Winter Warmer

A surprise but none the less, welcome invitation to Jean and Françoise's to help eat up a large Cassoulet that she'd made. If you haven't tried this speciality from the Toulouse area, you should. Made with dried haricot beans, sausage and other cuts of pork, it's a winter dish and not for the faint hearted!

Dry (?) Run

Hardly a voyage of discovery for us but for Gaby and Robert the trip to our favourite Cava wine cave was a new experience which apparently they really enjoyed. It was by way of a dummy run for a forthcoming trip that we plan to organise for the Association, so we did it all including buying a few bottles. Lunch was in La Plaça and while as good as ever and very good value for money, the price has gone up and there are now only three courses instead of four. After lunch we went for a wee stroll around the village and then went on to Sant Quize to show them the monestery and the standing stone (3,000 B.C.). Finished off the day with a cup of tea at their place where we put the finishing touches to our proposed programme for the wine buffs in the association.

Sniffs and Snuffles

Didn't sleep well last night and to top it all, the cold that Christian has had for most of the week is now mine as well.

Eating Out

How quickly Saturday comes around. Can't believe it's the end of January and we have such lovely weather. Were joined on the terrace of the café at the market by Jan and Lutegard, two Belgians who have recently moved to the village and then went out for lunch to the casino from where this photo was taken. It was second choice as it was late and the one we wanted to go to was closed. From the road, a long (20km) tailback on the motorway was visible . Due to an accident, over 3,000 lorries were backed up. What a fun way to spend an afternoon.
The food was a buffet but you weren't allowed to serve yourself and I have to say that we're not inclined to go back in a hurry.
Later on we were invited to Juste and Joséphine's as they were in need of a moral boost before Juste's mother arrives tomorrow and to make matters worse, the people fitting the new heating and hot water system haven't finished. Apéritifs became supper and so ended another full day in the life of two OAPs.

Prizes and Pizzas

Yesterday was a usual Thursday with a committee meeting, the language exchange and an apéritif in the bar. Today, there was Spanish and this evening we were among the handful of people who went to the presentation of the prizes to the winners of the Shopkeeper and Artisans' raffle . Sadly, we hadn't won anything but we did get some pizza, a piece of galette de rois and a glass of wine.

Joint Decision

After a long time since seeing each other, the day of our lunch out with Anne and Henry arrived. Weather warm and sunny and funnily enough we'd both decided on the same restaurant. Here we are overlooking the river at Pont de Molins enjoying an apéritif.

Association Stuff

Monday morning I had a meeting with the President and then stopped by at Robert and Gaby's to talk about planning some wine tasting excursions. In the afternoon, I met with Nick to try and remotivate myself into working on the new association web site and then in the evening opened up the hall for the oriental dance group as the teacher had not turned up to collect them.
Tuesday, I actually worked on the site for most of the day so the evening and dinner round at David and Laura's came as a welcome break.

Celebrating White Beans

Santa Pau is a village in the volcanic region of (South) Catalonia which is well know for its white dried beans so needless to say, there's an annual festival to honour them! Of course they are very expensive, 8.50€/kg so they are not the ones that go into your tin of Heinz.
Again it was another warm and sunny day so we set off with Jean and Françoise in good spirits. There was a market where Jean bought a big piece of parmesan which came to more than he had thought it would (you'd think that he'd know by now that 'artisan' products cost twice as much as supermarket stuff) so he sold half of it to us. Have to say that it's very good and it went down well with the apéritif that we had in a local bar. The streets were crowded, there was a very noisy drum and whistle band (I'm sure they have a proper name but I don't know what it is. Can anyone enlighten me?) and the main square was full of people queueing to buy a plate beans. We weren't able to get close enough to see what else they were served with. We had a walk around this medieval village, vowing to come back and visit when there are less people and rather than join the scrum for something to eat, we drove on to Banyoles and found a restaurant overlooking the lake. As you can see, it was warm enough to sit out. Françoise and I went for a walk along the side of the lake up to the church in Porqueres and posed for a photo with an unknown man along the way. Before there's too much speculation, I'd offered to take a photo of him and I presume, his daughter as they had been taking photos of each other ... you know how it is ... never a joint photo unless someone helps out and this man who didn't speak any French or English, wanted one of us in return .... well, we might both be pensioners and not in the super model league but we're not that bad!

