soupe du jour

What I got up to this week....

2011-10-20T22:12:00.000+02:00

Le Creuset

2011-09-29T08:39:00.003+02:00

Although I have stopped eating meat, I still cook it for the family and it has made meal preparation a little more of a challenge. I realized I needed a small frying pan in which to cook their meat so I could add it to whatever else I was making later. All this to justify why I *needed* a Le Creuset frying pan! Of course, a new one was a little out of my budget so I have been looking at ebay and le bon coin. What I would have loved is a marmitout - where you have a saucepan with a frying pan that doubles as a lid. But they are rather hard to come by second hand. So in my search for a small frying pan, I came across someone selling a mix of stuff for 20€. Here's what I got: an almost brand new dutch oven, a saucepan, a fabulous old gratin dish (perfect for tartiflette) and the exact style of little frying pan that I was after. Bargain!

Mummy's annual weekend off

2011-09-10T13:02:00.003+02:00

Yes, its been a while hasn't it? No apologies...blame Facebook, life, laziness or whatever takes your fancy.

I could spend this post filling you in on our exciting summer, full of visits from family and friends and trips to the english countryside and the italian lakes (well, one of them). I could even talk about what a great rentrée my kids had this week, what fun and exciting new activities they are taking up this year, my return to french classes and running and my recent conversion to vegetarianism. But no, I think you'd much rather hear where I am having my weekend off this year, wouldn't you?

This fabulous tradition has taken place every year now since 2008 when I went to Marseille . That was my first trip away and it was only for a day. Since then, I've had a trip to Milan in 2009, and trips to Chicago and Barcelona in 2010. Hmmm, 2010 was a rather special year as I escaped twice!

But that all seems like years ago and it is high time for another escapade. And what could be better than a little trip to Belgium. Yes, despite the fact that they sold out in 17 minutes, I managed to get my hands on some tickets for New Order's reunion show. So in a little more than a month I will be hotfooting it to Brussels to wave my lighter in the air (or it is an iPhone these days) and sing "oh you've got green eyes, oh you've got blue eyes, oh you've got grey eyes..."

Huit ans!

2011-06-18T21:47:00.001+02:00

Lausanne

2011-04-28T10:12:00.008+02:00

We took a quick trip to Lausanne this week to meet up with David's best friend from primary school again, before his return to the US. It also happened to be my birthday. We packed light and took a train to Evian-les-Bains so we could catch the ferry over to Lausanne for the night.

Arriving in the lovely train station at Evian

You get to walk across the tracks in front of the trains - a bit of a treat!

Two children going wild in the Palais Lumière Evian (surely not mine!)

Gorgeous windows in the Palais Lumière - we also filled our water bottle from one of the four sources of water in the entry (not sure if this is the done thing but we did it!)

The boat to Switzerland

Goodbye Evian

Hello Lutry

Nesting swan

In Dav's old school playground

The two troublemakers - slightly older and wiser!

On our way up the the Old Town (Despite my skilfully light packing this time, we acquired a vintage skateboard which I then had to carry for 2 days)

The Cathedral

Chateau

Wandering through town (still carrying that damn skateboard)

On the metro

Skateboarding lessons

A quick dip in the fountain (how un-Swiss!)

At the Olympic Museum (we met some skateboarders who said the skateboard would fetch US$300 on Ebay...hmmmm...)

Lunch on the terrace

Megève 2011

2011-03-27T20:58:00.008+02:00

Our ski holiday this year was two weeks of firsts: Jasper's first piste rouge and the first time he mastered the tire-fesses, Lily's first trip to hospital in an ambulance, David's first meet-up with his best friend from childhood in about 25 years, David's and my first try at snowboarding, our first time using Megève's wonderful Magnestick system of kids' safety vests for the chairlifts. Dramas aside (and it didn't turn out to be *that* serious) it was a great two weeks.

Fondue...

Family photo (look closely for a shy 4 year old)

Take-off

Snowboarding...it looks so easy but its not...

At least we looked good (or thought we did!)

David and his buddy

Lovely thick snow in our garden...shame it all melted!

My girl

Jasper taking the tire-fesses

Bored kids waiting for Mum and Dad to sort out their snowboards at the ski-hire shop!

Proud as punch on his first red piste

Lily and I off to Sallanches in an ambulance to rule out meningitis...only a father could have taken this photo!

Whodunnit?

2011-01-24T14:47:00.004+02:00

Here's a link to a great site called Polar FLE, which one of my french teachers gave me. If you like mysteries, you can practice your french at one of four different levels (débutant, élémentaire, intermédiaire ou avancé) and solve the crime. Each level has a different text to read and exercises to do to help solve the mystery. I've only just started some of the grammar exercises at the intermediate levels but it looks quite well thought out.

Snow 2010

2010-12-03T14:56:00.001+02:00

In an attempt to not let this blog die off completely, here's a pic of some of the snow we had this week...

In memory of James Freud RIP

2010-11-04T10:19:00.000+02:00

To the french trick-or-treaters

2010-11-01T10:40:00.002+02:00

who rang our buzzer at 10pm last night....

Firstly, I'm sorry my husband sounded like a grumpy old bear and told you not to ring our buzzer because the children were asleep. You see, when you stand in the corridor, giggling and wearing a face mask, we just think you're being obnoxious teens.

A good way to avoid this in future, might be to actually say something, like, oh I don't know, "Trick or Treat" or whatever the french equivalent is. This way, those of us who don't actually give a shit about Halloween (which includes us and most of your compatriots) might realize what day it is and what you are doing. And we might actually have shared our late-night stash of hazelnut chocolate with you. But now you'll never know!

Barcelona

2010-10-28T19:25:00.008+02:00

I took a little three day break last week in Barcelona (as you do). I met up with an old friend and her mum for a quick look at the sights and a lot of reminiscing. Definitely a place to return to for a longer stay

On the bus tour of noteable sites (Gaudi and others)

Tapas!

Sagrada Famillia (Gaudi cathedral still under construction)

Gothic Quarter

Markets

Fantastic flamenco show

More Gaudi

Pascal Croci

2010-10-14T18:34:00.004+02:00

I'll be settling down a bit later with a bande déssinée by Pascal Croci, who has fast become my favourite BD author/illustrator. Well known for his work "Auschwitz", I first read his books about Dracula and was captured by his unique illustrations and gothic atmosphere. Tonight, I've borrowed Gloriande de Thémines, the story of a Countess who lived in the castle at Sévérac le Chateau...the village where Croci lives with his partner and collaborator Françoise-Sylvie Pauly. It should be a good read, especially on a cool autumn night...

Retour des Alpages 2010

2010-10-09T19:27:00.004+02:00

Well, what's to say that I haven't said in previous years? This is always my favourite day in Annecy (except perhaps for the first day it snows!). The Retour des Alpages is so much fun and has become the official start of the cold weather food menus chez Giorgi (this means we can officially start eating melted cheese, although I do wait til at least November to have a fondue!)

We take a tour around rue St Claire in the morning to look at the animals and the displays. Then, we come home and eat our first raclette of the season at lunch and then pop back out to watch the parade. This year's parade was notable for some last minute bumrushers (I mean, really, who stands right in front of two little kids?) and some very close encounters with the cows (but fortunately not their horns!). But it was a lot of fun.

Raclette (my two favourite types of raclette cheese are fumée - smoked and lait cru - raw milk)

The mayor himself (again!)

The geese (still my favourites)

Those crazy cows (well, actually these weren't the ones who nearly squashed us in narrow rue Filaterie, but their horns were just as pointy)

You never know who you might meet...

2010-10-09T19:21:00.002+02:00

Seen recently at Gatwick International Space Station...err Airport...

French classes

2010-10-01T19:17:00.002+02:00

Time to update this blog with more than just trips back to 80s aussie music...

I've just finished 4 weeks of my french classes and I am loving them. I go every school morning (that is Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday) between 930 and 1100am. This gives me just enough time to drop the kids off at school, have coffee, prepare lunch, go to class, come home from class, finish lunch preparations and go back and get the kids from school for lunch. Two afternoons a week, I have been roped into english conversation lessons with two local women which I am enjoying giving. Add to this, the occasional extra child at lunchtime, swimming lessons, music and double-bass lessons for Lily and life is very very busy.

