Anne and Andrew arrived on Monday afternoon, and after relaxing for a bit, we all put up the garden fence in the back. We had raclette that evening, something we all enjoy but rarely eat. I got some patisserie from Fred that morning, so we had that to celebrate A & A’s anniversary. We played cards that evening for a bit before bed. We all worked on Tuesday, although things are fairly quiet for Will and I. We went out to dinner at Hotel de France that night and sat out on the patio. We’d had rain / storms for the previous days, and although storms were forecast, it was pleasant and bright when we arrived.
As the meal progressed, the sky grew darker and then the heavens opened. We stayed mainly dry under the large umbrellas, expecting the rain to ease up, but it didn’t. Most of the other diners gave up and finished their meals inside, but we toughed it out and had dessert and coffee under the downpour. Apart from that (Mrs Lincoln), we had a lovely meal. They’ve further reduced the menu, keeping the higher-end dishes and removing the things that Will eats, like pork and poultry. Instead, they have a monthly set menu, which Andrew and I opted for. Will and Anne had cepes omelettes, although Anne’s was sans-cepes. The food was excellent as ever, and the rain let up just as we left.
We had the first bbq of the year on Wed. Storms were threatening, but it stayed dry long enough to cook the meal, although we ate indoors. We had our typical fare of sausages, chicken and salmon with potato salad and coleslaw. For the first time, I made nearly the right amount of food, although there were still some leftovers. We played cards to finish off the evening. The next day we had Marie and Christian over for dinner. It was meant to be Richard and Bridget, but they were in La Rochelle celebrating her 60th, and decided to stay another day. They are vegetarian, as is Anne, so I had planned a suitable meal and decided not to change it for the new guests.
I had complained to Will that I was growing tired of our usual recipes and he reminded me that I have a shelf of cookbooks. So I had a leaf through those and found a recipe for mushroom cutlets, which are sauted onion and mushrooms, blended with breadcrumbs, eggs, cheese and seasoning. Then they are formed into patties and baked on each site until brown, and served with a creme fraiche herb sauce. I had two chicken legs leftover that I whizzed in the food processor, and added that to half the mixture. Both versions turned out well, and the chicken didn’t add much, so I won’t bother next time. The cutlets were served with a quinoa and sauted veg, and were followed by cheese. Dessert was a nectarine crumble, the first of the year, and although they were quite tart, it came out well. M & C were in good form, and tried to encourage A & A to speak French. They both managed bits of conversation, but it’s hard until you get better at parsing what’s said into words.
Friday was Anne’s last day, and they went back to work on the house in the morning. They’re continuing to make good progress: Andrew did some tiling and putting up interior walls, and Anne stripped wallpaper in the bedrooms. Jean the electrician has been there too and he’s making progress on getting the electrics all set-up. A & A set off for Limoges after lunch, swinging by the brico before dropping Anne off at the airport. Sophie came by in the afternoon for a cake-making lesson, in prep for the soiree the following night. We decided on Pineapple Upside-down cake, and she came over with ingredients and baked. She made the remaining cakes at her place that evening. We had leftover raclette that night, substituting the remaining cutlets for potatoes, and even managed to finish up most of the leftover bbq.
The next day, I mowed the front in the morning, which will be my last time mowing for a month or so. It’s been too rainy to do the back, so it’s going to be a chore for Will when he gets the chance. I went down to Milhac in the afternoon to start making food for the evening, the Soiree Mexicaine. I brought my food processor, and it was put to good use. The menu was salsa, guac and chips to start, served with a Margarita “punch”, which is a regular Margarita, diluted with tonic. It was still fairly potent, and universally enjoyed. The next course was two salads: one of them my traditional version with corn, beans, onions and a lime dressing; the second was tuna, corn and tomatoes with a vinagrette. The mains were beef tacos, made with my seasoning blend, and chicken “fajitas”, which was chicken breast in a sauce with peppers, made by Sophie. These were served with the traditional accompaniments of sauces, cheese, creme fraiche, rice and tortillas. Dessert was the aforementioned cake.
