The USS-Enterprising Gourmand

It's officially my third day here in Paris, and thanks to jet-lag and the rigors of moving out of Chicago, I have only left my apartment for a grand total of an hour and a half. Today I made the rounds to the supermarket on the corner for milk, eggs, and a metric ton of powdered ginger (who doesn't need powdered ginger?!) and then, in the rain, to the Picard a couple of blocks away to stock up on all the frozen comestibles that I can muster. For those of you unfamiliar with the joys of Picard, it is a frozen food chain here in France. Now, one might be tempted to immediately write off all frozen foods as inherently soppy, disgusting, or bland, but somehow the French have channeled their scientific prowess into concocting the most delicious frozen foods known to man. You walk in, and the place is all white and chock- full of deep-freezes. Moseying down the aisle, one can select everything from frozen peas and frozen lasagna to frozen whole salmon with tarragon sauce baked in a crust with morel mushrooms and black truffle flecks or an entire leg of lamb encrusted with African spices, designed to go well with their frozen couscous vegetables. Seriously.

So in short, my small freezer is very full, I've already set into the delicious, belly-ache inducing, hurts so good French milk, and I'm going to have spinach and potato gratin with powdered ginger for dinner.

No, not actually. If the rain continues, I will probably go to the Las Vegas-esque pizzeria down the street that sparkles like a neon pink beacon at all hours. And if it ceases, well then...who can say?