The french classes are great and I am so glad to have found them. Although the students are not obliged to come every day, there is a core group of about six of us (all women) who are there most, if not all, days. We come from all over - Asia, Eastern Europe, Western Europe and the UK (well, they're part of Europe but anyway...). Although some us speak english, our common language is french. We are part of group 3 (out of 3 groups) and all have a pretty good level of french...enough to permit us to joke around and really get involved in our classes. It can be hard to get a word in sometimes! Our teachers are mostly retired teachers and we have the same teacher for each day of the week... a Monday teacher, a Tuesday teacher and so on. This allows some continuity of teaching even though there is no set curriculum as such.

As for my progress, I don't know if it shows in my speech, but I do feel like I am making some. If not, at least I am having a lot of fun and making new friends. And I think I finally understand the rule about when to accord the past participle with the Complément d'Objet Direct, which I have never been able to understand, so that *must* mean I am making progress!!

Missed it by that much...

2010-09-28T23:46:00.001+02:00

Would you believe the Hoodoo Gurus played in Montpelier on Monday night and are playing Paris tomorrow night? I would have gone! Instead, I am at home listening to Tojo and remembering the UQ refec back in 1985...

When the cat's away...

2010-09-26T23:41:00.002+02:00

the mouse stays up late playing with youtube...

Why did they keep messing with this song? It never got better than this...

A good rentrée all round

2010-09-06T15:41:00.004+02:00

The kids did great with the rentrée this year. Both are in mixed grade classes, have excellent teachers and were lucky enough to score their best friend in their class. I had my rentrée today when I tried out the first of my four morning a week french classes. I was very impressed with the Monday teacher, who quickly adapted her teaching to my level and that of my other classmate (there were only two of us in our group). I'm really keen to see what the rest of the week's teachers are like. But for now, at least, I know I'll definitely be going Mondays.

All smiles this year!

New slippers for a new year

La rentrée 2010

2010-09-01T19:19:00.003+02:00

Yes, well, we are back obviously. It was an amazing holiday and we've spent the last two weeks enjoying summer, but that's all over now, its the rentrée tomorrow. I love the rentrée. Not only because the kids are close to killing each other and need some time apart, but because its like the start of a whole new year and autumn is just around the corner.

On which note, I will announce my two new year's resolutions and let's see if I follow through with them. The first is to find a good french class that wont break the bank (meaning I cannot afford to go to IFALPES or CILFA for intensive classes, much as I might like to). The second is to find a volunteer position that fits in well around school, the kids, after-school activities and my french classes.

So first things first. I just got off the phone from an amazingly friendly french woman who told me all about their FREE french classes, four mornings a week from 930 - 1100. Did I mention they are FREE! And to top it off they are literally around the corner from home. They are run by volunteer retired french teachers. A different teacher does each day each week and you work on different things - there is no curriculum as such. There are 3 levels, so you are with people of a similar level. And there is no requirement to come all four days (thereby leaving at least one morning a week free for marché/café with friends!). So I will be trying them out next week and will go to each session to see how they are. She also invited me to her home for a soirée she runs for foreigners (I did mention she was friendly!)

If I don't like those classes, there is a french class at the MJC Annecy-le-Vieux, that I can enrol in on 9 September, as I don't live in the area. And I am waiting for a call from the teacher that does the french class at our local MJC. So I have lots of avenues to pursue and really no one to blame if I don't get a class organized this year, given both kids will be at school mornings and afternoons.

As for the volunteer position, once I get the class sorted I will go and see the volunteer association who helps coordinate all the positions and see what I can do.

So on that note, bonne rentrée à tous!

So behind

2010-08-05T09:54:00.002+02:00

We are now about 5 weeks into our 6 week trip to Oz and I have finally got around to blogging. After a hectic trip including a little broken arm at Heathrow, we've been on the go ever since. First stop after a few days in Brisbane to get over the jetlag was the grandparent's farm at Rosebank...

collecting the eggs

in Gran's veggie garden

Wallabies on the front lawn

Bravo Jasper!

2010-06-27T18:55:00.002+02:00

Jasper learns to ride without training wheels...a little more practice still needed, but he's off to a good start

End of year update

2010-06-23T11:40:00.004+02:00

There's not much time for blogging now what with birthdays, end of school activities and organizing to be done for our first trip back to Oz in three years. So here is the short photo version of the last couple of weeks....

Lily's 7 year old birthday cake

Pin the tail on the donkey at the Maternelle fête

Father's day

Jasper learning to ride without training wheels (a little more practice required)

Our new parasol

As usual all the kids in the Maternelle sang a selection of songs for the parents that they have been rehearsing all year. In the interests of privacy I wont post the videos but here is one of my favourite tunes that they did...

Summer gardens

2010-06-05T11:17:00.005+02:00

The town gardeners have been very busy removing all the spring bulbs and planting the summer flowers. This photo was taken in the Square de l'Eveché, a favourite park. Obviously, its got some growing to do but I think its nice.

But look closer...what is that strange feature shrub in the middle...could it be?

Yes, it is! Lantana! A favourite bush when I was a kid, due to its strong smelling flowers that come apart easily and can be chucked all over your friends. But oh, the hours I spent in my garden in Ashgrove digging out this bloody bush only to have it grow back time after time...

.

2010-06-04T10:57:00.002+02:00

I woke from my drug induced sleep this morning at 7am to the sound of a circular saw. At first I thought it was the work starting on our roof. Our building is covered in scaffolding and they are due to start the roof next week. But it wasn't. It was much worse.

When I went downstairs I saw that the building across the canal from us had been gutted by fire overnight...the restaurant, at least two apartments, one of which I had watched them restore over the last few months. Luckily, it appears no one was seriously injured, although 13 people were taken to hospital for smoke inhalation and 40 were evacuated. My neighbours tell me the flames were horrifying. Apparently the firemen were on our balcony but I didn't hear a thing. I am almost glad I slept through it and only have to see the aftermath. But my heart goes out to those poor people who've lost their homes and jobs this morning. I know this is one of the risks of living in the old town but seeing this poor burnt building really brings it home...

First party

2010-06-03T15:57:00.003+02:00

Little man got his first birthday party invite from a schoolfriend last week. He's growing up! Here he is ready to go to the party with the obligatory present from Jouet Club...

I feel better already

2010-06-03T15:47:00.003+02:00

Just looking at this big pile of medicine prescribed by my doctor made my two day atrocious headache start to ease*. I love you France...a true hypochondriac's paradise...

*It could also have been my doctor reassuring me after a thorough neurological exam (close your eyes and touch your right knee with your left ankle and so on) that I only had a sinusite and probably not a brain tumour!

First randonnée

2010-05-25T10:05:00.010+02:00

We put off doing any bushwalks with the kids last summer as Jasper basically didn't like walking, anywhere! Now that he is a bit bigger, we thought we'd give it a go. Its a nice walk up to the forest here, as you pass the Basilique and then not far along there are a few different trails to choose. We walked for quite a while through the forest, collecting sticks and rocks and seedpods, and then took a trail down to Sevrier where we decided to check out a restaurant called "Le Poisson Rouge" which had been recommended ages ago by a friend. We had a fantastic seafood lunch (well, Jasper ate steak haché although Lily turned her nose up at her's and I don't blame her - it was bluer than blue! Jasper gobbled it down.) Then we walked back home along the bikepath and the lakefront where possible. All up, the kids did wonderfully, considering that we walked 10.5kms!

Three years!

2010-05-16T09:26:00.003+02:00

We are celebrating the three year anniversary of our arrival in France today! So a big thank you to everyone - all our friends and family in Oz and elsewhere around the world who have kept in touch and made us feel like we weren't so far away, my wonderful friends here (merci, les filles!), all my blogging and other expat friends who helped keep me going when times were tough and most of all Réné! WTF? Remember Réné, our old neighbour? Well, if it hadn't been for him making my life so damned miserable for the first 18 months, I'd never have been motivated to find our new apartment, one where we all feel so at home.

So thanks everyone!!

Double score at the library!

2010-05-12T12:34:00.003+02:00

I did well this morning. Sometimes, I go to the library and nothing much takes my fancy. Today I got lucky. As well as getting Labyrinth, I found Marc Levy's latest book. I've never read any of his books before but I'm willing to give them a try given that they are so popular (and that I've almost finished all of Guillaume Musso's!). I hope I like them as much...

Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered...

2010-05-12T12:24:00.004+02:00

Guess what we're watching for movie night tonight! I hope the kids like it as much as I do. And I just may have to check out the Manga sequel Return to Labyrinth...

A rare sighting in Annecy*

2010-05-08T17:10:00.003+02:00

Spotted, out of the way, on the top shelf of the biscuit aisle in Monoprix. I wonder if I'll be able to introduce any of my friends here to the delights of the Tim Tam Slam?

*Note, photo was taken after packet had already been ripped open by excited six year old.

An expensive trip to the library

2010-05-08T12:13:00.005+02:00

While David took Jasper for a run this morning, Lily and I set out for some mummy/daughter time. First stop, coffee and a treat, then we were planning on going to the library to see the Little Red Riding Hood display they have at the moment. But, alas, as I had already forgotten once today, it is a public holiday so the library was closed. No worries, we just went next door to the bande dessinée shop. And quite a few euros later we both came home happy...

Lily is already nose-deep into her smurf book (and surprisingly, did not want her photo taken)

Whereas I'm going to wait a bit longer before I start mine. I love it when I know I have a book waiting for me on the shelf that I'm really going to enjoy and this one sounds like just my thing. What's more, its the first of a series so I'll have others to look forward to later. I think this is officially the start of my BD collection (usually I am cheap and just borrow them from the library)

Gotta love Amazon!

2010-05-03T10:56:00.007+02:00

I try not to order too many books online. For starters, until recently, we had nowhere to put them. Also, left to my own devices, I can whip through a crappy thriller (in english) in an afternoon/evening so it becomes an expensive habit. So mostly I content myself with the library where every now and then I find something new in english I want to read, and otherwise I pick up easy-ish to read thrillers in french.

But, I was recently the lucky recipient of an amazon gift voucher so one night I stayed up late and looked up a few fav authors who I've lost track of since the move. I thought I'd order everything from the one secondhand seller and save money by combining postage. Obviously, I don't do this a lot as it appears that posting everything separately must be how they make their money.

So, I came home to this today...

Yes, six of the seven books I've ordered have already arrived...it was a bit like Christmas...until I got them all unwrapped and wondered what Father Christmas was smoking...

Can you pick the odd one out? Yes, instead of another Robert Goddard thriller, I got this...

I'm actually tempted to keep it. For one, my time in sending it back to change it is worth more than I paid for the book and two, well, after reading the Lost Symbol, it just might be interesting!

But for now, I am 70 pages into the new Guillaume Musso - its great! I wish he'd do a book signing in Annecy...

Un goûter franco-australien!

2010-05-01T16:54:00.002+02:00

Pikelets with nutella...

Lazy afternoon with a book

2010-04-30T14:22:00.000+02:00

Books and other things

2010-04-29T10:59:00.009+02:00

After much deliberation, we finally ordered some new bookcases for the piles of books that were taking over our home. A word of caution... the assembly required on a bookcase from La Redoute is about 4 times that of an IKEA bookcase, and involves real tools. Nonetheless, we are pretty happy with our new bookcases, one of which is pictured below (the other was still the subject of an intense debate about its final home when this picture was taken)

From this...

to this...

In other news, I am a year older. Frankly, we were all rather tired and some of us, a little hungover, on my birthday, due to a fun night out the night before. But, after a brekkie of viennoiseries on the balcony, lunch at the sushi place and ice-cream cake for dessert (well, it was sorbet actually), we all felt a lot better. And I now have even more books to fill up the bookcases!

And finally, the kids started their new activities this week (due to my amazing ability to withstand the bedlam that is the queue for the wonderful free activities provided by the Mairie). Lily is doing ice-skating and for the first time, Jasper is doing a little 4 year olds gym class, without parents. Here he is on the walk to the class the other afternoon - he loved it!

Salad season

2010-04-29T10:49:00.004+02:00

I've been accused in the past of never preparing salads. My defense is that salads are best eaten in the spring and summer so now, with the weather warming up nicely, there is no excuse. In fact, I have found a salade savoyarde (with its little reblochon toasts) is the perfect excuse to keep eating hot melted cheese when the fondue/tartiflette/raclette season is over. So to prove I CAN make salads...

here is my salade savoyarde with salad, prosciutto, cornichons, walnuts and reblochon toasts

and here is a caesar salad I made with lemon garlic prawns

Four already!

2010-04-29T10:29:00.017+02:00

We had a very relaxing trip to Italy to celebrate Jasper's fourth birthday with all the italian family. Luckily we took the train (and not a french train either) as the day after we left all the drama started with the volcanic ash. The kids were thrilled to see everyone again, especially their cousin Martina. The family threw him a wonderful party for his birthday and even made a cake! He got Happy Birthday sung to him in all three languages. We ate very well, thanks to the generosity of David's aunt and uncle. And of course, no trip to Bologna is complete without a cooking lesson at Susy's...

With the very fast new train from Milan to Bologna

Cuddles

Lunch

Playing football at the park with Sergio

The long-awaited playmobil submarine

Lunch with Nonno Piero (yes, Jasper is still in his pjs at lunch!)

Making dough with Titti

Well-risen dough

Kids' corner

Our little home away from home

Tulips

2010-04-08T09:54:00.000+02:00

Its days like these...

2010-04-03T12:49:00.004+02:00

you wish you had a Brumby's downstairs instead of a patisserie!

I spent ages making the hot cross buns yesterday. I even put spices in them, unlike those I made two years ago. The spice mix wasn't quite right but they didn't taste too bad last night. This morning, even reheated, they tasted like rock cakes. I know what went wrong. I didn't let them rise enough. But I was trying to get them done for goûter. As it was we ended up eating them at about 6pm. I should have just let them rise more and served them for the dessert but the kids couldn't wait! Next year I think I'll try a new recipe...

Putting on the crosses (must remember to buy an icing bag next year)

Shame they didn't taste even half as good as they looked

L'arnacoeur!

2010-04-01T22:04:00.002+02:00

Just a little bit behind on the blogging these days but what can I say? There's only so many times you can say the same thing.

But I did get out to the movies tonight and saw L'arnacoeur. This film is SO good. Very very funny (and I got almost all the jokes in french), gorgeous stars, great romance, action and a terrific soundtrack. I give it two years before someone announces an american remake of it...but it wont be anywhere near as good

What, no photo?

2010-03-09T15:15:00.003+02:00

Well, its been a while and I was just about to plug the camera in and add some photos when I realized David has taken it with him to Paris. So words will have to suffice. He's away for two bedtimes which is good practice for the kids for when I go away for four whole nights soon. I'll be winging it to Chicago to meet a bunch of online buddies who helped save my sanity about 9 years ago when the hard reality of life taught me that every positive pregnancy test does not result in a screaming, drooling baby. Over the years, we've been there for each other through ups and downs and I can't wait to meet them for real.

In between writing packing lists and directions on how to use the washing machine and worrying abut how my darlings will survive without me, I have been coping with the freezing bloody cold weather. About a week ago, it was so warm, I spring-cleaned the balcony and we ate lunch outside. Now winter is back with a vengeance just to remind us spring does not officially start until March 20.

In the meantime, I've been making sure we eat as much melted cheese as is humanely possible before the weather warms up but my posts about Mont d'Or will have to wait until next time, when I get the camera back...

Vacances de ski 2010

2010-02-28T22:20:00.032+02:00

We just got back from our two week ski holiday in Megève. Yes, change is hard for us Giorgis but we managed to go somewhere other than La Clusaz this year. It was a great trip, filled with lots of skiing, cheese and just a little bit of red wine! We stayed at a Maeva apartment hotel again so we could cook our own meals and had a couple of really nice meals out too. This hotel was only a couple of hundred metres from the pistes so it made skiing with the kids relatively easy (anyone who has ever skied with young children will know I am being generous here!). Thanks to a new Giorgi ski instruction technique Jasper had mastered the chasse-neige by the start of the second week (the technique was lots of softly softly hands on skiing with Dad to get his balance the first week, followed by an hour's worth of threats, bribes and cajoling with me one afternoon to convince him he really could ski on his own et voilà!). So for the last couple of days we could all ski together which was a lot of fun...and next year's ski holiday looks very promising...

