Tea for Three

Made a leisurely start to the day. Walked up to Anne's for tea and chat; came back with Martine.
Weather:
11°, blue skies

Ever Hopeful

As the alarm went off at 7.15am, I woke up wondering if my social life was taking a down turn. I was off to the funeral of the owner of the big restaurant just over the border. Yes, even on a Sunday and nothing else on the agenda. I didn't really know him but Christian would have gone as part of the Mairie delegation, so I went in his place. José Maria was only 56. The weather suited the event and of course, being in Catalan, I didn't understand much apart from "esperanza" (hope) which cropped up several times, so this photo of a low lying rainbow  seems appropriate. Have to say that it was more impressive in reality but it was taken from inside the moving car.
Stopped in Figueres on the way back for coffee/hot chocolate and churros which were soooo good and just the thing for a chilly, wet and dismal day. We won't talk calories! http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2459641/churros-with-chocolate-dipping-sauce
Stopped off at the bar and found blonde Nicole and we were later joined by Anne and the other Nicole. Feeling replete, it was no hardship to say "no" to lunch, opting instead for an orange at home and a quiet afternoon. Was looking forward to not going out again but it wasn't to be. Nany telephoned to invite me over for champagne to toast Michelle who had celebrated her birthday during the week. Jean-Jacques was invited too, so that was the lift sorted. The week ahead looks pretty quiet so tomorrow I'll treat myself to a long lie.
Weather:
10°, strong winds, heavy rain

Couch Surfer

27.2.16:
Went to the supermarket on the bus and whizzed around; came home caught up with blog while watching loads of telly.
Weather:
12°, rain

By Appointment

Nick stopped by this morning to help sort out a web site problem. Afterwards, it was off to lunch with Ann, Terry and Annette in Figueres in a restaurant that I'd often wondered about but never tried. Modern décor, creative cuisine and pleasant service. While Annette and terry went for a coffee, Ann and I had a quick gallop around the town. Sad to say, I came away empty handed.
There wasn't time to linger as I was due at a carnival dress rehearsal at 6pm. It was all pretty chaotic but no doubt all will come right on the day ...... and just look who popped in to wish us well!
Weather:
12°, cloudy rain later 

Silver Surfers

Started the day with an association committee meeting followed by the language exchange which was followed by soup at the bar. The whole afternoon was taken up by the slide show workshop. Was good to tackle something new and the possibilities to personalise a presentation are numerous. Heaven knows if I'll ever find the time to put all this new savoir-faire into practice.
Weather:
16°, sunshine

Yet More Flowers

24.2.16: 

Teeth yesterday, hair today; spring is on the way! Had a lunch time invitation on a Japanese theme to Nick and Lizzie's along with Rod, Penny and Frank. Rod worked in Japan for a year; Nick and Lizzie's son is there now and they've recently been out to visit; Penny and Frank are interested in going at the time of the next Rugby World Cup. Why was I invited? You may well ask but as they say in Glasgow "she could get a piece at anyone's door"! Let me know if a translation is needed.
Anyway, it was a delicious, leisurely meal, full of interesting flavours and the time just sped by.
Finally made it to the flower making to find that that it was the tea break. Just an hour's work to finish off and then home for a quiet night to myself; well, that is once I'd downloaded the programme for tomorrow's workshop and looked out some photos for the slide show that we're going to create.
Weather:
17°, sunshine


23.2.16:

Coffee at the bar; more flower making followed by a trip to the dentist for a check up.
In the evening, I met up with Ann and Lynn for our "apérobio". Eve was on duty this evening as Nico, the chef is on holiday. Not as elaborate as we've become used to but tasty all the same. The football came on by the time that we'd finished so I beat a tactical retreat to the peace of the house.
Weather:
16°, sunshine

22.2.16:
Lunch with Hortense at the "Café de France";
Flower making;
Comité des Sages. What's that? I hear you ask. Sages = wise folk = a load of all fuddy duddies listening to what the Council has to say and then giving their two pence worth. It was only my first attendance so I await to see how it develops.
Weather:
15°, damp start, cloud rain later

Friends and Neighbours

21.2.16:

Coffee as usual at the bar with both Nicoles then a delicious roast beef lunch with Françoise, Philippe and their daughter Clare. The flower was cut from their garden and given to me by Philippe.
After that it was off to Perpignan to the cinema to see "Hail, Ceasar"! Not really my cup of tea but it was good to do something different.
Weather:
20°, cloudless, blue skies




20.2.16

Had a coffee in the bar while waiting for Michel to go to the market. Met up with Maggie for another one and was joined by chance by Françoise and then I fell across Hortense and Bridget on the terrace of one of the other cafés. Plenty of laughs which set me up for a tedious afternoon bent over the computer updating the association web site. Had a lot more laughs this evening round at Jacques who'd prepared a meal for his neighbours. What's more, I left bearing a lovely piece of lemon curd (homemade) tart which will be great for tea tomorrow afternoon.
Weather:
17°, sun and blue skies

All Pretty Routine

19.2.16:

A trip to the supermarket with Ann who then invited me back for soup on the patio with her and Terry; more flower making; meal at "Les Abeilles" with the women's group.
Pleasant meal (forgot to take a photo) but there were only 6 of us then 4 of us went back to the bar for coffee. Not sure that it's going to work; cracks are appearing already.
Weather:
12°, sunny spells

18.2.16:

Language Exchange, soup at the bar, flower making, evening at home. Found this photo amusing. If you're wondering, I think the furniture must have been put out in readiness pour la collection of "les monstres". No, not Nessie look-alikes but cumbersome things to go to the rubbish tip.
Weather:
12°, few sunny spells, cloud


17.2.16:
Walk this morning in the village; flower making this afternoon; Dominique and Marylise for an apéritif this evening.
Weather:
12°, sun

16.2.16:

Coffee with Nicole at the bar. Spanish here this afternoon as our usual room wasn't available. As we're taking a mid-term break for 2 weeks, One of the participants brought a bottle of champagne to celebrate her husband's 80th birthday. Pity we didn't have it before as I might have been more fluent. Still, it put me in the mood for the apéritif that I prepared for Jean-Jacques
Weather:
8°, Tramontane blowing at 100km/hr

15.2.16:
Lie in, some clearing out in the cave and a late lunch.
Weather:
10° sun back with the strong Tramontane blowing away the clouds

Coffee, Couscous and No Valentines

A surprise trip over the border with Jean and Françoise for a coffee. What a difference to wander around when there were few people in the streets and not to be distracted by the shops. It's amazing the things I'd never noticed before. Called into the bar for a glass of wine on my return. There was no sign of my "copines", the two Nicoles;  one had already left, the other had never turned up.
The first St Valentine's without Christian; not that we were into cards or presents but we acknowleged it with a nice meal. Had a quiet afternoon in before a couscous with Jean-Jacques, James and Beverley at Michel's. Michel played guitar, quite a bit of it melancholic. Well, he's without a Valentine too. Ah, well, won't dwell ...
Weather:
16° cloudy in the morning, heavy rain, thunder and lightening in the afternoon.

Do you know the Bishop of Norwich?

Had an early morning coffee with Jean-Jacques while he went through some legal papers with me. No, it's still not sorted. Decided not to go to the market even though the cloud had lifted. Called into the café and met Nicole and caught up briefly.
This evening our apérobio group plus men celebrated Ann's birthday with a lamb tajine made by a local woman, so no real work to be done; that is apart from a bit of decoration. Being an avid Norwich supporter, the dominant colour was yellow. Had yellow serviettes and ballons and waved our sparklers around to the perfume of mimosa in the background. Well, you're only 3 score and 10 once! One topic of discussion was port and the right way to pass it; yes, you've guessed it, we were all Brits and coincidently found a reference to the Bishop of Norwich. http://www.taylor.pt/en/enjoy-port-wine/traditions/bishop-of-norwich/ There's no indication whether he was a football fan or not.
A good time was had by all, especially those who didn't have to wash the 30 glasses that we'd made our way through.
Weather:
18°, blue skies, rain overnight

Life's Rich Canvas

Last night's rain was gone this morning but even so the day didn't look too promising. Still, we of the association are a hardy lot; we congregated at 9h15 to head off over the border for a light-hearted pétanque contest. Luck was with us and the sun came out. There were even several storks that flew over head on their way north, adding to the enjoyment. The team that I was in, won it's first match but lost the second. It was all very easy going as we played while a JCB came ever closer flattening out the huge car parking area of the restaurant that was our pitch. It's the same place where I ate with the Spanish group a couple of weeks ago. While not being a brilliant player, thankfully, I didn't disgrace myself and went to lunch with head held high! http://www.restauranteljouvell.cat/eng/home.html
Did a quick shop in La Jonquera on the way through and had a short time at home before going to a vernissage of Arabic calligraphy. http://www.callimaj.com/hassanmajdi.html There were nowhere near as many people there as for James's. Sadly, I had to leave during the speeches so as not to be late for my dinner appointment with James and Beverley who had prepared a "churrascaria" (bbq meat) accompanied by grilled veg and four different sauces. Alan, Roger and Debra were there too so it was an all anglophone affair. Kindly James offered us  the choice of a print each and lucky old me got to choose one of his paintings from the exhibition as well for the help I gave him. Photo will appear later. Just going to have to do some serious rearranging if I'm to show them off.

