Our Juicy Life

Citizen of the Month Interview

I participated in The Great Interview Experiment which came from the  Citizen of the Month blog.

I interviewed Lesley who is originally from Scotland but now lives in France.  How lucky for me!

               

Her blog is called "PEREGRINATIONS " 
    Noun: peregrination  `perugru'neyshun

1. Travelling or wandering around

1.    How did you come up with the name for your blog?

If I remember rightly I chose the title more for the sound of the word "peregrinations" than for its meaning although as it turned out that the blog has been a meandering journey from point to point with no real focus. I added the subtitle "or maybe just havering" a couple of months ago, if I remember rightly, as an attempt to nip n the bud any expectations random readers might have of an exotic travel blog.

2.    How would you say your blog has changed from 2005 - 2008

I probably post less often and less regularly than in 2005 and I tend not to blog about anything work-related any more.

3.     You have been blogging since 2005.  Do you still enjoy it?

I go through periods of enthusiasm and others of de-motivation but I never force myself to blog just because I feel I should. The aspect I enjoy most is the discussion that is sometimes sparked off in the comments box.

4.    why did you start your blog.  How would you describe it?

I started the blog as part of an online EVO (Electronic Village Online) course for educators. I learned a lot about the tools of blogging in a relatively short time and  quickly put it into practice with a group of students later that year.

5.    What's up with this Wordless Wednesday...I see it everywhere.

I've posted a Wordless Wednesday photo twice now - I can't remember where i first came across the idea. The first time I linked back to the original project page and garnered dozens of pointless comments from people I don't know saying things like "great photo", "love the tree". However, I do like the idea of lazy blogging just a photo with no commentary, but I won't be linking back any more, I don't really see the point.

6.    When did you move to france and what made you move there?

I moved to France permanently in 1984. I studied French at Edinburgh University and came to Périgueux in the Dordogne to do my year abroad. The classic girl meets French boy story ensued and we're still together all these years later. Aaaaaw.

7.    What is the best thing about living in france and what is the worst thing?

The best thing about living in France is the generally relaxed  ambiance I think, or at least that's the best thing about living in the South-West of France, i don't know if it would be the same in paris, or the North of the country. I like the way people take time over meals, over shopping at the market. I honestly don't have any major gripes about living in France but there are plenty of bloggers out there who do. Bureaucracy can be a pain, and so can dog shit on the pavements, and it would be convenient if shops were open on Sundays. Actually the worst thing at the moment is probably the bling-bling Sarkozy presidency.

8.    Give me an idea of a typical day in your life.

On a typical weekday I get up at around 7H30, wake the children up and then get increasingly annoyed as they dilly dally around the breakfast table. I walk them to school and then hop on the tram to the university. My working day is spent teaching, doing the usual administrative tasks, preparing classes etc. I try to set aside at least one day every week for research. I pick the children up after school and then it's home for a goûter and their generally evasive answers about their day at school. We usually eat at around 8 p.m. and he children go straight to bed after that. Evenings are sometimes spent working, sometimes watching American series, sometimes surfing ... actually how do I spend my evenings, where does all that time go? I have no idea, suddenly I look at the clock and it's midnight and time to go to bed.

9.    Disney World?  Why Disney World?   Every time we are in france we find someone who asks about Florida or wants to go to Florida.

In the past our visits to the USA have always been to places like Arizona, Colorado and new Mexico. But my Mum said a few months ago that it wasn't fair that we didn't want to go to Disney because all of her friends got to take their grandchildren there, so we said gave in and are graciously allowing her to  take us to Florida. The children are 7 and 5 so probably the ideal age for this sort of extravaganza.

It was a pleasure to meet Lesley via this interview.  Keep checking her blog to hear how the trip to Disney world was, I'm sure the kids will have a great time.  Lesley and her husband will probably need a vacation from this vacation!

Tour of California

                

We are leaving after class today for Palo Alto...just south of San Francisco.  Tomorrow starts the first day of the Tour of California a 9 day ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles...not the 21 day Tour de France, but all the pro's will be there and it's a big deal here in California.  Our good friend Rebecca is the women's 24 hour mountain bike WORLD champion  and she's being flown up there to follow the tour from beginning to end and she'll do many photo shoots and signings...so she'll have VIP passes for us, etc...we'll be back on Tuesday.   We'll do 2 long rides - one tomorrow in Palo Alto and the other on Monday in Santa Rosa.  We are so excited to get away for a long weekend.

