Day 33

The many loves of Juan Julio.

Today was a very busy day for old Jack Butler.  The house is unpacked and we are back to home improvement land.  Continuing efforts to slather on a fresh coat of paint over Madam Chabou's filth is proving to be a never ending task.  The weather of the past two days has been marvelous.  Crisp mornings with very mild and very sunny afternoons.  Today was so nice in fact, that I layed my paint brush aside in favor of a bit of gardening.  As with everything else here, Madam Chabou left her mark in the garden.  There was a ton of crap left behind that found itself a new home in her broken down shed.  I have now done enough work on the yard that I am starting to see the potential and the many soon-to-be pool side afternoons ahead.  One of the larger tasks of the afternoon was in fact a tour of duty as pool boy . . . just call me Juan Julio.  Doing my best Antonio Banderas I went about my business as if all the neighbor ladies were watching me in awe and wonder.  With the pool now clean and garden relatively sorted, it is time to start on the garage.  Wish me luck.  Right now, there ain't no way a car is fitting in there.  Even my pint sized 206 can't be wedged in that mess.  If I can accomplish that task and get the painting finished, we can finally breath a sigh of relief and start really enjoying our time here.

I think it is a good time to let you know about some of my favorite things now that we have been here for a month or so.  I already told you all about the cheese, but there are a number of other culinary wonders here that deserve a nod or two.  First is the bread.  Fresh baked every morn and a staple of every French citizen's diet.  The varieties are too many to count and I am doing my best to research them to understand the differences.  Today we have baguette epi and serventine.  The flavors are very similar, the serventine a bit wheatier (if that is a word).  Both are heavily floured which I prefer and I suspect that the type may have more to do with the way it is braided than the ingredient list.  I will let you know as I learn more.  The epi is very nice and is braided in such a way as it is easily torn for a snack on the go.  I like that very much as I don't like to rely on having to pull out our bargain basement bread knife.  If I come away from this land with no other souveniers, I do hope to acquire a nice bicycle, a nice wine set and a good set of knives for bread and cheese.  These things are staples of life here and things that will always remind me of our time in France.

Despite our 6 very large jugs of peanut butter that we shipped over, we have learned to have a jar of Nutella on hand just in case.  There is a very nice sliced bread (brioche) made with egg that is quite sweet and a killer snack with a liberal layer of Nutella on top.  It is a little like pound cake with chocolate frosting.  Likely very unhealthy, but it tastes great.  The kids are also very fond of the apple juice.  More of a cider here than juice.  It is super rich compared to its American cousin as most things seem to be.  The coffee is like crude oil and the gasoline is an atomic mix that doesn't smell anything like what we put in our SUV's back home.  I suspect it is something like jet fuel as there are times that I am certain the 206 is about to take flight.

Another more recent favorite of mine is channel 789 on our newly programmed satellite television.  It is adult channel, of course, and features very homely german women doing their best to look something more than dreadful in their old faded grandma underpants.  It is some really funny stuff.  I think its is some sort of a phone in program as they seem to be taking callers, but it is all in German, so they could be swapping recipes for all I know.  If I come up with a good recipe for bratwurst I will let you know.  These are just a few of the things that I have found entertaining and will continue to update you on all the new and exciting experiences in the months to come.  My next goal is to become more familiar with the wine industry here and it appears I will get my first opportunity this weekend.  More to follow.