One euro per kilo

In France the supermarkets don’t like to throw fruit and veg away that is past it’s best. So they box it up with various items in the box, a bit of a lucky dip, then sell it off for one euro per kilo. I bought this box for €3.74. It’s the first time I’ve done it, but thought I’d see what I could make from it. I wanted to think of recipes that I could use other ingredients I had in the cupboard, rather than buying more. Just a personal challenge more than anything else.

Late finish

I don’t think I could say we are enjoying our wallpapering, but completing the wall in the second bedroom, the Jeroboam, is extremely satisfying, and once again I think we’ve done a pretty good job. This wall was split into three, as it is the wall where there are two large windows overlooking the courtyard - it made it a little more tricky to do. We had wanted to get the job completed, but as it was a bit fiddly it ended up being a bit of a late finish for us.

The light floods into this bedroom, through the tall elegant windows and makes it a beautiful light airy room. I still have these windows and doors to paint but plan to get that done next week, when the weather warms slightly and we can open them up. It is nice to see this room very nearly complete though.

They’ve arrived

Excitement was in the air today, quarantine was coming to an end!

We were going to set off for our Covid-19 tests to allow us to be free to roam again, but on reflection, and asking a french friend for their view, we decided to leave going until tomorrow, which will be day 8. We will then have self isolated for 7 full days.

As fate would have it we needed to be here to sign for our Carte de Sejours. We can now officially live in France. Hoorah!

Time for beds

We still have a few things to do in this room, but we were keen to see how it looked once we put the beds back in there. So we spent some time fitting them back together, and making them up. It’s such a pretty little room and I love how the peacock wall has framed the beds together.

I still want to paint the doors and find some material for some little curtains on the bathroom door. I also need to clean the radiator, plus put the curtains up on the main windows. But these curtains are still in Kent so that won’t happen for a while yet. I bought a chair, some time back, which needs recovering, so I need to find some fabric for that and see what I can achieve, it’s not the easiest of styles, but I’m up for the challenge. But first we need to finish off the Jeroboam, which is the double room adjoining this. Have a look at the video below.

003

In January we were invited to the prefecture in Troyes to complete some formalities for our registration to live in France. In the build up to this we had received emails asking for more information and some clarification on what we had sent. We supplied everything that was asked for, including professional translations of key documents and certificates. As we had received the invite to attend the prefecture we hoped that meant they had all they needed and we could progress to the next stage. We had to take our passports, birth certificates and, for me, our marriage certificate. It’s tricky in France, as in my experience the French systems tend to refer to my maiden name as opposed to my married name for legal documents. So proof of marriage is required.

On arrival we waited in line outside until our names were called, then we were invited in and both given a numbered ticket and asked to wait in the waiting area for our numbers to be called. As there were COVID restrictions Brian and I had to sit apart.

There were three booths being used. I had ticket 003 and it wasn’t long before my number came up. We were obviously both anxious as this was an important day for us and our French still isn’t as good as we would like it to be. However, the interviewer was very patient, and spoke slowly and clearly. We just needed to provide our ID, and a passport sized photo along with our fingerprints, which they took digitally. 

We are now just waiting for our identity cards to arrive in the post, which does seem to be taking a long while, however the comforting thing is that the confirmation email they sent to us inviting us to visit the prefecture is what I used to confirm I was registered to live in France when I returned recently, so we think all is well - we just need to be patient.

Wall paper

Neither of us has ever wallpapered before so the task ahead was a little daunting, but as we’d said to each other many times before ‘what is the worse that could happen?’

We’d checked out a YouTube video on ‘how to hang paper’ so we understood the gist of what we needed to do. Brian started us off by marking a straight line on the wall using a plumb bob he had made.

Then time just flew by.

3 hours later… we love the result and can’t wait now to put it back as a bedroom.

Bread

I love visiting a French boulangerie, I always come out with something delicious, however as we are quarantined for seven days Brian is practicing his bread making skills and making us some. Which is similarly delicious.

It’s a very simple standard recipe, where all the ingredients get mixed together. Care not to put the salt and yeast right next to each other as the salt can stop the yeast from working. Once the ingredients are blended he then spends about ten minutes slapping it against the worktop. Apparently this is stretching the glutens. This is very therapeutic.

500g strong white flour
10g yeast
350ml of water
10g salt

Once the texture appears smooth and elastic to the touch he pops it in an oiled bowl, covers it with a tea towel and leaves it to prove somewhere warm. Once it’s doubled in size he scoops it out ready to cook.

It needs to bake in a 180°c oven for about 30 minutes. The result is a very tasty loaf of bread.

Picture Perfect

Brian had made me a beautiful coming home present. We had bought a painting together some years ago whilst we were in Cuba and it’s always needed a frame. Brian found an old frame in the barn, rubbed it down, cut it to size, treated it, then lacquered it. He also needed to strengthen it, so added a back to the frame before fitting it to the painting. I love it, the colour of the frame works so well with the colours in the painting. And it’s so good to finally get the painting framed. 

We’ve hung it in the hallway.