For my Valentine

                   

Thursday is our French lesson day.  We have been taking French for almost 3 years.  It's still so hard!  This morning I didn't feel like going, I felt like cooking.  So, Bruce went without me.  Thursday night at our studio is a late night for us.  We have a class from 3:30 - 5:00 and then a teen class from 5:30 - 7:00 pm, don't get home until around 7:30, too late to cook.  So I decided to make the meal in the morning and then we'd have it ready when we got home. 

Instead of being adventurous and trying something new I decided to go with a proven winner, my roast chicken and tri-colored orzo pasta salad (I'll give you the recipe for these next time).  The one thing I have never made is this chocolate torte.  I wanted to make individual chocolate souffle's, but you had to cook them right before you ate them and I didn't want to do that. 

First, you need a springform pan.  Butter or spray bottom and then cut out circle to fit in bottom, press in and butter or spray on top of it.  Set aside.  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Great ingredients:  butter, eggs, unsweetened chocolate, sugar and vanilla.

Separate the eggs while still cold, placing the egg whites in one bowl and the egg yolks in another bowl.  Cover both eggs whites and yolks with plastic wrap and bring to room temperature before using (about 30 minutes)

 Cut butter into pieces - 1 cup of butter!!!!

Combine butter and chips melt.  You can either microwave this (keep a close eye on it and stir often), or you can use a glass bowl on top of boiling water.  Either way works fine.  Just make sure you watch it so it doesn't burn.

This is what the mix should look like once everything is melted...very shiny.

Place egg yolks and 1/2 cup sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer, beat on medium high speed until thick and lemon-colored, about five minutes.  The eggs should have tripled in volume, look thick and soft, and when you lift the beater the mixture falls back into the bowl in a slow ribbon.  Add the vanilla extract and melted chocolate mixture, beating until combined.

 

In a clean bowl, with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites until foamy.  Add the cream of tarter and continue beating until soft peaks form.  Gradually add remaining 1/2 cup of sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.  Using a large rubber spatula, fold in a small amount of whites to the egg yolk mixture to lighten the batter.

Add the remaining egg whites, folding just until incorporated.  Do NOT over mix.

Fold the mixture into the prepared pan, smoothing the top.  Bake cake for about 50 minutes to 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs.  During baking the surface of the cake will form a crust which will collapse when the cake is removed from the oven - don't panic.  Remove from over and place on wire rack to cool.  The top of the cake will be cracked with crumbs.

This turned out great.  Moist, dense, intense chocolate flavor.  I topped it with whipping cream (no sugar) but you can also do it with the ganache that is included in the recipe.  Feed this to your love (any day...doesn't have to be Valentines day) and this is what you'll end up with!  Guaranteed.

 

LouLou's Onion Roquefort Tart

                  

I'm not a fan of blue cheese...really never liked it.  When we were in France in September we ate at a restaurant in the beautiful village of Najac called Le Belle Rive .  We had an amazing dinner.  For dessert we had a cheese plate with many different cheeses.  One of them was Roquefort.  We learned that this cheese is made in the village of Roquefort.  Roquefort is at least one of the oldest and best known in the world. This blue cheese has been enjoyed since Roman times and was a favorite of Charlemagne. It is made from sheep's milk that is exposed to a mold known as Penicillium roqueforti and aged for 3 months or more in the limestone caverns of Mount Combalou near the village of Roquefort in southwestern France. This is the only place true Roquefort can be aged. Roquefort has a creamy-rich texture and pungent, piquant, somewhat salty flavor. It has a creamy white interior with blue veins and a snowy white rind. It's sold in squat foil-wrapped cylinders. True Roquefort can be authenticated by a red sheep on the wrapper's emblem. The name "Roquefort" is protected by law from imitators of this remarkable cheese.

When they put this cheese in front of us we were truly amazed to see how furry it was.  Being from America, we are not used to eating furry molded cheese.  Most people would throw away cheese that has mold on it.  I just cut it off (but don't tell Bruce).  Bruce took the smallest morsel of this cheese and put it in his mouth - he said it was like a rush to his head, it cleared his sinuses and he felt it all the way to the top of his head.  He has never experienced that before with any cheese.  It tried a small taste but it was too strong for me.

I read this lovely blog called Cuisine Quotidienne.  Betty writes this blog as well as  La France Profonde She is a native of Olympia, Washington, and has been living, working, cooking and raising a family in France for 17 years.  I was reading her blog a couple weeks ago and she had just made this tart.  She got the recipe from Chez Loulou .  I decided to make it for Bruce and I.

