Whine and Cheese

On one of those rare occasions that I can steal Nahleen away from the kennel, we decided to head for the hills of Gaspereau and try out Pete Lucketts newest venture The Cellar Door Restaurant at his vineyard and do a tour of the new Petes in Wolfville for some fancy food and groceries!
Since the kennel was going to be minded by employee of the month Julie, JC was able to accompany us and hopefully play driver if we decided to make it a liquid lunch. Our first stop at the Petes was trying to find parking in a very tiny lot. We were there on a Wednesday and I can only imagine the fight for a spot on a Saturday. While the layout is different than the other two locations it is basically the same but on a much smaller scale. Not quite as many cheeses and less frozen fun vegetarian things but basically great if you are in need of a fancy oil or imported fruit and veg. At cash we were offered a discount card that turned out to be totally crap but oh well, I really don't need an excuse to shop there. Filling the trunk with polenta, cheese, baby eggplants, sun dried tomatoes, pumpkin seed oil, cherry coke, and some great ideas for market items we took off for the vineyard.
You know, if this mink thing takes over the Valley I just may have to move up to Gaspereau. What a stunning view. The peace and quiet and rolling hills, Minas Basin and acres of true farmland are pretty appealing right now.
Pulling up to the restaurant, JC manages to park as far away as possible and insists on us entering through the loading dock. We gently steer him toward the front, which also looks like a loading dock, and enter the winery.
Huge steels casks of wine, a beautifully laid out retail and counter area and it looks like we are about to have our first sample of the day. Sadly it is a fruit wine and having sampled wayyyyyy tooo many Nova Scotia fruit wine offerings......the worst is that BeaverCreek syrupy moldy fruit slop.....I think about declining but what the hell I have a driver today! Light, crisp, cranberryesque.....delicious..

...hmmmmm, I may have a new vice. All around we agree it is quite delightful and we wouldn't be ashamed to give or receive this as a gift.

 We were a bit hesitant for lunch as the restaurant is actually an outdoor patio looking over the vineyard and the fog was quite heavy and damp that day. Stepping onto the stone floor we saw himself, the Pete, chatting to an employee and made our introductions. He is such a charming and down to earth man. He made us quite comfortable as we pulled our seats under the expansive awning and started up a giant heater right next to our table.
Our server came and took drink orders, Nahleen choosing the Triumphe, a medium bodied red, myself the light bodied Phone Box ...maybe Phone Booth....and JC, wimping out in his new fruity palate choose the white Ortega. We had previously tried the other red they carry and not anyone liked it and I do believe Donald called to complain.
 It tasted like...well....arse....literally....don't ask.
The menu had a number of vegetarian choices, of course I scoped out the menu beforehand, and we sampled each one.

JC had the red pepper, artichoke, mushroom and asparagus sandwich with a cup of the red pepper and tomato soup. The sandwich was a good size with lovely roasted veg but kinda boring and the soup was nice.

 I am a bit of soup snob...can you believe it....but my tomato soup is fantastic

.Nahleen got the thai sesame noodles with veg and ponzu dressing. I found the noodles a bit too al dente and was quite overwhelmed by sesame but it was good and and she ate every last bite!

I went for the cheese plate which had some smoked applewood cheddar, havarti and fennel, brie and a cambozola.....mmmmmm, blue cheeses. There was also some fresh fruit, blueberries, olives, yucky....nectarines and bread, artisanal crackers and a chutney that was much debated over with JC insisting that it was mango, he could in fact see bits of mango and the overwhelming flavour of mango was making his mouth  say the word mango and then putting up $10 bucks for his discerning and what he hoped would be correct palate. I think the white wine went to his head. It ended up being everything but mango. Apples, peach, cranberry and spices. Nice try though JC. I also had the roasted Mediterranean vegetable salad with goat cheese. You can never have enough cheese. That was fabulous.

