Olive oil

We go through a one-liter bottle of olive oil a week. Yes, you heard me right. We drizzle it on soup and on salads, saute veggies, fry fish, marinate our rice in it, use it in muffins...you name it we find a way to incorporate olive oil. The French take a spoon from home to the market where they sample olive oil, a spoonful at a time, until they find the flavor they are looking for. Some are strong, others light, and some have added flavors like lemon. We buy ours from a guy named George who lives in Sospel, a small town above Menton. There is an olive press coop in Sospel where several makers produce their oil. George's oil is so mild and refined. A few weeks ago he wasn't at the market when we went so we bought some from another guy who sold his in recycled liquor bottles (see photo). It was much stronger and we found ourselves not using it as quickly as we do George's oil. We're hoping for a visit to the press to see how its done...

We're off to Switzerland tomorrow and will be back next weekend. A snow storm is expected mid-week so we may be delayed!

Recess

I don't always take the camera when we go to the beach in the afternoons because it's a lot of the same play time after time. Today I had my camera so here are a few shots of the girls during their "recess".

A bouncy house is a favorite destination

The girls love to build roads and houses in the sand for their little cars

Lemons!

We have two lemon trees and we've been waiting for months for them to ripen so we can make our own Menton lemonade! Today was our day. We picked five incredibly fragrant lemons and juiced them with apples for sweetness (Geoff's mom's recipe) and it was such a treat!

Our neighbors have a banana tree, our other neighbors have a pomegranate tree, and our neighbors below have pears and clementines and limes and lemons. While a lemon is only about 25 cents at the market, there is something about picking one right from the tree and using it right away! Send any good lemon recipes our way!

International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo

Monaco holds an International Circus Festival every year. The best circus acts from around the world perform for and are judged by the prince and princesses of Monaco. The judging was last week; this week the winners performed together in one looong circus (3.5 hours!) Because our internet was down we couldn't get tickets so we went to one of two matinees hoping that they would have some tickets left! Thirty minutes before the show Geoff went to the window and asked if they had five tickets together. She paused and said, "Together?...Here, these are good seats." And when Geoff asked how much she said, "Aw, don't worry about it." The five seats were front and center, right behind the princess' children! For free! The tent was full...what luck!

In typical Monaco fashion this circus was an event of perfection, from the red carpet into the tent, lined with a clown band playing jovial circus music, to the acts themselves. It was so fun and very memorable!

On our first outing to Monaco we met a very nice Swedish woman at a park who had just moved to France also. We ran into her and her husband and two daughters at the circus and walked them home afterwards as we reconnected, and because our girls were having so much fun together. They all speak English so our girls begged to meet them at the park one of these weeks. The prospect of English speaking friends was nearly as fun as the circus! It was a great day.

Concert in Castillar

Last Sunday afternoon we went to a concert in the little Catholic church in Castellar. It was Vivaldi with a small orchestra and choir and it was awesome! (Although, I really marvel that any Catholic is willing to go to mass and be so darn cold in those churches and sit on those hard chairs!) The girls were champs to sit through our normal church meetings and then sit through a classical concert. When we got home they instantly created instruments out of yoga blocks and chopsticks and we got our own little concert at home. (Sorry for the poor quality photos.)

Living without

Our internet connection has been out for the better part of the last five days. It is interesting how we don't realize our dependence on something until it is gone! We've thought a lot about "living without" while here in France. There are small things we've lived without since we arrived like a printer, a garbage disposal, a functioning vacuum, an efficient washer and dryer, a roomy refrigerator, good quality cookware and tools, convenient shopping of any kind, easy access to our house, many foods we were accustomed to eating regularly, resources like babysitters and cleaning ladies, cell phones/blackberry and a reliable internet connection. There are also big things we've lived without while here in France like the ability to communicate (for the majority of us), good health, friends/family, our own home and its comforts, and a clear picture of our future. I'll admit that for awhile it wasn't easy for me! It seems that as humans we seek fulfillment in comforts, things, conveniences, relationships, etc., to make us feel secure and happy. That is why we keep after them so earnestly! And that is why it is initially so uncomfortable when we don't have them. We have gone through a lot of introspection and had many discussions about the dependence we have had and have on "things", and learning to live without them. Many positive things have come from living without. One is learning that we can. We've become more resourceful, creative and content in making do with what we do have. We rely on God, and each other to sustain us when things aren't easy. We've become deeply grateful for the smallest things (like getting American socks for my birthday or Adele hearing an English speaker across the market). Could we have learned this without this drastic change in our lives and environment? Probably. Would we have learned it? Who knows. Geoff and I both feel that one of the greatest gifts of our French experience is that while living without all these things we are sustained and fulfilled in our spiritual relationship with God, and we don't feel we lack for anything.

Socca

One of our favorite snacks when out and about is Socca. It is usually sold at the market or on the streets. It is made like a pancake the size of a large pizza and is sold in slices. Maybe you'd like to try a little Socca at home, so here is a recipe out of our French cookbook.

