A picture is worth 1,000 words

Gone fishin

I know I haven't posted much (bad blogger! Tsk tsk!) but here we are in the beautiful PNW. Fantastic sunrises, orca sightings, island hopping, BBQ and corn on the cob. And that's only in the last 48 hours!
I think these 5 weeks are going to fly by... I hope they don't, I need to savor...

Rade de Cherbourg

Yesterday Mystery Guest's mom had a great idea, going out on a little pleasure cruise to see the Rade de Cherbourg - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherbourg_Harbour

It was a beautiful sunny day and the guide gave us a good amount of history. We all agreed it was a beautiful way to spend the afternoon out on the water & play tourist in our own neck of the woods :-)

Saint Malo

We decided to take a very mini break and take an overnight trip to St Malo (only 2.5 hours from our house). We left just before 10am and took a picnic lunch with us. We decided along the way to take the coastal route and have our picnic lunch near Cancale - don't regret that choice at all!! Stunning views of the sea!
Then we cruised along to St Malo and I rediscovered the city through Vincent's eyes as the last time he was here he was 6 years old.
It was a hot hot day, at least 30C which is a little unusual along the coast. We wandered around the walled city and up and around the ramparts.. Looking at the crystal clear water below. It really is a stunning city.
At the end if the day we went to Le Cap Horn for our dinner reservation. As we got there a few minutes early after a stroll on the promenade we got a drink in the piano bar - yup piano bar! The dude was there in a suit playing along for our listening enjoyment.
Then we moved along to the meal - yum! Asparagus purée as an amuse-bouche, I started with 12 oysters on the halfshell, they were the biggest, butteriest oysters I have ever eaten! 12 should be a main course! Then I had wild seabass with a miso sauce... Finishing with an AMAZING dessert : Kouign Amann with a scoop of lait ribot (buttermilk) ice cream. So creamy & wonderful.
We finished the evening with a walk on the beach.
It's great to have a change of scenery - if only for a day!

Summer?

Let's see... Since those two beautiful weeks of summer we had back in ugh... May. We've had not one glorious hot summer day. Nada. Zilch. Nil.
Instead of working on my tan at the beach in the afternoons I sip tea in my hoodie on the couch. Not that I mind that but I'd prefer to do it in say... November? It's JULY!!!

Rant over.

Anyway this year there have been some ups and downs in my little veggie patch. My FIL had given me dome beautiful tomato starters that he grew from seed, with the rain and those beautiful may days they grew bananas. But alas with just so much rain they still suffered the same fate as last years tomatoes - blight. I ripped them up this week :-(
He gave me leek starters this week, I think they'll do better, more adapted for cooler weather. My blueberries created the most beautiful and delicate little white bell shaped blossoms this spring (that the bees adored!) and now they are starting to ripen!! My snow peas & green beans are enjoying the cool weather and have lots of flowers. I planted a row of beets from seed which sprouted quite nicely until I went out one morning and saw that the slugs had mowed them down only leaving two which now are doing great. My zucchini have resisted the cool temps and are doing their very best to flower and have little baby zucchini starting. I'm going to plant some carrots, beets & kale that I ordered. Hopefully they'll do ok :-)

That's it for the garden round up - ill leave you with a picture of my breakfast this morning! Berries from the garden if you please!!!

14 juillet

The rain stopped long enough to go up to the Val de Saire with some friends. I had offered to bring a dessert and ended up making a cheesecake because the hostess has always wanted to try one. Having real access to Philadelphia cream cheese makes a HUGE difference and now I prefer a speculoos crust over a graham cracker one.
We were lucky with a clear night when we spotted fireworks across the bay.

Now if only the sun would come back and the temps would creep up above the 16C we've been having - I want summer already!!!

Mes souliers sont rouges

Last night we went out to a local music festival with some friends - Ecoute s'il pleut. And pleut it did! We showed up and I felt right at home; being a Seattleite and all...

We came to see Mes Souliers Sont Rouges, a folk group inspired by Norman, Breton, Quebecoise & Cajun music. Music to shake your bootie to! Plus they are a local group, my friend is a huge fan of them, literally growing up with them - they started their career in a local bar when she was in junior high school.





The best part of the evening is when the group came on stage the rain stopped, the clouds started to clear and by the time the concert came to a close at 1:30am the night sky was covered with a sprinkling of stars...

Fantastic evening.

Going to work this morning? Yeah... a little rough...

Bust a move!

I joined a new gym in V-town. Let's hope I don't turn into Chandler...

Happy Mother's Day!

To celebrate American Mother's Day, spring and the beautiful sun we have this morning I decided to make bircher muesli the way my mom does. Today was the simplified version, let's be frank it's Sunday morning and I'm still in my pjs - no need to over complicate things!
Just take an apple and using a box grater grate it into a bowl. Mix in some delicious vanilla yogurt (recently discovered this brand and love the big tub it comes in!) and add in your favorite muesli. Stir and bon app!!

You can of course dress it up, honey, sliced fresh fruit, nuts etc but this is the way I like it, easy to put together.

La casse

Saturday night Mystery Guest and I met up after I got off work to go see the Avengers (two thumbs up!) and on the way home since we had two cars he followed me home.

