Dreaming of France -- 2017 This is the Year

Thank you for joining this weekly meme. Grab a copy of the photo above and link back to An Accidental Blog. Share with the rest of us your passion for France. Did you read a good book set in France? See a movie? Take a photo in France? Have an adventure? Eat a fabulous meal or even just a pastry? Or if you're in France now, go ahead and lord it over the rest of us. We can take it.

Today is the first day of the year that I will move to France. This year we will make our dream come true.
Everything I do with the kids, with my friends, makes me think, I won't be able to do this next year.
So there's a certain melancholy to it, but I imagine the adventures my husband and I want to have. I think about his recent 61st birthday and how we could push back the date to move, but how many healthy years do we have to climb mountains and dip our toes into the Mediterranean.

How many years can we count on wanting to walk unfamiliar city streets and settle into cafes for glasses of wine or tiny cups of espresso, to order in another language and try to translate menus;

to breathe in the beauty of a Roman-made arena or walk in the footsteps of great artists;

We visited the studio of Paul Cezanne and gazed at Mont Ste. Victoire which he painted many times.

The Pont du Gard in southern France was built by the Romans around 19 BC

And we rode our bikes across it. Amazing

I know that I may face many sentimental decisions in the coming months as we get rid of belongings, sell our house and plan to move to France, but I need to remember the reasons I'm doing it. We could get to the end of our lives and say we accumulated a lot of things and lived a safe life, or we can take some chances and have some adventures.
Hopefully, the safety of a leather recliner will be waiting for us when we tire of adventures.
So, don't cry for me, dear readers, wish me luck and follow along as I journey on.
Oh, and pray that none of my kids decide to become parents, because I have a feeling that grandchildren would throw a wrench into all of our plans.
Thanks for playing along with Dreaming of France. Please leave your name and blog address in Mr. Linky below, and leave a comment letting me know what  you think about my love affair with France, or your own passion for the country and its people and cultures. Also consider visiting the blogs of others who play along so we can all share the love.

Dreaming of France -- What do you love about France?

Thank you for joining this weekly meme. Grab a copy of the photo above and link back to An Accidental Blog. Share with the rest of us your passion for France. Did you read a good book set in France? See a movie? Take a photo in France? Have an adventure? Eat a fabulous meal or even just a pastry? Or if you're in France now, go ahead and lord it over the rest of us. We can take it.

This morning, as I drove my college son back to college, because he had missed his bus, he asked me why his father and I hate the U.S.
"We don't hate the U.S.," I hastily said, and he knew that already.
We don't want to move to France because we are unhappy with the United States, we want to move to France because we love it.
Mostly, people could say, "Of course, you love France. You've only been there on vacation."
But I did spend three months in France working as an au pair, so I have some experience working in France.
While there, traveling from Corsica to Bourges, we spent a few days in Aix en Provence. A relative we were staying with, took me to the main street of Aix -- the Cours Mirabeau, and while we explored shops along this street, I had a strange tugging at my heartstrings, as if this was the place I belonged.
I've felt that every time we traveled there.

Here's a plaza in Aix en Provence

We also appreciate the culture in France -- the importance of long, slow meals. The emphasis put on education and music and art. The value of spending time with family and friends.

Enjoying dinner at a Moroccan restaurant with friends in Aix en Provence. 

A musical interlude by our friends' children. 

 And all of these things draw us to France without even talking about the food and wine.

Without even considering the beauty of the diverse scenery throughout France and the glory of the history.

We biked across the Pont du Gard, a Roman-built aqueduct in southern France. 

We realize how fortunate we are to live in the United States, to have been able to raise our family here, to earn a good living that may allow us to move to France in the coming year.
What do you love about France?

Thanks for playing along with Dreaming of France. Please leave your name and blog address in Mr. Linky below, and leave a comment letting me know what  you think about my love affair with France, or your own passion for the country and its people and cultures. Also consider visiting the blogs of others who play along so we can all share the love.

Wine and Books

My friend Najah has enthusiastically taken over the job of marketing my book. Well, at least when it comes to trying to find venues for a book launch.

