Week in Reverse

Well, this has been a fun one.. I really have had every intention of blogging in the past week but there have been just a few things going on.. Here's the rundown:

1) Last Thursday/Friday - Severe stomach ache sets in, can't hardly stand to touch my stomach. Think to myself "eh, it will go away."

2) Monday, lunch with friend in Nice, work at library, all while wearing 4 inch heel boots (6 hrs). Stomach is still aching.

3)Tuesday, Wake up with stomach ache, knee the size of a cantaloupe**, an elbow that stays at a 90 degree angle, and a fever. 

4) Hubby, who has been worried about the stomachache, insists on going to the dr. just to make sure all will be ok. A 4 day stomachache is nothing to mess with. So, we go to the ER. 

5)Where, I pass out in the lobby. After 6 hours, my first EVER IV, blood work, xrays, they can't find anything that is wrong with me. Which is good, I guess. 

6) Wednesday and Thursday are spent with me being unable to put on a shirt, touch the top of my head, scratch my nose, or really walk. But, stomach is not hurting as much. Or maybe everything else just hurts worse... 

7)Friday- Things are starting to recover. I can touch the top of my head, successfully put on my own shirt without assistance, and my left leg will almost fully extend. I sound my older than my 25 years, don't I?? 

All's well that ends well.

Moving update: Things in the apartment are selling well and we are slowing moving them out. Our moving day is the 14th of Feb. and our flight leaves Nice on the 19th. Wow. 

**I have degenerative knees and should probably never wear 4 inch heels. I have learned my lesson. Flats. Flats are my friend.

First Day

Over the weekend, John and I were talking about our first day in Nice and I realized that it hadn't been blogged. I'm not sure that it could have been any worse. After 18 hours in transit, we had gotten off the plane and were greeted with torrential rain showers. Hurray! We went through customs and baggage claim and hurried on to find a cab. And find one we did. A crazy young man drove us to our hotel, going at least 20 kilometers over the speed limit the entire time and THEN when we arrived at the hotel charged us 25 euros for a 5 minute cab ride. We were ripped off in our first hour in France. Lucky us!! We were too tired to argue or find anyone to argue for us so we paid, got our bags, and checked in to our room. Ahhhhhhh. Our 25 square meter home for the next 2 months. (That's 270 square feet. Tiny. Smaller than our bedroom and bathroom in Lexington. It had a ittybitty kitchen, foldout couch, kitchen table, and a bathroom.) 

After a shower, we felt refreshed enough to find the internet connection and  email our parents to let them know we made it. Ah, Crap. Our computer adapter is a 3-pronged plug and all of our power converters are 2! Oh! And, it was lunch time. This means that all of France is closed for at least an hour including the front desk at our hotel. We had no one to ask were to buy one. John said, "The airport will have them, they always have that kind of stuff." But how did we get back to the airport? We didn't know what bus to take, and there was no one to ask. We couldn't afford another taxi. So, we walked. 4-5 kilometers back to the airport. In the rain. And we didn't pack an umbrella. (We did have hiking raincoats. We wore those.) Luck for us, they did have the adapter that we needed so we bought it and.... instead of asking what bus would get us back home.. we walked. HA! (Crazy Americans. What were we thinking??)

On our way back to the hotel, John and I realized we were hungry and probably needed to buy some stuff to eat. At the bottom of the hill going up to the hotel is a small market and a boulangerie that became one of our favorite places to stop for bread, pastries, and sandwiches. John bought a loaf of bread and we picked up some tomatoes, apples, sliced sandwich meat, cheese, and mustard. How can you go wrong with sandwiches and fruit? Ohh... so very wrong. We got back to our room and started opening everything to make sandwiches. Open up the cheese and.... spthuk... STINKYYYYY! We couldn't even eat it. John walked it down the trash bin because we couldn't stand to leave it in the room. Ah, well, we still had our bread, mustard and meat! Slice the bread, liberally apply mustard, slice of meat and eat! WWWOOOOWWWW. For those of you who have never been lucky enough to try French mustard, it is a treat. Your sinuses will be clear and you will breath easier for days. Especially with the amount that we put on our sandwiches. 