Fin de Semana

19.1.12 Not the most exciting way to spend the evening but duty called and we went off to a neighbouring village for the Maire's New Year's wishes. Brownie points for Christian ans the chance for us to Have a word with Danielle who is on the council there.
20.1.12 Only Spanish today and thankfully, I'm managing to keep up, at least during the lesson. Not retaining an awful lot and am far too shy to try and put it into practice. It's not easy, you know learing a language through a language that's not your own ... ah yes, the lessons are in French! But it's the weekend and there will be time for a bit of revision.
21.1.12: The sun is still shining and before heading for the market, I went out delivering the Association's latest batch of messages. The market was as ever, full of people to catch up with and it was over an apéritif with Martine while basking in the sunshine, that we decided to go to Mas Salelles for lunch. Came home and worked off the extra calories by cleaning the terrace and weeding the pots of herbs. well, I did, Christian had a snooze.

Olive Country

Went to Figueres to see if there were any bargains to be had in the sales. Christian didn't find anything but I bought a sweater and a red belt. As there will be an olive oil festival this weekend in Espolla, we went along hoping to find a menu de fête in the little stone built restaurant in the village . Sad to say that there wasn't anything special until the weekend when the menu was at a grossly inflated price!The sun was just glorious and we had the whole day to ourselves so after lunch Christian had a wee snooze while I went off for a walk. Vines, oak trees, olive trees and even this orange tree, it was a real pleasure to be away from it all. On the way home we called in to see Juste and Joséphine and caught up with their news.

Time for Tea

It started out as afternoon tea with Anne and Martine but as the chat continued and we were all cosy by the fire, it turned into an impromptu supper with cava and amazingly nice stuff to nibble on from the fridge. Now, there's a turn up for the books! Even Christian enjoyed himself.

70th Celebration Take2

Jean thought he was going to Nicolas and Guillane's for a surprise birthday party for her but arrived with present in hand to find a group of red flag waving friends singing "The Internationale". We'd driven up with Philippe, Pascalina and Linde, the sun was shining and we were able to chat and have our apéritifs in the garden. Rum punch and a soupe de 'champagne' made from chilled sparkling wine, cointreau, lemon juice and sugar cane syrup. I was so pleased that Christian wasn't driving. The main buffet was served indoors with a slide show depicting the many and various exploits in his life and I have to say, he was a very good looking bloke in his youth.
Guillane played the accordeon and his women friends came on in costume representing his different perceptions of them. I came as Juliette in search of her Romeo in memory of our visit to the cinema without Françoise to see "Shakespeare in Love".
By the end of all this, it was time to cut the cake which had been made by Benoît's father-in-law. Then all that was left to do was to wend our way back down the mountain and spend a quiet evening in front of the telly.

A Bit of This and a Bit of That

9th Jan:
There was time in the afternoon to watch a recording of "Earth Flight" and what superb photography. This photo was taken from the tv.
Christian had to go up into the mountains on his own for tonight's "permanence" as I needed to stay here to open up for the Association's first oriental dance session. Anyway, the restaurant is closed for the next few weeks so the re's not the same motivation. Christian, of course, has his civic obligations to fulfill.
10th Jan:
More meetings for Christian starting at 9am in a village down the coast and finishing at 8pm after another meeting in another village in the opposite direction.
11th Jan:
Managed a walk in the sun around the lake before attending the "Voeux du Maire" in the village hall. We'd expected some heckling against the proposed development of a small shopping centre (and I do mean small) and some social housing in the centre of the village. Elsewhere people complain about out of town development ... well, not here! After the traditional apéritif and galette des rois we were invited back to Jacques' for omelette and a wicked Margarhita made by his son Pierre who is half Mexican. A late night was had by all.
12th Jan:
Exchange in the morning followed by a drink in the bar were we caught up with Nancy who is over from the States on one of her whirlwind visits. In the afternoon Nicole and Patrick came for tea and no sooner than they'd gone, Lone and Jesper came for apéritifs. No worries with some forward planning it all came together without mishap. We spent a pleasant evening and of course, talked about the new Danish drama "Borgan" which apparently means the equivalent of our "Westminster".
13th Jan:
Friday 13th and it has been an unlucky day. France lost its Triple A status and an Italian cruise ship sank with all sorts of stories about the Captain's far from positive role. The crew ie, "les petits peuples"or little people apparently did the best that could under the circumstances. Pity they're not paid by results.
On a cheerier note we had dinner with Juste and Joséphine with lentils and bacon (Christian's favourite dish) on the menu.
14th January:
Went to the market as is usual for a Saturday. Weather is still sunny and the skies still blue. Gave Nancy a lift in and met up with Françoise for an apéritif. As Nancy has to have her roof here fixed, she invited us all for lunch at a nearby pizzeria as she expects to be broke before too long.

