St Hippolyte
The cats have gone into hiding, the sweetie jar has been put out of sight, the valuables and breakables are nowhere to be seen.
This can only mean one thing. Jack, Leo and Riley with their parents in tow have arrived for a weeks visit.
Figgy has taken to his cat basket in our bedroom and hasn't come out all day (he never sleeps in a basket), Misty is under a hedge in the garden, or she was until Leo discovered her hiding place.
Only the neighbours cats seem sadly undisturbed by the heavy footed running, the football being kicked accidentally in their direction and Leo's attentive baby chatter in their faces all day long. Which is a shame really as we had hoped they would disappear when the boys arrived.
Poor Misty is even bothered by baby Riley's demands for milk and winding. She can't cope with the stress of motherhood.
We were going to have a birthday party for Figgy today, he's two years old. But we can't coax him, out of the bedroom, not even for a Whiskas cheesy treat!
Wednesday, 13 August 2008
Tuesday, 12 August 2008
Eating out
Ste Clarisse
Our lovely new barbecue is earning its keep already. It's a super-duper sized one and serves as a big oven.
The other evening dinner was so simple: Place one chicken breast per person in a baking tin, sprinkle them with olive oil, basil and Harissa and stir to coat. (This would work equally well with salmon steaks or any firm white fish)
In another dish place blanched fennel, mixed with a couple of tablespoons of crème fraîche
In a third dish, new potatoes tossed in olive oil and whole cumin seeds. Chuck the pans on the barbie, keep an eye on them from time to time and sit back with a nice chilled glass of rosé
Delish!
Our lovely new barbecue is earning its keep already. It's a super-duper sized one and serves as a big oven.
The other evening dinner was so simple: Place one chicken breast per person in a baking tin, sprinkle them with olive oil, basil and Harissa and stir to coat. (This would work equally well with salmon steaks or any firm white fish)
In another dish place blanched fennel, mixed with a couple of tablespoons of crème fraîche
In a third dish, new potatoes tossed in olive oil and whole cumin seeds. Chuck the pans on the barbie, keep an eye on them from time to time and sit back with a nice chilled glass of rosé
Delish!
Monday, 11 August 2008
Floored!
Ste Claire
Two weeks ago we ordered the floorboards for the loft. We decided to pay the exorbitant delivery charge because a) we don't have the vehicle to collect them in and b) because they worked out the same price as if we had bought them locally and hired a van to collect them.
Delivery to your door in under one week it said.
Fat chance. This is France and this is August. August means nothing runs normally, whatever 'normal' might mean in this country. In August, more than in July, people take their holidays. In Paris it seems that people either have July or August holidays but anywhere else August seems to be preferred.
Therefore I was very surprised to receive a telephone call one week after placing the order.
'Bonjour Madame, this is XYZ delivery company from Paris. We have a shipment to deliver to you and we would like to do this next week. Either Wednesday or Thursday would be preferred for us, would you be available on either of those days?'
I said that, of course we would be available, not a problem. I was told that someone would telephone us on Tuesday morning to confirm the details, and was there any problem with getting a lorry to our door? No problem, I said.
Followers of this blog may recall that last year we had the chalet delivered along with a small shed, a shower unit and, several weeks later, the chalet floor. No problem for a large lorry.
We waited in on Tuesday morning for the telephone call. Nothing. I don't know why I was surprised and/or disappointed, after all, what should I have expected?
Nothing on Wednesday either, and I didn't have the details of the delivery company to contact them. I thought I would leave it until Thursday before contacting the supplier, but on Thursday afternoon the telephone rang.
'Bonjour Madame, we have a delivery for you, can we deliver it tomorrow morning? Can I have directions to your address? And is there any problem sending a large lorry?'
Friday morning arrived and we were up and alert waiting for the lorry.
Around ten o'clock the telephone rang.
'Madame Smeeet? I have a delivery for you, I'm outside the garage in your village, how do I find your house?'