After all that, we decided it was time to go to bed. We collapsed, woke up early the next morning (jetlag!), and the beautiful sun was shining. We walked to the sea, took some pictures, and began the rest of our adventures in Nice.

  This is the view from the garden of our hotel. The Sea is straight ahead.

John at the sea on our 2nd Day in Nice. It was beautiful that day. 

I love this picture. It is very "Nice".

Probably my favorite picture that I have taken of Nice. 

It's Tuesday! Enjoy it! :-)

Conquering My Fear

My Granny Saylor always made the best rolls. I mean... really.. the best. Every holiday, those rolls were on the table. Hot, golden brown, made-from-scratch goodness. And, on special occasions, (Which it always was when she made these rolls.) she broke out the real butter. Yeh. Lethal combination. Before I realized how fattening they were, my Christmas dinner always consisted of rolls, green beans, rolls, macaroni and cheese, tiny piece of ham, and another roll. But I think that watching Granny make rolls is one of the reasons that I had a fear of yeast. You see, my Granny was one of the least patient people in the world. (I'm probably 2nd, right after her.) So whenever she made rolls it was a race to the finish line. Flour flying everywhere, butter melted in about 3 different bowls, 3 different pans because she never started out with one big enough. And then they had to raise. She didn't leave enough time for them to raise naturally, that would have been.... unnatural... for her. Where to put them???? In a hot car. Outside. In the sun. Those suckers didn't have a chance. 

Because I grew up watching this.. dance..that Granny had with her yeast rolls, I have been afraid to use it. She ran around like a "chicken with its head cut off" the entire time she was making them. (Although, thinking back, she was prone to do this with other things too..) I like to stay calm in the kitchen. So no yeast. Until the other day when I had a severe desire for a cinnamon roll. They were worth the risk. 

And you know what?? I did it. I made them. They rose. (Eventually. This waiting stuff is for the birds.) I baked them and we ate every single one. 

So Granny, this recipe is for you. She would be proud of me. 

Most Amazing Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients 

Dough:

• 1/4-ounce package yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1/2 cup scalded milk
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup butter or shortening
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 3 1/2 to 4 cups all-purpose flour

 Filling:

• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup butter, melted

Icing:

• 1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water and set aside. In a large bowl mix milk, sugar, melted butter, salt and egg. Add 2 cups of flour and mix until smooth. Add yeast mixture. Mix in remaining flour until dough is easy to handle. 

3.Knead dough on lightly floured surface for 5 to 10 minutes. Place in well-greased bowl, cover and let rise until doubled in size, usually 1 to 1 1/2 hours.When doubled in size, punch down dough. Roll out on a floured surface into a 15 by 9-inch rectangle. 

4. Spread melted butter all over dough. Mix sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle on dough.

5. Beginning at the 15-inch side, role up dough and pinch edge together to seal. Cut into 12 to 15 slices.

6. Coat the bottom of baking pan with butter. Place cinnamon roll slices close together in the pan and let rise until dough is doubled, about 45 minutes. 

7.Bake for about 30 minutes or until nicely browned.

For the icing: Beat together cream cheese, 1/4 cup butter, confectioners' sugar, and vanilla extract. Spread frosting on warm rolls before serving.

Enjoy!!

Recipe is a blend of these 2- Here and Here

Velo Noir et Bleu

A few months ago, the city of Nice started a "green initiative" called Velo Bleu. It is a bike rental program with small stations all over the city of Nice. All you have to do is walk up to the big blue station with the big blue bicycles (velo bleu), hit the right buttons, call a number, and viola! You have a bike. Easy huh? John and I thought so too. So, we each bought a year membership and should be getting a card in the mail this week so all we have to do is swipe our card and take a bike- even easier.

