Tasty Little Treats of Life

Sorry for the delay! I’ve been busy J. This past Sunday was spent touring the mini towns nearby.  One of them was really pretty with flowers and bridges around a lake with paddle boats. There was also a casino, big white church (the look was typical for marriages), huge spa, and several small shops.  Monday and Tuesday were spent mostly lounging around.  I did get a chance to milk the cows, but it only took about 30-45 minutes because of the size of the milking parlor with reference to the number of cows; 6 places twice for 40-45 cows. Since it’s not apple/pear season, there wasn’t much work to do. Tuesday night David came to pick me up. What do you know - I was going back! (to the Baule!!) I spent the night at Rozenn’s and David’s wherein the next day we left for la Baule. We got here around 5:00pm. I figured we would just have dinner and lounge around – not quite. Happily, we(David and Patrick(Rozenn’s Dad)) went on the boat to cast the fish net. We spent a while on the ocean because we had to go to two harbors to fill the boat with gas, as the first one was temperamental; it did not want to accept our card.  When we got back we had dinner, with Rozenn’s parents here this time.  Since there were fireworks at 11pm, we killed time by playing a round of Rummikub. Then, Patrick and Renee(Rozenn’s mom) took the mo-ped, while the rest of us took bikes, to the beach. The firework show lasted about 20 minutes and was trop chouette!!(too cool!) When we were looking for a spot to watch the show, we had to step through several crowds of people and passed tented restaurants situated on the beach. What an experience that would be: to enjoy dinner on the sandy beach, watching the colorful bursts of light in the sky.  The beach itself reminded me of my vacationing back in Florida when every Wednesday and Saturday night crowds of people would come to the beach. Except they came for the drums and dancing. Still, I was taken back to that memory on the warm, lively beach with my family.

Thursday was equally as eventful: in the morning we went to the grocery store to do the shopping before they closed at 1pm, for France’s Independence Day is July 14^th.  While everyone was cooking and setting up for lunch, Rozenn and I went out to the ocean for some fishing on foot. As the ocean was low, we crossed until we reached the middle(of the semi-circular beach) where we started fishing. This fishing included groping for shells in the sand in about a foot of water; we found more large shells this way! We even found two starfish, which I decided to take this time(sorry starfish!). They’re currently DRYING outside. Not even a half an hour later, we returned back to the house in a higher sea level; in the beginning it was up to my belly button but upon our return, it had reached my chest (5-7 inches?). For lunch, we started with champagne and finger foods, followed by foie gras, BBQ’d chicken wings with fingerling potatoes and leftover ratatouille, cheese and bread, and a rhubarb tart for dessert; I will never get tired of French food! (Even though I do miss cooking my gourmet Americana food). No later than 30 minutes, we all took the boat out to check our fish net for any surprises(as that’s how it truly is: you check for treasures). We ended up catching two fish: a ballista/trigger fish and a mackerel. We cast the net again for the next day. Then … we went water skiing!!! I’ve only experienced “water boarding”(snowboarding on water as I forget the name) and it was about 3 years ago with only 2 failed attempts. So I chose the easier route: water skiing – and I made it up too! Of course, the longest time was a little over 10 seconds, but still! Once we returned back to the house, we all took showers and lounged around until dinner. As a personal request, we ate tomates farcies and corgettes farcies(stuffed tomatoes and stuffed zucchini)! They were bursting with flavor, as they were stuffed with sausage and herbs.

After our ever delicious dinner, Rozenn, David, the girls, and I took bikes to the town for the carousel. We then simply walked around, looking at all the little shops. The girls played a bit in the arcade too, paying for a bottle of bubbles with their tickets. We took a detour on our way back to listen to as well as dance to some live music. With 10 minutes to 11pm, we returned back to the house to watch the firework show on the terrace. There were several shows taking place in the middle of the ocean(remember at night the ocean is very low) so that everyone could see a “Happy 14^th of July” firework show.

So far today I know that we’re eating the shells that we caught yesterday and I believe the two fish. We’re also going to reel the fish net back in. Furthermore, tonight I’m going out with Rozenn and David to a restaurant with some of their friends! It’s going to rain tomorrow so I’m going to try to go for a run; hopefully I’ll have time!