AWG Book Club

Friday December 10, 2010 Day 163

I forgot to get powered sugar, so I sent Roger out to Carrefour to get some to finish off the Chewy Noels. He brought back exactly what I had seen in the store prior to this - a box marked “Sucre Poudre.” I opened it up and prepared to sift the powdered sugar over the bars, and discovered to my surprise that the box did not contain powdered sugar at all, but a medium-grained sugar, not much finer than the sugar I already have for baking! (Indeed, I have seen finer sugar in the U.S. called superfine sugar, which is very fine-grained but still not powdered.) Disaster! Well, not really, but I feel that it is the powdered sugar which completes the bars, soaking up some of the caramel-y butter and giving them that final delicious touch. Sigh.

After a morning of cleaning the apartment, this afternoon I took the bus to Anne’s house for the Christmas meeting of the AWG book club. Instead of discussing a book, it had been decided that each member would share brief Christmas readings of her choice.

Anne’s apartment was cozy and welcoming. We set our eats on the table and indulged in coffee or tea while waiting for various members to arrive. We finally started, still three members short. Katharine opened, reading a poem by John Betjeman entitled, simply, “Christmas,“ describing a picture of Christmas in London in verse.

Katharine reads her poem

Rosie read a piece by Clare Bevan called “The Christmas Play,” narrated by the quintessential little boy who wasn’t chosen for the Christmas play, where he wanted to be a soldier, but would have settled for being a tree, or even in the chorus. But alas, he only gets to help with the curtain and the setting up of the chairs. Such a woeful glimpse into a little boy’s heart.

Rosie reading from School Year

Pat read a little piece called The Twelve Days After Christmas by Frederick Silver. It opened “The first day after Christmas, my true love and I had a fight. And so I chopped the pear tree down and burned it just for spite.” That set the tone for the rest of her reading!

Pat, making us all laugh!

Anne shared a beautiful piece from The Frozen Thames, by Helen Humphries. The book opens with the introduction In its long history, the river Thames has frozen solid forty times. These are the stories of that frozen river. The book contains vignettes spread between 1142 and 1895, each of which brings us into the lives of those who experienced the phenomenon of the frozen Thames. Anne chose to read one narrated by the personal attendant to Queen Elizabeth I who, at the Queen’s bidding, put on trousers and assisted the Queen in target shooting with a bow and arrow on the ice. It was delightful, almost exotic in its descriptions of how different the world - and even the Queen - is when everything is frozen solid.

Anne took us to Merry Olde England

Laurence read a Russian tale from a dual-language book - French and Russian. Laurence read her own translation of the piece, in which an old person describes Christmas in Moscow to a younger person, perhaps a grandchild, and contrasts it with Christmas in Paris. Laurence also shared a Russian Christmas music CD with us.

And with Laurence, we traveled to Russia

I read Francis Pharcellus Church’s “Yes, Virginia, There Is A Santa Claus” from the 1897 New York Sun. I opened with a brief history of the piece, gleaned from Wikipedia, then shared the piece, which the most reprinted editorial ever to run in any newspaper in the English language.

Peggy graced us with her presence, but did not read.

Peggy

Maggie put on her Christmas hat, complete with braids, and read Longfellow’s “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.” Before reading it, she shared some of its history, including the fact that it was written in the shadow of the Civil War, and that two of the verses, which are usually omitted when it is sung today, specifically reference the sound of cannon thunder in the South which drowned the sound of carols, “as if an earthquake rent the hearthstones of a continent.” Such a different take on the song! The British members among us were unfamiliar with the carol, so Maggie and I sang the first verse.

Maggie, complete with costume

Chris shared with us Talking Turkey, by Benjamin Zephaniah. “Be nice to your turkeys this Christmas, because turkeys just want to have fun.” A wickedly funny commentary on politics and veganism turkeys!

