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Showing posts from October, 2009

IF THE "BOOT" FITS...

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Like last year boots are everywhere again. I love boots. They make me feel empowered, stompy and woman-in-charge. An afternoon to myself, I decided it was time to break out from my boring boots and invest in a pair of those fabulous over the knee boots. If my students aren't scared of me already a pair of these should really put the R back into RESPECT! What has "Puss in Boots" got that I haven't? For those of you who know me, please don't worry about me turning up in a mini skirt and thigh boots at your next dinner party. I was simply looking for soft black leather long boots to team with jeans...I have NO delusions! I did the rounds of favourite shoe shops and finally found the pair of my dreams....GORGEOUS slimline black soft kid leather just over the knee with a cuff. I try them on. Oos and ahs from myself and extremely convincing sales woman. Utter joy! On the verge of a retail orgasm! They're for me! I sit down to take them off...and can't. F

SUNDAY IN BORDEAUX

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Ahh, bliss, no children, husband has gone sailing....but I do have a "must do" and its NOT the ironing! If you have nothing to do today and a case of Sunday-itis get yourself down to Rue Notre Dame in the Chartrons (Tram stop CAPC or Paul Doumer). Rue Notre Dame is one street back from the quayside and is the heart of the antiques quarter. It is full of antique shops of all sizes and quality. It is a wonderful place to poke around, bargain hunt or chiner as the french say. Its not cheap but I have noticed that an offer of cash can break down an asking price. Today Rue Notre Dame and its Brocantes  are celebrating the Vin Nouveau/Le Bourru. By this afternoon it will be teaming with people, jazz musicians, bargain hunters and all this in a cloud of roasting chestnuts and new wine. Go down there and drink in the atmosphere, taste the bourru with a cornet of hot roasted chestnuts. What better way to herald autumn...

RISOTTO ALLA MILANESE...

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Try and resist.... I can never resist creamy, yellow, saffron risotto. The first time I ate it I thought I had died and gone to kitchen heaven. Great food writer Claudia Roden, in her brilliant book, The Food of Italy, tells us how this Milanese dish was the classic partner of  Osso Buco and that it was traditionally cooked with the marrow of veal or beef. Marrow really freaks me out..I am clearly not a traditional Italian housewife/mama. Well thank god for that. To be honest I don't have enough hours in the day to spend bent over my sink spooning out the interior of bones...I'd rather go out for lunch with my girlfriends and spoon out the horrors of my week over a decent bottle of wine!! So I use veal stock or fond de veau...thank you Maggi. I sense the real foodies are shuddering at my shortcut..well hey, you can also make your own Fond de Veau too. Good luck to you... Fond de Veau big enormous pot copious amounts of veal bones bunches of parsley bay leave

LUNCH ON THE RUN

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Finding good food fast... When I first arrived in France lunch was long, 12 - 14h. I've noticed that it is fast becoming shorter. This is a good thing when talking about France catching up to the norms of global efficiency and productivity, but another thing when talking about eating quality food on the run. Over the last 4 or 5 years there has been an incredible growth of really bad quality sandwich joints cranking out enormous quantities of industrial meat sandwiches with soggy lettuce, under ripe tomatoes, something which is apparently meant to be an egg slice, gallons of petrol-tasting mayo and all served up in rubbery, white, industrial, bread. Actually sometimes the bread is so hard that you end up the next day with a mouth full of ulcers. Don't even get me started on the Panini craze! I say YUCK!! I was brought up with rye or brown bread, never mayo in sandwiches but rather butter or cream cheese ( Philadelphia...mmmM!!), alfalfa sprouts, pastrami, good hams, c

