom Sauce
For two lunch-sized servings, or one serving and some leftovers:
Chop two medium-sized tomatoes.
Heat a small amount (less than a tablespoon) of butter in a non-stick pan with some garlic and a lot of basil. Once it's relatively melted, toss in the tomatoes and a handful of sliced mushrooms (I use frozen ones as usual). Sprinkle on some salt, and cover the pan.
Boil a pot of water while you let the vegetables simmer. When the water boils, put in some linguine or whatever other shape of pasta you're in the mood for, and uncover the pan with the vegetables. While the pasta cooks, let the water boil off from the tomatoes. Add some more basil and garlic if you get bored.
Drain the pasta, and mix in the tomato sauce. Add some cheese if you're in the mood. Enjoy!

Happy October!