Coffee is a mom's best friend!
Forgot to add that yesterday and today I have had no voice. My raspy, squeaking effort in French is really hard to understand with an American accent, I am sure. Well, yesterday I really wanted some coffee to drink on the long drive to get SA. However, I have never seen a French person drinking anything in the car or walking around with a travel mug or to go cup. Everyone just sits down in restaraunts and drinks coke, hot tea, and espressos around here.
THey laugh at D at work because he brings his travel mug of coffee every morning. I had no idea that this was an American phenomena until I moved here. Anyway I mustered up some courage and asked at a cute cafe in the mall if they had coffee "a emporter" i.e. "to go". Of course the lady had no idea what I was asking for, so after another attempt and a little drama she understood, looked around for some disposable cups and then said "sorry, no." Ok, I knew it was a long shot anyway. However, a taxi cab driver in Paris told us that everyone has coffe to go, so I thought I would give it a try.
I passed by another bar/ cafe with a sign for "drinks to go" so I got excited, stopped, and ordered a cafe creme (that is coffee with milk in it). I forgot that the French always and only drink espressos, so my cafe creme came in this tiny little cup- like the size of the kind your mom used to put in the bathroom for you when you were little- or the size that they gave to us when we were like 2 years old in the nursery for juice. I am serious- we don't even use that small of a size in the nursery anymore! On top of that the lid had no way to drink out of it- just a tiny hole in the top that let steam out and a little coffee too. So I am walking to my car with this tiny little cup. I had to take off the top to drink and my hand is getting coffee all over it from the little hole. Well, that experience didn't last too long because in a few swigs it was gone. So now I am really irritated- where was Starbucks, Atlanta Bread Co., Panera, etc?
I decided that I needed some chocolate- they do have good chocolate here! But, I didn't want any fine, expensive chocolates- just a nice big brownie or muffin. Quickly spotting another cafe/ patisserie, I went in, found a lovely chocolate covered muffin and thought- maybe they have coffee? I was in luck and this time I thought to order a "grande". So this coffe was about one-third the size of a tall at Starbucks and is served with no top in a REALLY flimsy plastic cup that burned my hand. It was at this moment that I asked in French for a "sleeve" for my coffee. Sleeve is not a French word nor am I sure that it is the right English word to use for those nice little things that come on your coffee cup at Barnes and Noble that keep your hand from getting burned. Anyway, the girl gave me a napkin to put around my cup and I managed to make it to the underground parking garage, pay for my parking at the little machine that doesn't speak English with about 10 people in line behind me(they were actually nice and helpful), and make it to my car all without spilling my coffee. Then it only took me about 20 minutes to figure out how to get out of the labrynth garage. Wow, I bet Starbucks would make a fortune if they opened up here. These people are deprived and I am being deprived with them. Coffee, after all, is a mom's best friend.
Link to Notes on End Times Series 2023
2 years ago
4 comments:
I would call it a "sleeve" :) and I think it is so odd that a culture that is so into coffee consumes it in such small amounts. But I think I already knew it was the case. We probably just go crazy with it here as part of our general "more is more" greediness (big cars, big houses, big coffees!). I have lost five pounds with his pregnancy so far at 19 weeks. I do not know how to account for it as my body is usually a storehouse for whatever calories it can find. But I read somewhere that caffeine produces cortisol which is a stress hormone (and Lord knows I am a high strung enough person without the additional production of stress hormones) and that that can cause excess weight to be stored around the midsection, which is where I have always had a "trouble area" especially after two C-sections. Anyway, the doctors up here make a bigger deal out of no caffeine when you're expecting. My doctor in the Ham never cared. But since I had read that article and I pretty much drank 24 ounces of coffee a day, I gave it up cold turkey with the pregnancy. I wonder if it has made the difference as far as the weight goes. I have certainly had more trouble with weight and stress since drinking more coffee, but it also came at the same time as moving to St. Louis and I thought it was just because I was stressed over this crazy city and emotionally eating away homesickness or something. All that to say, maybe small amounts of coffee will keep you from getting too much more stressed (as hectic and frustrating as your life seems to be right now) and possibly from putting on extra pounds that could come with the stress. I hesitate to even tell you that as you get obsessive about dieting when you're already t-tiny, but just to look on the bright side :) When in Rome...or France in this case.. I guess you just get a shot of coffee, at least it comes with little chocolate treats :)
I love that I can read about all your daily "misadventures" in France... I still tell your story about the "chicken sand-weech" at McDonalds! Love you guys!
Bless your heart! I can't drink coffee...even de-caf gives me the shakes and makes my heart race. But somehow I still feel your pain. Maybe you can focus less on the coffee deprivation, and more on the yummy French pastries. They sound like a good substitute! Hang in there!
As someone who almost rode the "fun bus" with you and the chickens, I personally think few people have such a proclivity for amusing situations as you do. Keep the stories coming; they make me laugh! And I love the pic of you and SA in front of the Eiffel Tower.
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