He continued chatting to me as he was driving up the road, we could hear his crawling lorry and all the miserable cars behind him getting ready for the overtake as soon as they could.
'You have passed the turn, Monsieur.' I said. 'I can see your lorry, it is a white one. You will have to make a demi-tour and come back to me, there is a turning space on your left'.
'Madame? Will you please come and meet me at the entrance to your driveway, I don't know where you are talking about'
I duly jumped in the car, drove down the hill and waited. And waited. And waited.
Eventually I could see a large lorry coming slowly down the hill followed by a trail of cars towing caravans. They were not best pleased.
Seeing the lorry driver signalling, I went back to my car waiting for him to follow me up the drive.
I had completely missed the point. This wasn't any ordinary large lorry, this was an articulated lorry. There was no way he could turn into our driveway.
He hooted. I got out of the car and went to talk to him. All the people in the cars behind with their caravans hooted. Some got out to see what was going on.
I agreed to follow the driver down into the village to discuss what would happen next, jumped in the car ignoring the abuse from the caravanners (serves them right anyway, now they know what it's like to be stuck behind a snail) and went to collect Jon.
Down in the village the net curtains were twitching trying to decide why a very large lorry had pulled up in the middle of the village and had been hooted and sworn at by several caravanners as they passed him. We ignored the twitchers and discussed the next move.
We suggested he turn round again and leave the floorboards outside our neighbours house at the bottom of the hill. We knew there was no problem with access as a haulage company have their yard just a few doors away.
No, this was not a good idea. The best thing would be to put all the floorboards in my little Peugeot 106 and take them home from the village.
There were 44 packets of them. 55 square metres in total.
We managed 9 packets in the first run, brought them home and then returned with both cars. Hoping that the driver was an honest man and would wait for us.
He did. It took 7 car loads (Millie Mehari can't take as many as the Pug) but we finally have our loft floor. It's in the garage where it will have to stay for a few weeks. The next job is treating the wood which we don't want to do just yet as we have the Munchkins arriving for a week and don't want to poison them. Then there are a couple more visitors before we can get back down to work in the loft.
Today's job is shopping and cooking. The beds are made up, the toy box unearthed and dusted off and the cats have been warned. Little boy alert! They arrive tomorrow morning and we can't wait!
Two weeks ago we ordered the floorboards for the loft. We decided to pay the exorbitant delivery charge because a) we don't have the vehicle to collect them in and b) because they worked out the same price as if we had bought them locally and hired a van to collect them.
Delivery to your door in under one week it said.
Fat chance. This is France and this is August. August means nothing runs normally, whatever 'normal' might mean in this country. In August, more than in July, people take their holidays. In Paris it seems that people either have July or August holidays but anywhere else August seems to be preferred.
Therefore I was very surprised to receive a telephone call one week after placing the order.
'Bonjour Madame, this is XYZ delivery company from Paris. We have a shipment to deliver to you and we would like to do this next week. Either Wednesday or Thursday would be preferred for us, would you be available on either of those days?'
I said that, of course we would be available, not a problem. I was told that someone would telephone us on Tuesday morning to confirm the details, and was there any problem with getting a lorry to our door? No problem, I said.
Followers of this blog may recall that last year we had the chalet delivered along with a small shed, a shower unit and, several weeks later, the chalet floor. No problem for a large lorry.
We waited in on Tuesday morning for the telephone call. Nothing. I don't know why I was surprised and/or disappointed, after all, what should I have expected?
Nothing on Wednesday either, and I didn't have the details of the delivery company to contact them. I thought I would leave it until Thursday before contacting the supplier, but on Thursday afternoon the telephone rang.
'Bonjour Madame, we have a delivery for you, can we deliver it tomorrow morning? Can I have directions to your address? And is there any problem sending a large lorry?'
Friday morning arrived and we were up and alert waiting for the lorry.
Around ten o'clock the telephone rang.
'Madame Smeeet? I have a delivery for you, I'm outside the garage in your village, how do I find your house?'