I'm not going to give the whole recipe here...click on the Chez Loulou link for it, I will give you some pictures of it though.  I tried to make the crust, since we don't have the "good" pastry crust you can buy in France.  The crust didn't work out well for me, not sure if it was the measurements.  I would use puff pastry or make a traditional crust, either would work really well.  You can see how to make the puff pastry from my post for Goat cheese tart.

Simple ingredients:  heavy cream, eggs, onion, butter, Parmesan cheese, and creme fraiche (sorry to those in france, I don't have the ' in creme and the circumflex for the i in fraiche).  If you want really good blue cheese, try Bristol Farms here in Los Angeles.  The selection is great.

That's some good blue cheese!!!!

Cooked onion and then the cheese on top.   The pour custard mix over, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and bake.  This what comes out...

So I said above that I don't like blue cheese....but I loved this tart.  The custard and onions take away the sharpness of the blue and they all go together.  It's creamy, a bit tangy and smooth.  I loved it.  Can't wait to make it for some friends.  Now the bad news.  We left it up on the counter - big mistake....Dashell, the counter surfing golden retriever got up and ate the rest of the tart - we had 2 pieces for dinner, he had the rest.  He liked it too. 

Thanks Betty for a great new recipe.

The Daily Love Session

                      

                  

Every day it's the same thing.  A love session with Dashell & Stella.  They truly love each other and they are so funny to watch.  Stella is 10 lbs and Dashell 75 lbs but you'd never guess it by watching them play.  Stella is tough as nails, she jumps on Dashell, bites him, growls at him and charges him.  Dashell puts Stella's head in his mouth, he could crush her skull if he wanted to, but he's very gentle with her.

                  

I interrupted them....

                

Back to business...just giving a little love.

                

Stella's going a bit crazy in her "bumper"...she's digging at it, burying her head in it and growing.

                

She just popped up and looked right at the camera.  Can you see Dashell's paw on her back?  They do love each other.  She is such a crazy little ratty dog, but so sweet.  And like I said before, Dashell is big and strong, but he's so gentle with her, even when her head is in his mouth.  This love session happens every day, usually around 7:30 pm (the witching hour).

                  

I had to add this picture.  Here is Mr. Augie (15 years young) and Bruce.  My niece Gigi has show and tell once a week with letters of the alphabet.  Last week was the letter "U"...my sister called and said that Gigi wanted to bring a picture of "Uncle Bruce" and "Augie"...which she thinks Augie is spelled with a "U" (she's 5 - so it was "Ugie").  So I took this picture for her, my sister laminated it and it was part of show and tell for my beautiful niece.  She loves Augie (and Uncle Bruce).

Acupuncture visit

                  

Bruce and I used to be addicted to rock climbing...we climbed a lot!  In fact I met Bruce rock climbing - 13 years ago.  I wanted to learn how to climb and Bruce was a professional rock climber (yes there is such a thing).  He was also a private coach and became my coach.  We were friends for 1 year before he asked me on a date (probably because I was married at the time...but that's another post).  Anyway, we climbed everywhere....Los Angeles, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, Northern California, Mexico, Arizona, Spain, France & the island of Mallorca.  It was so great...it was our life,  until I was pulling too hard on a hold and felt this pull in my arm, right where my elbow bends.  It stopped my climbing, forever.  I could never get it to heal.  I stopped for 1 year and then went back to try again and I re-injured it.  So I stopped climbing, so did Bruce.  We moved on to surfing and then cycling. 

3 weeks ago we were in the gym and we were weight training.  I had been using pretty light weights and Bruce said "add a bit more", I didn't want to, he said it's wasn't that much and dropped on 10 lbs..I pull it up and "OUCH"....I knew that I re-injured my arm again.  It hurt when I picked up a bag, when I reached into the fridge and pulled out the soy milk, it started to hurt all the time and it would wake me up at night.  Not good.  So....off I went to the acupuncturist. 

Last year I had really bad shoulder pain.  One of our clients works at Yosan University, which is an accredited acupuncture university.  You go to school there for 5 years and then spend 1 year practicing in the clinic under one of the Dr's.  It's $30.00 for a visit.  Last year they fixed me up in 3 visits.  Wham bam, done!  So I called them up and went yesterday for my first visit.  It feels a bit better, but I have to go back on Thursday and the Monday and they think that should be enough.  It seems to be a pretty easy thing to treat.

