The Asian Girl in the Oriental Food Shop

Yesterday afternoon I noticed there was an Oriental food shop really close to me and I pulled in straight away to see if they had some of the ingredients I hadn't been able to find in Toulon. Of all things I'm trying to find a type of Japanese fishcake, curry oil and spicy fish powder - and I probably have to go to Japan to find them! Anyway that's not the point of this post... So, as soon as I opened the door the girl working there looks at me, lights up and says - We know each other don't we?

I thought she looked familiar but for all I knew she could have been a person I'd seen on the beach, sat next to on the bus or crossed on the street. She noticed obviously from my bewildered face that my braincells were A) trying to figure out where we had met previously B) what her name could be. I can hardly remember my own name so let alone those of "strangers".

She continued - From the french classes in 2003!! It was you, wasn't it?!

Me - Yes of course! The french classes! Now I recognise you, wow, it's been such a long time... How are you?

The conversation continued a little and then I went hiding behind the shelf and the excuse of having to find those ingredients. I still can't remember her! I remember Julia the German Au-pair that I'm still in contact with, Fernanda the Brazilian girl that even came to Norway to celebrate Christmas with my family and then all the teenagers from Morocco and Tunisia brought to France by their parents. But the Asian girl - Nope! I can't place her and I don't even know where she's from...

Embarrassing and fun at the same time. I can't believe she recognised me after almost 4 years and I'm still twisting me brain to remember her...

Salon de Mariage 2007

On Saturday I went to the local Bridal Show in Toulon to get a few ideas for our wedding. I didn't find much of interest apart from the flower decorations and the dragées which I know where to get and buy but just stopped to taste at each stand - Mmmmm can never get enough of those little sweets!

The most fun part of the whole exhibition was the Defilé, fashion show. The organisers had opted for a funky dance music style. It was fast, colourful and stylish! It made the audience dream of their big day, in wonderful dresses, suits and not at least beautiful underwear. It had it all until Lily Allen's song Smile (listen to the sample here) boomed out of the loudspeakers...

When you first left me
I was wanting more
But you were fucking that girl next door
What'cha do that for?

When you first left me
I didn't know what to say
I've never been on my own that way
Just sat by myself all day

I was so lost back then
But with a little help from my friends
I found the light in the tunnel at the end
...continues...

CRAAAACK - the spell broke and I couldn't help myself from laughing out loud, making the whole row of seats shake... Got a few ugly looks from the people around... Honestly, it's not the song to play if you're going "lure" your audience into buying your expensive outfits for a potentially wonderful marriage... Not with the looming divorce statistics we get fed regularly from the media, it could make anyone change their minds...

I guess the organisers didn't quite consider the lyrics while choosing their music. What about music without lyrics - then you can't go wrong!!

Kamikaze Ants

I'm standing outside the kitchen door until they believe it's safe to rush out from hiding - Then I attack, rushing in with a slipper in one hand and a wet hot sponge in the other. They don't stand a chance... I'm superior.

A day later: another attack! This time from yet another hole in the wall in a surprisingly unreachable corner - From high up they are now marching down. I repeated the slipper and sponge treatment with added cleaning products sprayed into their headquarters.

Later: the Kamikaze Ants persists but in smaller quantities. They are planning their great final attack. I let them think that I think that I have won - but I know I've only pushed them back and gained time... Gained time to prepare my victory with my new weapons - this time I won't be so kind...

The story of our flat

When we came to Toulon in February last year we really had a hard time finding a place to rent. We found a lot of studios ie. converted damp garages and 1 bedroom flats with no windows in the bathroom nor in the bedroom. We wanted to find a furnished place because often you might find great places to rent but it would be completely empty - I mean empty empty- without a kitchen and bathroom furniture; not even a sink. So when we found the flat we now live in it seemed to good to be true - well at least until we moved in.

For the first viewing the real estate agent, Stephanie, young and I guess quite inexperienced, told us that the apartment was a bit "Vieillot" (out of fashion). But the price was good and it was in a great location so we agreed to see it. Once inside the door the air was stuffy and the furniture looked like somebody had died in them. Stephanie looked quite embarrassed about having to show it to us and didn't say much. But by the end of the visit she opens up the shutters and throws in: "By the way, there's balcony here too"... TAMTAM... and the most beautiful view of the sea revealed itself.

She hadn't even thought about selling us the view and not the flat... Oh well, it was decided there and then - on the condition that the owner would come to take all his shit furniture away, or at least as much as possible.

