Andrew arrived on Monday and left yesterday. He got a fair amount of work done this time around, including finishing the kitchen floor. He also ordered some fixtures, and made preparations for the next round of work, which will be the kitchen and bathroom. Jean the plumber / electrician has made fairly good progress too. He’s got the drains finished, and has started on the electricity. Andrew kept his usual work schedule, leaving fairly early in the morning, returning for lunch, and then returning to the house until early evening.
It’s school holidays this week and last, so my usual activities were cancelled. We had some snow early in the week so I didn’t make it to the shops for a few days. We had leftovers one night, and pasta for a few other nights, including our usual sausage version, and mac & cheese. Rigit joined us for a meal on Wed night so they could meet Andrew. I made a spicy veggie chili, although I toned it down a bit since it’s normally very fiery. This was served with salad and cornbread, which was a first for all the guests. I had run out of baking powder and used baking soda and vinegar instead, so the consistency was a bit off. Being a weeknight, I didn’t have time for an elaborate dessert so went with my default: brownies and vanilla ice cream. Everyone seemed to get along, and our guests left before midnight.
On Friday, we had ravioli in cream sauce with sundried tomatoes and spinach – a new recipe that will likely enter into regular rotation. We played cards for the only time this visit, and Andrew won a few games, which is notable. On Saturday, Lewis came around for an apero. He and Pary are here for a couple of weeks during the school break. He’s generally well, and recently went back to California for his stepfather’s funeral. This was his first time back in the States in four years, and his first visit to CA since they legalised weed. We got caught up over a few drinks, and he left around 8.
We received a late invite to dine at Benoit and Virginie’s, so the aperos beforehand were probably ill-advised. Along with us was Sam, two of their young friends from Bordeaux, and Isabel, Benoit’s sister. We had another apero and then had a meal of tomato noodle soup, followed by pork tenderloin in a wild mushroom sauce, served with a rice mixture that included wild rice. There was a very small cheese course, followed by crepes made from eggs from their chickens for dessert. This included the customary shots of vodka around each course, and a bottle of whiskey came out too. We then played a game of Dutch shuffleboard, which is small enough to fit on the kitchen table. Andrew finished near the top (if not at the top – my memory is a bit hazy), which is impressive for his first time. We left around 1 and didn’t stay up much later.
Andrew did a bit of clean-up on Sunday before leaving here after lunch. Will and I mainly took it easy and had practice with Christian in the afternoon. This went mostly well despite our hangovers, and we tried out a few new songs. We had leftover pasta for dinner and a fairly early night.
The other news this week is that we got the green light on the vineyard site. This will be far and away our biggest project to date financially, and probably the most demanding client as well. There is also a very tight deadline since they’ve fallen out with their current web people, and their sites are going down at the end of the month. So we’re trying to get most of the new site up before this happens, and we’re definitely making a go of it. We’ve showed them our progress so far, and we’re waiting for feedback. This work will take us right up to our honeymoon, so we’re looking forward to it more than ever.