She invited me last night to join her at a new wine shop that would allow us to hold the book launch if we bought a case of wine. It's called a Micro-Winery, I guess like a Micro Brewery. They make their own wine right there.
So Najah and I met last night to do a wine tasting. We each got a flight of five wines, and of course, we shared with each other too so we could narrow down the three wines we would include if we bought a case and had a book launch.
We enjoyed tasting our wines. And we shared a bread and cheese plate, but we talked about the disadvantages of having a wine tasting in this part of town, since it was about 15 minutes away from my part of town.
We could have the book launch at a coffee shop near my house. The owner had offered and we could bring in our own wine.
Then Najah started talking about where I would stand to do my reading.
"I'm not really sure about doing a reading," I told her. "I'd feel so self-conscious."
"You have to do a reading!" she insisted. "People know you as a person but not as an author."
We looked at the calendar. We talked about possible dates. She suggested that I order more copies of the book.
I explained that I didn't want to try to sell the book at the launch. I wanted it to be more of a celebration, not pressure for people to buy something.
We discussed that I could have bookmarks made to give out at the book launch.
Then as I was driving home in the dark, I wondered about the whole idea of a book launch after all. My latest book, Trail Mix, came out in September. December is an awful time to have anything extra. Maybe I shouldn't have a book launch but keep plugging along writing and selling books online.
I have to be careful here. I might be selling myself short, convincing myself that I don't deserve a book launch.
Here's a copy of the poster that my friend Leah made to help me promote my novels. I think maybe I'll just put that up in the coffee shop.

Someday, I'll get the timing right. I'll have a book come out as planned and I'll have a big celebration. I'm just not sure that three months later, right before Christmas is the right time.
But if I do have a book launch, rest assured that you'll all be invited.

Spring Break

My spring break from one job is coming to an end, but Grace's spring break begins today.
I picked her up at 8:30 a.m., after a run with my friend Noreen, and we drove through Starbucks for coffee. Then I baked the kouign amann that I had set out last night to rise. We settled on the couch to drink coffee, eat kouign amann and watch House Hunters International in France and Switzerland. We  yelled at the Americans who complained about not having American-sized refrigerators.
I love having Grace home.

I've stocked up on supplies of chocolate and wine, plus asparagus and goat cheese. I hope to really enjoy the week with her.
May all of you experience something as delightful as a daughter returning home for the week.

Pre-Valentine Dinner

My husband and I may not get a chance to spend any time together on Valentine's Day, so tonight I picked him up from work and we went in search of a restaurant. Who expected restaurants to be packed on a Wednesday evening?

I guess it's a good sign for the economy that we couldn't find parking at the Irish place Brazenhead, and at the next place, the valet parking was blocking the road because it was so packed. 

We ended up at our old standby, Roma Trattoria. I had spaghetti and meatballs.

And we both enjoyed a glass of wine. Mine was a Malbec from Argentina. Very smooth. 

Hope everyone feels loved on Valentine's Day and every day.

Dreaming of France -- Wine

Please join this weekly meme. Grab a copy of the photo above and link back to An Accidental Blog. Share with the rest of us your passion for France. Did you read a good book set in France? See a movie? Take a photo in France? Have an adventure? Eat a fabulous meal or even just a pastry? Or if you're in France now, go ahead and lord it over the rest of us. We can take it.
Wine is another one of those items we always bring home from France. Our friend Michel usually accompanies Earl to a wine store, a magasin de vin, and they pick out six bottles for us to take home, three in each of our suitcases. Some time in our travels we determined this was the allowable amount and we never declare them, although now I read that we are only allowed one liter of wine per person without paying customs charges of 3%. Oops.
Good wine is so much less expensive in France.
Earlier this year, I was thrilled to find a wine I liked at Trader Joe's. I'm a sweet wine drinker and the Moscato d'Asti was sweet and sparkling and cost about $10 per bottle. That made me happy until our anniversary in June. That's when Earl went to the basement and brought up a bottle of our French wine. It was a dessert wine, so it was sweet too, and so much richer than the Moscato d'Asti.

Here's a comparison between the bottle I
bought this weekend and a regular bottle.

 Later in the week when I tried to go back to the moscato, it tasted like sparkling Kool Aid. I looked at the bottle and realized the alcohol content was only 4.5%. The French anniversary wine had an alcohol content of 13.4%.
This weekend, as I stood in front of the wine section at Trader Joe's, I decided to splurge a little. Earl was leaving for a week-long camping trip, so I picked up a tiny bottle of Sauternes wine for $20.
I also threw in a bouquet of flowers to enjoy this week too, giving myself a little stay-cation.
Grace was home briefly this afternoon and I decided that we should open the wine.
I probably used an entirely wrong kind of wine glass, but I thought these shorter glasses went well with the tiny bottle of wine.

