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."

Christmas recap

Well things went really well for our first time hosting Christmas. Everyone arrived at the end of the afternoon for an apéritif (my MIL brought lots of bottles of bubbly for the occasion!) I served Deviled eggs which went over well, along with some bought puff pastry nibblies.
For dinner I made a Chapon which MG and I thought was a castrated turkey - turns out it was a castrated chicken but given the size of it (3,5kg!) I kept calling it a turkey anyway... So that turned out yummy and we had it with mashed potatoes & gravy, polenta, green beans & bacon, stuffing and carrots!
Afterwards sticking with local tradition we had a trou normand to help us digest before attacking the cheese and then dessert. I made a hazelnut/blackberry cake that my FIL adores and a pumpkin pie which everyone loved. I snuck upstairs for a 6 way google hangout with my dad, sister, uncles and grandparents which was SO fun!
By then we were stuffed and exhausted so we opened our stockings (it was my little surprise this year - I made personalized stockings for the family! I think it's a tradition that should take hold here!!) and I think they all liked them along with the goodies inside! Then we watched a movie.
But we voted 3 to 2 to open the rest of the presents the following day (Christmas morning).
After a relaxed breakfast of challah and lots of coffee we finally got into it ;-) and there were fantastic gifts all around!
We kept it simple the rest of the day, leftovers for lunch and Carcassonne all afternoon.
I called my mom after they had left and did another FaceTime chat with my sister in Oz. I love technology!!

So all in all a great Christmas weekend. We're seeing some friends tomorrow & invited for NYE so between now and then it's time to relax a bit because I got offered a 3 month contract starting January 3rd :-)

Merry Christmas!!

champagne!

On Wednesday night I was invited to a ceremony which wrapped up my journey of becoming a Franco-American. I officially became naturalized in May but because there ain't many of us furrenginers out here in the countryside who go about asking to be naturalized they only have a ceremony once every six months. Mystery Guest and I were invited to go and I really had no idea what to expect especially since some other naturalized  Americans didn't go to their ceremonies. I guess to be honest I assumed it would just be in the main prefecture waiting area! But I did have my fingers crossed for champagne and champagne I got!

We were asked to show up 15 minutes early for  a 6pm ceremony. There were about 30 people there plus their families/friends. But then we were lead out of the main prefecture and to the official residence of the "prefect" (who is basically the head of the "departement" or "state" that I live in).

Classssy! Beautiful tapestries, fairly modern yet tasteful decoration.

The prefect came out dressed to the nines in his military uniform and after a short informative video about being French (the only thing I found odd is that they tell you what it means to be French after you've been naturalized! what if you change your mind???) Then he gave a short speech and the European anthem was played. Afterwards we were invited to join him in singing la Marseillaise. When Mystery Guest asked if I knew all the words (we were given a photocopy of the lyrics just in case!) I said of course not, I know the few key lines but that's it - not that that's a bad thing don't ask me to sing the whole Star Spangled Banner off the top of my head either! (I'll always have a soft spot for the American national anthem, it's just so poetic and not so bloody...)

Then they handed out our new paperwork individually and took back our carte de sejours. I'm pretty sure they read us out in terms of the size of the cities we were from because I was dead last! Some of the mayors came to the ceremony - one even gave a lady a bouquet of flowers!

Then there was a pot, drinks and lots of yummy things to nibble on. Glad to see my tax euros being put to good use - that champagne was tasty!

I'm really glad I went (even though the capital city of our departement is about an hours drive) and that Mystery Guest could join me. Sometimes a ceremony is really nice, it really finalizes something, takes shape and becomes more meaningful than a letter saying congratulations. Plus it didn't drag on for ages, short, sweet and to the point which was perfect. :-)

I was interviewed by the local radio and on the drive home everything just came together. Still feels a little odd to say that I'm French - but in the same way that it feels odd to say that I'm 30 - it hasn't totally sunk in yet.

But I'm sure it will - I can't wait to vote in two presidential elections next year!

Winter beach

Went for an afternoon walk in between November-like showers (what's up with the weather? It was snowing this time last year!!).

