As Matt said in his last post, we took his birthday week off as holiday. Predictably, this meant that several clients chose it as the week to start coming back to us. We were sent some content for the truffle site, some for the gite site I’m working on, and also got the green light from Gerald for his new business website. Fortunately, nothing that couldn’t wait a few more days.
We had a band practise with Paul on Monday afternoon that went well. We’ve got a list of 50 songs, but are just concentrating on a dozen or so for the timebeing. Luckily for me, I can play most of them already but Paul and Matt both have quite a bit to learn on their respective instruments. We also prepared three batches of flavoured vodkas, following tips that Steve n Suzy gave us this summer. In one bottle, we put a vanilla pod, in another some lime zest and in the third, some blueberries.
Tuesday was Matt’s actual birthday and the celebrations started with lunch at the Hotel de France with Lee and Richard. This was the first time we’d seen Rich in several years and a very pleasant time was had. We each had a three course meal and left feeling extremely full. Lucien called by in the afternoon to drop off Matt’s birthday present : a crate of cepe mushrooms, freshly picked. That evening, the celebrations continued with a meal at ours. In attendance were the folks, and the Pringault family plus Sam. Like Lucien, Benoit had been out mushrooming that day and so he too arrived with a full crate as a gift.
The meal we chose was Raclette as it’s convivial, popular and required little prep. It is also, however, a very heavy meal and so we had to leave it to the guests to do it justice as we were still recovering from lunch. B&V are both well, but Eva was a little down as she’s having issues with her boyfriend Benoit.
On wednesday, we took delivery of Matt’s new keyboard. It’s a very versatile and impressive bit of kit, but given the range of features it has (and the thickness of the instruction manual), it will likely take him a while to master. Matt spent the morning cleaning, cooking and then freezing his cepes.
Gerald arrived on Thursday afternoon to spend a long weekend with us. Matt collected him from Anougleme while I gave the house a tidy and the two of them got back in time for cocktail hour. For dinner that night, we started off with dips and paté for an extended aperitif course, followed by carbonara. Afterwards we had a few games of cards and called it a night.
The following day we learned that Saturday’s planned sky-diving excursion was cancelled due to naff weather. This wasn’t totally disappointing as it would have been a rush getting down there and getting back in time for that evening’s party. Instead we stayed in and Matt made the chilli for tomorrow’s event. That evening, we ate at Paul & Nathalie’s place, along with Françoise. We had a lovely evening catered by Nat who made us crepes bretonne made with buckwheat flour and the option of various fillings such as cheese, egg, mushroom etc. Dessert was more crepes but this time with a range of sweet fillings – chocolate, honey, fruits. Nat used to run a creperie for a few years, so all of this was prepared and served with impressive efficiency. Despite the fact that all of the frenchies speak decent english, the conversation was nearly all in French so poor Gerald didn’t follow much. Cards were proposed after the meal but we demurred and came home instead.
Saturday was the day of the big double party for Matt and Manu. We went over to Françoise’s in the afternoon to get stuff set up, along with Mathilde, who took charge of the decorations. That done, we played two rounds of Euchre with Françoise, each team winning one game each. We ran out of time for the decider as we had to return home to collect supplies.
The party took place in Françoise’s gite and around thirty people attended, among them Paul & Nathalie, the folks, Ridgit, Sylvie & Olivier and also Françoise’s ex, Philippe. Our flavoured vodka was among the many options at the bar and the lime all went that evening, so we’ll be whipping up some more soon. Françoise made the bulk of the aperitifs but lots of guests bought extra bits so it went on for a few hours, during which time the birthday boys were presented with their gifts. We then sat down to the main meal of chilli con carne made by Manu, with the “chilli sin carne” option provided by Matt. After this and the dessert, the music came on and lots of people got up to boogie. Including and especially Matt, you’ll not be surprised to learn.
I think it was around 3.30 when we left, but it’s all a bit hazy to be honest. We staggered out of bed after 11 the following morning, feeling decidedly less than fantastic. It took lots of coffee to get us out the house later that day but we managed as far as Françoise’s where we were invited to eat the leftovers along with Paul & Nat. Gerald also made his signature fried chicken to bring along, which was handy as not much chilli was left. All of us were tired but we stayed for game of cards after the meal before coming home for an early night.
Monday was Gerald’s last day and he and Matt left for Limoges just after lunch. I meanwhile started to catch up on work, which just keeps piling up at the moment. The biggest one is Maxwell-Baynes, the real estate people we did the vineyards site for last year. This project’s been looming large on the horizon for months but now has the green light – and a december deadline too, bien sur. Meanwhile, some builders whose site I started 2 years ago suddenly decided that this was the perfect week hassle me. Oh and we got the go-ahead from the local ‘wooden houses’ client to add to the list. To cap it off, on Thursday, my least favourite client ever rang me last week to tell me he needs a new site. The experience of building his first was excruciating beyond belief so yep, really looking forward to that one.
Unsurprisingly, last week was therefore pretty much all work, work, work for the pair of us, and as such doesn’t really need recounting. So on to Thursday and our first social activity. Mum and Dad came over and the four of us had a very pleasant meal and evening. Matt made a big batch of humus and dips to start, with which we sampled our flavoured vodkas. The main was a veggie couscous salad we’d not had for a long time, and dessert was brownies. Cards and coffee followed and then we watched a film when the folks left.
We rarely get visitors come to stay any more but this month we got not one but two. The second was Kevin, who flew in to Limoges on Saturday afternoon. He used to be quite a regular visitor but work constraints meant he’d not been able to make it over for a few years, so it’s been a pleasure to get reacquainted. He’d not long arrived before he was put to work helping us stack this year’s wood delivery. We’ve been quite lazy about it this year and left half of the order tied up in the bundles they were delivered in, seeing as they were dumped in the right spot. We’re sure Lucien disapproves, but tough. That still left us with four stere of wood to stack, but with Kevin’s help this went quite quickly.
Kevin was then reassigned to the kitchen to act as sous-chef for that evening’s meal. This was with our regular trio of Françoise, Paul & Nat, and was an all-veggie affair. Despite the conversation being quite animated and varied, Kevin seemed to follow things very well. We started the meal off with more humus and dips washed down with flavoured vodkas for the apéro. The main was a carrot and sweet potato gratin. It was supposed to be a quinoa-based, but ours had gone bad so Matt used rice instead, and it came out very nicely. Afterwards, the cards came out and we taught Kevin how to play Continental. It ended up being a latish night, what with the extra hour as well.
The next day’s activity was to the Château de Puyguilhem, where Françoise. works as a tour guide. We’d been a few times before, but this time we’d been promised a special VIP tour. We did the standard tour along with some other members of the public and then Françoise saw them out and closed shop leaving us, Paul & Nat and a few others. We then got to see several rooms that for heath & safety reasons are normally locked, including one upper floor with a balcony looking out onto the grounds below.
After the tour, we headed over to Mum n Dad’s where we were invited for dinner. This was a delicious meal of a carrot salad in a sesame sauce to start, made with carrots of various colours. This was followed by roasted pork and prosciutto on a bed of creamy cheesy mashed potatoes. Dessert was pineapple and blueberries with yoghurt. We didn’t stay late as we were tired from the previous night and we weren’t long to bed when we got in. And that brings us up to date, so that’s all from me.
Except that I’ve just realised that given the date, this entry ought to have been our yearly “anniversary entry” where we look back over the previous year and contemplate our life out here in France. Well, this one’s already far too long, so it’ll have to wait until next time. Hard to believe it, but on this Thursday, it’ll be 10 years since we moved to France!