expat on the go...

MY SISTER KIKI IS HERE...

My sister Kiki, came to join me and the kids in Narbonne Plage for the next week and a half, until we drive back up to Paris and take the flight back home.  My sister, back to Toronto and we, back to New Jersey.

Here were the hors d'oeuvres (before we bought pizzas!):

 

Swedish toast with fois gras and Swedish toast with goat cheese, with a strip of hot red pepper and cucumber; cucumbers and 4 types of sausages (fennel, duck with green pepper, chorizo and with comte cheese).

 

My sister Kiki:

 

My little honey:

 

The sisters:

 

The wine that we drank.  It's actually a vineyard that's a few miles away from the house.  It tastes a bit like 'sangria' (without being negative).  It's actually a nice wine to drink drink with meat and such.

 

Pictures of the Teen on the beach - watch the moon in the background:

 

 

MOULES/FRITES AND SOME OTHER STUFF

A few nights ago we went to a local restaurant and ordered 'moules/frites' for 4.  They come in a black cauldron, that you bring back the next day.  That's one thing that I love about France (if you want to compare France to North America) - they trust you!   The newspaper guy would give me my recipe magazine, without me having my wallet with me and he'd say, "Later, pay me later!".  NEVER in North America would that happen (or rarely, at least).  Can you imagine being at Abercrombie and the cashier saying, "Listen, you're missing 10 bucks, come back tomorrow to give it to me!  Enjoy the clothes!" Yeah, right!

Moules/frites (of course the Teen had chicken nuggets/frites!):

 

 

Then the big guy and the little guy went fishing, but not of the pier this time.  They went by the edge of the ocean:

 

 

 

This is the view of the house from the beach.  The 'mountain' behind the house is called 'la clape' (ok, insert joke here!).

 

When the wind comes from the mountains (or behind the house), the ocean is calm and the water is cold - it's a 'north wind'.  Sometimes the wind comes from the ocean,  huge waves form and the water is warm.  This is one time that the wind is from the ocean:

 

Yesterday morning, the honey and I went to Narbonne (the city) to 'les halles', a famous market place (with a 'catalan' twist).  He couldn't resist the 'boudin' Catalan.  The lady said she eats it raw!!  Ok, wouldn't go that far!  But it was quite tasty - I've taken a liking to 'boudin' (blood sausage, since living here):

 

 

It looks bad, but it was quite tasty.  The Teen came 'out of her shell' and had a bite (ok, for 5 euro), she loved it!  The little guy didn't like it, he couldn't get past the 'blood' thing.  They tried it though!  And who knew the Teen would like it!  WOW!!

 

MONSTER TRUCKS.....

As mentioned in the previous post, the boys - my honey and the little guy went to see some monster truck action.  Here are some pictures:

(Little guy with blue t-shirt/beige shorts):

They apparently went on one of these and did a 'wheelie' (on the two back wheels for about 50 meters - thank God I wasn't there!).

 

 

 

Happy boy:

 

Crushed cars - I guess you have to be a guy to appreciate this!

 

We had a very simple dinner of hot-dogs tonight with some tomatoes and cucumbers.  Then we had some 'charmallow' (Marshmallows, in our neck of the woods).  Easy day today.  The little guy is back on the fun-boat.  He's done with the sailboat.  He wants to go back on the fun-boat, he says it goes faster...   Oye!

SEAFOOD FEAST

My honey got us a really nice seafood feast yesterday!  We started with 'tenilles' (a local 'clam') - very sweet, tender and delicious!

You first have to soak the tenilles in salt water, for them to get rid of what they have eaten during the day (you do this for 30 minutes):

 

Tomorrow the little guy is determined to get us some from the ocean, as we see a lot of people just picking them up from the ocean!

This is what they look like:

 

You then 'fry' them in a 'persillade' (garlic, parsley, salt and some spices of your choice):

C'est pas beautiful ca??????

 

Oh yeah baby, with a nice rose (Gris, vin de pay des sables du golfe du Lyon).

We then had bulots (those sea snails, I talked about in another post) with aioli.

We then had shrimp and scallop brochettes:

 

We then had langoustine tails (that was ok) - we went to get frozen Canadian lobsters at 'Carrefour' (supermarket) to roast on the bbq - next time.