Tea in bed

First thing in the morning I really enjoy a cup of tea in bed, it starts my day. Without it everything seems to be more difficult. so this morning when we woke up to a power outage, Brians thoughts went to ‘how are we going to boil the water for tea?’ ‘Hmmm’, he thought, ‘I know, I’ll go and find the camping stove.’ So before I’d hardly woken up he had gone and found our portable camping stove to make the tea. I have to say I was impressed he knew where to find it, let alone think about using it for such an emergency. The tea was delicious. It wasn’t long before the electricity was back on again and we could get on with our very lazy Saturday.

Coming home

I’ve been in the UK for five weeks now, and although I don’t like leaving dad I am glad to be going home to Brian. This is a short video of my journey home. If it wasn’t stressful enough traveling during a pandemic, and having to ensure I had completed all the relevant forms and had all my supporting documentation, the weather decided to conspire against me, so the trip was not as easy as it could have been.

Vineyard Tractors

Some of the vines in the valleys are around 60–70 years old, the care and attention that they receive all year round continues to impress me, it really is a labour of love to keep getting the most out of them. The season for pruning is coming to an end, and what follows is a series of maintenance operations to try and ensure all is good for when harvest returns in August or September. The pruning is a completely manual operation, and one that’s frankly staggering in scale. There are just rows and rows and rows of vines, all needing a little bit of personal attention. Many of the other tasks however can be mechanised, and that’s where Brian’s favourite piece of machinery comes in – the vineyard tractor.

These insect-like machines are designed to stand above the vines, and are adjustable to fit the different spacing widths of vine rows that are found in AOCs all over France. They also have a multitude of uses, aided by more machinery that can be attached to the main tractor. At this time of year they can be used for ploughing between the vines, to help reduce the growth of unwanted weeds. As the year progresses though they will be used for spraying, trimming, canopy control and, finally, harvest. In Champagne though they will only be used to transport the grapes collected in boxes, as the AOC of Champagne doesn’t allow for machine picking.

Precious time

Later this week I will be heading home. I’ve bought my tickets and booked my COVID-19 test, which I need to take within 72 hours before travel. It will be hard leaving dad, but I am so looking forward to seeing Brian and being back home, it will be 5 weeks since we have been together. We have never been apart that long before. It has been a tough time, not just for me but for Brian as-well, not being together at such a time has been very difficult. Restrictions have meant he was not allowed to travel to the UK with me, but I was grateful I was able to be here, and share precious time with dad. Dad loves his home, it’s full of warmth and love and he is very comfortable here. So with help from friends and family and some assisted technology he will remain in his home safe and settled.

After my COVID test I need to take before I travel, which must be done via a private test centre, I need to complete a travel declaration form. This is for me to declare my reason for travel, and that it is valid according to the UK Government rules. I then need to complete an attestation to enter France on the validity of my trip, along with supporting documentation and a sworn statement that I have not been in contact with anyone who has COVID symptoms.

Once home, I will need to take another COVID test following seven days of quarantine. I’m just loving the supplies Brian has chosen, seven days will fly by.

What a difference a year makes

This time last year we had taken a few days off work to do a trip to France, in readiness for our move we were hoping to do later in the year. We hired a van as we wanted to take the old cupboards we had bought to repurpose as our kitchen, we also packed in anything else we could fill the gaps with, ably assisted by a number of little helpers along the way - Sabrina, Shaz and Pam. All packed up, we headed off with great excitement, and some trepidation, to begin to set the scene for our new chapter in France. We had always used the tunnel, and got used to their flexiplus boarding which gave us a stress free, fast journey. How easy that all sounds now! In hindsight it really was ridiculously easy.

7th March 2020

Over the past few weeks the builders had been in and reworked the ground floor bathroom. Previously this could only be reached via a tiny door under the stairs - it had now been split into two.

One half of it became a shower room and toilet, accessed via the library (which had been dismantled for now), and the other half became a pantry area accessed via an archway in the kitchen. What we needed to do was get the two rooms painted ready for Brian to start fitting the kitchen swiftly once we moved.

Oh how our plans changed, and oh how we had no idea what was going to happen.

Kitchen being painted

Dismantled library, new recycled door to the new cloakroom, painted kitchen

Local charging

We were asked recently, “Are there any car charging points near you?” To be perfectly honest, I thought no chance! Then last week when Brian visited Mussy-sur-Seine he took a picture of one situated in the centre of the village. I was pleasantly surprised, so decided to do a bit more research to see where else there may be one.

I took a look on the internet and found the ‘chargemap’ website. When I searched for charging points local to our house, I found there is one in the village right next door to us - Landreville . I can’t believe I doubted it now!

https://chargemap.com/parking-78.html

This is situated in the car park behind the Vival ‘corner shop’.

Back to school

Definitely one of the things that has always kept us both mentally lively is learning new skills. We have spoken about our French lessons, and of course we have our favourite hobbies, like cooking, DIY, gardening and the like, but we also like to try different and new things.

