Another Day, Another Menu

Nothing to celebrate but tonight's meal at a restaurant on the way down to the coast was a "Groupon" offer. The meal was fine but it was good that we had it at half the supposed price as it wasn't anything extaordinary and neither was the dining room. Still, the company was good and we were back to the village to catch the end of a jazz session at the bar..... another late night but tomorrow is Saturday and the start of another month.

A Welcome Change

After three days working solidly on the website and, yes, the photos are still disappearing, a committee meeting and language exchange was good reason to leave the computer and go out into the outside world. Even better was taking Françoise out for lunch to celebrate her birthday. Had planned to go to Pont de Molins but as Jean had to do some work for their son in the afternoon we contented ourselves with a restaurant closer to home. The chef there is classed as a "Toque Blanche",a title given to the best chefs in a Départment, a toque being a chef's hat. Gin and tonic was of course, Françoise's apéritif of choice and one of the little canapés was a cherry tomato done like a toffee apple. Original to say the least.
Ps. We've finally had some rain!

Good Food and Sad Sights

Today started slowly and rather than cook we went down to Mas Salelles for theire tasting lunch which was delicious. Razor clams in brik pastry(Tunisian, something like filo)was just one of the dishes.

The photo of the tree was taken from the drive on the way up to the restaurant.A month later, it still shocks.

Solidarity

Today saw more to Catalan solidarity than just words as the village organised a "benefit" for a village over the border, badly hit by the recent wild fires. A huge "fideüa" (like a paella only made with short vermicelli)for 400 people had to be prepared so Christian and I rolled up our sleeves and joined a posse of others and cut and chopped, kilos of seafood and sausage. Our reward was an impromptu lunch of sausage in a baguette washed down by red or rosé wine. In the evening helped out a bit with the serving but mostly were able to enjoy the meal and the music.

The Maire from Aguallana came and was moved almost to tears by the generosity and warmth that was evident among the participants.Luckily apart from a few spots, the rain held off which was such a relief We ended up raising 12.100€, something that that the village felt justifiably proud of.
Rounded off the evening at the bar where there an 18th birthday with an olmpics' theme was in full swing. On a more domestic note, we went home and put out the buckets in case it should rain as our plants are in dire need of some water but we needen't have bothered!

Life Continues at a Pace

19th:
A second wave of storks arrived in the village last night. Fewer than before but it's incredible how you can almost set your watch by their departure.This is the only day that gives lie to the title. Needed a bit of lazy time so went to the bar for a drink in the morning and had a salad lunch at the restaurant.
20th:

Started to attack the Association website which really must see the light of day sometime soon, only to be interrupted several hours later by a visit from Gisèle.We were invited to an impromtu dinner at Juste and Joséphine's where we met their replacement grass cutter! oh yes, and Scott McKenzie won't be wearing flowers in his hair any more.
21st:
More website. Can't work out why certain photos keep disappearing but with a little patience, I'm sure that I'll get there in the end.
22nd Website all day until it was time to go up to have tea with Nicole and her daughter Florence. In the evening we should have gone to Michel's for something to eat but for some reason we all went to Juste and Joséphine's for bbq sausage!
23rd
The association all morning so I had a break from it in the afternoon, foresaking the website for a rerun of the film "Sheltering Sky".In the evening a few glasses of rosé with Bill and Florence, who are over from the States for their annual visit.
24th:

Juste and Joséphine came to us for something to eat before we went over to the bar to hear Jean play. They were more sensible than us, going home at midnight; we stayed on when, Laurent and Jean-Vincent played until 2am. Jean who is temporarily in a wheel chair had left with Thérèse only to come back and join us sometime later having wheeled himself all the way from his house. Luckily, there wasn't any traffic on the road, as he didn't have any lights!!

Short but Sweet!