Chris, making us sympathetic to turkeys

Mariannick closed with a Christmas quiz, testing our knowledge of Christmas lore and fact. We were quick to shout out some of the answers, but occasional questions stumped us. For instance, across the entire twelve days, how many gifts did the recipient receive during the Twelve Days of Christmas? 364! In what piece of English literature did St. Nicholas first appear? Who wrote the poem? “Twas the Night Before Christmas” by Clement Moore. It was a lovely ending to an afternoon of Christmas memories and Christmas sharing.

Mariannick, challenging our Christmas knowledge

Once the readings were complete, we delved into the goodies everyone brought, including red velvet cake, a buche de Noel, traditional Christmas tree cookies, pecan bars, finger sandwiches and too many other goodies! We left completely stuffed! And since Anne’s birthday was the day before, we sang Happy Birthday to her.

My Chewy Noels were a big hit. I discussed with the group that they had not come out as well as they should have, due in part to the faulty oven, in part to the lack of powdered sugar, and because ingredients are just different here in France from those in the U.S. Here, eggs are not refrigerated before marketing because they cannot be sold as “fresh eggs” if they have been refrigerated. Flour comes as Type 45 or Type 55, and I am not certain what the difference is. (I think Type 45 is akin to cake flour, Type 55 akin to regular but unbleached flour, and higher numbers to coarser grinds.) Anyway, Rosie remarked that if these were the “failures,” she couldn’t wait to taste the successful bars! I promised to send everyone the recipe.

I took the bus home with Peggy, and dragged her in to give her a Christmas gift and carrots which will not be good after two weeks in our refrigerator while we are gone. I also gave her a squeegee. When she dined with us at our apartment a couple of months ago, she commented on the squeegee in our bathroom and asked where we got it. Ours came with the apartment, but I was pretty sure I had seen one in the Euro Store or the 2 Euro Store, but when I looked, I was unsuccessful in locating one until last week, so I bought one for her. Unfortunately I left camera at Anne’s, so I arranged to get it tomorrow at the carol service at the International Chapel.

Olive picking

Thursday December 9, 2010 Day 162

We packed a picnic lunch (soup, Petits Ecoliers, chocolate, clementines) and walked to Peggy’s house, where Egan greeted us by throwing herself on us. She is a modest-sized but incredibly strong and wiry dog whose effusive greetings leave one seeking protection from her by presenting one‘s back to her. The three of us, minus Egan (big mistake!) piled into Peggy’s car and headed to the meeting point where we met four other ladies and headed northwest of Montpellier for a morning of olive picking. Our host, Serge, and his wife, Monique, took us first to some olive trees near his own where we stopped and Serge began to discuss olive-growing and picking - unfortunately in French, so I only got about half of what he was saying. He discussed the different varieties of olives and we talked about damage to the trees and the olives by bugs, frost and other forces of nature. He had a great deal of freeze damage - he said he probably lost 60% or more of his crop to the freeze. Most of the trees in the grove had already been picked. After a discussion, we moved on up the hill and entered Serge’s olive grove. Serge is a hobby farmer - he is a retired chemistry teacher and makes money giving olive pickings and selling his oil and olives. Roger called it “Olive Tourism” - this is the way in which he markets much of his oil.

Our host, Serge

Our lovely hostess, Monique

We got to see an electric olive picker. It is a long tool somewhat reminiscent of a weed-eater, but the head is probably not as heavy. The battery pack for the picker is worn on the operator’s back in a vest so as to keep down the weight of the picker. The head of the picker is a flexible plastic comb-like instrument. The operator places the comb along the limb and rakes it toward the end of the limb. The picker uses a combination of vibration and raking along the branch to strip the branch of olives. The flexible plastic teeth did little damage to tree. The trees were hand-stripped of damaged olives before the olive picker was used. The machine-plucked olives fell into nets spread under the trees, and the nets were then gathered and their contents poured into crates.

Electric olive picker

Egan could have come here! This is open countryside with very few people around. She would have had a ball chasing birds and romping among the fields. In retrospect, Peggy was sorry that she didn’t bring the dog, but she was unsure of the lay of things, so left her at home in the back yard.