First up is a bit of video of our last day, with Lily playing ski instructor and Jasper following her down the green piste. Dav can be seen showing off and skiing backwards from time to time...and then there are about 3000 photos...

Our hotel (we scored a ground floor apartment, perfect for sending the kids outdoors to play)

The téléferique (which takes us from one valley to the next)

Ski schools (french style and Giorgi style!)

Lessons with daddy

A walk down to the town past the Twelve Stations of the Cross

The téléferique

Getting up close with the snow ploughs

Bunk beds

Our backyard, full of snow!

View from our apartment

Megève chic!

Jasper on the day it all came together!

Going home on the téléferique and leaving Dav for an afternoon's skiing higher up!

Crepêrie Brétonne - we went here twice the crêpes were so good

Dont take my photo

In the téléferique

On the tire-fesses

Jasper checking out the piste!

Megève architecture

Mont Blanc (the closest I came to it was from the bus on the way home!)

Shutter island

2010-02-02T09:57:00.004+02:00

I just cant wait to see this movie. I may even (gasp!) go and see it in french, just to see it sooner. The book is a fantastic read that you just can't put down so I think the movie will be a blast (even though I know the ending). So if you haven't read the book grab a copy - Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane. I'm going to go out on a limb and say its one of the best thrillers I've ever read...

Mr Fix-it strikes again...

2010-01-29T19:21:00.004+02:00

We had four packages delivered today, by no less than three postmen (now, there's efficiency for you!). But the end result was David had everything he needed to fix my computer - yay!!

Goodbye, old friend!

2010-01-26T15:20:00.004+02:00

My lovely old sunflower design iMac died this morning. I was woken by the sound of David's printer restarting after a power outtage, coincidentally seconds before my alarm went off. And my first thought was for my iMac which I had left on, and which had suffered a few power cuts lately due to the stove tripping the power safety switch. I was right, of course. When I gave its mouse its usual morning wakeup shuffle, shortly after feeding the cat, I was greeted by a continually black screen. It was old, I know, but it worked great. We have everything backed up so I'll be able to recover all my stuff when we eventually buy me a new Mac. And, in the meantime, David fortunately upgraded his Powerbook last year, so I have his old one to use. But its not the same. I dont want new and modern, I want my old one back! Was there ever such a beautifully designed desktop computer?

A few of my favourite vampire things....

2010-01-16T12:29:00.007+02:00

I was talking about vampires with some online buddies the other day (as you do!) and it got me thinking about some of my favourite vampire short stories, books and films. Now let's get this right out there at the start - I have not read any of the Twilight books nor seen the films and I wont be (I base this, some might say rash, statement on the author's other book, The Host. There are times as an expat that you are so desperate to read something in english that you can be easily led into what you know is a bad library-borrowing decision, but NEVER again!)

I've always loved a good horror story and still have my first book of Edgar Allen Poe stories, that I nicked from my brother and my book of the Best Ghost Stories - included in which is Le Fanu's Carmilla, a fantastic vampire novella. I loved Bram Stroker's Dracula and recently found an excellent BD adaptation at the library. In the last year or so I read the Historian by Elizabeth Kostova, a terrific historic vampire read.

Some of the best vampire movies I've seen are Bram Stoker's Dracula (of course), Nadja (although all that pixelling got in the way of an excellent vampire story) and From Dusk till Dawn (more for the Clooney factor and the excellent first half than the second half where it goes off into vampire territory). Oh and not forgetting the Lost Boys, which appealed to my teenage self and which summed up teenage vampires, well before Buffy (loved it!) and Angel (meh) and those T people came along. Interview with a Vampire was pretty cool too (the book was so much better) but was completely let down by the miscast blonded Tom Cruise.

But what I had forgotten, until this discussion started, was seeing an adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula in 1999 at the Princess Theatre by the Fractal Theatre Company. And the internet being what it is, I found their FB page with a whole lot of video and still photos. What I loved about this production (and their production of the Fall of the House of Usher that we saw in 1994) was their amazing use of the theatre space and that the audience followed the players around. I remember the audience followed someone downstairs to the "crypt" and we were all there in the dark watching a scene around a coffin, with Van Helsing, I think, when Dracula came up silently behind me and scared the crap out of me! And he was a pretty impressive Dracula too...

So anyone got any favourite vampire reads or movies to share (and please don't mention the T word!)

Jasper in the snow

2010-01-07T11:11:00.009+02:00

We had such a lovely lot of snow on Monday and Tuesday that Jasper has been spending his afternoons in the park in his snow gear. Our usual summer haunt, l'éveché park was a foot deep in pristine snow, before they cleared the paths, and was a beautiful spot to play with the beach toys! If you listen closely in the video you'll hear the progress Jasper has made in his french. In the last month or so, he has started speaking it quite fluently, although still with some errors, of course and with a funny little accent, that will be soon gone.

Et bonne année grand-mère!

2010-01-03T13:08:00.005+02:00

After our slightly lacklustre Christmas, we spent New Year's Eve in the company of our good friends Stéphanie and family. Under Stéph's careful tutorage we prepared a traditional réveillon français together - foie gras, caviar, smoked salmon and taramasalata - all washed down with an excellent champagne and some sweet white wine (did I mention I have new champagne flutes - one would almost think I am a grown-up with all this new glassware!)

Happy New Year everyone!

2009 - an unforgettable Christmas...

2009-12-26T14:29:00.016+02:00

I still have no energy to write a witty account of our slightly dodgy Christmas, so here are the photos. Not shown is the hour long walk up to the Visitation at the end of the day in accordance with the new Giorgi tradition of hunting out snow on Christmas day ("if there is no snow in town, we'll walk up a bit higher and find some", proudly declared the inventor of this tradition). This first attempt ended in tantrums, arguments, cold feet and not a scrap of snow. Also not shown was the four of us snuggling up in bed at the end of the day to watch Daddy Long Legs, a new generation of Leslie Caron fans is born! And last, but, oh my, certainly not least, very definitely not shown, is Jasper's impressive vomit in his bed at about 10pm on Christmas night...

Opening the Christmas stockings

What a surprise - instead of leaving papillottes (special chocolates that Father Christmas *always* leaves in the french kids' slippers under the trees) he left special chocolate North Pole money (note: no matter how sick you are, it is your responsibility as a mother to ensure there is a packet of papillottes in the house. Finding out that you only imagined a bag hidden in the bedroom at 1030pm on Christmas Eve is simply not good enough....)

Very happy (if slightly under the weather) kids. A long-awaited Thunderbird Island for Jasper and a Toadstool Fairy house for Lily (not shown) which sadly will have to go back to Santa's workshop to fix its lights and sounds (despite two hours of determined fiddling by David)

"My tummy hurts..."

Now, watch out for my brand new wine glasses as you pull those crackers (not that I had the stomach to actually drink any wine)

Lily perked up enough to admire the table setting

We had the bûche de Noël for a late goûter after our hike up the hill, and yes, I was so wrecked, we served them straight out of their cardboard boxes...

Joyeux Noël

2009-12-24T19:39:00.003+02:00

Well, the turkey is in the fridge, most of the presents are wrapped and we've lit our Angel Chimes. No doubt, Father Christmas will be making his way down our chimney very soon. It hasn't been quite the Christmas Eve, I'd planned, due to a last minute nasty bout of gastro that struck down everyone except Nurse David, who literally was on call most of Tuesday night. I'm just hoping I can rustle up some Christmas spirit and a bit of energy for the big day...but enough about me...Merry Christmas everyone!

Magic

2009-12-20T20:22:00.003+02:00

Its snowing again here (yay!). But for about an hour this morning, the clouds disappeared, the sun came out and I went running. I was well-dressed so once I got underway I was nice and warm. And it was so beautiful. There was snow all long the lake and covering the mountains. The bike path had only been cleared a little way so most of the time I ran on about two inches of fresh crunchy snow which glistened in the sunlight.

