Le petit Nicolas

M and I watched this film tonight:


Totally, utterly charming.

The english subtitles were fairly dodgy - but we understood most of the french anyway.
And you get what you pay for I 'spose. (We watched it online for free.)

I think I am slowly getting over the scars inflicted by a certain French teacher I had the distinct unpleasure of enduring for 3.5 years at school.

We studied Le petit Nicolas for IB french. I think I threw away my copy/burned it in a ritualistic cleansing 2 minutes after the final exam was done...


Suffice to say - I couldn't really remember the story - I probably didn't even understand it the first time around. But we all know my memory for things not food/celebrity/book/drama related aint the best.

In fact my "loving" husband announced last night that, in order to be a good parent in the future, and help out with my hypothetical child's homework, I should train myself to do maths again so I can comprehend above a grade 3 level.

Ouch.


Anyway - to summarise:
Le petit Nicolas - two thumbs up.
Trauma inflicted by french teacher - fading
Ability to multiply fractions - still non-existant.

Birthdays

Just found this site: someecards

To all my nearest and dearest:

This is where I will be getting my birthday cards for you from now on.

xxx. B

I'm a bit obsessed with curling at the mo

hahahahahaha.
Gold.

55 Days!

This is a post essentially for Kate who I'm sure is working her arse off in Thailand at the moment - and Cus and Jaime obviously too.

Just a little reminder for a dreary Monday morning that in 55 days we will be here:

Oh. Hells. Yes.








I'm torn though:
I CANNOT WAIT for the 24th of April to roll around so I can see my girls and then my crazy family.

However
Bathers. Cossies. Swimsuits. Malliot de bains.

It has been a long, cold winter and I resemble a cross between Magda Szubanski and Cottage Cheese.

Awkward.....

Chewing the fat

France is divided into Regions – ours is Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur and within each region there are various departments – ours is Alpes-Maritimes which is inventive naming indeed, given that this area is between the alps and the sea. I wonder which government official got paid obscene amounts to come up with that zinger of a moniker. One of our neighbouring departments is the Var (named after the Var river which runs through it - who would thunk it? Apparently these geographical names all have to do with reducing the power of kings and queens back in the day or whatever but I just say – lack of originality.)
Toulon is the biggest town in the Var, and St Tropez arguably its most famous and we have visited both of these (St Tropez for the sunshine, over-priced shopping and celeb-spotting, Toulon for IKEA) but had never visited the other towns there, despite them being only 30 min away. So yesterday, we attempted to rectify this and had a superb day visiting St Raphael and Fréjus. These two towns have also been added to the “places to take Didy when she visits” list which is getting ridiculously long!

Yesterday also marked the first nice day weather-wise we’ve had in ages and despite the laundry that begged to be done, we kicked that idea to the curb and headed out.

A lovely, winding drive west from La Bocca afforded us some kick-arse views of the coastline and snow-capped mountains in the background. Our camera is sadly not up to the task of accurately capturing how spectacular this view is but hopefully you get the idea.

It's hard to tell but that's snow up there, not clouds

We had a lovely lunch and a few wines in St Raphael and a great wander around the streets. The area around the port is particularly nice and presumably stunning and bustling in spring/summer. Even in the middle of Feb it looked pretty good and there were lots of people out enjoying the sunshine.

Onwards to Fréjus, where there are still some remnants of its ancient history. Fréjus, like lots of places in Provence, was a part of the Roman Empire and there are still ruins of an aqueduct, with massive pillars, a theatre and a large amphitheatre that unfortunately was undergoing (apparently much needed) renovations while we were there so not much to see. There’s also a famous cathedral with one of the oldest and best preserved 5th century baptistery in France. Altogether it was a lovely little town – especially the “old town” parts of it and we had a faboosh time. A great little day trip.

St Raphael

Frejus - 3rd century meets 21st century.

Saint Leonce Cathedral, Frejus

The baptisery - used for baptism by immersion. right.....