We finished with roasted bbq oysters from Gruissan (next door village).  You put the oysters 'round' side down and they simply open up and are scrumptious!

Tonight we're having  spaghetti!  We can't have 'em all - although, if the little guy gets enough tennilles, from the ocean, tomorrow, we'll have ourselves one heck of an appetizer!

I'll let you know.... 

 

GO FLY A KITE!

When there is wind, there is a lot of wind here.  Either it comes from the mountains (Pyrenees) or from the sea.  When it comes from the mountains, there are no waves, there is a wonderful breeze, though the water is cold.  When the wind comes from the sea, there are waves (sometimes huge), the sand goes all over the place (think sand-storm), but the water is warm.

Kite flying is, therefore, quite popular here, since there is a  lot of wind, a lot of the time:

Except last night!

The Teen holding the strings:

 

The little guy - waiting for 'blast-off':

 

 

Waiting for the wind to pick-up:

 

Still waiting for wind...

 

 

Forget it... there's NO wind!  They came home discouraged.

Dad was fishing at the pier:

 

This is the pedestrian walk in front of the house - looking towards the hotel area.  You also see the mountains in the background:

THE FUNBOAT

OK - the funboat wasn't fun!!!  It's a mini-catamaran that made both kids sea-sick (which the little guy never suffers from!).

That's the Teen and the little guy hauling the sail:

 

 

The actual boat:

 

Here's dad helping put up the sail:

 

 

 

Here's the 'hot guy' (according to Teen!):

 

Ok you can't really see him, but he is really cute and nice!

The little guy is back with the sailboat (l'optimist) and the Teen is back with the wind-surfing!

So is life!

BELIEVE IT OR NOT!

Well, believe or not, the Teen and the Hubby have an ear infection (otitis)!  The Teen in her other ear, and the hubby in the same ear as the Teen. 

Tomorrow she's starting a 'fun-boat' session with her brother.  She doesn't have to put her head in the water for that, so it's ok.  I'll post pictures of that later on.  It's basically a small catamaran.

There goes the scuba session of next week!  The doctor vetoed that activity!

VACATION STUFF

On Saturday,  planes were flying very low and it was quite a site when 5 planes dipped into the ocean not far from the edge of the beach.  They 'picked-up' water and, I guess, went to put out a fire.

This is the last one going back up, and away:

This is the house we rented:

 

This is the view from the window that you see opened - I usually read from that window or knit:

 

The beach:

 

The waves have been really big, so the little guy has gone from learning how to sail to learning how to surf - and he's LOVING it!  Bring on the waves, dude!!!

The waves were so huge today, that people were not allowed to go into the ocean!  So here are the kids having fun in the sand:

 

 

 

 

That's one handsome mermaid!

LITTLE GUY SAILING...

Here's the little guy sailing:

 

 

That's him with the cap and the hair all over the place!

 

Him pushing the sailboat:

 

 

My little 'happy' guy, going sailing:

 

He sails from 10 - 12, every morning. 

The Teen does windsurfing from 2 - 4 pm, every day.  She has developed an ear-infection so she is missing today, but with a dose of antibiotics, will be back at it tomorrow...  She would have to get the wax taken out of her ears, 'cause I'm scared it'll just come back after this infection goes away!

THE BEST RESTAURANT IN NARBONNE!

The information lady gave us 2 - 3 restaurants to chose from and we decided to go to this one - on July 3rd - our wedding anniversary - 16 years of marriage.  I'm sure glad we did, because it was fabulous.  If you're in the Narbonne area - go!  It's really good and they give cooking classes also!

http://www.cuisiniers-cavistes.com/

About the 16 years of marriage -

We have moved 10 times in the 19 years that we have been together.

I'd say that the first few years were the hardest - especially the first, since we were newly weds, as well as first time parents (and yes, the baby came 9 months after the wedding - for those conservatives!)!

We seemed to have mellowed as the years go by.   I thought married life would be a lot of work and much harder than it has been.  There's always been respect.  We rarely yell at each other. 

I let him do 'his stuff' (working out, etc...) and he let's me do 'my stuff' (knitting classes and conventions - yes, they exist, don't laugh!).  Maybe that's the key to a successful marriage?  Or, maybe it's just luck !!!