 

 Sometimes I refuse to get the salad on a menu because it just seems like a cop out for us veggies. However done right and not just a green alternative afterthought it can be better than your meal. As we all shared in good conversation...we tried to stay away from mink but it kept creeping in there....we dipped into the cheese plate, slicing and spreading on crackers and bread, scooping chutney and fruit and having a delicious ol' time until I got a an olive brine soaked nectarine and then a blueberry. Nothing ruins the flavour in your mouth quite like arsey olive juice. It reminds me of dog anal glands and salt and beached whales and car oil on the driveway.....feel ill yet? I did. As Nah and JC kept popping those horrendous little globes in their mouths I had to admire them. Maybe one day I will have a taste for olives......but I doubt it. In the meantime I will happily swap the icing off Nahleen's cake and maraschino cherries in JC's fruity drinks for  the olives in my martinis and off my cheese plate. It seems like a good deal to me.

Lest We Forget and Lots To Learn

Our morning started out like every other since we landed, cool and drizzly but as we made our way to Juno Beach, the sky just seemed to get darker and darker. Sure enough we got stuck in a massive downpour but then the clouds lifted and the sun came out shining. We have been very lucky this way...I like to think that the sun is following us, or perhaps it is us singing every song we know with sun in the title...we will never make it to Canadian Idol.

The Juno Beach Centre is situated right on the beach where Canadians landed on D-Day. The building itself that houses the information centre is a very moving tribute to the veterans who fought in the war. Outside is a gorgeous statue commemorating the soldiers and it looks like they are rising out of the water. Once inside you sit in a little room that feels like the prow of a ship and are surrounded on all sides with various videos of what it was like to actually land on the beaches. Further in the museum you self tour and see what it was like in Canada prior to the war and move through the various war years. Informative and well displayed, we learned quite a bit about Canada's role in the war and chose to take the beach tour with a guide. The centre is staffed by Canadians and we met two guides from Vancouver and Alberta. The tour took us to the bunker on the beach and down the sand to see the various landing spots of the many different regiments. We listened to strategies that the Canadians put in place to save as many men as possible after the disastrous landing at Dieppe. This beach is over 8kms long and is not at all like Saving Private Ryan in its intensity of landing. Ships we spread out and soldiers reported feeling very alone, afraid and unsure of where the Germans lay. The area that we were in saw few casualties on the beaches themselves but as the combat moved into the town it became more fatal and saw prisoners taken. A story of 150 Canadians soldiers taken prisoner and executed and their bodies run over repeatedly and the French townspeople forced to watch was particularly upsetting. I was not taught anything about the war during my school years, even though I lived in Germany at the time and other than movies and reading up before this trip was very uninformed. I am glad that we had the chance to visit and though it was a more sombre part of the trip I am happy that we were able to educate ourselves and pay our respects to the veterans. We left Courcelles Sur Mer, and headed back to Maison Du Vert with a quick detour to our new favourite restaurant Luca Pizza, a whole hour before opening...please read things we have learned below....and had another enjoyable meal and called it a night! Bubble bath and a book are very much in order.

Here are some tidbits about France that we have learned

Tolls make no sense – the roads are beautiful and well kept but just because you seem to be on a long route don't assume the toll will be huge. We have paid everything from 10 centimes to 7.50 euros.

Curious lack of squishies on the road...roadkill.....what we have seen so far is strange and sad....badger, bunnies..mostly babies...hedgehogs and R.O.U.S's ....rodents of unusual size.

There are hedges everywhere making the scenic drive sometimes lacking and other times so clean and perfect, they are kept by the farmers and that would be its own job I think.

You don't tip here! Your bill includes the tax and tip...about 15%...and what you see is what you pay. I have not had a single problem with food or service and quite happily paid 50 euros for a meal that included a botte of wine, pate starter....for Donald....bottle of water, tomato mozza basil salad...huge and for two....2 massive 14 inch pizzas, basket of bread, banana split with homemade chocolate, strawberry and vanilla ice cream and a calzone stuffed with half a jar of nutella. FOR 50 EUROS......

There are roundabouts...stupid British Emily on the GPS....or rotaries as we call them....every 2 kms. On the highway you may get about every 15 kms but they are everywhere and very confusing on the GPS. She also calls exits SLIP road....I thin my real beef here is with the GPS or lack of proper wording for non British drivers.

There is very little open on a Sunday, especially rurally but true in the bigger cities too, not a grocery store, patisserie or even a restaurant. If a restaurant is open it isn't until 7pm.