GETTING FIGGY

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Loving figs... My friend Janice makes the most divine " Fig Preserves." I love that word, Preserves, American english for jam as opposed to jelly.To me the very word makes it " jam with heritage." There are still juicy figs at the market, waiting for you to turn them into the ultimate orgasmic breakfast treat. I smother toasted pain aux noix/ walnut bread with lashings of butter ( good fat!) and pile on Janice's  Preserves. See recipe below* My first autumn in France was spent between breast-feeding my new-born son and standing beneath the fig tree literally stuffing my face with fresh warm figs. The perfume was overpowering, irresistable. My son was probably getting fig "on tap." Today he won't go near a fig. I can't go further without justifying my gluttonous relationship with this wonderful fruit Figs are high in natural and simple sugars, minerals and fibre. Figs c ontain good levels of potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, cop

SATURDAY SHOPPING,

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Treasure and torture...Saturday afternoon shopping with girlfriends. Why WHY are some shop staff still so dreadfully rude and arrogant?? I've already discussed service in another post and here I go again....promise to be brief. Saturday afternoon and we walk into a clothes shop in Bordeaux...we ooh and aah over the latest autumn collection. There is a pullover that interests me. Size "S" and, to say the very least, " doll size." It is the only one out. I look at the trousers next to it...fabulous, but size 34 ( US 4!!). Then I look at the t-shirts...all "S" or " XS"...I'm wondering what kind of marketing is going down here, I'd only be able to wear the t-shirts on my legs! Am I the only one who has ever wondered why shops selling quality clothing only merchandise the SMALLEST sizes?? I am so sick of going up to the sales desk to ask for a size 42, which is perfectly average for a strapping 5ft 7 anglo saxon woman....In one sho

TAKE ME, WALNUT ME...

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The benefits of walnuts. How many of you didn't dare to make my sinful walnut tart because you were worried that it was calorie-rich? My love affair with walnuts started when my mother started putting celery sticks filled with crushed walnuts and cream cheese in my lunch box...she suffered from Psoriasis and was concerned I could inherit it so filled me full of whole foods and nuts. My skin has definitely benefitted. My only problem at the time of her walnut phase was that it also coincided with her carrot juice phase...she had a food processor sent to NZ ( this was the 70's!!) and would juice about a kilo of carrots every day. So I had great skin but rather spooky orange hand and foot palms. Back to walnuts... I have just been researching into this wonderful nut and it has much more than calories going for it. The walnut is considered as one of the world's healthiest foods. It bursting with omega-3. A quarter cup per day will provide you with 90% of your daily in

OYSTERS' FRIEND

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Back to Brasseries.... Many years ago after singing an Arvo Part concert my fellow singers and I decided we were in dire need of a "feed!!" Arvo takes it out of you and we needed our stuffing replaced. It was after 11pm so I was rather dubious about the whole exercise. I was terror struck at the idea of going to a restaurant to be only greeted with a the last service was at 9 30 pm or worse , having food basically thrown at us by a surly waitress . There is this " thing" with service here in France. I don't know whether you have noticed it but often in restaurants one is made to feel "so lucky" to be there. After my initial shock the first few years of being here I finally started vocalising my surprise with Hello hello, I'm the client . I also did a few walk-outs when the rudeness or bad service just got too much...life is TOO short. Its the same with shops...sometimes one feels that by simply walking in that you are putting them out. You often

LOVE/HATE RELATIONSHIP WITH AUTUMN

When green goes bronze... I come from a pacific island where we just don't feel the seasons " mark" themselves. We kind of stroll between winter and summer without feeling the full impact of spring and autumn. They exist, but not like here in the northern hemisphere. The result - my love/hate relationship with autumn. Let's get the hate done first..To be frank the change from green to bronze sets off an anguish screaming time to go back to school, time to go back to work, Christmas count down, nearly next year and therefore another year older, argh!! I watch my beloved garden running out of steam, turning itself off for winter. Roses become less robust, their flowering ceases - as I write this I can see my New Dawn climber holding on to her last flower, a withered half excuse of a rose.  Autumn also means wearing proper clothes and shoes again. No floating around the house barefoot in long shirts and knickers - out with boots, coats, trousers. I really hate this