We learned more history and background, and Serge gave more discussion of olive picking. One does not pick one olive at a time - one reaches to the first olive on the branch, then grabs the whole branch and pulls all the way to the end, bringing off all the olives into the hand. Examine the handful, bad ones onto the ground, good ones into the bucket. 60-70% onto ground. This was different from other fruit-picking we have done in that we were not tempted to eat these raw. There were bottles hanging from the trees, and Serge explained that these contain bait to attract a parasite which will otherwise attack the trees.

The ground was stony beneath the trees and what soil there is was chalky - not good for growing most crops! We did not understand why, but after the trees were planted, a rock crusher was used to crush a lot of rocks, but not the ones close to the trees. We did not understand why.

Roger the olive picker

After much discussion, olive buckets were distributed and we began to pick olives in earnest. The group picked a crate to crate-and-a-half. Then it was picnic time. We all brought food to share, including butternut squash soup, vegetable soup, two pasta salads, grain baguette, other bread, starters of olives (naturally!), both black and green, Maggie’s mulled wine punch w/fruit and spices. Today was Anne’s birthday, so Maggie brought a cake with some of those trick candles which were supposed to stay lit in the wind, but not many of them did. And of course, there was wine.



Anne, blowing out the candles on the cake



After lunch, Serge offered us the olives we had picked, and the group took almost all of them. He provided verbal instructions regarding preparation in salt or brine. Roger and I did not take olives - we will not have time to stir them from time to time over the coming weeks, as we will be doing too much traveling. Serge also offered bottles of olive oil for sale, and we bought one. He told us to let is sit for a while to allow the olive pulp to settle to the bottom. On the way home, Peggy remarked that she likes hers with the olive pulp still in it.

Olives, ripe for the picking

It was a long day, but we enjoyed the education about olives, olive picking, olive preservation and olive oil. Now, if only they didn’t have all those calories!

Chewy Noels

Wednesday December 8, 2010 Day 161

Friday I am going to a tea and I must take something to eat, so I planned to make Chewy Noels. I pulled the last of our eggs out of the refrigerator and set about chopping nuts. In the meantime I popped the baking dish into the oven with the butter in it. When I had the ingredients ready, I poured them into the dish and put it in the oven to bake for the requisite 25 minutes. After that time, they were puffy but not browned or set, so I baked them another ten minutes. They were still unsatisfactory, so I added another five minutes to the baking time, but didn’t dare add more because I was afraid they would dry out too much. I declared them done and removed them from the oven, but forgot to turn them upside down while they were hot so they would come out of the pan easily. Sigh. After I complained yet again about the undercooked condition of the food coming out of the oven, Roger remarked that the thermostat probably does not correspond with the setting on the knob, and that I should consider turning up the oven in the future when cooking. I recalled that I had seen an oven thermometer in a drawer in the kitchen, but hadn't put it to work. I guess I will next time I bake!

We spent some time in the evening reviewing shore excursions for our upcoming cruise. We are signed onto a 12-day Norwegian Cruise Lines Mediterranean cruise. The cruise starts in Barcelona and our ports of call will be Rome, Ephesus (Turkey), Athens, Alexandria (where we will stay overnight), and Valletta on the island of Malta. A lot of shore activities are available and we made plans and bought tickets for an excursion in each port.

Communism! Liberty! Autonomy! Now!

Tuesday December 7, 2010 Day 160

We went to Les Arceaux market this morning, looking mostly for some fresh fruit for our trip and some ingredients for one last pot of butternut squash soup before we head out to places unknown. I already have the squash and carrots in the refrigerator, and just need a potato, a Granny Smith apple and a couple of leeks. We also bought pecans, and Roger got some raisins and nuts for our upcoming trip.

On the way back from the market, we came upon a dog tied to a post, waiting for its owner to finish his coffee in the local coffee shop. He checked out everyone who came by, but we were far enough away that he didn’t bother us.
We also saw an interesting sign stuck onto a Do Not Enter sign. Not sure exactly to whom that is directed - “maintenant” means "now," and the rest of it translates almost exactly as it looks. Is this in conjunction with the strikes here in France?

