Why beurre?

So, this is my first posting. I have been in France now for 4 weeks and am now finally ready to take it all in. The concept of blogging about my year in France (because that is what I'm doing and where I am) may sound like a cliche, after all, Julia Child did it and then Julie did it, her predecessor, she wrote a book and it was turned into a movie. blah, blah, blah you say, it has been done before, and many times no doubt. This is different. Butter & Creme is a blog about living in France, but it is also about the trials and tribulations of high mobility living, of leaving home and all that is familiar and settling into a new country with a foreign language, in a different hemisphere and time zone. It is about tasting and learning to love strange and wonderful foods, grasping how to buy skim milk and self raising flour in a supermarket with no English, and overall accepting that you have left your comfort zone, and are often, at times, alone with your thoughts, in a country that does not understand you.

Sure, when I told most people that I was leaving year round sunny Sydney destined for the French countryside 40 minutes south of Paris, the response was virtually unanimous... "you are so lucky". Phrases like "once in a lifetime", "make the most of it", and "I am so jealous" were thrown around. Don't get me wrong, I am having the experience of a lifetime (to adopt the way too overused expression) but being here is also difficult and at times confronting. I swapped the sun and bikinis for snow and gloves. Swapped law and work for writing and unemployment. From constantly busy to no routine at all.

Why Butter & Creme you ask? A few reasons. For a twenty-something Australian girl, moving to France carries with it the fear of (gasp) becoming fat (non! c'est tres merde!) from all the croissants, brioche and rich sauces. The common feature across it all - butter and cream! The French love it. It is a tradition, a cuisine and also a culture. Walking through a supermarket aisle displays the vast array of butters or beurre. I am used to two kinds: butter or marg. Not here. There would have to be 30 different types, all revealing the percentage of fat (it took me a while to work this out) emblazoned boldly across the packaging like an award. But, butter and cream also represent decadence and indulgence. All of which encapsulates a year sans work in France. A year which brings with it the time to write a blog about the year in France - pure decadence!

Merci,

Mel