A French-like Meal

Some of my fondest memories of France are of sitting down to dinner with my host family. We enjoyed a plethora of side dishes and fresh salad along with baguettes and overflowing wine glasses. They usually threw in a fried egg on my plate as well, because I was vegetarian and that was all they could think of serving me (It's funny because they didn't really eat that much meat, either). At the end of dinner we would always indulge in fine cheeses and fresh fruit. My host "mother" specialized in fruit compotes and they always mixed well with yogurt. There was always something delicious to be eaten. 

After finding a Nutella knock off at the new Lotte Super conveniently located two blocks from our apartment, I started to remember my French side and felt like having more fresh, cold meals during the summer. Our dinner on Monday consisted of cucumber salad, tossed greens in a honey mustard vinegarette, a fried egg (two for Michael) and baguette. We bought some wine at Homeplus and had a refreshingly fresh meal. 

Living in Korea, it sometimes gets me down that we can't always get the freshest of foods for a decent price. Right now, I am trying to take advantage of ridiculously low prices of cucumbers, red peppers and peaches, since I know that the prices will soar back up in a few weeks. We also have the problem of getting home at 9:30 most nights. This means that whatever I cook for dinner has to be fast. On Monday, I had already made the cucumber salad, so our meal was as easy as picking up a baguette and washing some lettuce. Fried eggs are the quickest thing to make as well. It was nice to be eating before 10 pm. 

I look forward to some more French-like meals in the future. I will probably try to do a new meal every week. Just an FYI, our meals at home are usually veggies and rice or pizza bread, things that take little-to-no prep time. I like using a lot of veggies, but we're starting to get tired of the same old same old around here. It's time for a change of pace!