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DD’s In Marseille

4 years ago

last modified: 4 years ago

Actually, DD has been in Marseille for a few weeks now. She took Air France to Paris, stopping over in NYC for a couple days, then a few hours on the TGV (high speed train) and she was picked up by our “French daughter” Alice at the *gare* and they both stayed with Alice’s mother Martine for the next week.

DD immediately started looking for an apartment, and this turned out to be difficult. You see, while there are many apartments listed online, none of the rental agencies will consider a young person with a CDD. That is “Contrat Duree Determine” (sorry, no accents available here) or limited duration work contract, in her case for the school year. So she had to search for the apartments being rented out by individual owners. Most of them were also disinterested, since re-renting an apartment in a year is a hassle and costly. Even offering to pay many months‘ rent upfront, or pay more than the advertised price, brought no *oui’s.*

Poor DD went to see dozens of apartments, to no avail. She sometimes brought Alice, or Martine, as a sort of local reference, with no effect. It looked like DD would have to move between AirBnBs, which would be unpleasant and expensive, or stay with Martine the whole year, which would cramp someone’s style.

Meanwhile, she was making progress on other fronts. She found a bank willing to open an account for her, without which she wouldn’t get paid, and met other young people both in and out of the TAPIF (teaching English in French public schools) program. Martine’s partner loaned her a bicycle and they started taking long bike rides around Marseille and to the beaches south. They all went out and had lots of tasty food and drinks - never fear, I have photos. But her houseless condition was something she just couldn’t get away from, and the first day of her school job loomed heavy.

One day, they rode to look at a studio not far from Martine’s home. DD and Martine went up to see the apartment and talk with the owner. Martine rushed downstairs to her partner, who was watching the bikes, and told him to quickly go see the place.

John HU-something Liu

Featured Answer

jakkom

4 years ago

John, this just showed up yesterday in the London Guardian - thought you'd be interested in the read:

Mouthwatering Marseille: a taste of France’s culinary revolution

Anti-establishment Marseille is shaking up French cooking. Here, five of the city’s innovative chefs and restaurateurs reveal their favourite places to eat

London Guardian U.S. 21Mar2022

Free access article: https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2022/mar/21/mouthwatering-marseille-france-culinary-revolution

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Comments (9)

HU-455869934
Original Author
4 years ago
The studio was cute enough, the kitchen decent, the owner very nice, and DD was making a good impression. But the reason Martine’s partner got ordered to run upstairs is because his name is Chinese and the studio’s owner was Chinese and yup, the time had come to play the Asian card. I mean, DD is half-Chinese but let’s play the whole deck, she’s been looking for three weeks with not a nibble. Or so I gathered was the idea.

After DD got selected for the apartment, I told her about how SWMBO and I looked for an apartment for a month when we moved to Berkeley for my MBA program. Every apartment was mobbed, people were offering a full year’s rent upfront, SWMBO and little toddler DD were living with my dad 90 minutes away and I was living in a nasty motel in the seedy part of Berkeley.

One day we went to see a beautiful place, the entire upstairs of a classic wood shingle duplex in the super-desirable Gourmet Ghetto area. It was mobbed too, crammed full of desperate people waving checks and resumes at the owner. SWMBO took DD to the garden so she wouldn’t be trampled and to enjoy a few minutes in this perfect place that we wouldn’t get. The owner came and found DD. She was a Chinese lady, married but childless, and she was so excited to see this little Chinese girl in her garden. We got the place and the lady and her husband are now some of our oldest friends, though they live in Melbourne now.

DD signed the lease today. Neither the owner nor DD understand French legalese well so the owner’s little sister, who lives across the hall, helped them out. She moves in later this month, and I think it has all worked out well. I don’t have photos of the place but maybe I’ll get some later.
HU-455869934
Original Author
4 years ago
Here is a little of what DD has been eating. In her words but I may well have mixed up some of the photos.

“First photo is the aumoniere entree”

“Second pics are of my poulet plat and also martine’s cabillaud poché is also in the background (also on the menu photo but not circled”

“My salad was a carpaaccio tomates burrata sald”

“And the dessert was galette de pomme”

“The soup was an ajo blanco at this cute resto called “Romy” also near martine’s

The tartine thingy had like this special very strong sausage that alice says is popular here. And the fried disks are a popular marseille snack called “panisse”! Kind of like a french fry but made from chickpeas ans shaped into round disks”

“The camembert is SO SO GOOD and the sort of sliced grilled sandwich bites are awesome too, both served with this incredible fig jam spread stuff”

“This is a truly terrible french burrito. Don’t eat burritos in france.”
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HU-455869934
Original Author
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
So that’s all I have for now. Oh, exciting news - we have been invited back to Carpentras for the holidays.

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/4350473/our-christmas-in-carpentras#n=29

So we have to go. Looking at airfares now.

No cooking from me. Just not in the mood, and my gallbladder is acting up again which has me actually afraid to eat. Anything. Trying to get it addressed, preferably with extreme prejudice, before the holidays.

But I did saw a bunch of holes in my kitchen and install this …
HU-455869934
Original Author
4 years ago
And here’s the house in Carpentras where we’ll hopefully spend the holidays. DS and I may only be able to spend a couple weeks in France before returning for work and school, but I’m encouraging SWMBO to get a one-way ticket. Seriously - we have friends in England and Poland she’s hoping to see, so why not stay awhile?

More about Carpentras here

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/4350473/our-christmas-in-carpentras#n=29
petalique
4 years ago
John, this all looks fabulous! You nutrse your gall bladder and I’ll take your place,

(I’ve known people who have had their GB removed and they seemed to continue dining, unimpaired, on all sorts of things. What’s your doc say?
colleenoz
4 years ago
I had my gall bladder removed about 8 years ago and never miss it. Before it was removed one of the worst symptoms was having to dash to the bathroom if I consumed the tiniest bit of fat. Now I have no issues.
annie1992
4 years ago
Colleen, I swear, you and Ashley are so much alike. She also had her gall bladder removed about 8 or 9 years ago and she eats anything she wants with no apparent bad effects. Elery had his gall bladder removed also, but about 40+ years ago and he's lived quite nicely without it and it doesn't stop him from eating anything he wants, most of it topped with ghost peppers and such spicy things.

John, I hope you went for the holidays and had an absolutely marvelous time!

Annie
HU-455869934
Original Author
4 years ago
Use this thread instead - post 163 or 164 explains what’s up :-)

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/6186675/dd-s-in-marseille#n=163

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