When I reached my turnaround point and headed back, the sun warmed the backs of my legs. I got to the electronic "Welcome to Annecy" sign and ran around in circles while I waited for it to go through its loop of public service announcements before coming back to the first page and the temperature, -8degC. I was a little disappointed. I thought for sure I would hit negative double digits! About ten minutes from home, the clouds came back and my face started to get very cold. By the time I was turning into our street, all I could think of was a bath. The kids were arguing about something when I walked in the front door saying, "cold...don't care...sort it out yourselves". But as I sank into a hot bath, I felt really really good!

Saturday night brought to you by Côtes du Rhône and youtube

2009-12-19T20:26:00.001+02:00

Annecy sous la neige

2009-12-19T17:00:00.015+02:00

We've had a bit of snow the last few days, not much, but enough to get excited about. We spent about an hour today in the Jardins de l'Europe which, normally so lush and green in summer, had a couple of inches of snow covering it today. It was a good try-out of the kids' new snow gear...

Getting in the spirit!

2009-12-14T15:17:00.010+02:00

Its getting nice and cold here but no more snow yet (despite my obsessing reading of the weather page). Still we have been making the most of things. We had a wonderful visit from Piero and Silvana and also caught up for an apèro with some aussie friends who came back into town. Last week we spent a fun afternoon ice skating outdoors. We also got the Christmas tree decorated and finished the letters to Father Christmas...

Jasper reading a book with Mamie Silvana

Jasper with eyes tight shut (his current photo pose)

Jasper venturing out on his own on real skates

Lily getting her groove back (its been a while)

Decorating the tree

Putting on the angel

How Christmassy is that front door?

Letters to Father Christmas

Snowy morning

2009-11-30T11:20:00.006+02:00

There was heaps of snow falling when I dragged myself out of bed at 7am today. Just the thing to brighten a dreary Monday morning. Of course, its stopped now and will melt soon but I took some nice photos from the balcony anyway. I've been waiting for my first snowy morning in this apartment and it didn't disappoint!

The castle

Looking down the canal

Looking towards the lake

And yesterday...our last full english brekkie for a while (eating the last of the sausages David brought back from Brighton)

A Christmas tradition

2009-11-28T16:53:00.006+02:00

After watching the light show at the Mairie last night, we wandered home through the beautifully lit streets of the Old Town, to admire the fairy lights we've put on our balcony for the Christmas season (of which I forget to take a photo!)

The Carillon at the Mairie

Polar bears

Lights in rue Filaterie

The lights from our bedroom window (thankfully, we have shutters)

La fête du Caïon

2009-11-14T13:22:00.009+02:00

We had easy access to the pig festival this year as its in an adjoining street. I probably don't need to say again how much I love living in this area of town! We got downstairs early before the crowds were too bad - saw the pigs (including the enormous boar who is the subject of a weight-guessing competition), watched the apple pressing and bought some fresh juice, listened to a very cool band and had some vin chaud. Not a bad start to the weekend...

A birdseye view of the blood sausage makers from our bedroom window

Apple pressing

The big fella!

Fondue!

2009-11-14T13:12:00.006+02:00

I cant believe its taken me almost 2 1/2 years to cook my first fondue. Quite disgraceful considering we live in the land of cheese. Anyway, after enjoying a very good fondue chez Stéphanie recently, I decided to try my own. Really not very difficult considering all I had to do was go to our normal cheese seller at the markets and tell him how many of us there were. He then gave me the correct amounts of the three cheeses (comté, beaufort and gruyère suisse) and the rest was easy. We even pulled out a family heirloom - the Giorgi family fondue set, complete with bright orange flowery pattern - and we were away! All up, a very yummy easy meal....

What nerds do on a Saturday night to amuse their kids...

2009-11-07T19:22:00.002+02:00

saturday night reminiscing....

2009-11-07T18:18:00.001+02:00

Bulbs are in...

2009-10-31T13:08:00.007+02:00

Well, the geraniums are still in full bloom and are very happy with our cold nights and sunny days. I tossed the last tomato plant and we finally got the bulbs in. We have four tubs of bulbs that will hopefully bloom in spring. I'm a little concerned that the cover I have had to put on them to keep the cat from digging them up will keep them a little warm. I also don't have a spot out of the sun on the balcony as it gets a lot of sun in winter. Hopefully they wont sprout early! But still, everyone had fun getting dirty and surely they will be more successful than my dismal attempt at growing bulbs in Brisbane....

Peau d'Ane

2009-10-31T12:37:00.004+02:00

I could have sworn I'd blogged about this story after first borrowing the book from the library about a year ago. But, obviously, I filed it away in my mind under the heading of "interesting blog posts that never get written". So, we were recently lent the DVD of the 1970 film starring Catherine Deneuve (merci Françoise!). Never heard of it? Probably because its never been Disneyfied. I wonder what it is about the story of a young princess who escapes her father who wants to marry her by running off in the skin of his favourite gold-crapping donkey, that Disney didn't like?

I have to say, that once you get over the father bit, its a great fairytale, with a fairy godmother, three beautiful dresses, a lovestruck prince, great songs and a Cinderella-like "whose finger fits the ring?" ending. Lily and I loved it!

Annecy on TV

2009-10-25T19:19:00.005+02:00

This TV program aired on TF1 last night (I think) for anyone who wants to have a look at Annecy and practice their french. I cant imbed the link, so copy and paste it into your browser!

http://videos.tf1.fr/jt-we/zoom-sur-annecy-5043271.html

And as for Lily...

2009-10-24T10:10:00.002+02:00

She has been bringing home her cahiers each Friday so we knew she was going well at school. For now, they pretty much concentrate on reading, writing, maths and a little bit of spelling. But I have to brag that we were really proud to see the results of the first two tests they have done, in french and maths. I don't think she's quite old enough to appreciate how good it is to bring home perfect test results (or maybe its just that the grading squares weren't coloured in green this year!) but we were really proud and also happy to see her teacher had noted that she has had a very good start to CP.

Soon, I must write a post about how they teach them to read here, its very interesting. But for now we are going to enjoy our 10 days of school holidays together!

Cahier day

2009-10-22T17:56:00.005+02:00

It seems like a long time ago now that Lily brought home her cahiers at the end of her first term of maternelle here. With the school holidays starting on Saturday, it was Jasper's turn to bring home his first set. And it was with the same eagerness (and perhaps more trepidation given that he is a year younger) that we opened up Jasper's and he showed us what he has been doing. It seems that he's been having a great time and has been understanding all the activities they have to do. He earned lots of smiley faces and only one flat line smiley face for not knowing all his colours in french. He also got a couple of red dots for his throwing technique but, come on, he's only three! What's best is that he likes going to school and he's really proud of all the work he's been doing there.

Le Retour des Alpages 2009

2009-10-10T20:30:00.014+02:00

Being in our new apartment, we were right in the thick of things today. Which was lucky as it started off as a rather wet morning. After a quick tour of rue Saint-Claire, we went home for a raclette lunch on the balcony. I think the numbers were down this year because of the rain and we easily got a spot to watch the parade on rue Filaterie. It was a great parade as always and we were close enough that Lily stroked the sides of many of the animals that passed us!

Eating some apple beignet things (the real word for these escapes me!)

A walk down from the castle (just before I slipped ungracefully down some wet marble steps - aïe, les fesses!)

Jasper's favourite

My favourite - the geese!

Glad to see the bellringers back in the parade this year. They're loud!

Les vaches

On the balcony

2009-10-10T10:07:00.007+02:00

We did quite well with parts of our little garden over summer. We've had a quite a few cherry tomatoes and had some nice little lettuces until Puddy decided to start using the pots for a litter tray. That was the end of the lettuces and carrots but I took evasive action with some alfoil and saved the tomatoes. Our geraniums did not like the full summer sun and had a bad patch until I realized that fertilizer could help. I think they were also lacking in iron. They are now really happy with the cooler weather and will last a bit longer I think. I've already bought some bulbs which we will plant once the last of the tomatoes dies. And I finally got a nice big pot for a mixture of herbs. I'm hoping that they will last a bit given that the balcony gets a lot of winter sun.

Hanging up we have a big thing of pink garlic which David bought at the markets. I sent him out for a bulb of garlic and he came back with a dozen which, if kept cool, will supposedly last all winter. I just break off a clove at a time as I need it. Unfortunately I cant keep them out of the sun but it seems the weather is starting to cool down now after a warm start to autumn.

The tomatoes that havent quite worked out its autumn!