It is Monday today and there are also very few things open....if a restaurant does open it will probably only be for lunch. Shops and grocery stores are closed too.

Gas stations close at 9pm. There may be a few open but on our way out of Paris...a 1.5 hour drive we didn't see a single one, toll stations are still open but not a money exchanger person, so make sure you have correct change or a credit card.....a few of the bigger toll stations may give change but not the little ones!

Roads are tiny and it is best to keep to the hard right in the back country if you aren't an aggressive driver. Trust me, they know what they are doing so let them.

French radio sucks. If you are up near Calais you can get some Brit stations but they love to hear themselves talk on the radio, they interrupt songs or sing along and have a play list from American that includes the top 5 only. If I hear one more Adele song I will scream.

The French have a very unfair stereotype. We have not yet met a single rude person. They do however smell the English in you right away and will begin to speak English to you even though you are trying. Perhaps it's best this way and nothing gets lost in translation.\\

There are fields of mustard everywhere....why? We still don't know.

About 95% of homes here have shutters, which are super cute when they are open and flowers are on the sills but at night, the towns look like they are having a blackout and it feels really creepy.

France is full of rabbits. At night they come out and hang on the sides of the highways....be super careful.

Apple trees are pruned upwards rather than the open hand look we go for in the valley...hate to have to pick those puppies.

It's all about the monet, monet, monet

We decided to sleep in a bit yesterday and when we finally hit the road, it was well after 10am. Another breakfast of toasted baguette, fromage and coffee and we were off to see the home and museum of Claude Monet in the village of Giverny about an hour away. WE changed the GPS to avoid toll roads and that was where we went wrong. Back roads to not begin to describe the places we ended up yesterday but as our friend Willie likes to say "every day is a new adventure". We found a sweet little farm market in Le Pas and got some pain au chocolat, took twisty turns down streets where we were thiclose to touching walls on either side, not to mention how steep they were! The kilometer distance reader didn't seem to be getting any lower as we drove for at least an hour and we decided to stop and have some lunch. Donald decided on easy and available and took us to a great little roadside spot called.....FAST FOOD....yup in english....though the workers and menu was in french we managed to order a 5 cheese pizza and cherry coke easily enough. I have never had so much cheese on a pizza in my life....mozza, parmesan, brie, blue and raclette. You could hardly pick up the slices they were so heavy and the crust so very thin. They also gave us two packets...like ketchup.....of cayenne oil for drizzling.....not hot at all from the heat master sitting across from me....we ate a little bit of cheese heaven that day.

 That's me looking very nervous....this must be a four milk pill meal.Just to top off the incredible richness of that meal we get  a small salted caramel ice cream sundae to go....We finally arrive at the town of Vernon which is huge and we get turned around so many times it makes me wonder how someone without a GPS could find Giverny. We do, just barely and make our first stop the museum. It was a little disappointing as I thought they would have Monet paintings there but it is always another Impressionist which made it okay in the end because I have never heard of the gentleman Maurice Denis and his work was quite lovely. But onto the Monet. With each step inside this tiny little village, truly a one lane kind of deal, you could smell more flowers, see more color, feel the paintings coming to life. I know it sounds silly but I kept saying "It's like we are in a painting" to which Donald would reply "Yes BooBoo, you keep saying that, it's lovely isn't it". So into the gift shop we go....always do this first, it just makes me happy buying things, and then into the gardens. OMG. it is absolutely stunning. The home of Claude Monet is completely painted wood, the rooms bright and with gorgeous views of the gardens, the room of paintings...sadly replicas....is like being in an impressionist dream. The kitchen and dining room are amazing and you can't take pictures inside :( I did buy the book though if you want to see it!!! Out to the garden and the LILY POND which is underground and a whole other garden space of its own. I took a video......

I also took a million pictures. Sadly we had to go and continue our journey to the Palace of Versailles and then Paris. Versailles was a treat! The gold and gilding, the mirrors, the statues, the frescoes, the paintings, the extravagance of the very rich and the life I think I could get quite settled into....except I can't because I have a dairy allergy. Yup, all that cheese finally caught up to me and I barfed my guts up at the Palace of the Sun King....funny they don't make a t-shirt that says that at the gift shop. Here are some pics I managed to take before we had to leave a bit earlier than we wanted to because I was feeling a bit weak.

