Rain.

Today is my Monday. Yesterday was a holiday in France so John was off for a long weekend. Don't get excited. We didn't do anything fun this weekend. It rained. And rained. And rained. I don't think I have ever seen it rain like this here. John, Sadie and I were all completely stir crazy and it's France so OF COURSE nothing was open. My biggest pet peeve about this country, besides the lack of public restrooms, is the fact that nothing is open on the weekends!

Anyways. Since we didn't have anything to do, I cooked.

Saturday: I made bread pudding and a chickpea curry. ( not sharing that recipe..I will be finding a new one! But the bread pudding... oh man. It. Is. Gooooood.) 

Sunday: Nothing too special.. some homemade biscuits. 

Monday: I was really running out of things to do.. So, I made Chocolate Chip Nutella Cookies, Corn chowder, and Cheddar and Chive quick bread muffins.(Recipe for both later!) 

Today: No rain!
Tomorrow: More about our trip! All pictures are edited so get ready!

L’Italie à Table

John and I had a fantastic weekend. Again. We are both loving the warmer weather here in Nice and with that warm weather come more things to do. Last weekend there was a large Italian food expo/festival in the center of Nice so on Sunday afternoon we took the bus into town with the idea of just walking around for a bit and then going for ice cream. Number one rule- No buying! I am pretty sure we knew going into it that we were doomed for failure. John and I plus tents full of Italian food can always mean great things for our tummies but not so much for our bank account. Things started pretty positively. We wandered, we perused, we even tasted. Bought a cup of espresso each (Italian espresso is the best.yum.), shared a small glass of beer, and then I realized that the Italians make my favorite drink- Prosecco. Oh, crumb, is it great. And, there was a distributor there at the festival. Big, fat, wedding cake crumb. I had a glass (Might I add, John was much less stingy with his beer than I was with my prosecco...) and then my sweet husband had pity on me and bought a bottle. After that, we bought a big box of Risotto -my next project- and John picked out a bologna that he wanted. (See, I am nice. I may not share my drink, but I let him pick out something he would like better.) After that, we debated the ice cream stop that we had actually come into town for but not for very long. Ice cream always wins debates. 

Photo log

Yeh! for Italian dinners! 

We bought a piece of that. John's Pick! 

 John thought this looked tasty. I was not so sure. 

 Ohhhhh man. Great stuff.

 The Prosecco Man. John was really just taking a picture of the table and he smiled for us. Ha!

 Of course, nothing is complete without CHEESE!

More info about L’Italie à Table

Weekend is over.. again..

Does anyone else feel like the weekends are never long enough? I am sure everyone does. They seem like they are going by so slowly but never slowly enough. Ah well, so is life. John is back at work today and I am.. enjoying the sunshine. Once we got through those 3 weeks of rain the "winter" has been very mild. Our average daytime temperature is around 55. Amazing. Especially after last winter in Lexington. Ice storms, snow every week, cold cold cold temps. Pretty sure we will both freeze to death in the US unless we are living in Florida.

This weekend we took a trip to Cannes. You know.. where they have the film festival. We had never been and really just needed something to do. Really pretty city. Real expensive too. I have never seen so many high end designer stores. Everything from Prada to Gucci to Pucci.. crazy! There is a huge convention center where hold the film festival and outside are hand prints of quite a few actors and actresses. And.. guess what... I put my hand in Julie Andrews' hand print. Yeh, that's right. Mary Poppins. Oh- and my hand is the same size as Jean Claude Van Damme. He is evidently a peanut of a man that packs a mean punch. Who knew? Well, walking was all that we did in Cannes because everything was wayyy out of our price range. Hope you all had a really great weekend!

Here is a pic of the cork tree that I talked about in the last blog. So unusual. The bark feels really light to the touch and almost spongey. Much like a cork feels in your hand.


John and Chewie. Along the seaside in Cannes they had quite a few of these cut out characters. Everything from Shrek to Harry Potter to Brad Pitt. Sadie actually growled at Chewie.. evidently she feels she should be the only furry beast in John's life.


Just a spoon full of sugar..... Ah, love her! And, she has itty bitty hands. Or, I have really large ones.. Still made my week though!

Happy Monday Everyone!

I hate Mondays. Ok, hate is a strong word. I do get to volunteer at the Library on Mondays but that's all it has going for it. It means that John has to go back to work, that our weekend of exploring is over, and today it means rain. Boo. Boo on Mondays.

That being said, I'll tell you about the weekend! Saturday was spent at the vet's. Sadie was due for a check up and booster shots. Not so fun for her, but John and I got to look at a very very cute French bulldog puppy so it was fun for us! I think, if they were swimmers, we would have one. Oh, and if they didn't cost a million dollars.That's the real deciding factor.

