My French Secret

Hello Everyone:

It's Maddy again. This week I have another very interesting adventure. I am calling it "My French Secret" because I really can't tell you exactly where I went. I know because I was there, but I really am not supposed to give away the exact place.

French people have some very unusual habits and most of them are about eating. I don't know about you, but I am not really that interested in food that much. But here in France, eating is VERY important. And one of the favorite French foods are champignons (mushrooms).

There are hundreds of kinds of mushrooms but the most unusual are ones called cepes. We don't have anything like them at all in the States. They are big and brown and really ugly.

So, we were all invited to my friend's home about 2 hours from our villa in Villefranche. They live in a beautiful home on a golf course surrounded by forests and mountains. Right next door to their house is a castle that was built in the 1700's. It was a really beautiful place.

Now comes the secret.........

In the forest by their house, there are sometimes cepes. And we went this afternoon in search of those ugly things. They are seriously hard to see as they are covered up by grass and stuff. And you have to use a stick to push away the grass and moss to find them. But, guess what? I found the first one!!! You have to be very careful as there are a lot of poisenous muchrooms too, but these are very different as they have big fat white stems. Then you carefully put your hands in the soil and pull them up. We actually found a lot of them. My Mom says that in the French markets they are very expensive. About 60 euros per kilogram. I don't know what that really means but my Dad said that was about $100 per pound and each cepe was worth about $15. So we found about $500 in all. Plus, we found the biggest cepe any of us had ever seen. It was nearly a half a pound! And the funniest thing was that we had to hide the cepes in my friend Melanie's jacket so no one would see where and what we found. That is why it has to be a big secret. Amazing!!!

My Mom and Dad cooked them ce soir (tonight) for dinner and were very happy. But as I said, I don't like mushrooms at all and I didn't even try them. They are adult food and most kids don't eat stuff like that. But it was sure fun to find them.

Stay tuned next week when I write my last Blog. I can't believe I will be home in less than 10 days. So, next week I will make a list of some of the really big differences between France and the United States. Some of these things you will not believe.

Also, thank-you so much Mrs. Santello and Mrs. Herrera for your great comments. I really can't tell you how much it makes me want to write my stories when I know you read them every week.

So for now:

A Bientot

-Maddy