David's Diary: July 14-16, 2001

A Few Days In The Country

While we are within an hour's drive of Paris, we need time to recover from the preparations for our trip and the busy week that we had in London. We have been enjoying the cooking of Pascale, but we are still getting used to the different meal times. Breakfast is often late, since we are all sleeping in. Lunch is usually served around 2:00 and lasts until 3:00. By 6:00, the children are ready for a snack. Pascale's usual snack is bread with chocolate -- something the children never turn down. Supper typically starts around 8:30 and lasts for an hour or more.

Lingering over a four-course meal is enjoyable, but it often feels like it is time for bed as soon as supper is over. Karalee has been helping Pascale in the kitchen, but we both feel that Pascale needs a night off. On Saturday night, we treat the Senant family to an evening out in a local restaurant. We arrive at 9:00 PM and have a lovely fixed prix menu. Kevin and Allen get the "enfant portion" of chateaubriand, but both turn down the Béarnaise Sauce. Jocelyn sits between Pierre and Pascale, so much of her evening is spent trying to understand the French conversation.

Pascale's Kitchen

During the weekend we take a walk in the nearby forest. On Monday, the Senant family leaves for Brittany to visit with Pierre's Mom. This is the first time we are on our own in the house. We start by venturing out to Rambouillet where the local Intermarche store can satisfy all of our grocery needs. We manage reasonably well, but it takes some sign language at the check-out counter for us to figure out that we are suppose to weigh and price all of the fruits and vegetables ourselves. The weigh scales use visual symbols in addition to French names so we manage to figure it all out.

I am doing the cooking and really enjoying Pascale's country style kitchen. I have everything we need to make dinner. A four course feast follows starting with a salad, then lamb chops with potatoes and carrots. We have to have a cheese course with the new cheeses we just purchased and we finish with fresh fruit. Since this is France wine is one half to one third of the price in Canada, so we have plenty of selection. We are enjoying our time in France.

Since North America is between six and nine hours behind time here, there are a few late night phone calls to make. There are still several outstanding issues regarding the configuration of the boat. Our goal is to get these decided before July is finished, so it takes a few phone calls to the US and Canada to get things moving. The last three days have allowed us to recharge our batteries and get settled into the Senant house. Tomorrow is time to start doing some more exploring.