I adore the deserted beaches in the winter!

Cookies & Turkey

Yesterday I went to Caen to sell my 300+ cookies that I made for the Greedy Guts Christmas market. Everything went really well! I had plate of cookie samples that I'd get people to try and almost everyone that tried some ended up buying cookies! I sold all but 12 (1 box of a dozen) in about 4 hours so I thought that was pretty good! Plus I had sooo much fun doing it :-)

When we got home last night I threw a pumpkin pie in the oven (thanks mom for the canned pumpkin! A real life saver!!!) and then this morning I got up early to put together a December thanksgiving lunch. We had wanted to invite some friends for thanksgiving but they were busy last week. Turns out that moving thanksgiving back a week is perfect timing! As it is impossible to buy a turkey in November in France somehow waiting until the first week of December they magically appear! Got a great deal at 4.50€ /kg too! It ended up being cooked perfectly and I realized as Mystery Guest was carving it that this is the first time I've ever cooked a turkey! After all these years celebrating in France either someone else has been in charge of the bird or I've made a chicken. So I was very proud of myself :-) we also had homemade cranberry sauce, mom's fantastic stuffing, carrots and mashed taters (mystery guest did the gravy, yum!) now we're sitting on the couch vegging while it continues to pour down rain outside. So lucky that the rain miraculously stopped for the few hours that the Christmas market was on yesterday - thank god!

lunch

Just a little snapshot of our lunch today. We stopped by the in-laws yesterday and my MIL gave me some fresh cod filets that my FIL caught (he loves to fish). For lunch I breaded them with breadcrumbs flavored with lemon zest and herbs de provence and pan fried them. A little soft polenta and voila - lunch!

Yum.

Birthday Surprises!!!

My birthday was last Thursday, I knew things were planned for the day (it was a milestone birthday if you will... ) but I didn't know what. We had a delicious lunch at the creperie, drove over to the cookie store to show the family around and then had a relaxing afternoon at home (with presents, I was WAY too spoiled!) before some friends surprised me when they dropped by for a champagne apero before we headed off to have dinner in a castle.

It was a great birthday, all of my favorite things wrapped up in a day! Plus on Friday we had our faux-Thanksgiving, a great way to finish the week and my family's time here. Friday evening after dinner I we were talking about the week and how quickly it went by when Mystery Guest asked what time we should leave for Paris Saturday.

We?

Yes, we.

You can imagine my shock because I knew my family had to leave on Saturday to catch flights home on Sunday but we weren't planning on going because I thought they were just going to crash at an airport hotel. Instead I packed Friday night and we left Saturday morning at 7am for a day in Paris! Those secret people organized the whole day without me having any clue!!! We dropped the rental car off and took a cab into the city where there we rooms reserved at a hotel in the 5th for MG, myself and my sister. I called Ksam as we were getting hungry for lunch and asked for a recommendation.

OMG.

El Sol et La Luna.

Speechless - but here's a picture.

Then we had a whirlwind guided tour of Paris (courtesy of yours truly) to see the main monuments starting with Notre Dame.

The Eiffel Tower

The Arc de Triomphe

 

 We also walked around the outside of the Louvre and tried to go to the Orangerie but even though on their website they said they were open until 7pm when we got there they were closing at 6pm.. 

Here are a couple of other shots from the afternoon and Sunday morning.

  

I knew there were plans for dinner but I had no idea what. We walked over to île de la cité where Mystery Guest had reserved the coolest restaurant. Not only that but he surprised me by inviting some wonderful friends to celebrate with us! So much fun!!!

My feet were killing me by the end of the day but it gave everyone a good taste of Paris and probably an excuse to come back :)

Thanksgiving 2011

I haven't celebrated Thanksgiving with any of my family members since I moved to France (8 years ago!!!) so a few weeks ago I thought it would be fun to do a faux-Thanksgiving! Chicken instead of turkey but otherwise all the other fixins were there and with the grey weather that day you wouldn't have known it was October and not November :)

I just can't get enough of my iPhone app so here's a 60's version of our dinner...

sharing Normandy

Part of my family is in Normandy visiting for a week. My little sister flew in all the way from Australia! We've mostly been hanging out around here and I'll go through my pictures later but I wanted to take my sister down to Mont Saint Michel just because it really shouldn't be missed! The weather was beautiful today so we jumped in the car this morning and drove down.

