A patch of blue...

Hello blue sky. 
It has been a full week of permaGRAY soup. Gray streets, gray buildings, and gray sky with rain so fine it doesn't actually fall, just sits in the air waiting for you to walk into it. 
I actually bought croissants this morning, opened the shutters, bearing the chill, so that I could see your face. So even if you only came for an hour, thanks for stopping by.   
Come again ANYTIME YOU LIKE. 

Souvenirs

I used to buy knicknacks
                            and then t-shirts

Now I steal pens and hotel notepads
                and pick up other useful things to bring home from vacation.

sugar cubes from Marocco

 like sugar cubes.


because no one wants to live in their memories forever.
or keep dusting them for the next 10 years.

Word of the Day: souvenir = memory/vb to remember

Christmas day lunch

Ok, here it is...our Christmas lunch from this year (After 4 days of celebratory holiday meals with different parts of the family).
Not that I am complaining, but really - don't talk foie gras, oysters or escargot for another year.  Or chocolates, for that matter.

Trois amusettes:  a foie gras crème brulée, oyster in gelée with tobiko,and shrimp with a horseradish mousse

to die for, hands down my favorite part of the meal: duck bisque with foie gras in a phyllo shell

Lobster and ris de veau

Veal with butternut squash purée

cheese I can't remember, comté 18mois, Epoisse, Marc de Bourgogne, apricot, cheese I can't remember

pre-dessert: yuzu smoothie

Orange mousse layer cake with orange sorbet

post-dessert: salted butter caramels, house-made hazelnut marshmallows, chocolates with seeds and candied orange and macarons

Galette de rois

'tis the French season of the 3 kings.

'tis the season to stick the youngest person under the table to shout out who gets the next piece of galette (or in our case - the next piece of couronne des rois briochée).

'tis the season to eat a soft sweet bread covered in rock sugar and apricot glaze with a mini porcelain something (baby jesus? brief case?  sportsman?) baked inside that someone will crack their teeth on... and then get to wear the revered, golden paper crown.

I think the game is fixed.   

...and it is not even mine.

 A male friend of mine pulled this out of a shopping bag with a bunch of other metal plates about 2 weeks after this post.  I don't know why he had it or where he got it, but I immediately took a photo and sent it to our 6 foot tall friend (big splash) who thinks I am waging war on his manhood. 

"But non!"  I say (because I am Franglish) "You just can't leave piss on my walls!"

Here, it is like that!!!

New neighbors

and sometimes

neighbors, boooo.

I like...

stone stairs so old they are sloped from years of use.