february 7, 2012

Cooking day at the Château...in the middle of a cold snap. No, I haven't suddenly gained 30 pounds, I'm just wearing a puffy down vest under my apron. 

february 6, 2012

Superbowl Sunday. Or actually, Monday. The game didn't start until 12:30am for us...but we toughed it out and (mostly) stayed awake.

february 5, 2012

10 mile run today for our half-marathon training. I'm bummed that even in this picture you can tell that I'm barely moving, and I'm pretty sure I could have race-walked the distance faster than I jogged it. Just two more long runs to go in our training before the big day! I wish I could say that I'm now hooked on this kind of running and can't wait to do this again...but at this point I'm thinking one half-marathon in a lifetime is enough.

february 4, 2012

Jay helping some of our neighbors with their willow harvest; they grow it for their own basket-making business and to sell wholesale to basket-makers around France. 

february 3, 2012

This is a French pizza at it's finest---crispy crust, lots of cream and cheese, oil floating freely across the surface...yum. But it also represents something that totally baffles me about France. People always say that the French stay slim because they eat smaller portions. In my experience, I've been stuffed to the gills here in France way more often than in the States, at restaurants and in peoples' homes. (And I'm definitely not complaining!) I can only assume they've got the whole balance thing figured out, indulging on special occasions and eating healthfully and reasonably on a day-to-day basis. But back to the pizza...this thing is about 13 inches in diameter (it's falling over the edges of a very large dinner plate) and is for ONE person. It has to have more calories than say seven or eight BigMacs. (May I also mention that there are bottles of spicy oil on the table to pour over the pizza, just to add some extra flavor?) And it's not exactly what I would call a balanced meal...there are a couple of onions swimming around in the grease, but that's all the vegetation in this particular meal. At a restaurant, each person is expected to order their own pizza: it's a dish, not something to cut up and pass around. And they don't do doggy-bags. So you either gorge yourself, or throw it away...and neither of these options seem to jive at all with French values (throwing away stale bread is a mortal sin)...and that is why I will forever remain confused about French pizza. And I will keep eating it until the day we leave.

february 2, 2012

Paul, Bekah and Rose have been finishing the walls in one of the big dorm rooms at the Château this week. It's going to look so great!

february 1, 2012

This whole training for a half-marathon has been somewhat brutal this week in the frigid temps, and I'm sure our neighbors think we're totally nuts. Whoever thought it was a good idea to schedule a race at the beginning of March? But at least it's getting us outside "enjoying" the winter landscape. This is a farmstead just outside of our village.