In the afternoon, Roger left for chess and I made more butternut squash soup. As is his custom, Roger stopped off at the bakery and picked up a baguette and we had a lovely dinner of soup and bread. I could live on soup!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Monday December 6, 2010 Day 159

Finally, finally, I got out of the apartment today! I feel so much better. We went down to the Comédie to see what is going on. All the little huts are filled with vendors selling Christmas items in the Christmas Market.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! All the shops are dressed for the holidays. The city has strung lights and hung giant blue balls across the streets, making everything very festive.

The Comédie is dressed in blue and silver, from the opera house on one end to the giant aluminum Christmas tree on the other end, and from there all up along the Esplanade Charles de Gaulle.

Ho hum

Sunday December 5, 2010 Day 158

I think I finally turned the corner on my cold last night. I feel SO much better today, as if I might actually survive it all; indeed, I am at the point where I want to survive it, and I can’t say that was the case earlier.

When I checked the temperature in Montpellier on the internet shortly after 8:00 this morning, it was four degrees. When I checked it again some time after 9:00, it was eleven degrees! That’s a seven degree Celsius increase in temperature. Apparently the winds turned and are now coming out of the south, bringing with them warm moist Mediterranean air, or at least not as cool as we have been having. After highs in the single digits last week, we are looking at highs of fifteen and sixteen later this week. What a welcome relief!

Despite the weather change, we did not get out again today. I still didn’t think I should subject by chest and nasal passages to the cool and damp; on the other hand, I am getting cabin fever. I haven’t left the apartment since I got home from Cook and Eat on Wednesday and I am at the point where I am tired of looking at these walls.

My grandbaby is exactly a month away from being born, assuming that s/he arrives on her/his due date. Such an exciting time, especially for Ronnie and Shelli. I do miss being there for the showers and the new baby stuff, but we plan to return to the States at the beginning of January, hopefully in time for the baby’s birth or shortly thereafter.

Will she never get off her duff and quit cocooning???

Saturday December 4, 2010 Day 157

Yet another day indoors, doing virtually nothing. That is a pretty punny statement, as I spend a lot of time on my computer doing things in the virtual world, which gives new meaning to the term “doing virtually nothing.” Much better night last night. The weather continues in the single digits.

We skipped the Arceaux market today - my favorite market. This is where we usually buy our fruits, vegetables and it is a good market - lots of variety and lots of interesting things, always. I regret missing it today - Saturday’s market is always larger than Tuesday’s, full of variety and fun new things like the guy selling the herb grinders on Tuesday. But I will have to do without that, as I’d rather nurse my cold.

Below: The Comédie dressed for Christmas

Still more cold, both the respiratory kind and the coat-and-gloves kind

Friday December 3, 2010 Day 156

Another day of cocooning. My cold continues on its rampage through my nose and chest. Sigh. I had a terrible night last night - I was up probably five or six times to cough up yucky stuff. Ugh. Poor Roger!

We did clean house today, and Roger moved the furniture around so that I have a little nest by a radiator, which serves to help keep me toasty. It is quite cool even in the apartment, so I am grateful for the extra warmth. He even turned “his” sofa around so that it faces the radiator, and it keeps him warmer as well.

I wasn’t feeling so badly that I couldn’t make butternut squash soup again today. We bought a section of a large squash at the market on Tuesday and I felt that I must get it processed before it goes bad in refrigerator. The recipe calls for two cups, and I had six cups of squash, so I put half of it in the soup and other half in the refrigerator. We will have one more pot of soup next week. I am glad I made tomato soup earlier this week - it is such a delightful comfort food when I have a cold.

Roger went to chess as usual, and came home quite chilled. He said the problem with having his own chess set is that, when other guys are playing on it, he has to wait until they are through to claim the chessboard and pieces.