It was a little crowded because of the school vacation but we got to visit the abbey in relative calm and I got to use my new app - AutoStitch to do some panoramas!

 And of course I played around with the video app again too... Makes a boring video a little more fun :)

Day Trippin'

 Today I went to Caen for the day. When I left the hardware store there was a huge menacing black cloud but by the time I reached downtown the sun came out and everything was glistening.

 I parked down by my old haunts and got a twinge of nostalgia walking down my old street where I had my first (tiny!) studio. The sun is shining on the front door on the left side of the street.

 The view I used to have looking out the front door of the building. I always thought this alley had a certain mystique about it and with the bright October sun and the wet cobblestone it sure did!

 I made my way over to Greedy Guts which opened this summer. It is a 100% homemade 100% vegetarian cafe with totally yummy lunches and to die for desserts!

My last stop of the day was in Bayeux where I met up with the lovely LouLou for a tea and hot chocolate. She is just as beautiful and as delightful in person as she is on her blog and the afternoon flew by as we chatted about anything and everything.

Fall

 Fall is officially in the air. We've had several sunny days but not the hot sun that we randomly had the beginning of October but a crisp autumn sun - we've even had frost the last 2 mornings!

All this makes me want to pick up my knitting needles - so I finally finished a project that I started back in April, my first attempt at a linen stitch and it turned out beautiful if I do say so myself!

 We've also started eating all the fall squashes, here are a few that are just dying to be turned into soup or pureed... (the one in the back is from MY garden!!! little mini jack 'o lantern!)

 Last night we went out with some friends to dinner at an amazing restaurant in Bricquebec. The old castle has been turned into a hotel and the restaurant is downstairs. I think they've really beefed up their menu and everything was just perfect! I had an appetizer of sautéed shrimp with a spicy mango dipping sauce, main course was duck breast with an orange sauce, a mushroom cap stuffed with carrot puree and a stuffed baked apple. YUM. Then there was of course the local cheese plate (some of which LouLou is going to be tasting soon!) and then dessert... oh my god dessert... It was the most fantastic chocolate cake. The crust was a sort of marzipan base and then there were layers and layers of different chocolate mousses topped with a silky chocolate ganache. I'm drooling just thinking about it! The best thing is that out here we don't have big city prices and the whole menu ran for 29 euros - not bad me thinks!

When we arrived the last bit of sunlight was fading away... you'll have to excuse the iPhone camera but it didn't do such a bad job of capturing the moment. :)

I've got to get back to getting things ready... the family invades in a week!

carrot

I bought purple carrots at the market today. They are more expensive than the normal carrots but I just couldn't resist...

I also planted all the bulbs I bought last week. I always told myself that if I were to put money into gardening that I would first buy things that were actually productive, that you could eat. But this spring I found myself pining for some color with all the dreary grey skies we were having.

So this year I bought 3 bags of bulbs for 14 euros; narcissus, hyacinths and irises and planted them down by the mailbox. It was totally worth the 5 euros for the hand bulb planter. Now I just need to wait for the spring to see if they bloom!

fall harvest

I harvested a few things from the garden this afternoon. The zucchini are still producing but the little zucks are rotting before they reach maturity so I figured why not harvest the tender zucchini babies? (did that sound as violent to you as it did to me? 

I also pulled an ear of corn to give it a test run tonight. I read that if the top kernels don't mature it's a problem with fertilization. Given that I planted my corn over 6 weeks late I think the little mini corn doesn't look half bad!

 

I'll let you know how it all tastes though!

saturday morning baking

This afternoon we're headed over to a friend's family summer home where they are staying for the weekend. We'll go in the afternoon and stay for dinner. 

I said I'd bring dessert. 