Two weeks later we had the keys and were happy to move in - until we opened the bedroom wardrobes and saw that the owner hadn't taken away anything but left dirty, partly molded bedlinen and cushions there. The kitchen was full of old food, only heaven knows how long it had been there. The agency paid a cleaning company to come in for a day to disinfect the whole place. We learnt only later that this apartment had only been used as a holiday house for 30 years and nobody had ever cleaned it properly - the cleaning staff had to really think about it well when I asked if they'd seen a more dirty flat than this... Answer: only one place.

To make it "ours" we decided to strip the place down: take away all the old wallpaper and repaint it white, only toilet and kitchen blue. Although we did all the work at our own expense and time it has been worthwhile. By doing so the stuffy smell went away and the white colour gave us the feeling of it all being clean and proper. Only the bathroom remained the way it was - too expensive and time consuming.

The white bedroom

The blue cupboard toilet. The shelves are now covered by a blue curtain I've made all by myself (Ok Ok I did use the CALL-MUM help line quite often...)

The kitchen came out quite well considering what it used to be like. The shelves with the spots we bought from Castorama on sale - bargain. The spots my handyman inserted after a quick go with the drill. Always give your other half something useful for Christmas :-) Also in the kitchen I've done the curtains!! I'm really proud because from now on I'll probably buy them - way too much work and too little fun.

Even though this flat has served us well for a whole year there are many things about it I won't miss. The list just seems to get longer and longer the closer we get to the moving:

• The annoying wardrobes with only a key for a doorhandle
• The air ventilation in the toilet that at night sends down chills of cold air that makes the curtain sway and my goosebumps scream of joy.
• The 20 year old pink(!) leather sofa which when we moved in was black but regained colour only when the cleaning company had finished their job.
• Mr. Spying and Complaining Neighbour without a Life of his own on the 1st floor. If he says another word to me I will accuse him of racism.
• Our washingmachine which has ruined 4 of my favourite clothes. It never "eats" the socks or t-shirts but aim always for the more expensive good looking textiles.
• The noisy fridge.
• The glass balcony door which makes an awful scratchy noise when opened.
• The same glass door which lets in all the cold northern winds. Even with full blast heating I'm wearing a hat and scarf.
  
• Neither will I miss the pink and flowered bathroom.

6 WEIRD THINGS - about me...

So I've been tagged by Angela to make this list but I'm not sure how weird it will be... Not sure if I like divulging sensitive info about myself... ahaha... I'll pass it on by the end of list so be prepared!

• After having read a good/touching/mindbugging book I need to "digest" it and won't start a new one before a couple of weeks has passed - The History of Love is such a book.
• When bored I trace in my mind the room I'm in... - Ok who's a psychologist??
• No matter how bad my cooking skills are I still enjoy the challenge of a recipe and refuse to give up - I can only get better right?
• I'm crazy about all living creatures (insects are not included in this statement). Nothing is more amazing and exciting to me than to see a wild animal in its right element.
• The more I travel with airplanes the more scared I am to fly.
• I complain in continuation about our washingmashines! 4 houses for rent with 4 different washing machines, all crap!! and I'm now turning raving mad - Luckily it won't last long as we'll get our own brand new machine in the new house!

I pass on the challenge to Ola, Betsy, Emily and Little blue hen and I look forward to read your lists :-)

Update on Fifi

So after my post yesterday Fifi seemed to settle quite well; And I realised that what I had mistaken to be farts were in reality burps - gosh, talk about bad breath... :-)

About 9.30 pm she had spread herself out on the sofa peacefully...


...and we went for a beer with a couple of friends. L said to leave my slipper (my new pink "Pink Panther" slipper) in the bathroom door to make sure she would be able to go to the loo if needed - MISTAKE! Upon our return 2 hours later poor little Fifi had been sick all over and inside my slipper. She had conveniently "missed" the whole hallway, the whole bathroom and aimed for the first pink slipper in sight.

We found her curled up on the sofa looking really poorly - and at the look of her I didn't mind at all having my slippers go a couple of rounds in the washing machine. This morning she's been eating well but I've been controlling her intake as I assume her little tummy had a shock from yesterdays food orgy.

She adorable despite her little problems because as soon as I sit down she curls herself around my neck purring as loud as she can. I dread the moment I have to give her back...