Cocooning

Thursday December 2, 2010 Day 155

I cocooned today, trying to turn the corner on my cold. The temperature did not get above seven degrees and I decided it was a day to stay in. I did not think I should subject my throat, chest or any other part of my body to the cold. The cough worsened overnight and I started wondering about bronchitis, but by the end of the day I didn’t feel any worse. I will probably stay in again tomorrow. We intended to go on the AWG walk tomorrow, but that is definitely out.

Roger went out as usual to play chess, staying until the cold and lack of light drove him homeward. I did not nap today, just sat in front of the computer in sort of a stupor. I did take the opportunity to water all my plants and work on the geraniums some more. The bug infestation is not as bad as it was, but there are still several leaves with lots of bugs. I sprayed, paying particular attention to the new growth, and I picked off a lot of the leaves with bug infestations. They do look better now. I intend to spray them once more before we leave next week - we will be gone for 12 days, and I hope they will look nice and cheerful and bug-free when we get back. They will spend those 12 days indoors, as we cannot afford to leave them out. There is too much of a likelihood of freeze while we are gone; after all, it has already been down below zero at least twice in the past week.

Roger took this photo of the Esplanade Charles de Gaulle decorated for Christmas

December Cook and Eat - Yum!

Wednesday December 1, 2010 Day 154

It had just stopped raining when I set out for Caroline Grasset’s house. I was running late, but after a 20-minute walk, I arrived at the same time as Sue, so at least I wasn’t the last person to walk in. I am still suffering from my cold, and I pondered not going. But if I don't go, it is too late to notify anyone else to take my place, and I think there are always more would-be participants than there are spaces in the Cook and Eat, and I would feel guilty about no one taking my slot. So I told myself that I could go and perhaps not work on any of the food. This was easy to accomplish! I established myself as the group’s photographer and moved around getting photos of the activity, the food and the members. There were enough hands cooking that I only cut up a few apples that someone else had peeled after careful hand-washing, and that was the extent of my contribution.

Anne and Danielle prepare mushrooms

It's crying time as Sara chops onnions

As always, Caroline Grasset graciously opened her lovely house to eleven other Cook and Eat women who came armed with aprons, knives and lots of chatter. The Cook and Eat menu was a capon with dried fruit stuffing, Brussels sprouts with chestnuts, Kapusta (braised red cabbage with apples), Scallops Saint Jacques Parisienne, and Apple Crumble.

When I arrived, the group was already sitting around the table discussing the logistics of approaching the meal - who would do what, when, where and why. There is only one cook top and one oven in her sunny kitchen, so things have to be carefully paced. There is also a limited amount of space, although the generous table gives plenty of workspace for preparation. There were two women new to Cook and Eat - Danielle and Sara, so we went around the table and introduced ourselves.

  

Leslie, Patricia and Rosie peeling apples

   

Lots of cooks in the kitchen!




Ingredients lined up on the counter, waiting their turn.

 














Caroline announced that her gift to us was champagne and fois gras, so we cut up a baguette and two of the workers spread fois gras on the bread rounds. The champagne was served in colorful flutes and we had an easy time getting through the preparation work, lubricated by the eats, drink and camaraderie.

Caroline had such beautiful champagne flutes



Fois gras and baguettes


 

Sunshine coming through an amber glass of bubbly

We had the scallops as a starter. Caroline thought she had a dozen shells downstairs, and returned from the dungeon clutching the requisite twelve shells. They made a splendid presentation for the scallops, which were equally splendid-tasting!

 The capon was outstanding - golden brown and so moist and succulent.

The stuffing was served separately and was quite tasty. The Kapusta was tasty and added a lovely color to the plate. The Brussels sprouts were really wonderful - the chestnuts and all that butter gave them a marvelous flavor.



Danielle and Sara working on Brussels sprouts

What with the fois gras, champagne and the meal literally under our belts, there was little room for the Apple Crumble, but we pressed on bravely and ate our share of it. It was served with crème fraiche, which was the perfect accompaniment to this delightful dish.