Mum commented to be today that I spend a lot of time writing about/taking photos of food. To which I responded – “um, yes, that it correct”. And sadly only a fraction of the thinking about/eating/planning actually makes its way onto the blogaroonie. So I was hesitant about mentioning this but the fact that I am virtually salivating as I type this means that it is unavoidable. We are cooking roast beef for dinner tonight. Because I found a wonderful little thing at the supermarket on Friday called “2 for the price of one beef” which caused me to do a little budget-conscious/total-food-slut happy dance. The “uh huh, that’s nice” response from M when I displayed my purchases was rather less enthusiastic which hurt my excitable heart, “I bought you MEAT, and it came with FREE meat, why are you not excited by this?!?!” His response was mid-range for someone who usually bars up over a meat platter. However, that’s not the exciting part. The most exciting part about this meal is the roast vegetables, which are currently being turned into crispy, golden skinned wonders by the magical powers of Duck fat. Graisse de Canard – where have you been all my life?? Seriously, how have I missed out on this for so long? Why didn’t anyone TELL me that roast potatoes in duck fat is borderline orgasmic?!?!

Oh France, I whinge about so many of your attributes: the endless bureaucracy, the smoking, the driving, the crotte de chien littering the footpaths, the ‘tudes - but you know one thing you’ve seriously got going on? Graisse de Canard, available in your local supermarkets. Next to the livers and other meaty unmentionables. And for that reason alone, France, I am learning to love you.

Oh and mum? Still going to be talking about food. That’s how I roll.

Sadly, emphasis these days is on “rolls”, but that’s a story for another day. I’m off to make some gravy!

Adorn me

If there is such a thing as a print buying and framing fairy out there, I would like him/her to visit me and to come bearing gifts. Please.



I am lusting after this poster in a big BIG way - especially after visiting the Tattinger holy land last August. This is not a poster for the pool room, oh no, this baby deserves boudoir status. I wants it. I needs it.




I also rather love this work by graffiti artist Banksy. One of the apartments I look after has a black+white print of this on canvas and I rather adore it and would steal it..... no I wouldn't....well, I would if I thought I wouldn't get caught - after all, Banksy IS a bit of an anarchist - I think he'd approve.





Ladurée Macarons. Where do I even start. I only managed two visits last time in Paris but in April, I will essentially be camping out there. M has his marathon - I have my own: how many Ladurée boutiques and Masion du Chocolat places can I visit in 4 hours. There will be route planning, and maps, and time trials. Oh yes, it will be a marathon and not a sprint of macaron eating. If you have never tried a Ladurée macaron - especailly the Caramel et beurre de sel one then....... I pity you. You have not lived.
I have kept the gorgeous boxes the macarons come in but would also like a framed (I think a heavy Gold frame would suffice) copy of this poster too. Yum.



This is wicked. I forget where I found it but I love the whimsical nature of it. Add it to the list framing fairy, add it to the list.





PS - This rambling post is basically Jaime's fault as she heckled me about not blogging often enough so - be forewarned, nothing much is happening here at the mo, so all random, nonsensical posts can be blamed on Jaime! You have been warned!

xx

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple streudels

Please forgive me, I am about to be a big ‘ol hypocrite. Sorry.

I fairly LOATHE when people do sickening facebook updates along the lines of “so and so is so in love with her hubby/boyfriend/baby/sweetie",– insert nausea inducing pet name here "they’re the greatest/sweetest/my soul-mate” .
Blerk.

Thus, I refrained from announcing to the world yesterday that M is, hands down, the best husbandito in the world.

However, coupled with his efforts today, I feel that I can, nay SHOULD laud his efforts - and this blog is my soapbox (and slightly less hypocritical than a gushing fbook status).

We don’t really embrace the Valentine’s Day shenanigans Chez Ramsey.
Most years M dutifully (and thoughtfully) buys me some flowers and sometimes we’ll head out for dinner, but, with over a decade as a couple under our belt we’re both a bit – meh about the whole thing.
Also, M had a half-marathon to run, and we knew he’d be shattered so we’d planed on a very quiet Sat and an even quieter Sunday after the race.

So I was thoroughly - and delightfully - surprised when I woke up yesterday.