So there we have Donald eating a pain au chocolat in front of the palace, the church, the hall of mirrors and the dining table for the king and queen. My camera battery is so low at this point I am conserving pictures. Donald's parents visited Versailles a few years ago and brought me the book back.....so I don't feel so bad!
Onto gay Paris where we decide to do the Eiffel Tower. Have I mentioned I am afraid of heights? I can do a roller coaster but put me on a 3 step ladder and my knees got to jelly...makes no sense I know. So we wait in line for about 45 minutes...the guides all tell you it could be up to 2 hours, eat some fries and chat to some dolled up ladies from Texas. We make it all the way to the first viewing platform on the 2nd floor when I break down. I gather myself together while Donald....who is enjoying this more than anything on the trip so far...takes pictures. I get it together and make it to the top. I play it safe and stay on the inside of the top level while Donni heads up to the open air. Not wanting to be alone I climbed the last staircase very carefully. I made it. We drink champagne at the top of the Eiffel Tower and celebrate our 10 and 16 year anniversaries. I love you Goggleybear.

It is now 10 o'clock and we are hungry. We try to find a veggie restaurant but it isn't showing up on the GPS. We drive for awhile when I notice Donald is not paying attention to the GPS while I am scanning the streets for dinner possibilities. He misses 3 turns then runs a red light. When the cops pull us over he mumbles a them. I think he's tired. We skip dinner and head for home. It has been a long but fabulous day.

Your Bestest Friends Know You When You're Wearing Paper Underwear

Today was a trip to Calais. This traditional port city has long been a place of battle between the French and the English as each side fought for rights to claim the land as their own. Today the French....Donald and I... met with the English...Shawna and Mason and shared this beautiful seaside town, enjoying a picnic and catching up on the last few years. Since her wedding in Ottawa almost 3 years ago...where does the time go???? Shawna and Nathan had a baby, Mason who is now almost 2, travelled another hunk of the world and some back and forth to visit her family in Canada and left her job as a flight attendant, not to mention being a mommy! We shopped a the local grocery, made ourselves a picnic, to which Shawna had brought along the necessaries...blanket, cutlery, soccer ball and wet naps, and we made for the white sand beach, with a quick detour for some boardwalk fries. She is still as beautiful as she was on her wedding day, her son a gorgeous mix of them both but with that strong Todd gene coming out in sweet brown eyes and charming smile. We chatted like we had just seen each other a week ago, familiar and comforting to hear the laughter that shared my college years and our friendship that has spanned almost 12 years though we have always been separated by at least and 8 hour flight! Now things are changing again, with another cheeky monkey in the picture, visas due to expire and a world of new opportunities. We can only wish that they will be a bit closer...still and 8 hour flight to Alberta.....but I know wherever they are we will find a way to meet!!!

Have Mur-see

The french language can sound so beautiful, rolling off the tongue, spouting bits of love, and don't foget those double cheek kisses. When your import someone like Donald who has basic elementary school mastery you get odd pronunciation, blank stares and a giggle every time someone says le baguette....this is actually JC's fault. Other blunders yesterday included asking for the salle de bain....the kind waiter shook his head and pointed Donald to les toilettes, mumbled thanks that sounded like mursee, instead of merci and a big booming, comical farce BONJUR as we entered  Chateaux grounds. But to be fair he is trying it and we haven't been kicked out of the country yet! So onto our 10 walking tour yesterday of most of the Pays D'Auge.