We each brought a small item for a gift exchange. Caroline had a unique manner of passing out the gifts. For the gift exchange, Caroline reached into a bag and pulled out a gift and Sara, one of the new members, had to say the name of the person who would get the gift. (The other new member, Danielle, had to leave early to go and nurse her baby. I think Caroline wrapped some food for her to take with her.) Sara did remarkably well at recalling our names, with only a little prompting from others.

I didn't get the dog's name, but he is old and just laid around.

Paris, who came and went as he pleased.

I waddled home afterward, glad to be able to walk off a bit of what I had consumed. Such good food! All in all, an excellent Cook and Eat. Thanks, Caroline and the rest of the crew.

More cold - more weather forecasting glitches

Tuesday November 30, 2010 Day 153

I don’t understand weather forecasting at all. When we got up this morning, the weather page said it was four degrees. It also said that the maximum today would be nine degrees, the minimum would be seven. Huh? As it turned out, I am not sure we achieved the minimum. When I checked around 3:30, it was only six degrees.

We went to the market this morning, late, as it was cold. We didn’t buy too much - mostly the ingredients for another round of butternut squash soup. That stuff is SO good!

I am going to an AWG Cook and Eat outing tomorrow and needed a gift. There was a guy there selling lovely stoneware, and he had a nifty herb grinder filled with herbs de provence which I decided to buy. It was raining lightly as we left the market, and the streets were almost completely wet by the time we made the ten-minute walk back home. We didn’t bring rain gear, but we were bundled against the cold and that was sufficient.

On our way back we dropped in at the bakery and bought a grain baguette and a hot white-bread baguette. The latter was so good in this cold that we managed to demolish the whole baguette at lunch. We really try not to eat that much bread, but it was just too delicious to stop. We learned that the bakery usually pulls hot baguettes out of the oven right at 6:00, and sometimes we tried to show up to get one, but that is a habit we could not afford to indulge in much, so we pretty much stopped. It’s easy to see why - a baguette usually lasts us a couple of meals.

My cold is still moving through all its various stages. I napped again this afternoon - this after I said I don’t nap much, and accused Roger of being the family napper. Roger tucked himself under a cover on the sofa, so I went to the bedroom and slept for about an hour. My napping will likely stop once the cold is gone.

We cocooned the rest of the day. I decided I would decorate a bag to match the herb grinder I bought at the market, so I squeezed out some colors and set about painting a plain brown paper bag that I had on hand. I only had five colors: red, yellow, green, black and white. The red was much more pink than red, so didn’t always make a satisfying orange when I needed it to. The bottom of the grinder is burnt sienna, but I had none. I ended up with a very unsatisfactory brown for that area. This is the first art project I have actually done since I arrived in France, although I took a stab at a couple of others. It was a nice start, even with the issues that arose around the red. I bought these paints a month or more ago, and have thought about painting various times; this time I answered the call. Maybe it will be a beginning. I will have to get a truer red, though.

Monday November 29, 2010 Day 152


We had the last of the pecan pie for breakfast - not a bad way to start the morning! It tasted pretty good, but getting it out of the flan pan was a pain, and much of the pastry stayed behind. My cold seemed a bit better, but I still was not inclined to get out too much. I worked a bit on Eric’s gambling paper, but found myself sagging badly, so a little after eleven, I took a nap for about an hour. Roger went out for a fresh grain baguette for lunch, and when I got up I had soup and baguette.

This afternoon we went out to the grocery store for potatoes and milk and wine and a few sundry items. Roger bought some beef at the market on Saturday and still had half of it left, and he wanted to use it to make beef stew. With the temperature not reaching above ten degrees, I was reluctant to go out, but I’m glad he coaxed me out. I needed it.

When he left for chess, I made a second round of tomato soup. I bought Roma tomatoes at Saturday’s market and I wanted to see how they held up in the soup. I delayed making the soup, however, and was not finished when Roger got home. We had to walk around each other to do our cooking in the small kitchen. Roger was pleased that he had won a game against the strongest of the chess players, but chagrinned that he was unable to hold the board through the second game. He is still playing some good games but losing them on time.