Not Just a Load of Old Lentils

Another language exchange at the café that was made more enjoyable by Hannele's little Finnish cakes. Nicole P joined Ann, Terry and myself for a soup lunch. The veg soup has given way to lentil soup which was every bit as good. The title of this post is a reference to Rose Eliot's vegetarian cookbook written in the 70's. I remember staying at Chris and Rosemary's and picking up the book which was beside the bed and just couldn't wait to try out the recipes. She wouldn't have approved of this one though as there was smoked bacon in it. Nico, the chef, was keen to know what we thought of today's offering  as it was the first time that he'd made it and he's still talking about his gift.
Back to reality this afternoon with a visit to the recycling and the supermarket.
Weather:
12°, cloudy with light rain at the end of the afternoon

Feeding Friends

Went into town to meet Rowena for a coffee. Thank goodness for my trusty old ipod loaded with a good book which prevented me from eavesdropping on some rather loud English women. Of course, Rowena and I were far more discreet.
In the afternoon I set to and prepared dinner for eight of us. My goodness, its been a long time since I've entertained around the dining table on such a scale. Main course was pork and chorizo and I was delighted with the result. All plates were left clean.   http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/17233/sam-s-portuguese-style-pork-and-chorizo-stew.aspx
Jean-Jacques kept the glasses topped up, Michèle and Henri recounted their adventures downunder, André sang in English, Nany was her usual kind self and David and Laura valiantly tried to keep up with the French. as you can see from the photo, Christian was with us too.  And me? I flammed the Christmas pudding that was heading towards its use by date and washed 32 glasses.
Weather:
13°, sun and light rain in the evening

A Wee Thank You

Should have made a trip to the recycling with Maggie but as our street is blocked off by the builders working opposite we couldn't load up. It was no bad thing as I had a number of things to do at home.
Had another soup lunch at the bar; this time with Ann, Dani and Lynn. However, food wasn't the main reason that we were there; we "presented" the chef with some malt whisky minatures, which he collects by way of a thank you for all the effort that he's made with our tapas. He was dead chuffed and for us it was a real pleasure to make someone's day. The soup was good too.
Spent the rest of the day doing some cleaning in preparation for tomorrow night's dinner guests. Had two thoughts - why hadn't I asked Thérèse to come today instead of tomorrow; followed by it wasn't that hard - do I really need her?
Weather:
15°, sun, light rain later

Clearing Out and Restocking

8.2.16:

Ann, Annette and I made an early start for Perpignan for our mamograms and glad to say we all came away with a clean bill of health. Did a fair bit of shopping (pair of cords, 2 sweathers, 2 tops and a skirt) and had a very nice lunch at "VIP" which has good reviews on Tripadvisor.
Weather:
 19° sunny

7.2.16:
A damp start to the day so coffee by the fire in the bar with Nicole (S) was not a bad deal. Just had a starter there for lunch before coming back for a very domestic afternoon - tv, ironing, throwing out piles of paper. Boring as it all was, it feels good to be getting things in order. This decluttering business is starting to become addictive.
Weather:
16°


6.2.16:
Went into the market with David and Laura but found it was too chilly to sit outside for coffee. In the afternoon, Maggie and I, thankfully with reinforcements, humped all the stuff back to our store room.
Called at the bar to catch the end of the Scotland v England rugby match which "Perfidious Albion" won. Joined, David, Laura, James and Martine for a bite to eat even though I wasn't particularly hungry. No invitation is spurned!
Weather:
Sun and a cold wind

In Sparkling Form

5.2.16:

Went off to the supermarket with Maggie to do the Association's shopping for tonight's tapas evening. We then "humped" it and a load of other stuff to the Foyer while wishing that we'd had a bit more help.
Back to the bar for lunch with Madeline from Scotland then over to see Martine who's not been well.
The tapas evening was well attended and just about everyone respected the sparkling dress code. Was home for 11pm after staying to clear up. Has anyone ever seen a cleaner in sparkling tights? Glad to say that they made it to the laundry basket unscathed and live to dazzle another day.
Weather:
Sunny

4.2.16:
Our usual venue for the language exchange is being rewired so we decided that the best alternative was to go to to the café. Stayed on for soup with Ann and Terry. Flower making in the afternoon for a short while until we ran out of crepe paper. Nicole came back for coffee and chat. The evening was spent quietly.
Weather:
14°, chilly wind

Monkeying About!

Took a trip into town before meeting up with Danny and Brian to go over to Michel and Marylène's for lunch. Was surprised to find another couple (Rosemarie and Albert) and Christiane there too. All but myself are members of the same walking group. Albert is half Vietnamese so inevitably we talked about the "Chinese New Year" which next week brings in the year of the monkey, Christian's sign. I've just looked up monkeys and found that its best love match is the ox which is my sign! As for its personality, the "Wood" monkey is " always ready to help others; compassionate, with strong self-esteem, but stubborn." Well, there's no arguing with that!
On the menu was duck parmentier. Parmentier is the French equivalent of Sheperd's Pie though as in this case, can be made with any meat.
In the evening, it was my turn to entertain. Michel, Jean-Jacques and Daniel for an apéritif dinatoire.
Weather:
17°, sun with wind later

Count me In!

2.2.16:
David and Laura called in with tartan galore, ie, my outfit for the carnival. did my Spanish homework at he last minute and didn't do any worse than usual. Being the first Tuesday in the month there was a "soirée guitars" in the bar. Went along with Nicole and was pleased to see Rosie and Maurice back in action doing a David Bowie tribute.
Weather:
17°, sunshine

1.2.16:
Had a welcome bit of a lie-in but apart from that, nothing of note except being interviewed for the census.
Weather:
17°