No good morning starts off without a breakfast and we went again to the hotel as we had not had a chance to do our marketing yet. We had plunger coffee....that's for you Olivia and Nahleen....read french press.....orange juice, yogurt, granola and fruit compote, toasts, toasted croissant, brie and some other cheese. Our waiter Reese is on a working holiday from England and we have invited him and his girlfriend back to Canada to WOOF as he has never been! Bellies full we went off in search of the Livarot market and cheese factory! My skills at ordering in the marche turned out to be pretty good and successfully managed to nab us some tomatoes....coeur de boeuf....local goat cheese....chevre de la pays....les pommes....can't remember the varieties but they are different than home and then we went in search of le baguette at a boulanger and got one as well as a pain de campagne and a quick poke into a patisserie got me a baba au rhum with pastry cream.....mmmmmmmm. The Graindorge cheese facory was super cool, you watched subtitled films about each process in making the cheeses....brie,camembert, livarot and neufchatel. Basically all soft cheeses with different ripening times. gift shop was way too packed with tourist so we will go back at the end of the trip for cheesy gifts...teehee.

 Back in the vehicle and onto the town of Lisieux for a quick stop at the grocery store for some essentials...which we did not get....we got distracted by the 2 euro wine and beer. Here is what our haul looked like after market and store. Onto lunch and at a cute little town we stopped at Luca Pizza. Best lunch ever. Pizza so fresh..and sadly with sausage and pepperoni for Donald and a fresh tomato, basil and mozzarella salad for me.

While we were enjoying the beautiful lunch the weather took a drastic turn to cloudy skies and eventually pouring rain. The chef, undaunted by such obvious turns in weather....or they have the weather network here too....had a fire conveniently laid and lit it, while we sipped our wine and beer and waited for it to pass, which it did. Back into the trusty vehicle and we set off for Caen, home of the fortress ruins of Guillaume the Conqueror....brother of William or perhaps his dad...we would find out. This town is set on a neat river system of locks and there were boats a plenty as we crossed tree lined streets to the bridge and into the centre-ville. Gothic churches abound and the fort remains in the very center reminded me of a cleaner and more modern Edinburgh. We stopped in one of the beautiful churches and I lit a candle for my Uncle David, who passed away the day before we left on vacation. Although bigger and a bit more intricate, it was just as beautiful as the church in Point D'Eglise on the French Shore at home.....I have a feeling Notre Dame may eclipse them all though! By this time I had to pee again....yes I have become a typical tourist in search of les toilettes and once again it was a hassle to find one....not that they aren't readily available...unless you think every restaurant and cafe should have one...then you would be shit out of luck..no pun intended....Donald under the guise of going to the museum, made it look like we were going to buy tickets while I ducked into the washroom. What a mood lifter, lighter than air and ready to conquer anything!So why not have another espresso and build up the pee stores again! Side note to Meghan...France is just like England, you cannot get a fricking coffee, just espresso, not even an americano and there are no Starbucks on every corner....Donald is getting a bit crabby about this. We wander the closed to traffic streets that are made of cobble and lined with every type of store imaginable, a true shoppers paradise from boutiques to mall stores and small independents, patisseiries, boulangers, brasseries, cafes and restaurants. It makes it so hard to choose but we eventually stumble upon a little side street with a sign that says Greedy Guts that reminds me of Julie...not the greedy or the guts part but the look of it....and it says vegetarian so why not! It is only a room about 14 X 20 and full of kitsch, dolls, and smurfs, pin up girl posters, anarchy signs, skateboarding books, various monster type things, kitty cat tins, jars of marmite and lots of other cool stuff to stare at. The waitress is kind as we order just a hot chocolate, ice tea and pancake/crepe thing covered in dark chocolate and almonds. Delicious. Chocolatey. Rich. I take a few milk pills.

 Full, a bit ill actually from the sin of wine chocolate and cheese in a 2 hour time frame we drive on to the beaches of Deauville and Trouville, the home of the rich and poor summering folk of France. We are not disappointed. The vista is spectacular. Sweeping beaches, stunning summer homes more like mansions....sadly boarded up for the season...a casino on the beachfront, sandy and clean and ice cream, creperies and restaurants as far as the eye can see. I wish I could describe the smell. It isn't like our side of the ocean, this is more sea-ey. Not like low tide but salt and mouthwatering. It is time for some pommes frites.