With limited interaction, how do you learn new stuff in a lockdown? Late last year, those active followers of our blog will have seen we signed up for a Christmas wreath making class, which was not only really interesting, but it took us out foraging for supplies and finished with us having two beautiful wreaths to hang outside. We enjoyed it so much, we started looking for more online learning, and that’s when we found MasterClass.

The first thing that got us interested was an advert for a course by Gordon Ramsey (we know he divides the audience, but he really does know how to get amazing flavours from food). So we took a look and realised that within the ‘Masterclass’ offering there are literally hundreds of online video courses by all kinds of experts in all different fields; food, wine, photography, writing, music, negotiation and so much more. And what’s more, they are all available for the one price.

Don’t worry, I’m not getting paid for this, just can’t stop myself, and I have to say the content is fabulous, beautifully filmed, bitesize lessons and experts brimming with excitement to freely discuss what they love and know.

Brian’s already watched lessons on writing/reading and wine appreciation. His favourite take-away so far is a simple description of how one expert builds a 100 point ranking for his tastings.

Apparently the rest of the lesson described how these four areas were to be approached – he loves that kind of thing. Me I’m looking forward to putting the learnings into practice.

Most of all though, I’m really looking forward to trying some different cooking with experts from all over the world, and being inspired to try something new.

if you are interested, you can find them at MasterClass.com

A nice finish

Brian FaceTimed me and dad earlier, to show us the work he has done in the twin room - it is looking so good, and fast approaching completion. However, there was one thing I felt it always needed to finish off the room, and that was a proper window sill. The old one looked more like someone had forgot to put one in.

So we had a chat about what could work and Brian went off to produce something out of wood that we could paint white, just like the rest of the window. So he set about looking at what wood he had to use, and started creating the right shape to fit the space. The wood he used was some old oak planks we had removed from the library walls some time ago. However , when I saw what he had in mind I felt painting it was going to be so wrong. We soon agreed he’d just sand them and leave them in the natural finish, instead of painting them white.

As with all of our reclaimed work, there was a small issue that had to be sorted first, the wood had two screw holes in it. Undaunted, Brian cut two small pieces of oak and glued them into the holes. When it was all dried he sanded the boards down and fitted them.

The window sill has now had its first coat of hard wax oil, and I think it’s looking absolutely brilliant. He’s done it again.

Lavoir

Viviers-Sur-Artaut

In many french villages you can find a delightful little building whose sole purpose is to be a communal wash house. In France they are called ‘lavoir’ . They will be situated near a natural water source, either a spring or a river or stream. They used to be a focal point within the village, and I know I said their sole use was being a wash house, but they were also a perfect meeting place, somewhere to catch up on all the local gossip. 

Viviers-Sur-Artaut

In 1851, the french government decided to pay 30% of the construction costs of communal lavoirs. As it became known that dirty laundry helped spread germs, so the government wanted to enable the public easy access to a facility to wash their clothes, and keep themselves clean. This encouraged a large numbers of lavoirs to be built all across France. 

Mussy-Sur-Seine

Now though they are left unused, some buried under undergrowth, but some are very well looked after by the locals, or councils, and often covered in flowers in the summer.

To the right of the river is the Lavoir in Essoyes, you wouldn’t want to let go of your washing!

Not on the list…

Well it may not have been on the list, but Brian has done an excellent job in tidying up the hallway and radiator.

The top of the column was created using a piece of mahogany moulding he cut off of a cabinet which was fitted in the kitchen, and the skirting was an old bit left over from a previous job. In fact, most of the wood was from Brian’s wood pile – he throws nothing away.

Spring into colour

It was a gorgeous spring day today in Norfolk, with the early morning dew settled on the lawn, glistening in the sunlight. The air was brisk, but warmed gently through the day, helping the tender bulbs breakout into flower.

Seeing the garden starting to burst into colour and quietly spring into life is a delight, and reminds me of how much mum just loved her garden, she was always conscious to consider all the seasons and how important it was to stay active in her garden. It seems like just yesterday, when she had talked to me about ordering her spring bulbs, so I knew she’d planted them only just last year.

The snowdrops are now starting to fade, but the crocuses are now starting to pop up pushing themselves up through the stones where mum had popped them in. And then there are the gorgeous purple blue, white and yellow miniature irises just sprouting up in pots all over the garden. It really does look gorgeous.

Hooked up

We have found that when we are re-using or up-cycling old things we often need to adapt them in some way to make them work. Last year, at a vide grenier (which means empty the attic, or to us a car boot) we purchased two coat hooks. We liked them because they had a 20’s–30’s feel about them. As it happened, the fittings we bought for the downstairs shower room were similar, so it felt right that they should go there. However, Brian had told me that he was having issues in fixing them as the screw holes for the hooks were rather too close together, he said that they would not be suitable for attaching to plasterboard. So I left him thinking about a solution. And I love what he has done. Brian decided the best route was to attach them to some bases, fix those to the wall and then fix the hooks to them. With an art-deco feel in mind, he went about making them.

The final result really works and fits in with the rest of the shower room.