The pleasures of chocolate
On their visit to Barcelona the children were pleased to find that there were long queues to enter many of the highlights (yes, in October). They were pleased, of course, because it was easier to convince Mrs B to forget about art and architecture and go shopping instead when faced with the prospect of two [...]
Foie gras and pork pies
After most of the tourists have left the region, around October, things start to return to normal. Restaurants don’t need advance booking, and we can park the car more or less where we like without being trapped between two enormous Dutch-owned ‘people-carrier’ type vehicles. Staff in the shops look calm and friendly instead of tired [...]
Veal farming in France
I had an enjoyable bike ride with one of my cycling friends yesterday, and as so often learned something that I didn’t want to learn. The south-west of France has a long tradition of good food and wine and healthy hearty living, and the area is positively overflowing with tasty mushrooms, fine cheese and great [...]
Christmas is coming
Our first Christmas for many years without any family visiting is rapidly approaching, so it’ll be interesting to see how that goes. Will we all enjoy endless rounds of monopoly and card games, christmas crackers and turkey? Hmm I wouldn’t bet on it yet but we’ll find out soon enough. I expect in reality the [...]
Birthday cake
My birthday came and went, as they do, with a quiet fanfare and a great big cake. Due to confusion over numbers, a result of advancing years I imagine, I had passed most of last year thinking I was 43, so it was a nice surprise on my birthday to realise I had ‘only’ been [...]
Night on the town
We had ‘un repas bien arrossé’ yesterday – great phrase, don’t you think, arrosser is ‘to water’ (as in ‘watering the garden’) but ‘un repas bien arrossé’ is a meal washed down with plenty of wine etc. Anyway, one of the local communes were having their annual village ‘moules frites‘ evening and some friends invited [...]
Eating out
Not only do I not have to go to an office or commute (although I work long hours at home when I can wrench the computer away from the rest of the family) but I can take long luchtimes whenever I want. So yesterday we went out for lunch to a very nice restaurant. Nothing [...]
Country produce
OK first things first, what do you reckon to the new look for the blog? Sleek and sophisticated. I can’t decide whether I changed it for the better or simply for the sake of change. I like it, I’m just not sure whether the bubbly orange across the top will stay or go. I have [...]
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