This past Monday I decided to try out our new bikes. I was going to the library and thought that I could probably make it to town faster that way than I could take the bus. So, off I went to the closest Velo station. And spent the next 15 minutes trying to get it to work. It didn't. I walked to the NEXT station. No bikes. I walked to the NEXT station. Again, no bikes. Then I remembered that there is one more station in our little block. In a slightly odd place so I figured that it might actually have a bike. It did. After walking to 4 bike stations and already sweating like a pig- I had a bike. Unfortunately, there was a very narrow sidewalk and a busy street. I haven't ridden a bike in about... 12 years.. and thought this might be testing my luck just a little bit. (Actually, I am pretty sure this adventure had NO luck what so ever. You'll see.) So, I walked the bike to the nice bike path that runs from one side of Nice to the other and finally got on. It didn't go well. Something was wrong with this bike. It wanted to go right. No matter what I did, it wanted to go right. I took one hand off the handlebars to scratch my nose and BAM. Ran into a fence. I kid you not. I really ran into a fence, fell of the bike, and scraped my knee and the top of my foot within the first minute of being on this thing. But, I was DETERMINED to get to the library on this stupid bike. After walking around for 30 minutes just to FIND it- darn it, I -would- make it to the library if it killed me. So, I got back on and realized that they are doing construction on the bike path and I had to ride in the grass. (See? No luck. No luck at all.) Scraped the top of my other foot getting through all of that mess and finally made it to the nice, smooth path. Beautiful scenery, nice, calm sea, just wonderful. I couldn't look at it though. Too busy trying to keep the crazy bike from running over people. Almost took out a nice old man. ( I assume he was nice. All I saw was his back.) Oh, almost forgot, the road I was riding beside has bus stops and where these bus stops are, the path curves. In a few of these curves were work vehicles. So not only did I have to take the curve on the crazy bike but I had to also go around another car/truck. Yeh, right. I ended up on the sidewalk and then made my way back to the bike path. (Oh, it's such a good thing I can laugh at myself.) I made it up the road, found where I needed to turn to reach the library, but there were no bike stations. I road a little farther- still no stations. Eventually, I had to turn around, go back, and walk the stupid, stupid bike across the road to find a station. After a harrowing bike ride, I finally made it to the library and only an hour late. 

I took the bus home.

And, I have bruises. John and I now have a new name for Velo Bleu. Velo Noir et Bleu.

Oh the joy of finding new friends....

Since moving here, John and I haven't exactly expanded our social circle and I still really don't have a lot to do during the day while he is at work. Because of this I decided last week to take decisive action. I posted a thread on an English forum here France asking for things to do during the day, explaining that I was an expat wife that couldn't work. And, just a couple of days later, I received a few messages from other girlfriends/wives in the area that also have nothing to do. Exciting! or so I thought...
My first meeting went well... rather horribly. Did you ever meet someone that was your complete opposite? Well, I have. Made for an interesting hour... Anything that she said, I thought the complete opposite. Anything I said, she, ah, adamantly disagreed. For example.. I said that Nice was the largest city I would ever want to live in, she said that Nice drove her crazy because it was so small. Later on, I said that we lived on the outside of Nice because it was better for John's commute. She responded that she didn't care how far her boyfriend had to drive to work, she had to live in the center of town. And on and on it went..
Don't worry there is a better ending to this story. On Friday I met with another girl who moved here from north England and is married. And, we actually got along. :-) hurray! I will keep you posted on any other developments.

Oh, I also got an offer to work on a boat and go scuba diving afterwards. Pretty sure I won't be taking him up on that one!! Yikes.

A day in.... Well.. that was interesting.

I am cheating today.I don't have a picture for you..and I am not feeling so great. So, today you get a funny story.
Since we don't have a clothes dryer, (and most people in France do not) I have to hang the clothes up outside on a rack and wait for them to dry. Well, this means that what used to be laundry day has become laundry 2 or 3 days. So, this morning I finished washing the dishes, put a load of clothes in the washer, and started it up. Forgot one simple little thing- hanging the drain hose over into the sink. (Oh, this is also pretty common. Not fun, but common.) Time lapse- around 35 minutes- water is everywhere. Literally, my entire kitchen, small as it may be, has about a half inch of standing water. It is running under the cabinets and into the living room. ARGH! With the help of 3 beach towels, 3 regular bathroom towels, and about 30 minutes with a hairdryer stuck at the base of the cabinets to blow the water out... it is finally dry.
Bet I don't forget to put the hose in the sink again.