While Roger was at chess, I also fixed his computer. His “x” key had been responding sluggishly, if at all. I popped the key cover off, removed a seed which apparently came from a grain baguette, and pressed the key cover back in place. It is much more responsive now.

Thanksgiving Dinner

Sunday November 28, 2010 Day 151

My cold persists. I am sure Roger is hoping I will keep it to myself. Nevertheless, a little after noon, we put our pie and cranberry bars into a box and set out for the blue tram. It was cold and rainy - it wasn’t raining at the time but it had just stopped a few minutes before we left and the streets were still quite wet. We rode the blue tram to the Corum, where we transferred to the red tram and rode up to a stop near Mariannick’s house. Mariannick kindly offered to give us a ride to the AWG Thanksgiving luncheon at Domaine de Fondespierre, where we walked last week. She met us at the stop after I called her and let her know we missed the earlier tram, and we would be about ten minutes late - the trams run every 15 minutes on Sundays. Even though we were late, we arrived at the Domaine right at 1:00. The first hour was for aperitif, and there was a hot cider with Calvados for the adults, juices for the kids, and lots of munchies.
After the aperitif, we began the feasting. AWG provided the turkey and the wine, and everybody else brought food for the “groaning board.” It really groaned! There was lots of sumptuous food, some of it traditional, some of it very different! There was, for instance, a salad of corn which looked as if it had whipped cream in the center of it. Instead it was crème fraiche (France’s version of sour cream), and it tasted much better than I expected. There was dressing, gravy, a bit of cranberry sauce, whipped potatoes, sweet potato casserole (no marshmallows on top - I don’t think they have them here), Brussels sprouts, green beans, and lots I am sure I am leaving out. There were bottles of wine on every table. Then there were the desserts! My pecan pie, a couple of pumpkin and sweet potato pies, a spice cake, a chocolate cake with white icing, another spice cake, pumpkin spice cupcakes, and more and more and more. It was really quite delicious! Below is the dessesrt table.

What with the turkey and its trpytophan, the wine and the over-eating, we were rather quiet on the way home. Mariannick dropped us at a tram stop near our the city center because she wanted to show us a particular pick-up spot for the future, and we walked across the spine of Montpellier and arrived home cold but stuffed. Like the board at the luncheon, we were groaning. But we had some hot tea to warm our throats, I heated up my warmie and we lazed the evening away on our computers. I think Roger had a little snack late in the evening, but I didn’t have anything more to eat.

Brrrr!

Saturday November 27, 2010 Day 150

It was minus one degree when we got up this morning. Brrrrrr! We waited until almost noon to go to the market, which closes at 1:00. When we went, we bundled up in our warmest coats, scarves, hats, and my new gloves. By the time we got there, some of the vendors were already wrapping things up. We bought another kilo of tomatoes for tomato soup. Yum! One vendor, in an attempt to get rid of the last of his produce, put a bunch of stuff in pans and marked them two Euros each - probably a bargain if you want what he is selling. We bought a portion of a pumpkin for pumpkin soup. This is how it is sold - by the kilo or the 100 grams. From the market we went to one of the north African shops on Gambetta and bought a kilo bag of the cheapest rice they had. We took it home and I poured the contents of the bag into a sock, tied it off and made a warmie.

Before we went to the market, I made a pecan pie. I had bought a pastry round at Casino earlier this week and I put together the ingredients this morning. When we got back from the market, I tossed it into the oven. I used a buttermilk substitute of a tablespoon of vinegar and a cup of milk. I baked it for the requisite amount of time and it didn’t brown. I turned up the oven a bit and baked it another four or five minutes, but it still wasn’t brown. I turned up the oven even more and baked it a bit longer, and it still wasn’t brown. I finally lit the broiler and broiled it for two minutes and it browned. I do hope it is done in the middle. I also made some cranberry bars.