To make up for her torturous Saturday, Sunday we went to a parc. Let me just say, I was not expecting much. French parcs are usually small and don't allow dogs. (Really? Makes no sense to me. Although, considering the fact that most dogs here are mean.. maybe it does make sense.) This parc was evidently an exception- or we just need to find more like this. It was HUGE- complete with a large walking path that went through a wooded area, fields, beside a marsh, over a couple of creeks, and had a few real roman ruins. (These are quickly becoming old news. Roman ruins are everywhere.) Sadie loved it and sniffed to her little heart's content. John and I loved it because it was a HUGE, OPEN space that is about 15 minutes from home. Open space is a very very valuable commodity here and you really learn to appreciate it. Oh, and did I mention that it was covered in cork trees? I don't have a picture, but when we go back, I will take some. Amazing looking trees.

I hope you all had just as awesome a weekend! And, here is a recipe that I tried out Saturday. Incredible.

Baked Shrimp in Tomato Feta Sauce Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 14.5-ounce cans of diced tomatoes
• 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
• 1 Tbsp minced fresh dill or 1 teaspoon dried dill
• 1 to 1 1/4 pounds medium sized raw shrimp, peeled and deveined (can leave tails on), thaw if frozen
• Pinch of salt, more to taste
• Pinch black pepper, more to taste
• 3 ounces feta cheese (about 2/3 cup, crumbled)

Method

1 Preheat oven to 425°F. Heat oil in a large, oven-proof skillet on medium high heat. Add the onions and cook until softened, 3-5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds more.

2 Add the tomatoes and bring to a simmer, reduce heat and let simmer for 5-10 minutes, until the juices thicken a bit.

3 Remove from heat. Stir in the herbs, shrimp, feta cheese, and salt and pepper to taste. Place pan in oven and bake, uncovered, until shrimp are cooked through, about 10-12 minutes.

Serve immediately. Serve with crusty French or Italian loaf bread, pasta, or rice.

Recipe taken from here

Cats have 9 lives right?

Have you ever had one of those weekends where you just wanted to sit around, drink coffee, and be lazy with the one you love? John and I had high hopes for that this weekend. Unfortunately, it didn't quite turn out that way.
The little kitten in the blog before this has become a regular visitor around our house. I am pretty sure that if possible, he would live with us permanently. Sadie loves him, and they have a ton of fun playing until he has to be sent outside due to the sniffing, sneezing, watery eyes, and welps that I develop during his visits.

This past Sunday little Knievel, as we now call him, came over for his 50th visit of the day. ( I told you, they are frequent.) After a while, I put him back over on his own balcony.. and watched from inside our apartment as he tried to come back over for the 51st visit. Key word in that sentence: tried. Instead of making it onto our balcony, Knievel the cat fell. 3 stories.

After a moment of shock, John and I raced outside to see what we were sure would be a kitty splatter on the pavement below. Thankfully, he wasn't there. Thus beginning our not so lazy, very exciting Sunday afternoon. We raced around the apartment putting on shoes and grabbing keys, then raced out of the apartment to alert his owner, and attempt to find Knievel. His owner was not at home. (Which brings up a whole other question of why on earth didn't she lock him up. But I digress.)

John and I find the poor cat in the hallway of our building, apparently pitched out by whomever found him. ( I am not impressed with whomever this was.) With agonizing breathing, pain in his eyes, and lack of movement, I was convinced the poor little kitty was done for. Amazingly enough, he pulled through. After an hour of sitting in the hallway and a trip to the vet, Knievel the Kitty had only a minor hemorrhage near his lungs and a few roughed up toenails. As the vet said- he is a lucky cat.

The rest of the "lazy" Sunday was spent trying to unwind from the stress of the afternoon. Both of our nerves were completely shot- but at least that little rat of a cat is ok and hopefully he won't feel the need to have another flying lesson.

A day in...... The Weekend

One of our favorite pastimes for the weekends, if we don't have anything else planned, is to get outside of Nice and explore. There are many, many villages around Nice, and there are always interesting things to see.
This Sunday, we decided to visit the village of St. Jeannet. This quaint little town is nestled at the bottom of a cliff that can be seen for MILES. We had always talked about going and since we didn't have anything better to do, John and I packed up Sadie and some water and took off for the hills.
After a lovely lunch (Well, John's was lovely, I forgot how much I loath ginger on anything.eck )and a little exploring around the town, we found the beginning of the trail that led to the top of the cliff. The trail was pretty steep and I am pretty sure Sadie thought we were trying to kill her. But, after a few rest breaks for the pup, we reached the top. The view was breath-taking. You could see from Villefranche sur Mer... all the way past Antibes and onto other towns that I don't even know the names of. This may not mean a lot to everyone, but it is a realllllly long way. Amazing!
Oh, and if you would like to see other pictures, you can go here later in the week. Sorry, not enough time to get them all done today!