Mmmmmm. It lived up to my expectations.
Sweet and rich, with 14% alcohol, so it didn't remind me of Kool Aid or pop.
I still think the wine is a little expensive, but I suppose it's less expensive than flying to France to buy some more wine. Although I'd prefer, to fly over and pick out my own.

Dreaming of France -- What Do You Bring Home?

Please join this weekly meme. Grab a copy of the photo above and link back to An Accidental Blog. Share with the rest of us your passion for France. Did you read a good book set in France? See a movie? Take a photo in France? Have an adventure? Eat a fabulous meal or even just a pastry? Or if you're in France now, go ahead and lord it over the rest of us. We can take it.
Maybe we can all satisfy our yearnings for France, until we get there again
When you go to France what do you make sure you bring home? My list is always long, but a true necessity is wine. Our friend Michel usually takes Earl to the wine store to buy six bottles. We each stash three in our suitcases.
We have the hardest time knowing when to drink that special wine though. Sunday we decided to open a bottle to celebrate our anniversary. Earl is afraid some of it is getting too old. I don't know much about wine, but apparently some wines age well and others don't.
We picked a bottle to open, a 2004 Chateau du Breuil. When we brought it up from the basement, it looked like this.

We put it in the refrigerator to chill. When we opened it, we could smell the strength of it. We forget how much stronger French wine is than the mostly sweet wines, nearly kool aid, we've been drinking here.
We sliced up some peaches to go with our dessert wine and it tasted marvelous.

What do you bring home from France?

Thanks for playing along today, and if you get a chance check out a review of my book on France Book Tours at Caffeinated Life on Monday. I hope she likes it. 

Saturday Snapshot -- Cork

To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post on Alyce's blog At Home With Books. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.
My brother lives about an hour and a half away from us. We went there the Friday after Thanksgiving to celebrate with him and he was excited to try a new corkscrew he'd gotten. But when he tried to open the wine, it pushed the cork into the bottle.
As he tried to pour, the cork floated into the neck of the bottle preventing the wine from coming out until a nudge dislodged it and it gushed out.
After that, the cork just floated in the bottle not causing any trouble.
It made me laugh. Family can be so quirky.
My daughter thought to take a picture.

Temptation

Oh, Trader Joe's, why do you tempt me?
I bought this bottle of wine just because of the bottle shape and the lovely golden color.

 

When Tucker walked in from school, he was immediately drawn to the bottle too. "What is this?" he asked.

"Wine,"I said.

"Can I open it?" he asked. Of course, he's too young to drink, but he said he didn't want to taste it, he was just drawn to open it.

There's something definitely alluring about this bottle and the color.

I let him open it and as the cork slipped out it popped. The moscato d'asti apparently has bubbles!

I poured a little bit in a glass to taste it and sealed it. I hope it's still good when Earl gets home tonight. I'd hate to have to drink it all alone. 

As if the tempting wine was not enough, around the next corner at  Trader Joe's, I found these holiday favorites: shortbread cookies covered with chocolate.

Hurry home college kids before I eat them all.

Saturday Snapshot -- Some Things I Love About France

To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post on Alyce's blog At Home With Books. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.
This month, I'm also participating in Paris in July sponsored byThyme for Tea and Bookbath, so, of course, I need a France related photo.
So here are some pictures from a 2010 trip to show you why I'm obsessed with France.



The light and beauty

Beautiful wines with every meal.

Cheese shops with rows and rows of choices.

Elaborate and silly bonbons

Decadent desserts

A beautiful cathedral or chateau out every window.

Simple family meals that are important to the culture.

Cafes

The beauty of the architecture of bridges and buildings

Happy Fourth of July

Today is our Independence Day, but, of course, I'm celebrating Paris in July sponsored byThyme for Tea and Bookbath, so I'll need to compromise.
I've only been in France one time over the 4th of July and since it was my long trip to France, I was disoriented and babysitting two little girls, so I probably did not even notice that I missed 4th of July.
 I can only think of two national holidays that are celebrated here and not in France. The first would be 4th of July and the second would be Thanksgiving. I haven't been in France on Thanksgiving, but someday maybe.
In order to pay tribute to our holiday, I ran 4 miles before it got too hot, and I'm going to a cookout at my brother in law's house.
I can include a photo of myself, looking relatively patriotic in a blue and white shirt though. The picture was taken on the train from the Charles de Gaulle airport to Paris on our most recent trip there in 2010.
So I can claim a tentative link to Paris in July and 4th of July.
Here it is.

