Maxipoche+ 2018 - a back-to-school dictionary review with index of verbs

I am back in French class again

and so far so good! I'm starting a program in environmental studies/sustainable development at Université de Sherbrooke but first, I have to take their French for University classes to sharpen my skills. 

I went through the various stages of grief when I learned I had to take two terms of French language and writing courses before starting in on the subject matter. I have a BA in French, for goodness sake, but it's not from a francophone institution and bureaucracy wants what bureaucracy wants. Plus maybe, despite living and working in Montreal for over 10 years, I have gotten a little soft. Whatever the case, I have reached the point of acceptance and am taking pleasure in (re)learning the formal rules of French.

These are online, distance-learning courses and the tests are open-book but during the exams online resources are unavailable. Paper reference material is a must. This should be no problem for me - I went through my BA in French, then my MA in Translation Studies, and I still do translation work for a select group of clients. I have bought and used hundreds of dollars - thousands of pages - of reference books over the years.

But I have also gone through Francine Jay's Joy of Less decluttering system. That is, I got rid of all but my most treasured books. Reference material, which is easily available online or at the library and which I consulted infrequently at best, all had to go. Adieu, French-English pocket edition. Goodbye, enormous hardbound dictionary. Dear thesaurus, it has been a treat, a delight, an absolute pleasure to work with you. 

And so I found myself, a student once again, in front of the French reference book section at Indigo downtown facing the same dilemma as in 1997 and 2002 and 2007 and now 2018 - which dictionary to buy? Do I take a Bescherelle too? By the way, did you know that now Bescherelle is not just the handy little red volume? It is a multi-part series that will give you not only conjugation, but also grammar rules and spelling. It is all too much, if you ask me.

I opted for the Larousse Maxipoche+ 2018 (there was a similar Robert product, but Larousse is classic).  Poche has nothing to do with it. There are few pockets in the world that would fit this dictionary. Hagrid's, maybe. For the sake of completeness, I just now tried to slip it into my big comfy hoodie pocket, but the opening is too small. Pocketable or not, this dictionary includes grammar rules, some verb conjugation (115 words), and proper nouns. Perfect. I don't want to end up with a shelf full of reference books again!

So far I am enjoying it, with one exception. The conjugation section does not include an alphabetical list of the verbs it includes. After trying the flipping-through method for two weeks, I had enough and made my own.

Here, for quick verb-finding in the conjugation section of the Maxipoche+ 2018 (special Pierre Larousse édition anniversaire), is my handy index. I'm going to print it and use it to bookmark the conjugation section in my dictionary.

Bonne conjugaison les ami(e)s!

Mochas are the worst

Yesterday, my first whole day back in Montreal without packing-related stress in weeks, and full of jetlag and mucous, I dared to venture out for errands and thought I'd treat myself to a spiced hot chocolate. I've been sick on and off for over three weeks, and also travelling for about the same amount of time, first a fun friend vacation, then for work. I can't taste much of anything and thought it would be nice to coddle myself into some sort of warm wellness.

But instead of a chocolat Bogota the barista made me a mocha.

At first I wasn't sure what what wrong. I didn't have a sip, after all, until I was halfway home. This was going to be an accompaniment to curling up peacefully with a new library book before my love came home from work. My nose was plugged, but still, I was tasting more bitterness than I expected... and where was the cinnamon? Surely I would at least taste the cinnamon... 

Was this a cruel trick of my cold? Condemned to misinterpret deliciousness as funk? Or did they get it wrong, after a long wait, after the lady after me got her coffee before me. Oh, the disappointment, the first world injustice of it all!

Husband tasted and confirmed my suspicion, and even went back up to the café for me to see if they could make the right thing, but they had just shut down the machines for the day. They recalled the error and sent him back to me with conciliatory baked goods, which I had for breakfast.

So now here I am with three-quarters of a cold mocha I stashed in the fridge last night, not wanting evening caffeine nor for it to go to waste. It is not good, friends. Not good.

I used to think mochas were magical. Mom always had a little rectangular box of International Delights Swiss Mocha powder in the cupboard and it smelled like heaven. Sometimes I would get a sip, and a sticky residue of oversweetened froth on my little lips. Sometimes the empty box would come my way and I would use it to store treasures while sniffing the marshmallowy lid and dreaming of a day when I could have as much mocha as I wanted.

But real world, grown-up coffee shop mochas turned out to be a sad disappointment. I tried for a while, always expecting the sweet creamy treat it should be, always falling flat from overroasted beans or underdosed chocolate. Truly, it is the worst of all worlds, not chocolaty enough to be chocolate, not bright enough to be coffee - just creamily flat and bitter, a cruel tease and an affront to everything that's good about either.

Have a coffee or have a hot chocolate, but at a certain point you have to quit expecting magic out of a mocha.

Junk food vs. bone marrow

Unfortunately, this is not about a delicious taste-off between chips and roasted beef bones.

Preliminary research indicates that junk food changes the microbiome and causes bone marrow inflammation.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/body/junk-food-can-alter-your-immune-system/

Just another reason to choose real food at every possible opportunity and feed our friendly bacteria friends as well as we can.

That said, though, I ate homemade oatmeal cookies for breakfast and just barely resisted buying Halloween-themed white cheddar Cheetos at the grocery store yesterday. They were in the shape of different bones, and you could put them together to make little skeletons! Those clever food marketers... who doesn't want to have cheesy DIY skeletons? They are scientifically designed to be delicious! Peter Pham at Foodbeast found them salty, though I would have to try and see for myself.

We prepared a box of snack veg for the week instead. Joy, rapture. I should really not be so glum about our vegetables. They are tasty and fresh, Phil did the knifework, and the celery is a real taste delight with PB & a nice fleur de sel (flaky sea salt). This is one from near where I lived and taught in France. I like the crunch it adds, and its burst of salty flavor. Almost makes up for my snack not being skeleton-shaped.