October 17, 2008

October In The South Of France

Here's a small glimpse of what's been going on lately:
  • The kitten can now jump up on the kitchen counter and has become obsessed with both the kitchen sink and the cursor on my laptop.
  • Actually went out for a night on the town with the girls. Caipirinhas and dinner and to a nightclub (which was almost empty - it was a Sunday night in Narbonne after all - not the most hip and happening of places) and more caipirinhas and awake talking until 4:30am. Haven't done that in a while!
  • We're only losing 24% of our money instead of the 38% we were losing last winter. We're rich!
  • The grape harvest is over and the vineyards are so unbelievably, indescribably gorgeous with the bright red, yellow and orange autumn leaves.
  • Was very unkindly, unfairly told off by a friend who then had the gall to ask me to help her move into her new house. WTF?
  • Picked about 10 pounds of green tomatoes from a neighbor's garden yesterday. Every year he asks me the same question; "what do you do with green tomatoes?"
  • My old carte de séjour expired two months ago, with no sign of a new one arriving anytime soon. This is normal. By the time I have to fly back to the States for a visit in February I'll have gone to the Mairie to ask them to call the sous-préfecture to ask them to get their butts in gear and issue my new one. Which will then expire a few months later and we'll start the merry-go-round all over again next June.
  • Signed the official papers and said goodbye to our garden. A very bittersweet feeling.
  • Finally got to see the Sex and the City movie in its entirety. The fashion was way over the top and what in the name of all that is holy did they do to Miranda's hair during the wedding scene? I enjoyed it for what it was; entertaining.
  • Was given a very bloody, smelly gift of a freshly shot and cleaned hare by our neighbor. I have a photo, but am afraid of freaking people out so haven't made it public on my Flickr page yet. Anyone want to see it?
  • Ordered a new camera which will be delivered when family comes to visit from the States next month. Very excited!
  • Have firmed up plans for both Christmas day and New Year's Eve which, if history proves correct, will both be decadent food and drink laden events surrounded by good friends. Not a bad way to spend the holidays if you ask me.

So, what's new with you?


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13 comments:

Avory said...

Green tomatoes, oh if only! I've actually only seen the inside of the train station in Narbonne, though that I have seen several times. I can't imagine that it's much of an out-on-the-town hopping place, though ;-)

What's new with me is that it's starting to get cold and I'm starting to think about lots of baking, while still trying not to completely blow my budget. It's that point of the semester where there's a draft of something due every week, ranging from ten to sixty pages, so I'm feeling a little crazy, but I can see Thanksgiving coming and that gives me some relief. Time to sit down, catch up on the work, and not go to class. Whoo.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the update. I have a question, curiosity mostly. Why did you have to sign a papaer to lose your garden?
georgiegirl (I forgot my log on name again)

spacedlaw said...

You've sold your house?
(or only the garden?)

Anonymous said...

What's new? We're going to Paris for a week next month! I didn't manage to get as cheap a deal as you did because of constraints on when we can go, but ended up deciding anything under 100 euros aller/retour was acceptable.

Lucky you to be given a hare! I don't want to see a picture of it, but how about a pic of Domino? :-)

I like Narbonne, but I have to admit it isn't exactly buzzing on a Sunday evening. You should go Sunday morning instead; no nightclubs, but the beautiful covered market is heaving with people buying lunch!

Jennifer said...

Judith
If we had been in Narbonne Saturday night then the club would have been much more happening. :)
Yes, baking. It is the time of year for that. Good luck getting through this crazy time before the holidays. I remember that feeling of papers due, mid-terms, more papers due, finals, more papers due, etc.
The green tomatoes are something we look forward to every year. Do you know anyone with a garden who wants to get rid of theirs?

georgiegirl
We sold it, which requires a couple of months of waiting and two sets of signatures at the notaire's office.
Nice to hear from you!

Spacedlaw
No we didn't sell the house. Just the garden.
It isn't attached to the house and we had a good offer for it from some neighbors so decided to sell it.

Veronica
I'm glad you got some tickets and are going to Paris! Have a wonderful time.
I need to take current photos of Domino. The last one is about 1 month old. If I can catch him sitting still long enough, I will.
I love the market in Narbonne! We wanted a night out and couldn't do it on Saturday so decided to go ahead on Sunday. We had a great time, even though the club was very, very quiet.

G3WGN said...

Show us the hare! I'm insanely jealous - we can't get much (or even any) game out here on the left coast of US. And I hope it is bloody - you can't make a great civet de lièvre without the blood!

Jennifer said...

david
It was bloody, definitely! I'll be writing about the recipe next week, but doubt I'll post the raw, skinned hare photo.

Bruce Anderson said...

great post. we are enjoying the aveyron and the fall colors, ones I have not seen in 20 years, since los angeles doesn't really have seasons. It's so beautiful. sorry about the garden. happy that you are loosing less money. Yes, WTF with the x-friend....I saw sex and the city on the place from Chicago to Paris, glad I saw it, would have never gone to a movie theater, but agree with the hair thing! I want to see the hare. I just got our first chicken from the boucherie and it came with the head and neck, asked him to cut the head off, but he kept the neck...it was interesting but really good!

Jennifer said...

our juicy life
Aren't the colors amazing! I used to miss the changing colors when we lived in New Orleans. Nothing compares to autumn leaves!
I remember the first chicken I bought here at the butcher's. It came with head and feet, which thankfully he cut off.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the update, Loulou. Glad you've regained some of your buying power (more cheese! more wine!).

Update from Savor Culture: the wonderful husband and I moved from New England to Tennessee. We lived in Massachusetts for a year (apprenticeship for hubby), and are getting back to my hometown near Nashville.

I'm on a quest to find the artisan cheese scene here!

Riana Lagarde said...

will you keep the pyjamas? i wanna make a davy croquet hat!

congrats, on all the good news and boo, hiss for the carte dsj as per normal

green tomato minced meat. very very good, try it.

David said...

maybe you could've swapped the garden for a carte de sejour?

you might've asked asked at the prefecture ; )

Jennifer said...

Danielle
Welcome home to Tennessee!
I'm sure you'll have fun finding all the cheese producers in the area.
Are you still learning to make cheese or have you finished your classes?

riana
I'll ask him to keep the pelts for you and hope to bring you some when I see you.
La CDS...we're so used to it now. C'est normal! :)

Monsieur David
Damn! Why didn't we think of that!?!