Cooked my first duck breasts last night, and we were happy. They were bought already marinated in cepes, delicious. On Saturday evening our neighbour, Tony, is going to show us how to cook them French style, over a BBQ.
Here is a photo of Sophie and her new bike which we bought off Leboncoin, France's equivalent to Gumtree, and Sophie's friend, Leena, who was staying in the house next to us for a week. She was from Paris, and they were great mates.
A bientot (catch up later)
Jane, Sophie, Jane, and me
Yesterday was a big day for the Scott household in The Lot, Sophie had her first day at school. She was very unsure to start off with (see photo below), but overall it went very well, no tears, and Sophie said she made a friend. I asked her was there any other English speaking children there, and the answer was no. I'd love to be a fly on the wall. She said they sang songs mostly and read books. She is starting off doing just mornings. The head teacher said she was fine, so she'll be back tomorrow. Sophie is definitely developing a thirst to learn some of the French language, it seems now it is out of necessity. A lot like Jane and I really.
We don't have English TV here, it's all French. I don't mind at all, it's interesting, and it helps our French. On Saturday night for example we watched the "The Voice". It's a classic, the old French rock star judges are very cool, and it goes for about three hours! About half the songs are popular English songs sung with French accents and the rest are French songs.
Had a three course lunch a couple of days ago and for the entree a duck gizzard salad was served. Between my last duck gizzard salad and this one I found out what duck gizzard is. It's the internal organ of a duck, near it's throat, that stores the grit collected from the ground. This grit, or dirt you could call it, is what is used to make the shell of the eggs it lays. It didn't taste as good the second time around.
With Mark and Sabina away for a few days, we a looking after the two donkeys (or the two beasts as Sabina funnily refers to them) and the chickens. Should be an easy job right, ....a couple of nights ago, after a couple of drinks I realised that the chickens were still out and night had just about fallen. So out I went, using my iPhone torch, and through the darkness I saw what looked like a donkey starring straight at me. One of the donkeys had escaped! I went back to get the troops and after a lot negotiating we managed to put her back where she belonged. She has since escaped twice more, and one morning her mate, Ziggy, escaped as well. The following shows Jane using the softly, softly approach on Ziggy.
Here is me using the tough approach....
Success, both donkeys in their yard!
On Saturday we took delivery of our Grande Scenic Renualt, and what's really cool is the number plates now shows "46", which is our area, The Lot's, number - one step forward in becoming almost a local. In French style he gave Jane AND Sophie a big bunch of flowers and Connor a rugby football. The picture below shows the carsalesman, Frederic, Jane, and Connor, and Sophie is in the car with her flowers.
Having the car has given us even more motivation to jump in and discover more of France, there is so much too see. The other day we visited the Padirac caves, amazing. We actually went for a boat ride on a river that was about 100 meters below ground! The best caves I have ever scene by far. The photo below is looking up at the entrance of the cave. I'd say I'm over 50 meters below ground.
Here is a photo of Sophie and her new bike which we bought off Leboncoin, France's equivalent to Gumtree, and Sophie's friend, Leena, who was staying in the house next to us for a week. She was from Paris, and they were great mates.
A bientot (catch up later)
Jane, Sophie, Jane, and me
No comments:
Post a Comment