Thank you Women's Weekly

2009-10-10T09:55:00.005+02:00

One of my favourite presents as a child was a cookbook I was given at about 9. It was from my english grandmother and so was full of strange recipes for things like "Toad in the Hole". I have fond memories of my brother and I making cheese wrapped hot dogs and other delights during the school holidays.

I've been looking for a good kid's cookbook for Lily but specifically an australian one so it was in english and with all the measurements we're used to. So I was pleased to see an extract of a new cook book called Little Kitchen in this month's WW. We tried a few of the recipes together with Lily doing most of the work. Their little egg and bacon breakfast pies were a huge hit as were the crunchy chicken fingers. Not so keen on the pancakes - they needed sugar! But the recipes are nicely illustrated and simple to follow. One for the Christmas list!

Making crunchy chicken fingers

A weekend with Léon

2009-10-10T09:41:00.008+02:00

Jasper has settled in really well to his mornings at school. He seems to understand everything well but doesn't speak much. His teacher is new to the school and seems very enthusiastic. One of her projects involves the class doudou (cuddly toy) called Léon. Each weekend a different child takes Léon and his cahier home for the weekend and brings him back on Monday with the cahier completed with a couple of photos and a description of what he and Léon have been doing so he can tell the class.

Jasper was really pleased to bring Léon home last weekend. We took him out to sushi at a new restaurant that has just opened in the Old Town. Jasper was sorry to have to hand him back on Monday, and despite our best efforts at priming him, didn't have anything to say to the class about what they did!

What I did last summer....

2009-10-05T15:24:00.003+02:00

I've been a bit quiet here about my summer project as lets face it, I'm not renown for my follow though (knitting, Flylady anyone?).

But I am pleased to announce that over summer I completed the Couch to 5k running program. For those who've never heard of it, its a 9 week program designed to get almost anyone up and running 30 minutes or 5ks 3 times a week. As its been about 7 years since I've run regularly, I decided to start at the beginning and take it really slowly. And it worked really well. I'm now running 30 minutes 3 times a week. Its probably not quite 5k as I know what it feels like to run 5ks in 22.5 minutes (oh, those were the days!) and it doesn't feel much like that. But at least I am out there.

With winter coming up, I may have to invest in some new gear but so far so good. And I'll take a gamble and announce I'm following another new program called the One Hour Runner, designed to, surprise surprise, build up to running for an hour. I'm not sure if I'll continue it. That will depend on my knees and I doubt I'll be running the Annecy Marathon next April but it feels good to be running again.

Telemarketing french-style

2009-10-01T13:39:00.002+02:00

When we first arrived here, I used to be seized with panic every time the phone rang. As it was rarely for me, I used to hand it over quickly to David, no matter who it was. He'd often get off the phone quickly telling me it was just a telemarketer. After a while, I was able to understand enough to realize it was a telemarketer and could play up the foreigner aspect enough to get them off the phone quickly.

These days, I'll listen to them just for the practice as I still find the phone hard. The other day I got sucked in by someone selling frozen foods. I agreed they could send me their catalogue. They miraculously rang me seconds after I walked in the door with the catalogue when I was getting lunch for the kids and I fobbed them off, promising to have a good look at it over the weekend and agreeing they would call me Monday. Well, over the weekend I did look at the catalogue and there were some tempting things there, but given the size of our freezer I decided it was just as easy to keep shopping at Monop.

So Monday rolled around and she called me back. This was our third call and in hindsight I realized it was probably the same person. Which made it all the worse, when I launched into my spiel of thank you very much but I've changed my mind and don't want anything. Stunned silence followed. Then in a shocked voice she asked me why, like I'd just announced I was leaving her after 30 years of marriage. I gave my reasons, thanked her for the catalogue and for her calls, wished her a nice day and said goodbye. When she didn't say goodbye in the two second silence that followed I hung up!

Now all this is a perfectly reasonable way to treat a telemarketer in Australia. In fact, in australian terms, I had been incredibly polite as most telemarketers are well used to receiving gratuitous verbal abuse. But after I hung up, I was immediately wracked with guilt. Had I been rude in hanging up? Should I have waited for her to say goodbye, all the while giving her the opportunity to talk me around. In fact, was it my fault, had I strung her along with my initial enthusiasm? How do french people treat telemarketers? Does the everyday politeness that pervades life here extend to unsolicited calls? Anyone know?

Tea party for one...

2009-09-28T12:04:00.003+02:00

The perfect Sunday afternoon tea - homemade scones with blackberry jam and clotted cream direct from the UK!

Ah aussies, bless 'em!

2009-09-18T17:12:00.002+02:00

Only in Australia would a man choose his dog over his partner and children! Read all about this guy who busted his "death row" dog out of the pound and headed for the hills leaving his family behind...

New beginnings

2009-09-10T09:48:00.006+02:00

Well, the start to school has gone quite smoothly. The tooth fairy made her first appearance the night of the rentrée bringing Lily a small jeweled ladybird box in which to put her teeth for collection from now on. Lily is very happy to finally be in CP and have homework. Jasper is settling in well to the maternelle, even though he doesn't much like to go in the mornings. David comes along with us for the drop-off and manages to distract him well. No one is getting quite enough sleep and I've had my first cold in about a year so things are a little disorganized. I did manage to go to the open day at a language school I am going to try this year. They have 90 minute french classes once a week which should fit in well with our daily life. Now if I could just get well and put my three free hours in the morning to good use...

A present from the tooth fairy

At home just before leaving for the first day (note Jasper's bravado was just about to fail)

En route to school

Ready for the rentrée, again...

2009-09-02T16:10:00.004+02:00

Well, we're as ready as we'll ever be! Jasper seems mostly keen about the idea of joining the petites, but we'll probably have a few tears at the start, I think. He is in a mixed class with some kids from moyenne, which I think will be good for him. His teacher is new this year.

As for Lily, she is very excited to be starting CP. Although its been a little overshadowed today by the fact that her first tooth fell out. If you click on the photo, you may just be able to see the gap!

On ya Puds!

2009-08-30T22:10:00.003+02:00

We didn't know you still had it in you...

Author's note: Only one small bird was injured in the events leading up to the taking of this photo. And no, we don't condone the mindless slaughter of native fauna, but if you had a 14 year old slightly arthritic indoor cat who has lost her spring and hasn't caught a bird for over 10 years, you might feel a small misplaced sense of maternal pride too!

Hola Alicante!

2009-08-28T09:02:00.033+02:00

We spent an excellent four days in Alicante, Spain. We stayed at the Melia Alicante, which was big and ugly but well-placed and had everything we needed. Over the course of four days, we went for a long walk up to the castle on top of a hill, took the tram down to a quiet sandy beach and took a boat-ride over to a little fishing island. Our nights were spent lazily eating and drinking (mostly tapas, paella and sangria). The kids quickly got used to eating dinner at 930pm and spending their days on the beach...

Hotel and castle in the background

First paella

On the way up to the castle on our first day...

Cooling off at some fountains on the long hot walk up

We made it!

Looking down to the beach, our hotel and the marina

Very hot sand on the main beach next to our hotel

El castillo at night

Having tapas at dusk

Our favourite square

The best paella

On the ferry on the way to Isla Tabarca

Tabarca

Gorgeous pebbly bay on Tabarca

Jasper and his art exposition

Making paint

The drinks kept getting bigger and bigger

Sunrise from our hotel room

Channelling Easts Leagues Club circa 1986...

2009-08-19T22:12:00.001+02:00

Better late than never...

2009-08-15T09:56:00.014+02:00

I'd better get these photos up from our un-holiday in the UK as we are leaving in a week for a few days in Spain.

All up, it was a good time. It was nice to see Joan again and her friends made us all very welcome. The kids had a great time. Dav worked a lot and I was a bit stressed. The weather was crap but the english sausages made up for it. It was fun to be back in an english speaking environment and I stocked up on lots of kids books in the charity shops. Also picked up a few recent best-sellers for me - a real treat! Not to mention the three packs of sausages I brought home in my bag...

Malborough

Op shopping day in Newbury (We brought home 50 kids books - luckily Easyjet has a pretty good luggage allowance!)

Full english breakfast at the Bear

The local playground (lots of fun even if I couldn't buy a cup of tea in the village after 3pm each day)

Two seconds on my own in Oxford (or how I walked off in a huff!)