After a walk on the beach and a bit more exploring this beach side town we hop back into the car/truck/suv/minvan...we are undecided what it is exactly we are driving.....see pick below of hot guy and ride and you tell us....and head to Honfleur for some dinner. This town is known for its beautiful multi-story homes perched along the waterfront and all housing different restaurants at the bottom of each. The quay is full of boats of every type and size and a sweet carousel sits at the beginning of this picturesque stroll. We wander by all the eateries and read each menu and it is quite obvious I am going to have be a pescatarian tonight. I have been know to eat a scallop but usually limit myself to once or twice a year because no one cooks them like I like them and I don't want my house all stinky....there should be some animal argument here but as they don't have mothers, eyes or any identifiable part and I can't quite figure out their purpose in life I don't feel too guilty. So we have dinner. Donald orders crevettes.....shrimp...full bodied shrimp with eyeballs and tentacles and shells.....he hasn't done this before, neither have I and the ensuing battle of man vs. crustacean is pretty funny.

 But he gets the job done and declares them delicious. My coquilles st. jaques is served with a side of tagliatelle and minced green onion and leek is divine. The scallops are cooked a bit longer than I like but are fresh and light and the pasta is velvet in the mouth and simply adorned with a parsley butter though I think the pasta was cooked in stock, it is that flavourful. On the side are pinky clawish looking bits, that we are later informed is some type of fish...I handed it over to Donald who said it was like lobster, but not as good as lobster and had a weird texture. Donald also had mussels and fries...a completely normal combo over here and though they were small, he said they were good but not the same as at home. We also managed to polish off a bottle of wine and still find room for dessert, coconut and lemon sorbet for me...a bit of heaven...I could really write a whole page about the coconut....and an apple crepe for Donald. Drunk....mostly me.... full and very tired, we head for home and crash. Another beautiful day.

Like A Candle In The Wind

The France Blog

France...land of cheese, wine and chocolate and a 1000 other things but I want to start this blog off with food.so let's go to the beginning. We ate some  Montreal airport food at Brioche Doree, a crepe and a chicken apple brie baguette.

 Meal time on the plane was my personal mess up, forgot to order a veggie meal in advance and ended up giving Donald the mustard chicken and he traded me his rice. We also got a yummy corn and edamame salad, bun and chocolate cake. I also snuck some avocado sushi on and it was super tasty.

 Sleep was 2 fitful pieces of arms falling asleep, slipping blanket and the knowledge that you can't pee until the guy on the end gets up cause it's 2am and you shouldn't have had that 3 bottle of water.  We landed at Charles De Gaulle a whole half an hour early but didn't quite make it up the runway. instead a lovely bus escorted us, jammed like sardines, to the terminal where we quickly retrieved the bag....yes, a solitary bag....and went off in search of a rental car. Have you ever driven through Quebec and wondered how in the name of Pete they got licenses? I am now in the country of the birth of bad drivers. Sadly the GPS we borrowed from the ma and pa mackinnon did not work....or we are in fact completely retarded and there is a way to find a city that exists outside the states on it....and thus began our driving adventure. There are many roundabouts here, like every 2 kms and the people on motorcycles, every other Parisian owns one, have a death wish. They weave in and out of traffic, there is no sharing the road, the roar up behind you, beside you left or right, whatever side they best squeeze into and roar up to the next set of lights doing 130 for a whopping 3 seconds. So, once you know to pay attention to the them, there are all the other drivers, who all should be in your lane and make their own lanes to get where you are. Frightening stuff. You have to drive it to believe it. So we end up finding really snazzy underground parking in front of the Arc De Triomphe, private elevator, piped in classical music and scented hallways! Wait till you see what we paid for 4 hours! We walk up into the sunlight and are blown away by the size of this thing! Speaking of things....could Napoleans be any smaller? I don't have actual first hand knowledge of this of course but this is as big as penis extenders come!