And since I've included the blue and white for 4th of July, I'd better include some red too.
So, here you go, once again, from Paris.

Now I've given  you red, white and blue for Independence Day and I've tied it all into Paris.
Hope you have a happy day, whether you celebrate or not.

Three-Course Lunch

Wednesday afternoon, the sun was shining and the thermometer climbed into the 60s. I was working when Earl texted me and asked if he could make me something for lunch.
"Let's walk downtown and eat," I texted him back.
So when I got home, we walked to the strip of downtown and debated where we should eat. One restaurant was only open for dinner on weekdays. Another didn't have any outside seating. We ended up at our favorite Italian restaurant which had one lonely table outside.
We'll take it!.
As we settled into the sunshine, ignoring the whipping wind, the waiter set the usual menus in front of us and then a different menu. We had happened upon "Dine Originals" week in Columbus. This is a week when restaurants around the city offer special meals at special prices.
We could get a salad, a main course and dessert for $10 -- like a prix fixe at a restaurant in Paris. And it was cheap enough that we didn't feel guilty ordering the $7 glasses of wine to go with it.
We started with a spinach salad with dried figs and goat cheese. Then we ate wild mushroom ravioli with spinach and dried tomatoes. I finished the meal with pots de creme, which is similar to a chocolate mousse. Earl went for the cannoli.
I didn't need to eat again the rest of the day.
The outing was a reminder to me to enjoy the current life I'm living, rather than pining for the life we have planned for the future.
Yes, someday we hope to settle in a small village in France where slow lunches and long walks are the norm. But until then, we can find the same thing in our own little Ohio village.

April in Paris

No, we didn't take another trip to Paris, but I reminded Earl that last year at this time we were anxiously anticipating our trip to Paris. We decided to create our own France staycation by walking downtown for coffee and dessert.
We went to one of our favorite restaurants Roma Trattoria. We got to the restaurant just moments before they closed between lunch and dinner. They seated us along the front windows and we ordered espressos while we perused the dessert menu. Earl is a tea man usually, but he drank some espresso in Paris and decided that he would drink coffee for our Paris staycation. I'm not sure if espresso tastes better in Paris, or if everything tastes better in Paris, or if it was the lack of sugar cubes. A sugar cube is more sensory satisfying than a packet of sugar. Dropping it into the cup then using that tiny little spoon to stir it around, watching it melt slowly until it melded with the espresso.
Earl went for the chocolate cannoli for his dessert.

And I chose the lemon torte with vanilla bean ice cream. I don't usually like ice cream with my desserts. I don't like switching from the warm to the frozen. In this instance, the warm and the cold melted in my mouth. Delightful.

After our coffee and dessert, we walked to the grocery store and bought some French brie. When I was paying, I looked curiously at the cost of the brie. I thought the tag said $5.99 but it rang up $6.99. While Earl waited at the door, I went back to look at the price. Sure enough, it should have been $5.99. We went to the customer service desk and I showed them the receipt and the cheese.
The woman gave us back $7. When it rings up incorrectly, the buyer gets the item free, she explained. Plus, she was the only one behind the desk and she didn't want to go check the price. So, with our free brie, we walked down the street to Panera where we bought two baguettes. One baquette was to go with the cheese, the other baguette was to assuage the boys when they got home from school.
We walked home with the baguettes jutting from the bag and saw the spring flowers blooming in yards.
With our cheese, baguette and a new bottle of red wine, we were set for our Friday night date with House Hunters International France night.
Tucker claimed we were pitiful when he discovered our plans to watch six episodes of House Hunters International set in France. But he went to a Cake Walk, so who was he to talk?
Earl and I sipped wine, ate bread and brie and watched a couple of professors buy a tiny apartment in Paris, watched a British family choose a country house in Normandy, watched a single woman and her mother squeeze into a studio apartment in Paris, watched a family from New Orleans get a country house near Toulouse, and I went to bed while Earl watched a couple searching for a bed and breakfast.
We may be pitiful, but it was a lovely France staycation for us and cost much less than last year's 10-day trip to Paris.