1st
Chapitre 6: I’m all growns up
So, people seem to be vibing on this here blog thing thus far. I guess we’ll roll with it for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, things in this neck have been on the mellow lately, so there isn’t a great deal to fill you in on. Cap Ferret, some food porn, but that’s about all we got.
Dimanche. Cruise out to Cap Ferret with Claudine. It’s only about an hour to the west coast of France which is HUGE. Unfortunately, the weather was spotty at best. We hung at the beach for an hour, and then rolled to our “reservation” for fresh oysters. I’m hesitant to call this place a restaurant, because, well, it isn’t. Claudine brought us down to the bay-side wharf area. This is where I need to be. Locals, making local scratch. Parfait. We shimmy down a few side alleys, each house beat up in their own unique way. We finally exit onto a ramp leading to a deck r all the b-day e-mails and crap on Facebook. I figure as long as I can positioned directly onto the bay. For me, it’s all new. Real. For C, it’s something she does every week I would imagine. 2 dozen, pate, bread, bottle of BDX Blanc. Layup. The oysters were from the water only about an hour before. I took a few barbs about the “ketchup” we put on our oysters but all in good fun. I got it. Fresh lemon and the salt water are all you really need. Unfortunately, I had a bout of camera disease and left it in the car. Lame. I ate so much I went back to Claudine’s place and crashed on the chaise in her front lawn. Can’t wait to go back.
Lundi saw a bit of rain and we mostly worked in the garden, she dug up a bowl of snails and was pretty jazzed about that. Unfortunately, when you dig snails up in your front lawn, you need to wait about 10 days before deciding to make a snacky out of them. I still have a few days to decide where I stand on this one.
Dinner that night rocked as usual. Can’t really remember what went down, but when Claudine started hollowing out the Cantaloupe and filling it with Port, I was ready to mass market this woman for some serious scratch on eBay.
Mardi, more rain – and hail. I did my laundry; I filled the car with gas. Both actions seemingly easy tasks except for the whole foreign language thing. Oh, the only coins you take are 1 Euros. So I need 25 of those. Ok. Gotcha. How logical. Everyone in St Andre has given me change to do my laundry. I am so making friends here!
Mercredi. Bulle’s birthday. My birthday. I’m all growns up! I’m feeling good today. Berlios chilled in my crib last night so we’re getting along pretty well. Helene goes apeshit on the birthday meal. Truly uncalled for, yet much appreciated. Last evenings roster included: Helene, Me, Godmother Carole (not Claudine), Godmother Kids (Clement, Nicolas), Chloe, Pauline, Bulle (dog), Berlios (cat).
Menu, bitches:
Apéritif: Champagne (not sure what it was, it got drained quickly), accompanied by bilinis, 5 spreads, and charcuterie.
D’Abord: Fondant 2006 St. Joseph Blanc, pasta with artichoke, gruyere, some kinda tomato sauce.
Ensuite: 2002 Pavie-Macquin, St. Emilion. Magret de Canard w/apples, pommes, and haricot verts with parmesan and fresh black pepper.
Ensuite: Salade
Ensuite: 2003 Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey, Sauternes. Frommage.
Ensuite: Full on happy birthday jam in French*. Presented with ink sketch of bottling line (by Cleymont) and signed by all. If my camera batteries weren’t both dead, I’d have some photos. My bad.
Enfin: Chocolat en crème glace. Big boy Nicolas raped his plate. Quite disturbing.
* Pauline on fake electric drumsticks obtained from McDonalds Happy Meal .
What can I say? One of the better birthdays I’ve had with 7 people speaking French the majority of the time, but I still got it, and had a blast.
On a separate note, many thanks for the e-mails and shout-outs on Facebook. I figure if I can keep a few strands of hair on my dome, I’ll be in decent shape for awhile.
The rest of the week looks quiet. The French have 3 national holidays in a week or something. Many stores are closed, traffic ensues, etc. People are traveling all over from what I understand. I’ll probably stay put for a bit and then head South into Spain. Not sure about plans, but thinking San Sebastian for a few days and then maybe down to Barcelona.
Status Report:
Literature – I gutted through The Alchemist and finished it. Again, not my thang. Glad the kid found the treasure and Personal Whatever and is whole again. No mas Paul Coelho.
Now Snow Blind, by Robert Sabbag — that’s a literary tour de force. Half is in the rear view already. It’s got everything you look for in a book. Semi auto-biographical, partying, criminal mischief, shady characters, NYC.
Cell phone: Still MIA on this. I did open a bank account if that means anything. Of course I won’t be getting my bank card for a week, because of the “holidays.” Had a great laugh with Helene over this last night. Shit wouldn’t fly in NYC, no how, no chance.
For those of you heading to NOLA, enjoy and be safe. I am hoping for good FEST weather and music to fill your souls. Team Panic in the house.