Super Fart Monster

Yes, this is her! For the moment her name is Fifi and she is in my care until tomorrow. She is about 4-5 months old and was handed over to the refuge this morning completely exhausted after having been living on the streets for a few weeks. Fifi is very trusting and she starts her "engine" as soon as you touch her. Now, after a few hours sleep and quality food she is all around the flat sniffing and farting. My goodness, I lifted her up and from her little tummy she let out a POOOOOF and I almost fainted. And now she POOOFs in continuation, poor her! but mostly poor me!! as I sit here in a cold livingroom with the balcony door open because of her. I'm sure we could start an energy plant just on her little farts!!

Tomorrow afternoon I'll bring her back as they told me a person will come to look at her, and maybe even adopting her if they like what they see. Apart from her "gas" problem she's a wonderful little baby cat...
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I'm no Nigella nor a Jamie - Unfortunately

Lately I've taken a fancy to Bon Maman's Tartelettes with raspberry jam. Then I thought - Hey they can't be that difficult to make at home. All I need is the ready made biscuit dough (pate brisée sable) and raspberry jam jelly, or at least that's what I thought.

FIRST TRY:

What a disaster! Cake shape too small, jam not staying on the biscuit and edges burning before they are cooked through.

SECOND TRY:

Using an espresso cup I managed to get the right size, jam stayed inside and they didn't burn. What went wrong - well not much - they just didn't taste as nice as the ones I buy. Maybe next time I'll try to make the dough myself?

I imagine in the future having children, they come home from school, soccer, tennis, music or whatever... They find me in the kitchen and they'll say: Oh no, not again mum! When are you going to realise that you'll never be a Nigella or a Jamie!!!

Any input or recipes of Tartelettes? Biscuits? Anyone having a double chocolate biscuit recipe, for example like the ones to be found at Milli's cookies?
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Moments of Insight

The weekend passed in a blur of good moments; sunshine, walking, sea, sailing, friends, handsome boyfriend being romantic...

One moment that really hit me with a strange clarity, almost like I stepped aside from myself looking at the situation with a new pair of eyes; It happened Saturday evening around 10pm when all of a sudden I realised I was sitting with our friends talking and understanding french like I hadn't done nothing else my whole life... Missing words and many grammar mistakes, yes loads, but still the circle of communication was complete; my words and meaning were getting across the table and picked up! It sounds maybe like I've lost it but I realise that maybe I've never thought about giving myself some credit for having learned three languages; that one evening I can sit and have a great time in French and the following evening watch the Italian TV series, Montalbano, and comment it in English to Lorenzo. Of course, looking at all the expat bloggers I'm certainly not alone about speaking other languages but how many of our friends at "home" can do the same?

My friends at "home" have other things I haven't yet got but even though I'm waiting for the "perfect" job and seem to uproot myself every so often and re-start, I have learned other things and gained other qualities not easily quantified in money, position or success which seem to be what we compare ourselves to...

It can't be all that bad being happy about oneself once in a while, giving a boost to the good old self confidence.

***

I guess it would be a good post to mention that I'm starting a French course on Thursday. I'm really looking forward to it because a) I'll be preparing for the D.A.L.F (Diplôme Approfondi de Langue Française) exam in June b) I'd be meeting new people! :-)

Carpe Diem with a twist

Seize the moment. Remember all those women on the Titanic who waved off the dessert cart.

- Erma Bombeck





Photo from www.barbarallewellyn.com/menusDesserts.html

Food Horrors

Half way through the day I stopped in a little corner take-away for a sandwich. As I was a little more than peckish and I ordered a nice Steak Provencal. You'll all be horrified to hear what it is but I was sooo hungry so I ordered: Baguette with an hamburger, salad, peppers, harissa, ketchup and the worst; french fries. Yes! all inside the same sandwich and it's good! It will still beat any burger from McDonalds =) It could be compared to the Cheese steak from Philadelphia maybe...

Well, the sandwich was the least of the horrors. When I approached the counter I noticed the shop woman sitting outside playing with her little puppy. The little puppy was dead cute and kept on biting gently her hands. Seeing me she got up, put the dog in the back of the shop and asked me what I wanted. She then took out the hamburger from the fridge without gloves and without washing her hands first, touching straight on the meat!!!

I stood there absolutely horrified!! Then I quickly decided to tell her that she had "forgotten" to wash her hands because I couldn't stand the thought of eating something that would have had fried dog saliva on it... Her reply was "Oh did I forget? Sorry" and took out another piece of meat.