He continued chatting to me as he was driving up the road, we could hear his crawling lorry and all the miserable cars behind him getting ready for the overtake as soon as they could.
'You have passed the turn, Monsieur.' I said. 'I can see your lorry, it is a white one. You will have to make a demi-tour and come back to me, there is a turning space on your left'.
'Madame? Will you please come and meet me at the entrance to your driveway, I don't know where you are talking about'
I duly jumped in the car, drove down the hill and waited. And waited. And waited.
Eventually I could see a large lorry coming slowly down the hill followed by a trail of cars towing caravans. They were not best pleased.
Seeing the lorry driver signalling, I went back to my car waiting for him to follow me up the drive.
I had completely missed the point. This wasn't any ordinary large lorry, this was an articulated lorry. There was no way he could turn into our driveway.
He hooted. I got out of the car and went to talk to him. All the people in the cars behind with their caravans hooted. Some got out to see what was going on.
I agreed to follow the driver down into the village to discuss what would happen next, jumped in the car ignoring the abuse from the caravanners (serves them right anyway, now they know what it's like to be stuck behind a snail) and went to collect Jon.
Down in the village the net curtains were twitching trying to decide why a very large lorry had pulled up in the middle of the village and had been hooted and sworn at by several caravanners as they passed him. We ignored the twitchers and discussed the next move.
We suggested he turn round again and leave the floorboards outside our neighbours house at the bottom of the hill. We knew there was no problem with access as a haulage company have their yard just a few doors away.
No, this was not a good idea. The best thing would be to put all the floorboards in my little Peugeot 106 and take them home from the village.
There were 44 packets of them. 55 square metres in total.
We managed 9 packets in the first run, brought them home and then returned with both cars. Hoping that the driver was an honest man and would wait for us.
He did. It took 7 car loads (Millie Mehari can't take as many as the Pug) but we finally have our loft floor. It's in the garage where it will have to stay for a few weeks. The next job is treating the wood which we don't want to do just yet as we have the Munchkins arriving for a week and don't want to poison them. Then there are a couple more visitors before we can get back down to work in the loft.
Today's job is shopping and cooking. The beds are made up, the toy box unearthed and dusted off and the cats have been warned. Little boy alert! They arrive tomorrow morning and we can't wait!
Thursday, 7 August 2008
Courgettes all over the place
St Gaétan
I found my very, very old freezer book which contained a superb recipe for courgettes - and so simple - I'll share it with you - it's easy to adjust the quantities to however many courgettes you have, so I'm not being exact.
Slice courgettes, as many as you have, then fry them in a little butter just until they begin to soften. Take them out of the pan and put them into a freezable dish or tin foil container.
Sprinkle them with lemon juice, chopped fresh basil and grated cheese of your choice. Leave it all to cool. Top with breadcrumbs - I always have plenty in the freezer as the bread tends to go dry quickly here. Freeze and label.
When you want to use the dish, take it out of the freezer and pop it in a hot oven for 30 minutes or so until it is cooked through.
Enjoy!
Personally, I would serve this dish with a cheeky Chablis.
If I could afford it. Meanwhile any old white plonk, a green salad and a slab of fresh chunky bread to mop up the juices.
Tuesday, 5 August 2008
Book group lunch
St Abel
It has been the hottest day yet - although tomorrow is forecast to be hotter - and we had a vey pleasant lunch with our book group at friends who live nearby.
I sometimes wonder whether it is the lunch or the books that keep us together but actually I'm sure it is a mixture of the two. The final two of our group have finally moved over here permanently and you could almost see the stress leaving them as they left their stressful jobs in England and realise that they can relax into the restful way of life we have here.
We are now a group of thirteen. An unlucky number you may say but we feel that we have grown as much as we would like to and have lively discussions about nearly all our book choices. Those under discussion today left the group, as ever, divided in opinion. One was too light perhaps, way too far fetched for some; the other was too ' American', the language too foul and gratuitous in places, or was it an easily read, hilarious in parts, poignant in others - the majority loved it but there was a sizeable group (mostly men, now I think about it) who didn't.