The family were due to go off to a house they'd rented in the Arriège so the few days that they were here passed very quickly.
14th August:
Jean and Françoise stopped by and joined us on the terrace for some very tast "Tarragon Rabbit", even if I do say so myself. Writing this as I am about two months after the event, I can't remember where I found the recipe so can't share it.
15th:A Public Holiday
A momentous day for Valérie and Maureen as they did the annual hike up into the mountains for the first time. Over 10kms, uphill all the way and blistering heat. The rest of us drove up and were there to see them receive their prize after which we all tucked into the traditional paella that fed about 200 people.
16th:
The family were out for the day and we went over to the wine bar for a tapas lunch after the language exchange.Valéie cooked dinner and we drank lots of cava.
17th:
Took the motorway over the border from where the view of the fire ravaged countryside

was plain to see. Wound our way up to our usual Spanish Civil war village to have coffee and do the history trail. Won't bore you with yet another photo of visitors infront of the monument instead here's Christian and Valérie. Tried out a restaurant in Darnius that we'd been told was good ..... umph and then went down to the lake for a short time before making an early retreat home. Despite being warmer in Normandy than it is here,there are still wild fires breaking out and we're on water restrictions, i.e., watering of vegetables prohibited between 8am and 8pm and no watering of flowers at all even if you have a well. My herbs are getting used vegetable water and the flowers washing up water.
18th:
Said goodbye to the last of this season's Norman visitors and attacked the cleaning!

Encore Les Normans!

Valérie, Guilhaume and the three kids arrived to sunshine, a welcome change from the weather they've been having in Normandy so it was a bbq on the terrace and chat until late..

Morris Dancing on Stilts

Managed to have another quiet day yesterday. No market, far too many people around but I did have a drink with Nancy in the bar . Had a really good catch up about all the work that's going on in her house. Glad to say that she's recovered from the builder putting the velux window over the bathroom rather than the kitchen which already has a window. Did you tell him where you wanted it, says I. No, I thought he'd - - - - - - - know where to put it, says she. Still, all's well that ends well as she has someone doing her work now who suits her much better.
Michel was at ours when I came home so he stayed for a lunch of a hastily thrown together risotto and as so often with dishes created out of leftovers, it was pretty tasty.
Today, thanks to Joséphine's daughter, we came by 4 free tickets to the folk dance festival. We were well pleased as were Robert and Gaby who came with us. Dancers from Bulgaria, Komi (Russian Federation), Provence, Argentina (see them on You Tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g54e_NQkwo), Catalunya of course but my favourites were the stilt dancers from the Landes in the south-west of France who were just breath taking. Apparently, before the area was drained, sherpherds used stilts as the ground was so marshy. Needless to say, Wikipedia can fill you in on the detail. It was impossible to take any decent photos with all the movement and backs of heads but you can get a flavour of what we were treated to by looking once again at You Tube. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kL94AE5gnhQ)it is reminiscent of Morris Dancing but 10x faster!

Life in the Raw!

Yesterday was quiet with not even a trip to the bar after the language exchange.

Today, we decided to head for the hills as temperatures reached 38 deg. There was no sitting on the terrace chez Conxita when we stopped for a drink before going to eat in a restaurant recommended by a few people. Sadly, we were disappointed; Mas Salelles still keeps it's place as our No1.En route we were able to see how close last month's fires came to homes and the smell of smoke still lingers. Fires are raging in other parts of Spain too, notably the Canaries. Everywhere is tinder dry.
Following lunch we went down into the town to have our hair cut; in the evening we went to the first part of a concert of Baroque music in the church. Not exactly our cup of tea. From there we went to the recreation ground where there was a meal of "moules/frites" and a disco but we stayed only long enough to have a drink and say goodbye to the Normans who leave tomorrow. Before going home, however, we did stop off at the bar where Jean-Louis and Jean-Marc sat for sometime with their feet in the fountain after which Jean-Louis clipped his toe nails!!! I can hear you from here "do we really need to know this?" .... well, it is part and parcel of the bar's rich tapestry of life.