On our way back from the market we stopped by our local bakery and picked up a baguette which the clerk said was hot, but it was only vaguely warm. We were carrying packages, including a box I had picked up in the market to transport my pie, and Roger’s backpack full of produce. She asked us if we had been to the Comédie, which made us wonder whether the Christmas market had opened up. So after I baked the pie, which I had assembled before we left for the market, but not baked, we headed for the Comédie to see what was going on. Our first goal, however, was to stop at the same shop where I bought my gloves Thursday and purchase a pair for Roger. He made a quick selection and we went to the checkout stand to pay. The clerk asked us if we wanted them cut apart so he could wear them immediately, and we readily accepted, as it was COLD! Indeed, he had decided that, since the sun was not out today, he would forego chess.

At the Comédie, we discovered the 7th Annual Fete des Vignes - the festival of the vines. It is being held in the same booths which will soon be used for the Christmas market. Today enthusiasts can buy a wineglass for two euros. In the glass is a page containing three coupons entitling the bearer to three tastes of wine. (The two Euro contribution goes toward the fight against AIDS.) We bought our glasses and hit up a vintner and sampled his wares. I gave him a coupon, which he accepted, but he waved away Roger’s coupon. We tried wine from several other vendors, none of whom demanded the coupon. All we had to do was thrust our glass forward, indicate red, white or rosé, and they poured. We could have been seriously drunk if we had tried each of the forty or so vendors open for tasting! As it was, we held ourselves to about five “tastes,” each of which was probably the equivalent of half a glass of wine. Some were good, some not so much.

We went to the ATM for some money, then to the tram stop for a 10-ticket pass for Roger. We were quite chilled by this time, so we headed for the apartment. Roger was grateful for his new gloves. Back at the apartment, Roger tossed my warmie into the microwave for a couple of minutes and I settled in with my computer. The warmie served to warm me nicely. I might make another one so I can have one for my feet and one for my chest, but for now this one is a great start.

Roger experimented with the rice, fixing it with beef and carrots and cumin for a spicy dish for supper, and it was delicious. Needless to say, we did not have wine with this meal.

Gardening in an apartment

Friday November 26, 2010 Day 149
Today I seem to have the onset of a cold. When I went to bed last night (late - I stayed up to “watch” the first half of the Saints game, then went to take my bath. Afterward I saw the Cowboys bring it to within seven at the opening of the third quarter but had to give up and go to bed) my throat was a little iffy. I treated it with Listerine, but this morning it seems worse and I feel lousy. I didn’t even get out of the apartment. It was cleaning day so I laundered sheets and towels and Roger took them to the laundromat to dry after he got home from chess. It is a nice day to stay in, sunny but cold.

We brought the plants in last night as it was forecast to get down to 1° C. The plants in the kitchen window would probably be okay, as the window overlooks a courtyard protected on three sides. We went ahead anyway, but didn’t bother with the cyclamen. I lost them upon my return from Italy. I don’t know whether they didn’t like being inside for ten days, or whether the watering after ten days was too much (they weren‘t terribly dry - we turned off the heat in the apartment and I think it stayed pretty cool in here), or the shock of the cold after being inside hit them wrong, but they gave up the ghost. Actually, they were beginning to sprout a couple of new leaves, but the rain earlier this week filled up the tray they sit in, and I think they finally drowned. I will try to get some replacements at tomorrow’s market.

In the meantime, my Christmas cacti are opening up nicely. I have a red one and a white one, bought with buds on them, and the buds are opening up beautifully. I should check the geraniums for bugs since they are inside. I sprayed them before we left for Italy and the new growth looks bug-free. Can you tell I miss my garden?

I napped this afternoon while Roger was at chess - a rarity for me. Roger naps often - he will be sitting or lying on the couch, reading on the computer or listening to Science Friday on his MP3 and soon I will be aware of the sound of a gentle snore coming from his direction. We have an agreement that in the evenings I will wake him if I catch him asleep, as he will not sleep well at night otherwise. If he naps in the morning or afternoon, I leave him to it.