Today's hosts had excelled themselves in providing lunch and organising the timetable and we all parted looking forward to the next time. Which must be pretty scary for the person who has volunteered to host next time!
You know it really is a tough life out here, but someone has to live it.
It has been the hottest day yet - although tomorrow is forecast to be hotter - and we had a vey pleasant lunch with our book group at friends who live nearby.
I sometimes wonder whether it is the lunch or the books that keep us together but actually I'm sure it is a mixture of the two. The final two of our group have finally moved over here permanently and you could almost see the stress leaving them as they left their stressful jobs in England and realise that they can relax into the restful way of life we have here.
We are now a group of thirteen. An unlucky number you may say but we feel that we have grown as much as we would like to and have lively discussions about nearly all our book choices. Those under discussion today left the group, as ever, divided in opinion. One was too light perhaps, way too far fetched for some; the other was too ' American', the language too foul and gratuitous in places, or was it an easily read, hilarious in parts, poignant in others - the majority loved it but there was a sizeable group (mostly men, now I think about it) who didn't.
Today's hosts had excelled themselves in providing lunch and organising the timetable and we all parted looking forward to the next time. Which must be pretty scary for the person who has volunteered to host next time!
You know it really is a tough life out here, but someone has to live it.
Monday, 4 August 2008
Aiming to keep warm
St Jean-Marie
Busy, busy days.
Our friend Mark came over today to organise Jon into sorting out our logs. Actually, he came over to offer a pair of hands for the day in return for some nice pieces of wood we had offered for wood carving. Mark had indulged in wood carving in the past as a hobby until his career got in the way (we all know about that one don't we?) and now he's retired he wanted to get back to it and to have a go at some large projects.
We were more than happy to give him some large chunks of tree trunk, as many as he wanted, but he insisted on giving us some of his time in return and drove for an hour in each direction towing his trailer laden with chain saw, neat tools and the jewel in his trailer - a wood splitter. Wow! Boys toys or what???
So a very busy day of moving, sawing and splitting was had by all.
Well, I say 'all'.
Actually, I did what any girl would do when the big boys toys come out and I went shopping.
Not very exciting actually. I went to the supermarket which was a very unpleasant experience as all the July tourists had been replaced by the August tourists over the weekend and they had all descended on the local supermarket en masse this morning.
I returned to prepare lunch and spent the afternoon once more not by the pool reading a good book but at the computers trying to sort out printers and print all the various pages of evidence needed for our 'application not to put in an application for planning permission' - many, many more pieces of information than required this time last year.
The upshot of the day is that we now have a beautiful wall of logs running across the garden and needing to be moved nearer to the house (Liz, are you reading this and will you tell your husband what his little holiday project might be next week?). Mark tells us that we may already have most of the winter's supply stocked up - and they haven't really scratched the surface of the wood supply yet.
Keeping warm as well as keeping cool!
Busy, busy days.
Our friend Mark came over today to organise Jon into sorting out our logs. Actually, he came over to offer a pair of hands for the day in return for some nice pieces of wood we had offered for wood carving. Mark had indulged in wood carving in the past as a hobby until his career got in the way (we all know about that one don't we?) and now he's retired he wanted to get back to it and to have a go at some large projects.
We were more than happy to give him some large chunks of tree trunk, as many as he wanted, but he insisted on giving us some of his time in return and drove for an hour in each direction towing his trailer laden with chain saw, neat tools and the jewel in his trailer - a wood splitter. Wow! Boys toys or what???
So a very busy day of moving, sawing and splitting was had by all.
Well, I say 'all'.
Actually, I did what any girl would do when the big boys toys come out and I went shopping.
Not very exciting actually. I went to the supermarket which was a very unpleasant experience as all the July tourists had been replaced by the August tourists over the weekend and they had all descended on the local supermarket en masse this morning.
I returned to prepare lunch and spent the afternoon once more not by the pool reading a good book but at the computers trying to sort out printers and print all the various pages of evidence needed for our 'application not to put in an application for planning permission' - many, many more pieces of information than required this time last year.