Oxford

Going back up to White Horse hill (let's just not talk about the fight in the car between the 42 year old with the map in the backseat and the 88 year old with poor eye-sight but an amazing sense of direction in the front!)

Lily doing her paper-run (putting the papers outside the oldies' doors)

Swimming in a friend's heated pool

A great meal on our last day at The Bear in Hungerford

Cocktail Scandinave

2009-07-11T16:05:00.008+02:00

I didn't know this shop existed until a few months ago. Its good to know there is an alternative to IKEA when it comes to affordable furniture. We ordered an outdoor table and chairs and a bed for Lily, which has drawers underneath. They are both really nice quality and much sturdier than your average IKEA furniture. We re-arranged the kids room to make a bit more space. Its still a tiny room but it now has a nice feel to it. Here are some photos of the new furniture and a few shots of the apartment looking lived in (very lived in!).

Lily's new bed (with the hearts)

Lily's bed on the left, Jasper's on the right

New outdoor furniture

Looking from the kitchen to dining and lounge area

Looking toward the fireplace and front door

Looking from the dining area into the kitchen and out to the balcony

Harvest time!

2009-06-30T09:03:00.005+02:00

We picked our first few tomatoes yesterday. The kids had been waiting for days for three little cherry tomatoes to ripen. Finally, Lily brought out a bunch of shop bought tomatoes to compare the colour and declared ours ripe enough to eat. They were gone before I even had time to run for the camera! Our two tomato bushes are doing ok and are now nicely staked with some reeds David picked from the lake. They still have about 20 tomatoes in various stages of growth.

The rest of the vegie garden hasn't done so well. We ate a lot of our little lettuce leaves then Puddy decided to use that trough as a litter tray so that was the end of that. The carrot seedlings (of which there were over 100 - thanks kids) never really recovered from my enthusiastic thinning out and Puddy quickly discovered that trough too. Both of these are currently covered in aluminium foil to keep her out while I decide what to do next. We also have two little strawberry plants which might produce one strawberry if we are lucky. I managed to kill a miniature rose bush in the space of two weeks - not bad! I don't exactly have le main vert as the french say!

Still, my geraniums add a lovely splash of colour to our balcony and have been flowering consistently well. They did take a bit of a beating in a storm we got the other afternoon but seem to be holding up ok. Oh, and my parsley is back on track after a bit of rough patch so all up its pretty good.

I've still got it!

2009-06-27T09:36:00.003+02:00

Its been a while since I've made a really big faux pas when speaking (or at least one I was aware of). But I realized last night that I made a beauty yesterday. It didn't click at the time, I only realized when I was going off to sleep last night.

I've been helping a new buddy who is looking for an apartment here. We had a look at one yesterday and I was asking the current tenant some questions. I noticed she had a really nice chandelier, and knowing that in France as a tenant, you are lucky if you get two bits of wire sticking out of the ceiling, let alone a nice light fitting, I thought I'd check it didn't come with the apartment.

So what I said was, "Cette à vous, cette jolie louche?". She must have worked out quickly what I meant as she didn't even blink, when what I asked her was "Is this yours, this pretty ladle?" Yes, instead of saying lustre which means chandelier I'd called her rather glam light fitting a ladle. To make matters worse, when I recounted my embarrassing tale to David, he pointed out that louche can also be used as an adjective that means "shady" or "seedy" - great!

You cant say I don't know how to make a good impression on people!

La Marquise et le Roi Arthur

2009-06-24T10:28:00.002+02:00

We are very much into castles, princesses and knights here. It always amazes me that Jasper's favourite outing is to walk up the steep hill to the castle (despite the fact that he insists that I carry him most other times.) So I was waiting for the sales to start today to get them some costumes. The costumes from Eveil et Jeux are gorgeous but rather expensive normally. I was one of their first customers today and picked some lovely costumes up at a good discount.

Worth the wait

2009-06-23T20:54:00.003+02:00

In the two years that we've been here I hadn't dared try any of the asian restaurants. It wasn't just the thought of spicy flavours dumbed down for the french palette but also the fact that all the restaurants here seem to be a mix of many asian cuisines. In Australia, we are so spoiled for choice with asian foods that apart from combining chinese and vietnamese cuisine, most asian restaurants specialize in one cuisine. I just couldn't quite fathom a restaurant that served chinese, vietnamese AND thai cuisine.

But I overcame all that tonight when we tried the local asian place and were amazingly pleasantly surprised. David's roast duck with egg noodle soup was just about indistinguishable from that served at "The Vietnamese" in Brunswick St Brisbane! To think we've been missing out on this for the last two years (not to mention the restaurant is practically outside our front door!). Next up, we'll try going there for lunch and order all the dishes a la vapeur so I can pretend I'm having yum cha. Now if I could just get them to bring them around on a trolley...

a la vapeur - steamed

Happy Birthday Lily

2009-06-18T09:09:00.004+02:00

Lily celebrated her sixth birthday yesterday with six little girlfriends from school. Ah, girls are so easy! It was a much more relaxing day than last year's birthday. We played at home (dolls, beading, chasse aux trésors) and then went out to the park to play some games. I even taught them how to do three-legged races. I was happy with the cake, even though I lost creative control at the end when David took over! All up, it was a really nice relaxing party.

Lost in translation!

2009-06-14T09:11:00.002+02:00

Here's an interesting article from the BBC about faux-amis and other misunderstandings. My favourite part is as follows:

"The other day I was reading an article in a French newspaper about how we regularly mishear words, particularly in foreign languages, and how that completely changes our comprehension of the conversation.

The writer spoke of a British acquaintance of his who was struck when he arrived in France by how much the French seemed to talk about Johnny Marr, the Smiths' guitarist.

Until the writer realised what his friend was actually hearing was "J'en ai marre (I'm sick of it)".

Hee, hee!

Milan

2009-06-07T11:18:00.015+02:00

I had a great 36 hour trip to Milan, catching up with Kate and Jessica. I wasn't organized enough to book a ticket to see the Last Supper but did have a good look at the Duomo and went up on the terrace for an amazing walk around. I ate some delicious pasta, great gelati and drank lots of espresso and brought home some grana, some Segafredo coffee and some yummy Bucaneve biscuits (not to mention a pack of Tim Tams - thanks Kate!)

Castello Sforzesco

Duomo

Gelati with Kate

On the terrace of the Duomo

Gelati with Jessica

Milano Centrale FS (train station)

Just because...

2009-05-31T14:24:00.001+02:00

Boost!

2009-05-29T15:38:00.003+02:00

Lily is going to be a happy camper when she gets home from school today. I just received the six Boost maths and english books that I ordered from Sydney. It was my grandmother who introduced me to this series, sending us a couple of their maths books a few months ago. Lily really enjoyed them (and we haven't even tried the free CD that comes with them yet!). So I thought they would be a good way to keep her interest going in english and reading.

They don't learn to read here in France until CP, which Lily starts next year. Since turning 5 she has been interested in learning to read, so we started with english at her own pace. We started off with a few activity books and then were lent some Oxford Reading Tree readers which she really liked. She's finished the first three levels so I'm trawling ebay for some more and in the meantime she has the Boost english series for ages 4-6 and 6-7 to complete as she is ready. Its hard finding the right balance as I don't want to push her but I am also conscious that its up to us to ensure she learns to read, write and spell correctly in english. I have no idea how she compares to aussie kids of her age, but at almost 6, she can read "Put me in the zoo" and "Hop on Pop" by Doctor Seuss so I figure she's not doing too badly and we have all summer to work on it...and now with some fun new books.

This one's going straight to the pool room!

2009-05-26T21:54:00.003+02:00

Jasper's first artwork done at the crèche!

Speedies chez nous!

2009-05-22T18:48:00.005+02:00

Yesterday we had a great visit from fellow aussie bloggers in France, the Speedie's. Its always fun to meet new friends and we quickly found we had a lot more in common than just the crazy idea of living in France for a while. We had a long lunch of raclette on the balcony, followed by my first ever attempt at chocolate mousse (merci pour la recette Stéphanie). The kids all got on really well and it was nice to see Jasper try out his english on someone. Its been quite a while since we've had any english speaking visitors and his speech has come a long way in that time. Thanks to Anne and Andrew, Samuel (older by one minute!) and Ella. It was lovely to meet you and we wish you all the best for the rest of your stay in France. Maybe we'll catch up in Bris Vegas one day...

