I'm not a big fan of politics (perhaps that's why I escaped to France), but I'm very impressed by how passionate French people are about their next president to be. The whole world watched as French people stood in impossibly long lines to make their vote count. At the end of the day, the two winners were a  female socialist and the son of a Hungarian immigrant, beating out ten other qualified candidates.

Since Fabrice's apartment overlooks an election site, I watched as people eagerly lined up. The process is a little different than in the United States. You of course must proper identification and only go to the location you're assigned to. Once you have verified that you are who you say you are, you walk down a long table lined with 12 stacks of paper squares. Written on each square is the name of one of the candidates. You pick up one of each and head to the private voting booths. There you secretly slip your choice into a small blue envelop and seal it tight. You then take the envelope over to a clear plastic box and drop it into the slot, but the envelope doesn't fall into the box until you've signed your name and a voting official pulls a lever. When the envelope falls into the box, you've done your duty and made yourself heard.

And here's a fact I find interesting. If you don't like any of the candidates, you can put a piece of paper in the envelope without a candidate's name. This is called the white vote and signifies that you are here to vote, but you don't approve of anyone who is running.

Yesterday evening, Fabrice invited some of his friends over for dinner. What do three young budding chefs who work at one of the most famous restaurants in the world want to eat? Why pasta of course, with a jar of ready made pasta sauce. Guess they're not so crazy about cooking after working 65 to 70 hours a week. After dinner I suddenly remembered we had a bunch of asparagus in the refrigerator. I offered to make them, and the three of them watched in interest.

Heat a pan (non-stick works best) over high heat with no oil or butter. I call this the dry sauté method. Snap the bottoms off your asparagus and drop them into the pan. Cook over high heat until beginning to char slightly. Once they are evenly covered with charred spots, remove from heat and add a small amount of olive oil. Be careful at this point because the oil heats quickly and can spit out of the pan. Toss with salt, pepper, lemon juice and finely chopped garlic. Serve hot and eat with your fingers.

As I dropped some asparagus spears on to everyone's plate, they looked at me quite strangely. I, a foreigner, expected the French to eat vegetables that were still crispy? Oh yes, I did forget that all through school that if my vegetables were even slightly crisp, I was graded down. Evidently the French like their vegetables cooked through. But despite their apprehension, the three young men gingerly tried the asparagus - and actually liked it.

And then the moment arrived. Just before 8:00 PM, the young twenty-somethings gathered around the computer. Pulling up a local television Internet site, they eagerly watched a countdown clock click off the minutes until the election results would be announced. As I was watching them, a slight smile flickered across my lips. You'd think they were watching a New Year's Eve countdown or the World Cup finals with the intensity that they watched the computer. I was impressed by how seriously they treated the moment.

Right at 8:00 PM on the dot, the results were announced and the guys looked relieved. Although none of them voted for the woman candidate, I think they were impressed. They spent the next several minutes discussing if France was ready for a woman. That still remains to be seen, and the final election in two weeks will be all-telling. Vive la France!

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