I have been revisiting the foods that I love to eat and make since I have been back in Alexandria. I love the food I eat in Toulouse. I have tried many things that I either cannot get in Alexandria or are new to me. I cooked rabbit, guinea fowl and quail while I was in Toulouse. Also, there were many fish types that are not available at the average grocery store fish counter here in the United States.

Since I have been back in Alexandria, I have reverted to cooking foods that I have always enjoyed and missed while I was in Toulouse. Not all of them would have been impossible to make while in France but required spices, oils, and other things that I do not want to buy while I am there as I would not normally use them in cooking.

So the list of foods:

1: Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookies – a favorite of growing up and a staple in my life. I do not have a mixer or baking sheets in Toulouse so really cannot make the cookies. Also, I have not looked to see if they have chocolate chips as we do in the United States

2: Gazpacho – I did have that twice while in Toulouse – both times on my weekend in Andorra. Gazpacho definitely is a Spanish staple so is available. Also, I do not spend summers in Toulouse so to a certain extent it is not the season for Gazpacho when I am there. It is a staple of my diet in the summer in Alexandria. The fresh tomatoes are great at this time of year.

3: Curried Chicken Salad – this is another of my summer favorites. It is made with tomatoes and cucumbers. It is the perfect light meal for a hot day. I love it for lunch with a bowl of gazpacho and maybe a little cheese.

4: Fried Chicken – not something that I make often but I do love southern fried chicken. I was inspired to make it by an article I saw in the New York Times on how to make the perfect fried chicken. I had not been as deliberate before in cooking fried chicken but followed the advice in the article and it came out really good. I added rice and milk gravy. This was the standard way we had this meal when I was a child. I was sorry as I could not have fresh peas with it. We do not really have peas in the pod even at farmer’s markets. The fresh peas were one of my treats in Toulouse.

5: Chili – I made a simple chili recipe. Mexican food (more likely Tex-Mex) is not really available in Toulouse. There is Jalapeño in the basement of my apartment building but I have not been brave enough to try it. As Jesse said when visiting, it smells correct when you walk by it. They finally posted a menu and the pictures look fairly authentic. I might be bold enough to try it next time. This chili is very simple and good. My mother’s family is from Texas (by way of Louisiana) so I did grow up eating Tex-Mex food. Another of my easy staples.

I eat at home more here in Alexandria as the restaurants are not as good and are more expensive. I need to find some places that make me as happy as the ones I have found in Toulouse.

Now that the World Cup has started, I have been watching more TV. The U.S. team started out well which is nice but some commentary reminds we of the Washington Post’s take after the Commanders (the locals NFL team) wins two games – they are going to the Super Bowl which never happens. Same with the U.S. soccer team commentary. Some of the matches have been blowouts in soccer/football teams. I guess that is because of the increased number of teams playing and the quality of some of them.

Saturday, I went to UnWined for National Rosé day. They had a nice wine tasting with a great variety of rosés to enjoy. UnWined and Revel have really built up a nice community and I am glad I am part of it.

Tom and Marion have been very nice as they have assisted me in keeping my dermatology wound bandaged. It is sort of in the middle of my shoulder blade and I am not really able to reach it. So the last couple of days, I have gone over to their house so they can change the bandage. It is one of the problems of being single and not being able to do everything needed by myself.

Yesterday, Arianna and her dog Aspen came over. It was nice to see Arianna. Aspen (a labordoodle) is a funny dog. I do not know what it is between me and Aspen but she goes wild whenever she sees me. Aspen is so excited to see that she almost knocks me over when she runs over to me. She stands right next to my legs and just vibrates. I used to worry about me being there when she was at the house because she was a puppy, she would get so excited that she would pee every time we were together. Luckily, Aspen has gotten over it.

On Saturday, I ran with NOVA Rogue Runners. I mainly ran with Chris and his daughter, Charlie. Charlie is pushed in a running Bob stroller. We ran along the Potomac which is a beautiful course to run.

Also, my running friend from Toulouse, Marc, was running a 50k trail run up in Andorra on Saturday. I was able to track him. The race has over 3000 feet of elevation. He is an amazing runner. He finished in just over 9 hours which is amazing. He said did not really like the race and thought the 42k was the longest he wanted to run in the future.

All is all it was a fun weekend.