24 February 2010

Day 4 France - Air traffic controllers strike

My final day in France I intended to wake early in order to tour the impressive castle just down the road and visit a bakery to pick up fresh pastries for tea time when I arrived bay in England.


I was brushing my teeth when the news came. First, I heard there was a transportation strike that just broke out, then just that the airports went on strike meaning airplanes were not flying from France. What was I to do? Plus, I needed to get back for an important day at work, and I didn't want to waste holiday time due to being stranded. Stressful! I received confirmation that the Pau airport was definitely closed for the day. Frantically searching for options I heard a couple of flights were flying out of Paris and I started seeking train options as well. Fortunately, an hour into the chaos news arrived that the Toulouse airport was flying. I luckily found a flight from that airport on another cheap carrier which was to get me home around six. I booked it!


I still had just enough time for a jaunt to the bakery before Antoine arrived home from work to drive to Toulouse. I'm very grateful he was able to take the afternoon off, it saved me. Many of the group I met Saturday night made same re-booking. I enjoyed having people to wait with, especially as the flight was delayed a further two and a half hours. In the end I arrived home at nine thirty... just in time for bedtime, and straight to bed I went.

Love

Day 3 France - Toulouse wedding dress shopping

Laura is enjoying the life of a bride-to-be, along with finishing her Master's thesis. In just five months she and Antoine are having a beautiful wedding in Toulon on the south coast of France. For the big day of course she needs the PERFECT dress. She has found her man, but despite a weekend in New York, shopping in DC and prior outings in France, she has not managed to that one dress, her dress. We decided to try and change that. Toulouse is a larger city about two hours away from Pau via train with much more in the way of wedding dresses. It is also known for its sausages and rugby. Monday morning we were up bright in early for a train ride to day of white dress shopping!


We visited three boutiques that day. We spent a couple of hours at the first finding four dresses that were fairly far from what Laura desires. I learnt that the vast majority of wedding dresses are strapless, and if you are looking for something with straps it can turn into a chore. At the second boutique after a short wait Laura was lucky to try a few more dresses due to another appointment cancelling, the best of these dresses was of course horribly above budget. Then we found the perfect bridal boutique; chic, sophisticated and overflowing with beauty! Laura instantly loved the dress on the mannequin as soon as we walked in. I thought I could smell success in the air. That scent soon faded as we were told an appointment was needed, and they were fully booked for the afternoon. It was nearing time for the return train, so we left disappointed but at the same time hopeful the right dress was actually out there. I loved looking at all of the gorgeous dresses and quickly realized why it can be such a difficult decision.


It wasn't all dress and no play. We took a very enjoyable long lunch and a quaint Italian restaurant in the main center of the town. Pizza, dessert, wine and loads of girly chat. A wonderful outing day! Perfectly ended as Antoine had crepes waiting for us when the train arrived back in Pau.



Love

Day 2 France - Adventure Day


Sunday morning I had the luxury of lazily waking up late in the morning. A large brunch was ahead; fresh croissants and croissants almond from the bakery along with home made waffles, yum!!

The original plan for the day was snow shoeing, but due to rain and horrible wind where we were supposed to go we decided to road trip instead. It was great, a spontaneous adventure day! The three of us got in the car, pulled out a map and decided to take the route towards the coast. Antoine knew of a picturesque old village that is the most beautiful around. After about an hour we arrived in Sara. It is lovely; old, quiet and quaint, located in the Basque region. It was sunny but cool, perfect for a country walk.



As the wind started to pick up and the weather turned chilly, it became time to move on. Back into the car and down to Saint Jean de Luz, an old port town where we quickly stopped for a couple of pics.


It was probably around five at this time and Antoine asked, "Do you want to go to Spain?" Did I... of course! I had never been to Spain before but always wanted to. A half hour later the signs were all Spanish, making it evident we had crossed the border. We stopped in the beautiful fishing village Hondarriba for tapas. They were delicious! We grazed our way through two different bars enjoying numerous delights that covered the counters.






