When the French strike, Make spaghetti and meatballs.

Madness, once again. France is under attack and by none other than its own citizens. At the moment, the government is trying (who am I kidding, not trying, but are going to, whether the citizens like it or not) pass a law that will increase the retirement age from 55 to 62. As a result, the French people have united and decided to terrorize the cities in France until the government changes their mind, which of course, is improbable.

The strikes are not like strikes back home in California. There are no petition forms or "peace" rallies. It is all action, mostly violent action at that. Crowds of people (young, old, retired, students, parents, children, you name it) have been gathering for the past week or so in efforts to protest the law. Their demonstrations are not quiet, and they do not disperse quickly as some do at home. They last for hours and can become incredibly physical. Police will and have already taken action by shooting rubber bullets, tear gas bombs, and down right beating the protesters into submission. But with this many angry Frenchmen, I doubt that the police will even be able to dent the rallies let alone stop them. The French have retaliated against the city in a way that I actually believe neither helps them, or the government. They have started destroying public property (smashing down bus stops, random car windows, etc) and have even resorted to flipping police cars and setting them on fire. They have even destroyed the doors and windows of many small business shops that have not done anything wrong. The whole reason for trying to pass this law is because the country is running out of money, yet the country is protesting by damaging public property which will just take more money to repair. Truly a shame.

As a result of these protests, I have spent most of the past week indoors in order to avoid falling in the line of fire accidentally. A few other exchange students have already been tear gassed and it just doesn't seem pleasant. Some of the University campuses have also been shut down due to the increasing violence. What is even more crazy is that Super Markets and Gas stations are literally running out of certain products/supplies. Many shelves at the super market are out of stock at the moment and 1 out of every 4 gas station has run out of gas to sell. Why? Because even the truck drivers who ship the supplies are protesting and refusing to work.  Hopefully, this will not affect my trip to Belgium and Amsterdam this coming Thursday. I have read some articles lately about planes being cancelled throughout France. YIKES!

Picture courtesy of Elliot Stevenson

To cope with the insanity, I have been cooking non-stop. In the past few days, I have made:
-Pumpkin country loaf
-Rum raisin apple bread pudding with a maple custard using left over country pumpkin loaf
-Maple cinnamon granola with almonds, raisins, and coconut
-Strata (savory version of bread pudding. I put caramelized onions, sautéed bell peppers and tomato, thyme and sage, left over pumpkin country loaf, and topped it with Gruyère, Parmesan, and Mozzarella cheese.
- Rigatoni pasta rolls stuffed with eggplant and Zucchini rolled and baked in bread crumbs, and topped with a pumpkin Bechemel sauce.
- Pumpkin Marscapone Bourbon sponge cake
-Chicken Saltimbocca
-Garlic Bread made with three heads of garlic
-Crab stuffed mushrooms with a white wine, dill, and lemon sauce

I made more but they were just simple things I whipped together in hopes to clear out my fridge in time for the week long break.

And of course, as my title suggests, I made Spaghetti and Meatballs. Super tender, and tasty. Voila. Enjoy!

Here is a picture of the leftover fat I had from baking the meatballs.