I don't think they'll be disappointed....

  

 Unfortunately I've started a tradition whereas everytime we go visit them (or crash at their house outside of Paris before catching a flight) I bring my double chocolate chunk cookies. There is now an expectation (and addiction!) to uphold!

I've been dying to try a new recipe that my friend Aimee keeps putting up amazing pictures of and if I lived in Paris I'd probably live IN her teahouse where I'd eat cake and knit all day.

Here's a  before shot of my version of her tart.

 

summer's over...

What really cracked me up when I was in Paris last weekend was all the bloggers asking how my garden was going! So I'm happy to report that even though we were basking in the summer sun last week the weather has decidedly turned to autumn. But my garden isn't done yet! I've picked over 2kg of wild blackberries that grow EVERYWHERE! Every other day I go out and pick a small handful of raspberries.

Nothing is better than raspberries still cool in the morning.

My spaghetti squash is starting to change color with a yellow hue slowly replacing the green.

And my pumpkins! I've got 3 that are starting to turn orange! They won't win any contests for the biggest pumpkin but I'm hoping they'll cook up nice 'n tasty :)

I also have a little mini forest of wax beans that I planted the beginning of August. I've snacked on a few while touring around the garden and they are tasty even raw.

(Mystery Guest thinks I'm nuts for eating raw beans...)

My mini harvest of wax beans! Last night when I got home there was a big bag of green beans on our doorstep (love the neighbors) so I think we'll be eating some beans tonight!

  

Other than that the corn is slowly coming along. I had a peak inside one husk and the kernels haven't quite plumped up yet - I'm hoping they will before long!

Celebration

This weekend Mystery Guest and I jetted off to Paris to be a part of a wonderful celebration - Miss KSam's wedding!

We had a fantastic time! I got to finally meet in person some wonderful people and see some other friends that I have not seen in several years who came in from all corners the world. I know the bride and groom where probably a little stressed but it didn't show; everything was so seamless! The bride was radiant, the groom all smiles... The weather couldn't be better, especially for an October day, even the evening walk home was warm and summery. Champagne in the park was lovely and then the dinner and the afterparty were just a fantastic way of getting to know people and celebrating the happy couple!

The weekend went by too quickly - all I want to say is congratulations to the happy couple and may your future be very sweet!

Blackberries!

 No no, don't worry I haven't switched to a CrackBerry, I still have my trusty iPhone!

But it is blackberry season! They are ripe much earlier than last year and they are big and beautiful! I just went to go pick for 20 minutes or so just around the house and came back with a big bowl full. The weather is just stunning today, warm and sunny with no wind - my kind of September day!
 

Don't you just want to lick the screen?? 

Milk

I was chatting with my neighbor (who has left goodies such as potatoes, rhubarb, eggs etc on our doorstep and I leave cookies, apple jelly etc on hers) and it came up that she goes down to fetch milk from her friend's farm. She offered to get me a litre if I wanted.

Of course I jumped at the chance! Her friend has a non-registered organic farm but doesn't sell to individuals so even when I offered to pay she wouldn't let me.

As promised when we got home today I saw this little mini milk jug on our doorstep full of whole raw milk! Yum!

Thanks neighbor!

fall garden

 I took these pictures 3 days ago as a little garden update more to chronicle how things are moving along rather than as a fascinating blog post for you readers! First up my one lone spaghetti squash seems to be doing great, it's huge! It stopped growing so I'm hoping it's going to start changing color soon.

 I had planted butternut squash in between the pumpkin plants - a mistake not to make next year! The pumpkins totally tookover and it is only now that the pumpkins are dying back (powdery mildew) that my butternut is escaping but it's too late in the season. The little dead butternut made me so sad!

 I planted some wax beans the beginning of August and they are doing well, lots of flowers and I'm hoping to get a fall harvest of beans! :)

 The corn stood up to a HUGE windstorm we had last week, the ears are looking good but are still really small, I hope they mature before October when we have a risk of frost...

The zucchinis are still producing a few and my baby basil is fluffy and cute, I might try to make a mini batch of pesto...