Overall, the food came out fairly well. There were two hiccups with the evening, the main one being the turnout. We had around 30 paying guests, which is low even by our standards. The other was that the DJ drove off the road and hit a phone pole while admiring the beauty of a deer in a nearby field. Fortunately, only the car was damaged, and it happened during the last 5 minutes of a 2 hour drive. He and his equipment were all fine, so he got a lift back to his car, and was still able to perform that night. We were pleased that most of our neighbours came, including Gael and Corinne, and Nathalie and Paul, who brought along a few friends. Also there were the Beaufils, Daniel and Odiele, Martine and Joel and John meaning the majority of attendees were from Mazeroux or Mortegoutte. Andrew came along and sat with the first set of neighbours, most of whom speak decent English.
The DJ was excellent as usual, although a bit more subdued. He started off singing a number of French classics, much appreciated by the crowd. Then he moved onto to the usual dance numbers, which is when Andrew made a run for it. Will and I were behind the bar most of the night, with very little to do except drink margaritas, and the vodka concoction we’d brought from home. It was an early night and we were home with David the DJ around 1am. He had already arranged a taxi to collect him and his gear from Milhac the next morning, and I agreed to take him down. He realised that he’d left his bank card in the car, which has already been towed to the garage in Nontron, so he got me up at 7:30 and off we went. The taxi was waiting for him in Milhac, and I stopped at the boulangerie before heading home. I thought about going back to bed but didn’t and was fairly tired the rest of the day.
The best thing to come out of the evening is that it represents the end of Milhac Loisirs. Sophie, Jackie and I did nearly all the work, including the publicity, setting up the room and cooking. To be fair, we did have a bit of help with the tables and the dishes, and Will at the bar. Despite that people seem to enjoy themselves and the food, turnout has been on the decline. This is also true of conversation and choir, so we’ve decided that this will be the last year. We’re still flush with cash, so we’ll either put the group in hiatus, or have a big party / donate to charity. It’s a shame to let it go, but it’s really disappointing to work that hard, and no one to show up. This includes the members of the association, but also the maire and counseilles municipaux. Since we’re the last social org in the village, we would have liked some support but apparently, they don’t care if there’s life in the village or not. Milhac now has a billiards club and I plan to join that next year as a replacement activity.
Andrew worked on the house the next day, and for the first time, we ate lunch inside that day due to rain. Will and I vegged out and watched some telly that afternoon. We had pasta for dinner that night, and then watched a bit more telly before making it an early night. My hernia surgery was the next morning, so we were up at 6 and at the hospital by 7:30. Will was allowed to join me so we hung out in my room while I waited. They came to take my pulse, and the nurse was surprised at how low it was. Another nurse came in and shaved me from nipples to upper thigh, and then they came and wheeled me to the pre-op area. I went into the operating room around 10 and woke up in the recovery room around noon, where I stayed for an hour. Then they wheeled me back to my room, and Will came up to join me for the rest of the time. The doctor stopped by and told me to take it easy for the next month, and that he’d give me some prescriptions and an “arrete de travail”. This means that I don’t have to work for a month, but sadly, my boss doesn’t approve.
I was released around 4 and we stopped by the pharmacy and then Sophie’s on the way home. She and Jackie had gone back and divvied up the remaining food, of which there was loads. We had some last night and are having it again tonight, and there will still be some to put in the freezer. I was a bit sore yesterday, although I’d had a pain-killer drip after the op, so wasn’t feeling too badly. We went to bed early, and despite the two early mornings, I didn’t sleep that well, waking up every hour or so. I’m doing a bit better today, although certain movements are fairly painful. A nurse will be coming every other day to change my bandages over the stitches, which should be out within a few weeks. I managed to do a small bit of work, mostly emails and will continue to deal with small bits for the remainder of the week. Otherwise, we plan to take it easy.