Nothing too Taxing

Spent quite a bit of the day catching up on phone calls and recordrd tv programmes. The new Danish political drama "Borgan" promises to be as good as the Scandinavian crime series that we've been treated to in the past. Still, it was a sunny day and at last the wind has dropped so we did go out for a wee stroll around the village. What do they say about the best laid plans? We started out with good intentions but we stopped off chez Michel along the way as we hadn't seen him since before Christmas, after which we did little more than a shortened circuit. Can you believe it? Lavendar in flower at the beginning of January and yesterday I saw a butterfly happily flitting from flower to flower.

United Nations

We decided to take James and Beverly out and show them a couple of places on our tourist trail. The weather was sunny so we put the top down on the car and set off in good spirits. Just to fill you in, James, a New Zealander, is an artist and Bev, an American, works in finance. On the way down to Mas Salelles for lunch, we stopped off at another restaurant on the way for their future reference and for James to take photos for future paintings. Lunch was as good as usual but sadly José said they'd been very quiet over the festive season. From there we went up to the lake where as you can see, the water hasn't receded much. I think that the sign saying 'no parking for caravans' is somewhat obsolete! Last stop was to stock up on cava before arriving home just as it was starting to get dark. All in all, a good day; James and Bev certainly seemed to enjoy their meal and discovering new places. They are good company and I like to think that we are too!

Epiphany

The endless round of 'Galettes des Rois' is upon us again with the Association being first up.
Probably about 60 of us met this evening to listen to the President's (thankfully short) speech, eat galette and drink cider. Some of us, like James, even found the lucky charm and got to wear a crown! It was all over, even the clearing up, by 7.45pm so we had the rest of the evening in front of us to relax.

Brownie Points for Christian

There was the first Association metting and language exchange of 2012 this morning followed by just one glass of wine at the bar. We went again to the lake and today, Christian walked around them both. He's walking better which just goes to show how important it is to do it on a regular basis (as if we didn't know already). Called in to catch up with Juste and Joséphine on the way home and found that Mum is back staying for a while so as she needs someone there all the time their social life will be somewhat curtailed.
The weather is a bit more unstable and this photo is of the sky as I was hanging out the washing at 5.45pm. Pretty dramatic, eh?

On the Right Track

Christian, of course did a morning and afternoon stint at the Mairie but came home an hour earlier than usual so that we could walk around the lake. The weather was sunny but needless to say cooler than in Valencia but sunshine is sunshine. There was even some interesting things to see on the way around.

Early Departure

Juste's father's funeral is tomorrow in Marseilles so we cleaned the flat, recuperated our security deposit and took the road heading north a day earlier than arranged. Stopped off in Sant Celoni for lunch where we ate well in 'La Parra' and arrived home in time for tea. The evening was just spent quietly waiting to see if Juste needed us to drive him to Marseilles. In the end he didn't which suited us both.
ps Don't worry, the overweight person sitting on the bench is not Christian.

The Full Monty

This time we went to a large outdoor market where there was many a bargain to be had. While Joséphine and I were rummaging around the stall, the guys were playing a waiting game and drinking endless coffees. Lunch, we had decided would be in the Shintori Wok, a buffet restaurant in the shopping centre opposit the City of Arts and Sciences. We all ate to our hearts' content and were surprised that there was so much fish on the menu for the price (10€). The walk back helped the digestion and after eating more than we should have, it seemed appropriate to watch " The Full Monty"! Joséphine and i went back to the centre to have a look around the supermarket and just drooled over the fresh produce that was so much cheaper than in France. We couldn't resist the citrus fruit and bought 6kg of oranges and 2kg of mandarines to share between us. Dinner was eating up all the bits and pieces in the fridge that didn't need to make the return journey to France.

A Better End to the Day

Sadly, we woke up to the news that Juste's father had died in the early hours of the morning but being the holiday there was no news as to when the funeral would be. It had been expected. We all felt that it was good to still make the most of our stay so we took advantage of the sunshine to go out to to the nearest beach. El Saler has a good stretch of grassy dunes and sandy beach with a couple of restaurants. It was refreshing to still enjoy a relatively natural environment. We sat out to eat in the sunshine which was warm enough for Joséphine to worry about Christian getting burnt!

Happy New Year Everyone!

Wishing you all Peace, Prosperity and above all Good Health and maybe we'll manage to catch up in 2012!