It was impossible for me to see which hamburger she in the end served me so if by tomorrow night there's not a new post up on my blog - call an ambulance please!

I try not to think of what other hidden unhygienic horrors the shop hides. For sure is - I'll never ever go there again.

Busy monday

During the weekend L and I made a draft of how we wanted our wedding invitation and it came out really nice. It's amazing what you can do with Photoshop and a home printer! So today it's been a really busy day for me. This morning I went all around Toulon and Valette to different shops to find the right paper, a punch (did not find it), fiskars embossing set (did not find it either), 21 mt of a white silk ribbon and heart shaped mother of pearl shells. In the end I was really pleased with myself as I had found the most important things. But that's not all... since we needed a quite large amount of it all I managed to bargain about the prices - and it worked!!!

I will post a picture of the invitation as soon as the final version is ready from the press.

When I came home I sat down to face the one thing I've been postponing since we came back home - call the company to which I had sent my "candidature spontanée". Result : My first French CV + cover letter was turned down. When I rang it was the BigBoss answering the phone so during the first 5 seconds I was stuttering as I didn't expect him to answer the phone himself, but then it all went quite smoothly. I'm not sad as it all serves to practise my french and my approach to the companies in general. Now that I've started it's just to carry on with courage!

Home sweet Home

To go through my whole holiday would just bore anyone to sleep so I'll just go through the highlights!

Christmas shopping spree with Heidi - From 11 in the morning until 8 in the evening must be a record for us. Side by side we occupied 4 meters of the sidewalks and half the road with all our shopping bags. By the time we'd finished we were beyond stress and extreme grumpiness towards our fellow shoppers - because in the end we were the only ones left. New years resolution : Start Christmas shopping in February?

Evening with the girls - Nothing can replace a good night out with my best friends catching up on everything we've missed out on during the rest of the year. Anne Berit and Cecilie had made a range of tapas dishes that I can only dream about being able to making myself.

Decorating the Christmas tree - The tradition in out family is to decorate the Christmas tree the 23rd while listening to good music followed by hot chocolate or hot wine with herbs (which is called Gløgg in Norwegian).

Christmas Eve - Spending the whole day with my grandmother! She now lives in a retirement home due to her Parkinson's illness and because of her physical restraints she's not able to get around much. For Christmas I had made her an album so she can more easily imagine where and how we live. I'm just so sorry she won't be able to attend our wedding...
And then of course the traditional dry salted lamb rib prepared by my father, I've been waiting a year to let my taste buds dive into a plate full of Pinnekjøtt!


Christmas day lunch - My brother, his wife and 3 kids came to see us! Auntie Astrid did her best to answer all kinds of questions from her lovely nieces aged 6, 9 and 15. like: "Are you a grown-up?" or "Are you going to have a baby soon?" Cuuuute!



The yearly Bowling Fiesta - on 26th December we go bowling. For bowling only once a year we're pretty good! This year I forgot my camera so I have added a photo from 2005 where Anne Berit was 6 months pregnant.


The following days until my departure the 29th I stayed at home relaxing, going for walks and basically just enjoying being at "home".


New Years in St. Moritz (Switzerland) - About 3 hours drive from Milan. Situated high up in the alps but on a big plane so you don't get that suffocated feeling when being among tall mountains. There were not much snow but enough to put me in a festive mood! We were 2 out of 9 invited to stay with a couple of friends there. The dinner we had at home and consisted of many dishes - lobster, panettone gastronomico, bresaola and caprino, risotto with mushrooms, cotechino, lentils and mash. The lentils are supposed to bring good fortune and money for the new year. I guess the role of the remaining dishes were just to taste good... :-)

After counting the New Year in with fireworks and champagne we all decided to go to the nearby hill bringing our sledges. The funniest moment was when L , my "captain", was trying to steer our sledge down the hill road. Apparently it was no simple task to steer our red sledge so instead of taking a left turn Lorenzo pulled the wrong lever and made us fly off the road to the right instead, out in the open air with a view until we hit ground with a New Years bang. I'm left with a 10 by 10 cm blue mark on my thigh, evidence of an unforgettable ride!!

Now we're back in Six Fours les plages, happy and happier after a nice holiday break. It is always lovely to be on holiday but it is just as nice to be going home too. My own bed, my own sofa, my own food (a lighter diet from now on...) and lots of pictures to look at from the holidays.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!