La Chandeleur..Feast Day of Light

Yesterday was La Chandeleur. My children wanted to see who could eat the most pancakes (French people eat more pancakes on this day than any other*). I should have bought a crepe pan, but I really needed a new frying pan. I love the Mauviel range of pans etc but I also like All Clad, however the latter is harder to find here and more expensive, so Mauviel it was.

I made a fattening discovery yesterday, " speculoos "spread, gosh this stuff is so good, I liked the biscuits before but the spread's even better. Weird, this more the jar is empty but there are pancakes left.

* I read that on another blog that I read, but don't really know if it's true or not.

Kitchen

1970's green kitchen with highly glossed walls

I used to kind of like green, but since living here with this kitchen, I've changed my mind. We have got green doors, a green mosaic worktop and splash-back and up until Saturday we had this colour on the opposite side of the room where the cupboards once stood, ten doors painted green, making our 18m2 kitchen look much smaller than it really is.

The cupboards were here, now we just have a very dirty wall and two self-portraits of Oliver and Charlotte from when they were in nursery school.

We bought this buffet on Saturday to take it's place. When we do the kitchen (very soon) I'll probably paint it, well that's if I keep to a neutral colour scheme for the walls, but if I go for a strong colour, I'll just leave it as it is.

Lunch was great and as for the *tart, there was just not enough for second helpings, so much for the diet.

Never got to the tip, nor did the laundry, but got Alexis' hair cut, and Charlotte's coat, that's where it should have stopped, but Gaby came shopping too, so she got a coat too, and some jeans and a top, then Charlotte some shorts, yes shorts in this weather...Ending up spending 200 euros instead of 34 euros for a coat in the sales!

Freezing cold today, - 6°c.

*lemons were used, couldn't find organic limes.

Yesterday and Today

We got a lot accomplished yesterday, including starting dismantling the span of floor to ceiling cupboards in the kitchen (no photos of the before or during, but soon one of the after, you can see where the cupboards once stood), to buying a new buffet cupboard from our favourite thrift shop, and to top it off, going out:) Alexis went fencing, late, but he went.

Today, and from now on, I'm going to compile a list of things to do, to see how much we actually get done. Here goes...

Grocery shopping

Buy a coat for Charlotte

Laundry

Amenity tip (kitchen cupboards)

Haircut for Alexis

Cooking... Pork chops in mustard sauce followed by Lime tart (Nigel Slater) accompanied by a bottle of something bubbly.

En Attendant Godet

Ce soir nous allons sortir en amoureux à Paris...non je plaisante, en effet nous irons à Plaisir.

D'ailleurs, ce sera la première fois que nous sortons de notre nouvelle maison sans enfant sauf pour faire des courses).

Quel exploit...si on arrive à partir.

Update

We made it there, the play was excellent and the company too.

Before going, we had hoped to grab a bite to eat at KFC (not enough time for a restaurant with only 30 minutes to spare) Unfortunately we were forced to retreat and watch the play on an empty stomach because of the CGT (French Union), who were blocking the entrance in support of a KFC worker who'd been sacked...Vivre La France!

Chateau going, going, gone

Le Chateau d'Hardricourt

Today, and stumbled upon this chateau (I went out to try and find it, really), it's in a neighboring village and it has recently been bought by an anonymous bidder at an auction in Versailles.

It once belonged to African dictator Jean-Bedeal Bokassa (Central African Republic). Profits from the sale will be divided between an estimated 50 people who claim to be his heirs

Sold for 915,00 Euros ($1,2 million/760,000 pounds), is reported to be in a bad state and would take up to 3 million euros to restore it to it's former glory.

Some say it's going to be a second home for a wealthy couple, but I can see a property developer behind all of this and 5 or 6 luxury apartments on the way.

What have I been doing?

Well a lot of reading. I am a sporadic reader, and I'm definitely in reading mode at the moment. Yesterday I picked up another couple of new books at the supermarket (miss my favourite bookshop in Sanary, Baba Yaga), and finished one in the afternoon titled Le Fait du Prince by Amélie Nothomb which I liked immensely for the first three quarters of the book, but frustrating from there on in and as for the end, so rushed.

Other books I've been reading :-

Molloy by Samuel Beckett

Skin by Mo Hayder

L'Enfant Allemand by Camilla Lackberg

Bonne Nuit, Mon Amour

La Métamorphose by Franz Kafka (borrowed from Gaby's bookcase)

Library of the Dead by Glenn Cooper

Stitches by David Small

The bedside table is one of two, that Mr H left, the one who we bought the house from, he said he didn't want them and besides they weren't worth anything, just plastic!

Well, I bit my tongue and smiled internally, because I wanted him to leave them, and I certainly wasn't going to tell him that they were Joe Colombo boby carts, these ones dating from the early 70's when he bought the house....I guess we were lucky.

Our bedroom is the last one to paint, we're off to get some F & B paint tomorrow.

Grumpy Ol's room (still not finished)

I've been on go slow for the last 7 days or so. Before thought, I did manage to "almost" finish Oliver's room...well actually I have a quite a lot to finish, the ceiling , curtains to buy, new bed, one with castor wheels, low and lofty, plus a bookworm..........

I chose chocolate and beige, though the beige looks white. Oliver wanted white.

There's lots of pipes that pass through his room, the vertical ones have been kind of camouflaged by Oliver's many postcards, as for the others (not on photo) maybe one day Alain will box these ones in, when he isn't in Norway, Singapore, Holland or somewhere else in the world.

His desk was found in the cellar here, he liked it, so I cleaned it up which took ages and voila.