After a couple of hours enjoying the food it was back on the road to Pau, and off to sleep.

Love

Day 1 France - Pau wine tasteing

This past weekend I was incredibly lucky to have a long weekend away in Pau, France visiting my sorority big sis Laura.

I flew out Saturday morning making it to France in time for lunch. Landing in France gave me a bit of an aderenline rush as I don't think I have ever hit a runway going that fast. I sat hoping the plane would slow before we ran out of runway, luckily of course it did and I faced a weekend full of fun.

That afternoon was spent enjoying the awe-inspiring view of the Pyrenees from a couple of vinyards. At the first venue a precious old lady served our samples of wine. My big sis Laura is engaged to a French man, Antoine, and the lady was excited to hear the news as they had been there a few times before. She was also happy they are getting married as it is not as common as it used to be. It excited her to have to pretty girls, one blonde one burnette there, and she was trilled to have Americans visiting. Antoine excited her even more saying that perhaps President Obama will be next to visit. All of this was spoken in French of course and translated to me later.


The next vinyard was slightly more commercial. Once again the conversation was spoken in French which I didn't understand really. Although the lady pouring wine use large gesticulations so I had an idea of what she was talking about. It was all delicious and interesting to see how wine tasting in south-east France compared to Yakima Valley, more quaint and not as large of scale.




Than night we went to a gathering Lara's friend Molly's apartment. Molly is from New York and she is teaching English with a group of people from English. We sat chatting and getting to know everyone then went to their local bar The Galloway for one last drink. At the end of the night I realized they were all on break from school and had booked the same flight back to England as I had, so I would have people to sit with on the way home.

Love

17 February 2010

pancake day


(I didn't actually make these ones, found the pic on allrecipies.co.uk)

Yesterday was pancake day... and we just finished the leftovers tonight. Pancake day believe it or not has Christian origins. How can pancakes and Jesus possibly be related you may ask? The same way that Jesus is related to Mardi Gras. The day known as Pancake Day, Shrove Tuesday, Mardi Gras and Fat Tuesday is the day before the start of Lent. Lent, for those of you who may not know is the forty days before Easter that Christians/Catholics are supposed to give up something that you love to represent the forty days Jesus spent in the wild without any comforts before he was crucified. Currently, across England, in New Orleans and I'm sure many other places across the globe this Tuesday is the day to indulge and be gluttonous before your forty days of sacrifice.

What are you giving up this year? I think I'm going to go without candy bars, with the incredible chocolate here they are a guilty pleasure (and a fatty one at that).

Pancake Day though can be quite the affair. A girl I work with had a group of friends round for a pancake flipping competition. Now don't think of normal fluffy American pancakes covered in maple syrup, the British type are more thin, getting similar to crepes. They can be filled with many delicious treats. For example with savory pancakes you get ham and cheese or spinach and ricotta and sweet pancakes can be covered in lemon juice and sugar or bananas and melted chocolate. This year we kept it simple, sticking to lemon and sugar, Scrumptious!

Love

14 February 2010

a saturday in the kitchen

For Toms Mums birthday gift we spent this Saturday up at Brook Farm creating a delicious meal for his parents that rivaled any fine restaurant. My tasks were the sweet things, Tom did everything else. It was a great day spent working on my new years resolution.

My first task was actually treats for Tom to take in to work to belatedly celebrate his birthday. It is custom to take in a cake or something on your birthday for employees around you to share, and as Tom didn't desire taking in a cheap store bought cake I was employed in making Millionaire's Shortbread. Luckily the double batch was more than enough to go around and my team will love me on Monday as I have a fair few packed and ready to share. They are quite easy to make, a shortbread base covered in toffee then topped with chocolate. Yummy!