2/3 cup chickpea flour
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
freshly ground pepper

Mix the flour, oil, salt, and water in a bowl. Stir well and let stand for 1 hour (at room temperature or refrigerated). Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Oil a round, shallow pan and pour on the batter--it should be very thin, about 1/8 inch thick. Put the pan under a moderate broiler as close to the flame as possible. After 5 minutes, sprinkle a little olive oil on the top and broil for 5 to 10 more minutes until it is crisp and golden, with the consistency of a thick crepe or pancake. Sprinkle with salt and freshly ground black pepper. With a spatula, slide it onto a serving plate and cut it into 2x2-inch wedges.

Old Town Menton

Today we did a little explore into our own Old Town. While not as well-maintained as some of it's fancier neighbors the windy, medieval streets are still full of charm and good ol' French personality. The following pictures are in order of our explore.

We walked down Boulevard de Garavan which is well-known in traveller books for its views and mosaic sidewalks...and it's our street! We discovered from it's heights that a carnival has come to town. The event planners in this town are non-stop!

You can't really see all the carnival trucks below on the beach but there are a lot of them! That is Old Town in the background.

The angle of St. Michel's archangel basilica is hard to capture with our little camera so I pulled this off the Internet...it is a beautiful church; immaculately preserved.

Another church next to the basilica has these three angels at the top. I'm wondering what these women represent...a little trivia for myself.

Old Town Menton is never hurting for some good color...Ceci's outfit adds even more!

Hanging clothes out to dry is a very common sight, and you'll notice that even those in small, medieval homes will create a garden where they can.

The streets in these old towns are narrow and maze-like. As I've said before, they were created in this way so that enemies that entered the city walls would get lost on their way to the castle. They are full of ups and downs and dead-ends.

Three mismatched chairs outside a small door hold the home owner's garden.

People have always had "stuff" as is manifest by small "caves" that belong to a home or group of homes. They are personal storage rooms, the American garage.

I loved this little entrance. The gate is to mark the boundary of a very small garden with a weak lemon tree producing one lone fruit by the door. Lemons are ripe for picking here in February.

Back on Garavan is this fun little apartment catching the evening sun.

At the bottom of our stairs Ceci took a little stumble and got caught on a bush. Poor thing...instead of a hug mom took a picture...

Adele is 7!!!

Yesterday Adele turned 7. She has been looking forward to being "queen" for the day for weeks. She carefully outlined what she wanted to happen: breakfast in bed, when she comes upstairs there are balloons, the traditional treasure hunt for presents, everyone be nice to her all day, she has no jobs, everyone does what she says, horseback riding adventure, gelato in Italy at our favorite place, meatloaf for dinner follow by cake, dad reads Fancy Nancy (a book Bailey sent for Christmas), and I make up a long bedtime story before she falls to sleep. I would say we honored her birthday wishes to the T. Her last words before we turned off the lights were, "This was the best day in the whole world."

Adele's breakfast in bed included homemade icecream created and made by Tennie

Adele has a deep love for white boards so she received an easel for her birthday.

Here she is being a teacher to student Ceci, who is 13 months pregnant...

Adele's horseback riding Birthday Adventure was incredible. We found an American guy who has horses outside St. Agnes, the highest perched village in Europe. This little town is also voted (by somebody) as the most beautiful city in France. It is about a 30 minute drive up, up, up the mountain from our little villa. The views were spectacular! Then we went around a bend and there was St. Agnes, a little village with a castle on the cliff, built in the 800s!

We walked through skinny, well-maintained, cobbled streets and found a little rustic restaurant where we had lunch. It had views of the mountains, valleys and the sea, and was an experience in itself! We didn't have time to explore the whole village or visit the castle ruins on the cliff, and there is amazing history that we can't wait to delve into...we'll definitely go back.

We met up with the horse owner who saddled up three horses (Geoff and I led the horses) and pointed up to a mountain path and said, "Have a nice time." No guide? This man trusted his horses! We walked the girls up the road a ways and then off on to a little, rocky, dirt path that wound and narrowed and was sometimes snow-covered. The girls were naturals (although Ceci wanted to walk half the way), and after two hours of riding, feeling very cold, and our eyes dazzled from the views we took the horses back who got French baguettes as a treat! It was so fun and so memorable!

The hike wore Geoff out and I was up with Ceci off and on for 4 hours during the night so we were pretty pooped out at this point in the day! But the birthday girl's plan went on! We enjoyed our birthday tradition of getting gelato. Adele got two scoops. Making it through the rest of the night required pure willpower on the parent's part, but Adele was relishing her day and that made the day perfect.

Happy Birthday Adele!

Picnic in Ville Franche

We knew it was going to be a spectacular day when we woke up to this!

Every day 10s of 1000s of birds fly by our house. The ribbon they form in the sky takes 20 or so seconds to pass by. It is hard to capture but here is an attempt...

Ville Franche Sur Mer

We stopped at this cute little coastal town on the way home from church and had a picnic

When Ceci refuses to move unless carried she gets in this position...a sure sign that it's time to go home.

A visit to Castillar

We sure look forward to Saturdays. Some weeks we're so worn out from the demands of homeschool that we don't get out, but on a perfect day like yesterday it was difficult to get us back in! The girls each had a different mode of transportation to get to the beach.

This is one of my favorite sights in Menton

In the late afternoon we drove up to a little village of 300 people above Menton called Castillar. Built in the 1500s it was full of charm!