I must say the whole Eastern medicine "idea" intrigues me.  The ying and yang, the meridians, it all seems to make sense and it works.  It also doesn't hurt at all.  The needles are so thin, they slide right in, then you lay there (i have a heat lamp on my arm) for about 20 minutes with the needles in and then they pull them out and off you go.  I had 3 needles in my right arm, around my elbow and then 1 in the left side of my left knee.  She started with the 1 in my left knee, she put it in and then made me hold my bag and lift it up and down while she twirled the needle into my leg (again, didn't hurt a bit)....there was pain at first, but then as I continued it was almost gone.  Amazing. 

If you haven't tried acupuncture and have back, knee, ankle, arm, shoulder or pain anywhere else, try it....it works!  It also helps with sinus problems, headaches and other internal problems (with kidney, digestive, thyroid, etc....). I'll keep you posted on my progress.  I don't like being in pain, all day, all the time...especially when it wakes you up in the middle of the night - that dull ache is such a drag.

Think I'll stick with my light weights!

Scallops wrapped with bacon

               

I have never made scallops.  Not sure why, but just haven't.  But I have had a craving for them and figured to try a recipe that I saw in bon appetit (can't seem to find the ' that should go over the e).  It turned out great.  This was a huge hit with Bruce and I loved it too.  Make sure before you buy the scallops you ask to smell them...it's not insulting...but you don't want a fishy smell to the scallops.

First, wash scallops and pat dry.  Cut slices of bacon in half widthwise and lengthwise, getting four pieces to a slice.  Wrap bacon around scallops and place in a long baking sheet/pan that can go in the broiler.  Make a lemon, butter, garlic sauce by melting butter, adding a tablespoon of lemon juice and sprinkle with garlic salt.  Brush this mixture on scallops.  Garnish with dry parsley and paprika for color.  Put in broiler and watch carefully.  When they are golden brown, turn them over and brush with butter mix again.  Scallops are done when they just stat to brown.

This dish was so easy and so good.  I served it on baby spinach with dried cranberries, dried blueberries, toasted almonds and a balsamic vinaigrette...perfect.  We also had our staple - french bread with olive oil & balsamic vinegar and a great bottle of French wine!   Yum yum.  If you try this, let me know how you liked it.

Cold, wet and tired...not the perfect day!

                  

This is what we road in today.  We got up and the weather said "mix of clouds and sun".  That was OK with us.  We decided to do another long ride, back down to Palos Verdes (just like last Sunday), 50 miles.  It was cold this am, well, cold for Los Angeles.  I think the temperature was 50 degrees and it was windy.  So I bundled up, biking leggings with biking shorts over, performance shirt under my jersey, arm warmers and covered up with my warm biking jacket.  Also had my full finger gloves and headband under my helmet and my warm shoe covers - ready to go.  We went about 1 mile and I seriously thought I was going to have to turn around, it was freezing (much colder when you are going 18 miles an hour).  Bruce said to stick it out 5 miles more and then make a decision.  After 5 miles I was warming up, so we headed south. 

It was windy, but not too bad (just no sun).  We got down to Palos Verdes and decided to stop for some coffee and warm up.  5 minutes after we stopped it started to sprinkle, no big deal.  But then the sprinkle started to turn into rain and the sky looked very gloomy.  We were 25 miles from home.  So rather than sit there we decided to head back home before it got worse.  Well, the rain did get worse and it was actually pelting my face so hard that it hurt.  I was drenched!  30 minutes later after dropping down from the Palos Verdes Peninsula I felt a patch of sun on my back.  Ahh....le soleil, I love the sun!!!!

Bruce and I did a couple of back-country trips in the Sierras (one for 5 days the other for 7 days) and I would wake up in the tent and Bruce would be up making coffee but the sun wasn't on us yet....so I'd get up, bundle up in my jacket and gloves and hat and head to where the sun was hitting.  I'd sit there until the sun got to our campsite.  I don't do well in the cold.

Anyway, the sun hit me and I instantly felt good.  I figured it would be with us the rest of the way home (which was about 1 hour).  Thank goodness for the sun, because the wind picked up and it was coming straight at us.  After 40 miles I felt a drop of rain and the sun was gone, then it got worse and started to rain really hard again.  I was just about dry!  So, the last 7 miles were in the rain.  I was cold and tired and couldn't wait for a warm shower and a nap.  Both were great!