VISITORS

When they go.... Haven't you found that by living in another country that you really need a guest room? My memories of our guest room as a child was an unbelievably pristine space which was rarely used by visitors rather more by my father when he and mother had a " disagreement." It was otherwise called " the dog -box." When we moved from an apartment to a house I was thrilled to have the extra space for a guest room. And my office. And a "dog -box".... Anyway to cut a long story short it is used on a regular basis by visitors too. One thing is sure about New Zealanders..they travel. So we have never been in short supply of visitors to fill up our guest room. Sadly we don't have another " dog- box" option but that's another subject. We have had both family and friends in Bordeaux for the last few weeks surrounding our recent wedding. Our guest room has been filled, emptied, filled and emptied for about the last 6 weeks without p

BEING AVERAGE.....

Continuing comments about school.... When my daughter was 4 years old I was sent a " convocation" to see her kindergarten teacher. This is basically a " summons"... I cancelled classes, appointments, and was at the school door at 4 30 sharp to see the teacher. On the way there I was imagining all sorts of things...was she being bullied, was there a health problem, was she fighting, was she mute, had they detected a hearing or visual related problem, ringworm...? I sat waiting for the teacher feeling the same kind of anguish I'd felt as a school girl outside the headmistress's office. I was duly called and went in.. "Madame, thank you for coming. I have summoned you here today because ( wait for this!!.. .) your daughter can't trace her w's." Being "me" I burst out laughing and looked around the room for hidden cameras. Is this some kind of joke, I asked. The teacher in question turned red and said that indeed it was not. B

LINGUISTIC LOO LAHS

Overalls, frying pans and other sexual toys!  I am sure that many of you have made dreadful linguistic errors/mistakes..."faux pas" etc. But one thing I have noticed is that when we make them from english into french they are almost always instant XXXX sexual innuendo. This is really a chance for all you to share some of your faux pas in the comment section underneath. But let me let you in on a couple of mine first... At our wedding a few weeks ago not only did the MC but also my new husband feel the need to have a public airing of my linguistic and cultural misdemeanors. My husbands' favourite (and he wasn't even there when it happend) took place years and years ago when my now 15 year old son was about 6 months. I had gone into Bordeaux to seek Osh Kosh evolving overalls ( salopette in french..).These were great...an overall which was not only cute but "grew" with the child for about a year. Value +! Into Galleries Lafayettes childrens' section

HEY P(r)ESTO !

Yeah yeah yeah its Friday. Tomorrow is market day at St Michel for me... St Michel is the most amazing experience, especially to a foreigner. Its a huge market every Saturday morning underneath the spire of St Michel which is the second largest spire in France ( that's a fact!!). If you are a reader from out of Bordeaux I'm sure you can inform us about other fab markets. Please do... So why is this market so special...well its just different from all the others..Yes I LOVE strolling along the riverside at the Chartrons Sunday market, and I always take tourists there but its rather pricey...not much change out of 10 euro for a handful of hard cherry tomatos and a kg of rather ordinary apples. I take the tram among the "quais" to the St Michel stop and walk through the dark alleys, not yet privy to the municipality's clean up programme, into the interior of the Place St Michel and am instantly in another world...cloth and shoe vendors yelling out bargains, 2 m

BARGAIN BABE

Getting the hang of shopping here..... Its not as if I've ever objected to shopping. Admittedly its one of my favourite things. No, let me say that another way...I LOVE a bargain, I LOVE LOVE LOVE them!! This could be directly related to the litres and litres of Scots blood flowing through my veins, it could be because of the global crisis, maybe its my instrinsic sense of not over-spending ( ha!))...nah, its none of those things. The real reason for my bargain, good deal, value for money attitude stems from something much more simple.....I got divorced. In France..... Divorced, alien/stranger, mother of two children under 7, no family for 15 000kms, full time teacher but as a "vacataire" /contract teacher only so no salary ( no guaranteed work for any more than a week long period....oh hello, and not talking about 40 hours here!!!), new to Bordeaux so no network, and of course, the major missing ingredient of barely any girlfriends to cry over, scrounge off, have d