My next task was dessert for the night, a Ginger Passion fruit Trifle. Using a trifle base I lightly soaked it with ginger wine then covered with a mixture of whipped cream and icing sugar and topped it all off with the insides of eight passion fruits. It looked amazing and was a deliciously light finish to the four course Tom had presented.

The menu for the evening:

Broccoli and Stilton soup

Lycees to cleanse the pallet

Scallops in a light breading

Seasoned Talapia wrapped in Parma Ham served over curly kale with roasted tomatoes

Ginger Paasionfruit Trifle

Yes, everything Tom made was amazing. The soup had a perfect balance of broccoli and Stilton. I usually find scallops chewy but these had the ideal texture melting in your mouth. There was three different varieties of the seasoned Talapia which we were served a sample of each. I was finding it difficult to finish my plate of the main course as all of the incredible food was filing me up. But as always of course I found a bit of room for dessert. I bet that finding a meal of this calibre in a restaurant would be difficult without breaking the bank!

This morning the cooking frenzy carried on. For the second time I put together a batch of cereal bars. Quick to mix together oats, shredded coconut, nuts, seeds and dried berries then fold into heated condensed milk. Once flattened in the pan, pop in the over on low heat for an hour. That it! Just like that a couple of weeks worth of yummy morning treats are created that make everyone sitting nearby in the office impressed thinking I am a Queen in the kitchen.

Love

12 February 2010

twilight... the series


I finally gave in. I did it. I joined in with the vast majority of girls in the world who are addicted to the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. My best friend swears by it, my cousin has read the books who knows how many times and when New Moon came out in the cinemas it is practically all that was talked about around me. I still wasn’t convinced though, a vampire love story… not really my thing.

Then it happened. Tom’s older sister Sally lent me the first book of the series. I was about to say novel; however, it doesn’t compare to Bronte, Woolf, Orwell and all of the other incredible authors I spent my university days immersed in. In fact I do feel slightly silly reading this series as its target audience is clearly teen girls who can still relate to being in school and gossiping for hours about possibly getting a kiss after a third date. Anyways, I’m still reading it. In fact, I finished the first book Twilight, and have now checked out New Moon from the library. Must mean I am slightly hooked.

What I am is determined to see the series through. As I say with a novel, it is always the very ending that makes it or breaks it, so I must get through to the end of the series before making proper judgment.

My critique thus far.... I did find the structure of the first installment a bit Harry Potteresque with the first three quarters building up to a life or death action scene very near to the end. However, it did still grip me to a point and I love that it is an easy read that I can follow as boring things like sport are being watched on TV.

Love

05 February 2010

a new galaxy

One thing that the British indisputably do better than Americans is chocolate. Seriously, just try a bite and you will be converted. Sorry Hershey's, you were adored at one time but have now been replaced.

First, there is Cadbury. The classic Flake, a full range of candy bars and numerous other yummy treats. However, they are being taken over by Kraft so who knows what will happen in the future. Right now there is major concern over possible closing down of Cadbury factories which could mean a lot of lost jobs in the UK. Only time will tell.

My favourite though is without a doubt Galaxy. Nine times out of ten when a chocolate craving hits its a Galaxy bar that brings a smile to my face along with a feeling of complete satisfaction. It is so incredibly smooth and creamy melting perfectly with each bite. Yesterday I had one of those moments when chocolate is all I desired. So I went to the supermarket and guess what I discovered..... a BRAND NEW type of Galaxy bar!!! GALAXY BUBBLES.


It is the same luxurious shell with an aerated chocolate centre. Similar to and Aero bar, but so much better. It even comes in pink packaging.

In trying to find a picture of this lovely bar for my blog I just discovered that Galaxy is a subsidiary of Mars. Then I found out Mars was founded in Tacoma, Washington! Just goes to prove that many good things in life really do come from the Evergreen State.

Love

Back to Home Back to Top a hop skip and a jump across a big big pond. Theme ligneous by pure-essence.net. Bloggerized by Chica Blogger.
This template is brought to you by : allblogtools.com | Blogger Templates