Food

Throughout all the fun times we've had the underlying theme of fine French food. The girls have been good at eating most everything we give them except for some troubles with cheeses and sandwiches. They are getting better at this as we saw last night. We had a chance to enjoy the raclette we bought from the fromagerie.

Yes tucked back in behind the girls' heads is the wedge of raclette. We paired it with some red wine we got in the south of France.

Other notable meals include: Susan's chèvre omelet with red pepper sauce, my late night lamb sandwich at the Pezenas street festival, Heather learning to enjoy chèvre (goats' milk chess) and the Ravioli pizza we had and plan on having again at the jazz concert.

Yes even going to the super market has been a joy. It was lovely last nigh walking out of the supermarket with two bags of mustard potato chips, yogurt, vegetal elixir from Chartreuse, Panaché (lemonade with a hint of beer) and two bottles of rosé.

Viva La France!

Yes even as I post this am sitting and eating a snack under the free wifi of MacDonalds.

Fromagerie

We took a trip into the mountains today to seek out a fromagerie. We got our raw milk, yogurt and racelette plus a fabulous bonus. We got to watch them start the preparation of gruyere cheese. We only saw the beginning of the four month process. See the pictures of the ladies mixing the cheese and squishing it into the molds below. They told us it takes 100 liters to make 6 kilos of cheese.

I didn't get pictures of the cheese going into the presses. The wheels sit in the press for over 12 hours before they are scrubbed down with bacteria. They are continuously wiped down over the 4 months and sit a temperature controlled room before they are ready to be eaten.

Pezenas

After spending time in the mountain village of Uriage we headed south to Pezenas. While there we visited salt flats, a couple of French markets, a cave, a castle, an abbey, some vineyards and the beach (several times).

The kids were kept busy during the days and the parents had lots of fun during the evenings. My brother-in-law's aunt and uncle were both great landlords and great babysitters.

Here are some pictures. Will post more later.

Plane trip and the first day in France

We left Edmonton airport at 11:30 on the 11th of July for a month in France. We spent An exhausting yet sleepless 14 hours in the air. The girls watched lots of shows on the tiny plane tvs. Madeline quietly drew pictures with her new kit Heather had lovingly made for them.


The turbulence was so bad leaving Montreal that we weren't served supper until 9:00 Edmonton time. The girls were very well behaved despite the lack of naps and food. We did find out that Lydia HATES wearing a seatbelt for extended periods of time.


We arrived in Geneva airport had our private driver pick us up and whisk us away to Grenoble.


We have beaten the jet lag and settled in with the Watts family.

Silver clouds

Lovely day at the AGA.

Arm farts

Madeline discovers arm farts.

There is a lovely park close to our house. We call it the train park. We try to visit it as often as possible so we can get or daily dose of sand and sun.