By now you are probably all emeshed in the wonderful business of Christmas.
The meaning, the holidays, those family reunions, the perfect gift for that hard to buy for friend and that famous Christmas menu.
We miss you all and wish we had even a few hours to spend with each and everyone one of you. Not the least because we could simply have a bbq in Oz or a few drinks at a cosy pub in London with our family and friends with very little stress.
Instead we have moved (again, you cry!); we have started new jobs and new schools and now (being tomorrow), move into a new house and out of the pleasant but expensive long term hotel accomodations.
How many challenges have we faced in the last 8 months? Weekends spent in transit, then in DIY. Sundays being torn from each other to go back to the awful job.
You will be happy to know the attic is looking more like a room again, after its almost total destruction. I have a new and happier job situation and have passed the first hurdle of the dreaded Christmas Party (where I was forced to dance to bad 70s music). We all live together under the same roof and the entry to the new schools has been pretty seamless. Ange has had his debut in working in Switzerland and it has been great to finally tick the boxes that need ticking and have a bit of FUN.
Whew.
Heres the deal. The kids got early Chrissy presents and are spending the week learning to Ski while Ange ferries them to and fro and gets to alternatively freeze his bollocks off or go inside and drink hot chocolates. Meanwhile I am learning more than I ever thought possible about sap projects. Its been fun for all! The ski field is 15 minutes away by car in the Jura, a little place called Crozet, the advantage being its cheap, not swamped by tourists and an easy commute. Yes, we have snow tyres.
The kids have taken top the snow like ducks to water and after two days of the softest, featheriest snow falls I have ever seen, can turn, stop, grab the rope to pull themselves up and pick themselves up when they fall.
The menu is this year is inspired from our local market. Held every Wednesday and Saturday, we took a stroll last weekend and tried the local cheese (Tomme) from the Haute Savoie in all its different guises, stood in awe at the seafood stall and got a bit grossed out a the poultry and game where whole rabbits were displayed dangling from ropes by a hind leg, staring glassy eyed at the hapless crowd, while fowl were presented with a ruff of feathers complete with head and feet.
We will start with some seafood starters of oysters, spider crab, cooked langoustines, gambas and whole calamari, followed by Pintarde (Guinea fowl) pre-stuffed with homemade cepes with seasonal veges. Ange will pick the wine so I have no idea what that will be yet. Dessert, I hope, will be a Christmas pudding.
I hope we will get to have a traditional soupe de chalet or fondue at one of the chalets in the alps and maybe I will be brave enough to try the racket skis which are a little more stable.
Amby is a very enthusiastic learner Skier
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