When we got home he went straight to my car because something was off- literally. The plastic covering my taillights had completely fallen off and my bulbs where exposed. Not only that but Saturday night and all day Sunday we had torrential wind and rain. He covered the exposed part as best he could and we took a look online to see how much a replacement part would cost if la casse didn't have it.

First thing this morning we called to see and they had one!!! So a quick trip to the junkyard, 40€, a scraped knuckle and 5 min install later and my car has a new-to-me taillight. Woo!!

'cause I eats me spinach

A big pack of baby spinach on sale inspired me to go back to this recipe. Yum.
http://confituredulait.blogspot.fr/2011/05/new-recipe.html

Weekend recap

4,000 words... Warm spring breeze, camellias, Orion starry night, best friends skipping stones, fantastic cookie stop...

It doesn't get any better than that.

Petit chocolat

I just think its so cool that my boss recommended a dessert that is locally made - down to the milk that comes from her parent's farm.

They are little mini pots aux chocolat that are the size of a petit suisse but taste like a delicious dark chocolate pudding.

And no, Montebourg is not in reference to the French politician but rather a town out here in the Cotentin.

Tip of the day

Step 1: Get plastic 'rouleaux' from your bank.

Step 2: Take tin can full of copper change that your American friends left you and sort into 5, 2, and 1 cent piles.

Step 3: Fill your plastic rouleaux.

Step 4: Admire your handiwork.

Step 5: Depose your hard earned 8€ at the bank.

Smile :-)

Foggy

It never lifted today. Thick as pea soup & heard the fog horns all day.

Sunny Sunday

Workin girl

I've been neglecting my poor blog but with being the busy workin girl that I am I'm too lazy to fire up the laptop for a real post.... But I do have one about our fantastic new kitchen (and knives!) up my sleeve.

In the meantime work is still going swimmingly, I even got in some quality knitting time on my lunch break today.

Winter sunrise

Chilly

Better late than never I guess! We finally have hit cold winter temps (only 2months late... I hope the gods don't have any nasty payback in store for us!)
I went up to the market to get my veggies, those cold crisp winter mornings do make great pictures!

Numbers..

At work I've had to get used to long rapid fire series of numbers (in French of course!) but also to French handwriting. Inspired by a post written by Gwan a few months ago I present the kind of stuff I'm faced with everyday.

A prize goes to the lucky reader (non-French of course!) who gets it right!

Workin'

My job is keeping me busy but I'm really really enjoying myself. The colleagues are fantastic (there are only 3 of us) and the customers are friendly too.
On top of it all I'm working in a beautiful seaside town which is flooded with tourists in the summer but in the winter retains is magical charm. Lunchtime walks are a treat!

January walk

Yesterday Mystery Guest and I took advantage of the mild winter we're having (unlike the horrible snow from the last two years!) This winter we had a few days of frost back in October but nothing since then. But don't think I'm complaining! Living out here in the countryside where people aren't used to snow, where no one has snowtires and the roads are rarely plowed I'm perfectly happy with the mild temps!

But yesterday you would have thought it was an early spring day once the sun came out. We drove over to Carteret which isn't too far from where we live. We walked down by the church ruins (which you can see in yesterday's post) and since it was really low tide we walked all the way down to the water passing by some crazy shellfish which we found out later (thanks to Facebook!) are gooseneck barnacles and apparently a delicacy in Spain and Portugal. In the center picture you can see how clearly we could see Jersey yesterday, beautiful.

We were playing the goats scampering over the rocks by the point when we realized the tide was coming in so we made a mad dash over the rocks to get to the other side. Once along the main beach (where those cute beach cabins are) we hiked back over to where the car was parked following the Sentier des Douaniers and saw one of their old stone shelters overlooking the sea.

It was a beautiful day, every five seconds that came out of my mouth but I couldn't help ooohhhing and ahhhhing! :) Work has been off to a great start but being stuck in an office all day it sure was nice to get outside and have the sea air deep in my lungs.

Afternoon walk

2011

I wanted to post this earlier but I started a new job Tuesday and haven't had much free time especially since the cell connection in the old stone building is really bad.

I've been meaning to do a recap on 2011... It was a good year. Some of the highlights were finishing my call center job with its grueling 3 hour daily commute, meeting my new nephew in Mystery Guest's clan and becoming a French citizen. I also got to help dear friends celebrate their marriages and had my first (but not last!) experience working in a 'real' French job.

Looking back one of the real highlights of my year was spending quality family time. Seeing my little sister after 4 years all grown up! My parents and especially my grandparents. Back in February I spent 4 days with them in Southern California listening to stories and doing puzzles. I'm so lucky now that I was able to because after a bad fall on Christmas day my Grandmother was hospitalized and subsequently operated on. She sadly never woke up and passed away Monday night.

It's so hard not being able to be there for my family at a time like this, the service is going to be this afternoon in my Grandma's church and I've been thinking about them all day. But with a new work contract and California so far away I just can't make it back and am trying to say goodbye in my own way.

I know she'd understand, she was one of the strongest women I know. A nurse, always telling me what nice veins I have.... :-) She was full of pride and commitment to her family. I have such wonderful memories of her. And to quote my uncle, "while this is a sad time, let's try to remember to celebrate Mom's life: Kansas farm-girl done real good."