Our weekly french movie

                                             

Each week we watch a french movie, in french with english subtitles.  This week I was so excited to get "Charlotte Gray" because it was filmed in our favorite french village St. Antonin Noble Val.  Charlotte (Cate Blanchett) is a Scottish woman searching for her missing pilot boyfriend during World War II. Going undercover as a housekeeper in a French town (St. Antonin Noble Val), she meets a local farmer (Michael Gambon) and his son, Julien (Billy Crudup), a leader in the resistance who's harboring two Jewish children. When the children's lives are threatened, Charlotte must choose between finding her lost love and taking a stand.  Sounds great.

But when we put it in I was disappointed to find out that it was in English.  What?  It's filmed in france!  It's not good for our french practice to have a film in english with french subtitles.  It's so much better to have the movie in french with english subtitles. We tried to watch it anyway and it brought back great memories when we saw our favorite village on the screen. Make us realize that we need to send some emails out to our friends that we met when we were there in September.  Jacques, who is a wonderful man, loves bikes, loves to cycle and took us out on some great rides.  He also had us over for dinner one night with some other friends.  What an honor - to be invited to someones home in France!  We also have to send an email to Anka and Fabrice.  They are also cyclists and we met them through Jacques.  They are a wonderful couple with 2 adorable girls, we did a beautiful 50 mile bike ride with them - going through St. Antonin Noble Val.  We hope to see them soon.

       

Last week I ordered "Chocolat"...but little did I know when I ordered "Chocolat" that there were 2 french movies with the same title.  Who knew.  So when we got this in the mail (gotta love Netflix) I was confused when I read the description on the sleeve.  This wasn't the Chocolat that I expected.  You know, the one I'm talking about - a single mother (Oscar-nominee Juliette Binoche) and her young daughter move to a village in France and open a chocolate shop -- that's open Sundays (unheard of in France) -- across the street from a church. At first, Binoche's rich, sensuous desserts scandalize the town, but soon the villagers welcome the newcomers with open arms.

This "Chocolat" that I got, is based on director Claire Denis's childhood memories, it examines the devastating effect of French colonialism through the eyes of a young girl coming of age in 1950s West Africa. When a plane makes an emergency landing in the isolated colonial post where 8-year-old France (Cécile Ducasse) lives, a diverse group of whites and Africans is stranded and must stay with France's family, forcing sexual, social and class tensions to arise.  All I can say is this is a wonderful wonderful film.  We watched it twice.  The scenery is beautiful and the storyline amazing.  I highly recommend this film.

Next in our queue is the other "Chocolat", which we'll be thrilled to see again, but this time we'll be more prepared to understand it.  Last time we watched it we didn't know any french, but now we have taken 3 years of private lessons, so hopefully we will understand some of it without having to rely on the subtitles.  Damn, learning a new language when you are in your mid 40's is hard!!!

Their Perfect Day

Every day we take the kids to the park.  It's not an official "dog park", it's an open park with lots of room to run.  We used to take Dashell there when he was a pup so he could play with the other dogs there, but then he discovered his favorite toy in the whole world....MR. ICE CREAM CONE.

This is Mr. Ice Cream Cone.  Dashell's best friend.  Now when we go to the park he has no interest in the other dogs. All he wants to do is chase Mr. Cone.  He even gets bummed when other dogs want to play with him and Mr. Cone.  He's very nice to Mr. Cone at the park, but if Mr. Cone came with us in the house Dashell would rip him apart - de-squeak him and pull off his head (so he never comes in the house...he lives in the car) and is only for the park.

Stella loves the park too.  This is the park where we found her the day after Thanksgiving 2006,  she was scared and a woman found her under a bush.  No collar, no chip.  The lady couldn't keep her so we took her home.  We put up flyers but nobody responded..luckily for us, she is a great dog.  She is not obsessed with her friend "Mr Funky Alien" like Dashell is with Mr. Cone.  She loves to socialize with other dogs, but also loves to chase her funky alien.

She also loves to attack him!

One of Stella's tricks is "turnaround".  She actually gets air and Bruce is convinced that one day we'll be able to teach her to do a flip.  She's almost there.  She is such a circus dog.

It was a bit windy!!!

Augie always come too.  He doesn't play with balls, he doesn't play with other dogs - he just roams around.  Because he can't hear I have to keep a close eye on him because sometimes he wanders off, not really sure where he is going (don't think he knows either).  We think taking him to the park keeps him young!

They all love their park and when they miss a day (if it's raining) they are sad!  So part of our daily routine is packing our pack in the car and heading to the park for some play.