Mind your manners

2009-05-17T13:45:00.003+02:00

Rarely a day goes by that I don't get a chance to embarrass myself in some way. Today, it was a mix-up of manners. Now manners are very important here and I try my best - always saying "hello" and "goodbye" when I enter and leave a shop, "thank you, have a good day" etc.

Today, I took the kids out for breakfast. As usual there were a lot of people waiting to be served at the counter. As we slipped down the side of them to the tables at the back, I called out "bonjour" to the owner and one of her helpers behind the counter who were busy serving. Later when things had quietened down, the owner walked past so I said another "bonjour madame". She turned to me, surprised, and said "but we've already said hello when you came in!" Umm, ok! David says he has made the same mistake and been corrected too - apparently its just as bad to say too many hellos as to say none at all!

Two years!

2009-05-16T20:48:00.002+02:00

It took rather a backseat in our otherwise busy day, but today we celebrated two years here in France. We went to one of our favourite restaurants, the Brasserie du Paquier. Its not too expensive, has super friendly service and really good food. Lily would tell you the best thing are the ice-creams and the lollies they bring with the bill, but my favourite is the café gourmand. You get an espresso coffee, tiny crème brulée, a tiny brownie with crème anglaise (custard) and a scoop of vanilla ice-cream and chantilly. Just the thing after tartiflette!

Open day at the Conservatorium

2009-05-16T20:12:00.003+02:00

Lily will be doing the parcours découverte next year at the Conservatorium. So we received a letter telling us we had to go to the Open Day today so she could try some instruments. From those she tried, she is to choose six, which she will do for three weeks each next year, along with three weeks of choir and dance and the formation class she is doing this year.

So armed with our list of boxes to be checked and signed, we set off down the road. It was crazy there, with heaps of kids and stressed looking parents wandering through the hallways, looking for instruments to try. The first instrument Lily tried was the double bass. Who knew they made smaller sizes? She got to hold it, pluck the strings, play it with a bow and try to follow a simple rhythm while the teacher did the finger bit at the top. I thought she did really well (though I do have a slight tendency to bias!). She also tried the flute (produced a nice loud sound first go), violin and cello before it all got a bit too much. Despite my prodding, she wouldn't try the saxophone and she had absolutely no interest in the trumpet, trombone or french horn. I suspect she might be a strings sort of girl (although I do hope I can convince her to enrol in viola instead of violin - it has a much nicer sound, even though we were listening to an untrained 7 year old playing it. It was much less screechy than the violin).

She promptly came home and drew a picture of a double bass which is her favourite (maybe as it was the first thing she tried or perhaps as the teacher was super friendly). I'd like to see her try the cello as well - its a lovely instrument and for some reason she just looked right playing it. We'll see. In the meantime, she'll enrol for piano (which comes in a workshop with harpsichord and organ) and perhaps percussion. Despite the stress, it was a fun afternoon and really interesting. I wish they had a parcours découverte for 42 year olds!

Une dent qui bouge!

2009-05-15T11:02:00.003+02:00

A very excited Lily came running out of her class yesterday to tell me she has a wobbly tooth! How can it be that those teeth can be ready to start falling out when it seems like only yesterday she got her first one? Anyway, we are well prepared here. She already knows that the tooth fairy lives up in the castle we can see from our balcony and she's also expecting a visit from the mouse who takes care of french kids teeth! Last night she wrote a letter for the tooth fairy, on the back of a special fairy envelope. It says "Dear Fairy, I am waiting for you. From Lily." And she's doing her best to make it fall out as soon as possible.

Do yourself a favour*

2009-05-14T09:12:00.005+02:00

If you're in Australia, run out and buy a copy of this month's Women's Weekly - it has two fantastic broccoli recipes in it. Its the one with Olivia Newton-John and her daughter on the cover. Now personally, I think our Livvie could use a lesson in growing old gracefully but I digress...

We all love broccoli here and eat it almost every day, either as a main meal or as a veg on the side. But now I have two great recipes to add to my repertoire of broccoli pasta and broccoli risotto. The first one I tried was the Broccoli, Pancetta and Blue Cheese gratin. I changed the pancetta for lardons (bacon pieces) and the blue cheese for gruyère and they all loved it. Its a really good dish to prepare earlier and just heat up. I set the timer on my oven to cook it while we were coming home from gymnastics (Lily riding her bike and me running - I really need to buy a bike now!).

The second dish is Fish and Broccoli pie - made with salmon, haddock, boiled eggs and broccoli. We're having it for lunch today and its only half prepared right now, but I can tell just by the ingredients that its going to taste really good. That's the Fish and Broccoli pie picture above that I nicked from the AWW site. Yum!

* Ah, you can take the girl out of Australia, but a childhood of watching Countdown can never be lost!

Birthday Bonanza!

2009-05-10T15:54:00.026+02:00

With April comes the start of the Giorgi birthday season. First up was Jasper. This year, we decided to have a day away on his actual birthday so we got up very early and took the train to Lyon to go to the zoo at the Parc de Tête d'Or. There is so much to see in Lyon - we definitely need to spend some time there. We came home late for a birthday dinner of his choice (sausages) and his first cake. We then celebrated again with friends a few days later at his "Cars" party with a second cake.

Next was my birthday. All I wanted was a new hair cut for summer, so I treated myself to an expensive cut at Dessange Paris. I had been wandering past for ages, admiring their gleaming white interior. Now I know just where to go when I want a AUD$120 haircut. Though, given the frequency of my haircuts, its worth paying for. As we've been eating out a lot lately, I asked David to cook me a meal (a rarity!). He made a delicious tagliatelle with fresh prawns and scallops from the fish shop in our street.

David decided to celebrate his birthday a day early as it fell on a school day this year. We hired an outboard motor boat and took a cruise on the lake. We stopped and floated for a while to eat some sandwiches. There was hardly anyone out and it was really peaceful.

So that about brings us up to date. Here are all the photos and a bit of video of Jasper diligently blowing out his candles.

New bike!

Opening presents on the train

Lyon

Lunch at a real Bouchon

Delicious baked apples with cinnamon

Vieux Lyon

On the funicular railway going up to the Basilique

Basilique Notre Dame de Fourvière

Giraffes at the Parc de Tête d'Or

Bears

Elephants

Birthday cake number 1

Birthday cake number 2

At his party

Dav cooking (gasp!)

Dav's birthday lunch of curry, on the balcony

Digging in the dirt

2009-05-09T17:58:00.009+02:00

I've got a big backlog of photos to post but for now I'll start with today. I've been looking for a while for the right size flower boxes and supports for our balcony. Everything I'd seen was too narrow for our wide balustrade. But I made a trip out to Botanica at Annecy-le-Vieux today and found just what I was looking for. We also bought some extra boxes to plant some vegetables - off to the markets tomorrow to get some seedlings.

I'm back!

2009-05-08T09:13:00.004+02:00

Thanks France Telecom - that month without internet was just what I needed! Can you hear the sarcasm? At least it was an interesting experience. The first week was a bit of a break and a novelty. The second, I was angry and climbing the walls. By the third, I was feeling totally disconnected from the world and by the fourth, I was settled into a weird state of acceptance. Sort of like an internet-related accelerated version of the 5 stages of grief.

Anyway, I have used my time offline wisely and have been reading heaps of library books and generally enjoying our new home. It is truly everything I wanted almost two years ago when we moved here and I still wake up wondering how we managed to find such a great place. The kids love it, especially the huge balcony and the fact they can make a lot more noise, although Lily is having some problems sleeping with the noise at nights. We've adapted well to taking baths instead of showers (even on school mornings I seem to have time for a nice relaxing soak). My new coffee machine, George, courtesy of my friends here, has been working overtime as we try lots of different brands of coffee. So far my favourite has been a red pack of Segafredo which amazingly was on special for 1,75€. At the moment we've got an expensive tin of Illy, which is nice but over-priced IMO. The Segafredo is proving hard to find at the moment but I will be sure to stock up when I head off to Milan ON MY OWN for a night in June!