The upshot of the day is that we now have a beautiful wall of logs running across the garden and needing to be moved nearer to the house (Liz, are you reading this and will you tell your husband what his little holiday project might be next week?). Mark tells us that we may already have most of the winter's supply stocked up - and they haven't really scratched the surface of the wood supply yet.
Keeping warm as well as keeping cool!
Friday, 1 August 2008
Keeping it cool
St Alphonse
Well, no it didn't all go horribly wrong but yesterday events overtook me rather.
The morning was shopping - not as early a start as I had planned but, hey, who cares? Then as it was book group day (one of them) I had to get supper prepared for the people who were coming back for the evening.
Everything takes so much longer in the heat, even though I had planned an easy meal: Gazpacho, salmon and rocket pasta bake with salad, cheese, shop-bought tarts. The chopping for the Gazpacho seemed to take forever and then, of course there is the clearing up. Meanwhile, shooing cats out of the kitchen - mostly those who aren't allowed in the house anyway (see previous posts), and walking back and forward from the two fridges collecting things I had forgotten.
Two fridges - very important. I find that vegetables go off so quickly that everything has to be kept in the fridge to extend its life. We try to shop only twice a week. One big shop and a top-up, but even so we find veggies and salads go off so quickly that meals are re-vamped at a moment's notice.
We do plan to get a larger fridge soon, our main, indoor, fridge is on it's last legs but we still believe that a second will be essential. The fridge in the garage is known as the drinks fridge and we try to only have it in play during the summer when it stores wine, beer and all manner of cold drinks but if we are expecting visitors we use it in the winter too. Then there is the freezer, usually full and with my future plan to 'buy when it is cheap' in bulk, we could really do with a second freezer too - and there's all those courgettes from the garden to freeze as well.
Once the shower unit, which has been taking up valuable garage space for 12 months now, is fitted, we will have space for a nice big chest freezer, but I'm sure it still won't be big enough. I have heard of people here with four chest freezers and three fridges, but I think we'll stick at the two of each.
Oh yes, last evening went very well, thank you. Our friends had a swim before supper and we ate outside in the cooling air, even though we were still overheated at 11pm!
Well, no it didn't all go horribly wrong but yesterday events overtook me rather.
The morning was shopping - not as early a start as I had planned but, hey, who cares? Then as it was book group day (one of them) I had to get supper prepared for the people who were coming back for the evening.
Everything takes so much longer in the heat, even though I had planned an easy meal: Gazpacho, salmon and rocket pasta bake with salad, cheese, shop-bought tarts. The chopping for the Gazpacho seemed to take forever and then, of course there is the clearing up. Meanwhile, shooing cats out of the kitchen - mostly those who aren't allowed in the house anyway (see previous posts), and walking back and forward from the two fridges collecting things I had forgotten.
Two fridges - very important. I find that vegetables go off so quickly that everything has to be kept in the fridge to extend its life. We try to shop only twice a week. One big shop and a top-up, but even so we find veggies and salads go off so quickly that meals are re-vamped at a moment's notice.
We do plan to get a larger fridge soon, our main, indoor, fridge is on it's last legs but we still believe that a second will be essential. The fridge in the garage is known as the drinks fridge and we try to only have it in play during the summer when it stores wine, beer and all manner of cold drinks but if we are expecting visitors we use it in the winter too. Then there is the freezer, usually full and with my future plan to 'buy when it is cheap' in bulk, we could really do with a second freezer too - and there's all those courgettes from the garden to freeze as well.
Once the shower unit, which has been taking up valuable garage space for 12 months now, is fitted, we will have space for a nice big chest freezer, but I'm sure it still won't be big enough. I have heard of people here with four chest freezers and three fridges, but I think we'll stick at the two of each.
Oh yes, last evening went very well, thank you. Our friends had a swim before supper and we ate outside in the cooling air, even though we were still overheated at 11pm!
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