The Birthday Trip

Since we were leaving for the US only 3 days after the Amsterdam-Detroit attempted bombing, we feared we would have a difficult time getting to Pittsburgh. But the trip was not bad, there was little extra security, especially in Paris, so we only had to contend with an extra-long flight due to a ferocious head wind and major turburlance. All flights however were packed. As you can see here, Birthday Mom had a good time. We froze in Pittsburgh where it also snowed most days and after a week, we were on our way to sunny Florida. Yahoo!

But Florida was in the midst of the longest and coldest freeze in decades. There was sunshine at least. We visited with more family and friends, ate great seafood, did a bit of shopping (how can you not but necessaries at West Marine) and went to a movie. The absolute high point of the trip was seeing Avatar at an Imax theater. It was incredible. We are looking forward to seeing Alice in Wonderland which we hope will be shown at the Imax at Paris Disney. Definately worth the trip.

The trip back was more of a hassel. Lines were very long at Miami. Security had been tightened up by then. On the plus side the flight was shortened by an hour due to a tail wind and there was less turburlance.

Back in France, we had escaped a serious (3-4 inch) snowfall which was still on the ground when we arrived. You can see an image of Petillant at the marina under a white blanket at www.port-medoc.com and look at the images of Ponton D. Petillant is the second boat you see on the right.

The cats had missed us and have not strayed from our sides. Now we are getting back to routine before we go off to Paris on Saturday.

Anniversary Dinner

Last week we celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. We planned to go out to lunch at our favorite restaurant in Bergerac, but it was closed for the holidays. So we dined in on lobster and champagne.

When we brought the lobsters home we let Dante and Calypso check them out.

We are off to the US tomorrow for 2 weeks so no postings until the middle of January. Happy New Year!

Christmas Baking

We spent the weekend baking for the holidays. We made a stollen-like bread in which we used walnuts instead of almonds thereby giving it a different taste from stollen but still delicious. We made pizzelles, RXC's Aunt May's jelly roll cookies, rum balls, pecan crescents, and dried fruit blondies. We also made spiced nuts. Everything is so delicious I wonered why we don't make Christmas cookies all year round?

Is It Bigger Than a Bread Box?

Or in this case a bread basket. We use a handmade sweetgrass basket we bought in Charleston, SC for our bread basket on the table. Dante decided to try to fit into it. Next he tried and succeeded in fitting into the new bathroom sink.

Truffle Treat

We visited the market in Perigueux with our Thanksgiving visitors. That market is always lively, particularly as the holidays approach. There is a section reserved for all things duck and goose and a section devoted to truffles (the fungi not the chocolate). We purchased 2 small truffles for 15 euros and looked forward to a feast. Truffles are very fragrant so it is best to store them in something that will absord their scent such as eggs or rice. We planned on omlettes later in the week so we stored the truffles in a bowl of fresh farm eggs.

The first meal we cooked was a simple one: truffle shaved over tagliatelle with some olive oil and butter. Delicious!

Deck the Halls with Help

Our Parisian friend Celine came for a visit. We had 4 days of touring cities, museums, monuments, ate fancy lunches, and finally decided to buy and trim the Christman tree. It is probably too early to have a tree up in a warm home, but we had a fun time trimming it. As you can see Celine was not the only helper.

Thanksgiving for 15

We celebrated Thanksgiving like most other Americans last Thursday. We had ordered "un gros dinde" (a big turkey) way back in August in order for it to be ready at the end of November. We had friends come over from the DC area who brought fresh cranberries. Other friends from Brittany brought oysters raised just beyond their front door. Most other foods were local: potatoes, sweet potatoes, broccoli, leeks, apples, pears, salad, cheese, and of course the wine. We spent a long afternoon eating and talking in 3 languages: English, French, and Italian.