Norman Conquest

6th August:
Spent most of the day catching up with the blog which was over a month out of date. Being the 1st Monday, we took the road up into the mountains for the 3rd time in five days. Needless to say there was no Mairie business to be done. Just the usual social call from the guy who lives upstairs. Still, it gave Christian the opportunity to put up new posters and take down old ones; Michel the opportunity to have a doze and me the chance to try and read the 'The Alchimist" by Paul Coelho set as Spanish holiday homework.
Duty done we went up to Michel and Michelle's to join the Normans over an apéritif that lasted two hours, a bbq accompanied by lots of wine, champagne and endless liquers made from plants. Michel provided the musical entertainment until finally at 2am we all decided it was time to leave and find our beds. It had been some night!
7th August:
Needless to say, Tuesday we were feeling lethargic but there was no time to be lazy as Bruno, Christine and Nathan were coming to dinner. They too didn't feel up to partying to excess.
8th August:
Third day in a row spending some time with the Normans (instead f going to Brian and Dani's party, this time over an apéritif dinatoire at the Maire's house.
They leave on Saturday in time for us to get ourselves back together for the arrival of our Normandy family. Who can blame them all from coming south when their weather has been pretty depressing while we, on the other hand, just bask in wall to wall sunshine and gloat.

What Luck!

Feeling tired but there was no chance for a Sunday morning lie-in as we were off to our Catalonian twin village for their annual market. Weather is still very hot but rain is expected. As usual, it was fun with a lovely friendly atmosphere and there were a couple of stall holders there from the village too. Apéritifs and tapas were offered to us and sadly for the waistline, it was all too hard to resist. Met up with some of the Normans as well as Maggie and her French friends so instead of just being two at the table we booked on Thursday we were now nine.
We were home by about four which gave Christian time for a nap before going to help with the open air cinema. I gave it a miss and watched the fabled 100mts and Andy Murray win gold.
And ... the rain held off until just after the film had finished.

Finding Friends

Another hot day and the market was unbearably busy. If it hadn't been for meeting up with Rozelle, we'd have happily given it a miss. Still, it was lovely to see her and meet her Irish friends who have a home higher up the valley.
Felt really sleepy this afternoon, all that so-easy-to-drink rosé is catching up on me but Christian always has a nap in the afternoon, I can't speak for him.
Michel and Sylvie came around for an apéritif dinatoire after which we went down to this week's open air disco. Much to our surprise we found two of the Norman families who were here earlier on this year with the twinning group. Needless to say, arrangements were made to meet up and catch up.

All's Well that Ends Well

As Christophe, Valérie and the kids were leaving after lunch and Christian was at the Mairie the morning despite being my birthday was much like any other. Nancy came around to return a bed that she had borrowed so that was a welcome break from domestic routine.
In the afternoon, Christian was back to the mairie so what did I do? No, I didn't sit munching chocolates with my feet up, I washed the floors and sorted out the bedrooms.
Glad to say that things picked up later on.
A bottle of champagne before going to dinner at the restaurant followed by music at the bar. Some of you will remember buying Chris the Cat's cd a few years ago when Jean Louis held a similar evening. Ours like yours probably is, is sitting unopened on the self. This time we resisted the opportunity to buy his latest cd for one night only at the special price of 10€.
Why are cds and booze brought back from holidays never the same in another environment?
Still, that aside, the music was fun, the red wine flowed and tomorrow is another day.

Family Day Out

For the third time in about as many weeks we did the Retirada circuit admiring such views as this along the way. Had lunch at Mas Saleilles where everyone thoroughly enjoyed the menu del día! We came home via the wine cave where stocked up once again on cava while the kids went down to the lake coming home with a beautiful bunch of flowers for my birthday tomorrow.

A Night Off

Jacques, our neighbour came around with some perfume that he'd got for us. stayed for an apéritif and then for lunch. Later in the afternoon we took the kids up to Juste and Joséphine's for a swim while Christophe and Valérie did dinner. Gazpacho, poached chicken rolled in ham, cheese and apricot tarte tatin. Mmmm!