How you like them apples?
I sure do like apples and I don't mean Isabelle's cheeks! I mean...wait, what do I mean by that? Let's not explore.
Apples make pie (good), sauce (gooder), and cider (goodest!). The cider I'm talking about isn't the Woodchuck or Strongbow in a six pack. I mean the frenchy (what else) kind made in Normandy where the apples are fermented until they alcholise. They add nothing at all to the juice (JUICE!) and then I buy it in the package store and drink whole bottles of it until I fall over.
It's not an easy product to find because we 'mericans have our own ideas of what hard cider is, don't we, Vermont? I've only found two labels so far in Atlanta and one is clearly better than the other. It's Etienne Dupont and I have my eyes set on the giant 1500ml bottle for this weekend. That's two wine bottles in one. My liver is frightened.
I'll have my chance to try many more later this year when we follow the appley path of the Normandy Cider Route. Sixteen different farms = Yen passed out for 3 days, waking up, asking "Where the hell am I? France? Woohoo, let's go get some cider!" And repeat.
Cylinda can't wait.
http://www.calvados-tourisme.com/loisirs/route/route5_gb.asp
« January 24, 2008 7:51 PM | Post a Comment | 0 comments »
7 for 2007
Dalai Lama
Who needs anger management classes if you got the DL? Not me! Yen: Compassionately-enabled since October 2007.
"If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion." -- Dalai Lama
Technology
A new laptop and a cellphone has brought me closer to current societal standards. Aggregating RSS feeds and relearning the finer points of XSL transformations for work - fun, but it's still work.
France
I was just reminiscing about this trip the other day... and sorely missing the Chinese food from a takeout counter in Nice. Yes, inappropriate, but I get to try again this year. This first trip to the mother country was everything I hoped it would be and more: friendly, frenchy, beautiful. Wait, are we talking about the country or the women? Har har. It was less, too: chaotic, crazy, inaccessible. Sitting at the park on top of the gorge in Gourdon was one of my best moments of the year.
Maladies
A radar head and some kidney damage in the boys and a bout of bronchitis in and a hospital visit for me makes this the year of the sick.
Novel
I originally wrote my time jumping meth meets Pony Express story three years ago and I finally rewrote half of it for Nanowrimo in November. I'm actually proud of it which is difficult to admit because I find my writing extremely tedious <-- like that.
Isabelle
First the woman releases my new favorite album of ever and all time in April - De retour de la source. Then she smiles and winks and talks to me during her concerts in Quebec. How, I ask, how can I not be insane in the membrane over her? I do have my limits, though. Obsess over her? Yes. Create a painting and selling it online for 15,000 euros?
Maybe.
Sandwiches
Po' boys, banh mis, croque monsieurs, cubans...bring it. I love you all so much I don't know how quite to express it.
I think I'll end the year on that note. See ya, 2007.
Labels: Cats, Food, France, Isabelle, Music, Trips, Yen
« December 31, 2007 12:25 PM | Post a Comment | 0 comments »
Paris, je t'aime
I'm fortunate to live within walking distance to not just a movie theatre, but one that shows artsy stuff, including foreign films. Paris, je t'aime, which just started playing there this past weekend, is comprised of 18 vignettes set all over the city with 18 different storylines. I thought it would be disjointing, but it held together well, except for the one about Elijah Wood becoming a vampire. If I ever hear that gross sucking sound of a movie vampire drinking blood again, it'll be too soon.
The glue is obviously the city of Paris, a place I've only seen from a plane. When I was returning from Nice a few months ago, I was able to see the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe as the plane was landing. I got all excited and turned to tell Cylinda. But, of course, she was asleep. Ten seconds after she puts on her seatbelt (car or plane), she turns into a furby.
HOW were these ever popular?
What's the point of all this? Cylinda's a furby? I don't know. Are you still there? If so, go see Paris, je t'aime if it's showing near you. It's mostly in French, but there are a few English vignettes. You might recognize about half of the actors in it.
The high points for me were Fanny Ardant (because she's Fanny Ardant, one of the best things in this world) and the last piece with the American tourist visiting Paris. I greatly identified with her wanting to practice her French, but getting responses in English and thinking about delivering mail in Paris since she's a postal carrier at home. There was an overall sense of sadness to her story, but it wasn't for her or her situation or...
Nevermind. I've really lost all ability to form a coherent thought.
« June 20, 2007 6:55 AM | Post a Comment | 0 comments »
Anti-climatic
Nicolas Sarkozy élu à la présidence de la République à une large majorité
(Le Monde, May 6, 2007)
The French color their left and right parties blue and red like the USA but they mean the opposite of ours. Really! You can't find this awesome sort of analysis on Le Monde. They're too busy devoting an entire special edition to the election and examining the future of France.
Pfffft. Let's get to the real news: Just where was Sarkozy's wife today?
« May 06, 2007 2:04 PM | Post a Comment | 0 comments »
Must be the cheese
Last year, a family in France lost their cat on the a day before they moved to another town. 800 kilometers and 13 months later, the cat finds her family and says, "Found you! Now, your turn to hide."
"Je vous ai trouvé! C'est à vous!" The cat's bilingual, or so I've heard. But, the article isn't cause I can only find it in French.
Un chat fait 800 km pour rentrer chez lui (Cyberpresse, 04/24/2007)
Why can't my cats be this awesome?
All they have are the plump legs.
« April 24, 2007 4:15 PM | Post a Comment | 0 comments »
We went to Russia!
Just kidding! We went to Disney World.
If I could stop lying long enough (I can't), I would let everyone know that a recounting of the long-anticipated trip to France in the form of a website is ready to be viewed.
« March 19, 2007 5:51 PM | Post a Comment | 3 comments »
Nice, France
Ridiculous website to come...
« March 12, 2007 9:31 PM | Post a Comment | 1 comments »