 We talk the pics, skip the trip to the top...we are saving that for Notre Dame...and mosey down the Champs D'Elysee to do some window shopping. I DID NOT get a ring from Cartier...still not talking to my travel companion. We decide a coffee is in order so that we blend in and go hunting. Donald is convinced a side street will hold a treasure but we are more than 3/4 of the way down and I can see the Tuilieres Gardens and my eyeballs are swimming. THUS I am introduced to public toilette....ughhhh. Donald decides to pee and his mood significantly improve. I buy him a chocolate banana crepe thinking maybe I can get that ring after all and turn around to find him signing some beggar girls petition and she has her hand out....guess what the Donald does...drops a toonie on her, which I happen to witness, I bark his name quite loudly, frankly shocked, and he SNATCHES IT BACK OUT OF HER HAND! Truth be told she wouldn't know what to do with it anyway. My hand however is full of brie baguette and espresso and we walk the gardens and make our way to the Louvre. The weather is ass by the way. Windy, cold and just a peep of sun from behind the clouds. The Pyramid in front of the museum is quite impressive as are the crowds in line up. Having read that there are multiple places to buy tickets and skip the line, we walk around some more and realize we are on our way out and into the Rue de Rivoli. The quick plan of action change is to walk back to the car and head for Ticheville.

 It is amazing that you can be thisfarfromthemonalisa and you decide that nothing in the whole world would be better than comfortable shoes and a warm bath. We will be back Paris on Sunday. Don't move. So back down the biggest shopping road in the world....not sure if that's true but it felt like it....one more longing and meaningful stare at Cartier....a no go....and we can't find the car.
Have I ever mentioned my ability to remember directions and be perfectly in home in a foreign city having only looked at a map once....put me in the parking lot of MicMacMall at Christmas and that's a different story....so I now where the car is but NOOOOOOOOO, hubby thinks it's somewhere else....well long story short, I won and we pull out of the parking lot, 14 euros lighter,my feet free from their prison and oh my god the smell, its like hot sick ass and dill pickles and then Donald takes off his shoes and it's like old cheese that threw up on itself and then the GPS STOPS working. We are in the middle of a roundabout and we have nowheretogoandthecrazymotorcyclesareeverywhereandwealmostgetrearended and Donald yells Booboo what in the $%^& are we supposed to do and I scream pull the &*#@ over you moron and let's fix it, which we do and we've managed to pull over on the road that leads out of town and we find ourselves in Ticheville about 170kms later.r lovely hostess Debbie meets us at the door, leads the way to the cottage and invites us for drinks in an hour. We bathe our feet, put on something clean and go and have a delicious meal.....
Here's what we had

Greek Baked Feta with sweet peppers, herbs, olive oil and onion
Tomato and Roasted Garlic Soup with smokey paprika and basil cream
Rosti Italian with roasted veggies, cheese and italian tomato sauce
Rosti 3 Fromages with goats cheese, brie and mimolette and roasted red pepper coulis sauce
glass of chateau gaillard touraine mesland...tasted like olive...don't know if this is a good thing but it wasn't for me
speciale barley malt blonde beer...tasted like shoe
and I had my dessert delivered because we had to walk off dinner.
I am so tired.a
Camembert tomorrow.....please let my guts be good

Spring....grow dammit

Are you like me and think that if you clean out your gardens in March you can miraculously make things grow? I have been kneeing next to the rhubarb and singing softly to it. Mounding manure and blowing warm gentle breath on the green onions. Dead heading herbs and patting them lovingly. Raking up the plethora of fallen pinecones around my new bed of fiddleheads and using encouraging words like "engage", "you've got a friend in jesus" and other literary gems. What I wouldn't give for some warm rhubarb dream, pan fried fiddleheads and fresh herbs in a salad of baby microgreens. I know it's coming, I have so many plans and just want to get on with it already! My new garden will be about a quarter of an acre bigger this year and we are doing some more above ground boxes just outside the kitchen for easy picking....probably a bad thing that close to the goats but I don't mind to share....just stay away from the hostas you buggers. We have collected so many old windows from spring and fall flings over the past few years I think we may actually get the greenhouse up and running this summer. It won't be pretty but it will serve me a space to indulge in spring fantasy in those nasty months of winter! I plan on doing a lot of heritage tomatoes and maybe Donni will get his famous u-pick tomato farm after all, but probably they will end up in jars. More asian greens this year too and lots of varieties of eggplant. More rows of blueberries, raspberries and currants and it might be time to invest in a serious patch of strawberries...we only got 4 quarts last year, not quite enough to keep his nibs in jam all winter as he makes his way through a jar every 3 days. So there's the plan. What are you doing in your garden?