M was up around 6.00 to get his body clock in-line with getting up at the same time today. While I slumbered on he slipped out and went to the food and flower markets, bought me a beautiful bunch of those awesome two-tone roses (red and creamy/yellow, so massive, so pretty) did the previous night’s dishes AND, to top that all off, was preparing a breakfast feast.

Oh it gets better.

My November issue of delicious magazine had me positively salivating over the cover picture and recipe for Valli Little’s coconut pancakes with banana and crème fraîche, and this is what M was preparing, despite no previous experience with folding in egg whites. Bless his cotton socks, aint he the greatest?!?

The pancakes were PHENOMENAL, so delicious. Forget girls in white dressed and brown paper packages tied up with strings – Banana, pancake, caramel, crème fraîche, THESE are a few of my favourite things.
And this came a week after I’d bitchily declared M “completely unromantic”. Ouch.

I was eating humble pie AND pancakes.

Beautiful.

so so so so so so good.

In preparation for the Paris marathon in April, M signed up for the Cannes “semi-marathon”. 21 kilometres. TWENTY-ONE. He’s nuts, romantic (hehe) but nuts. Don’t even get me started on the full 42km. Why would you run for four hours?!?!

Anyway, in true M style he has dedicated himself to a training program and even when it was cold/wet/SNOWING he has been out running and making some of us slightly less fit people feel .... well... warm, dry and like a lump of lard.

He did a great job today, good time and in good spirits at the end. The weather was fairly grey and miserable but thankfully not torrential downpour or snow! He's tired now, naturally, but not too sore. I was very proud.

In summary – M is the bomb.

A whole lotta lunatics in lycra

And they're off! Wanna lay some bets on which runners came first?

Where's Wally??

How the support crew passes the time (until it started raining at least)

5km in

Still smiling

At the end - here he comes
(and this stupid lady in her ugly hat and her spawn totally came and stood in front of me and got in my way despite me yelling "bougez! bougez!" - "move! move! AND there being heaps of space too. Grrr!)

Finish line. 1hr.49min.40sec.

Crazy. But lovely too. He's a keeper. x

Let it snow!

Two weekends ago (the weekend of the massive pasty/sausage roll cook-a-thon - all of which, I might add, we devoured in four days. FOUR DAYS. We ate them for Breakfast, lunch and tea. Ugh. I’m not proud of myself and have removed “bakery proprietor” from my list of future jobs as I’d die from clotted arteries after 2 weeks as I am like a Labrador, I do not have a mechanism that tells me I am full – at least not where baked goods are concerned. Awful.)

Anyway, ahem, sorry.

That Sunday morning, M got up, had a shower and then I could hear him RUNNING around the apartment, I was thinking, WTF?!?! Then he started YELLING “Get up! Get up! It’s snowing!!”

Now, for those of you who are either England/Scotland/Canada/Northern Europe born and bread or currently residing there, snow probably = meh.
But for two little ranga Aussies shacking up in Cannes on the Cote D’Azur, snow is very thrilling! And it bucketed down for several hours, much to our excitement.

Then the sun came out and it all melted away.

What we woke up to

Everything looks so pretty!

And then two hours later, back to normal!

All the French exclaimed that this was highly unusual; it NEVER snows like that in Cannes. EVER.

Well, they lie.

'cause today it snowed even more! Totally totally crazy! And pretty. So long as you don’t have to drive in it as the motorways all shut and it was traffic chaos on the road out the front of our apartment. So I just sat back, drank a few cups of tea, chatted to my grandma on the phone and watched the snow fall. Blissful.

Very glad not to be driving out there thank you!

Officially the first snow man I have ever made. I think he's kind of cute.

A fair dumping of snow! It's stopped now and will no doubt be gone again by the end of the day.
Exciting though!

Update! More photos!
M came home from work early so we went and played in the park behind our apartment. It was like being a little kid!

Snowball fights - hells yeah

Our apartment building in the distance

PS: No news about my submission to change my status, but I’m in a better head space about it. I can’t change or control it so there’s no use being upset about it. Ommm. Very Zen.