Wednesdays in France

Seen in the Marais, Paris - ubiquitous Citroen H-Van

Sunday Night Dinner

Everyone knows Sue likes to cook - we have this book shelf that is all of Sue's cook books. I'm the culprit. Saturday we went to look at a replacement car for my work car - nearby is the Prahran Market and Sue's favorite shop, "The Essential Ingredient".
They have heaps of great things for the passionate foodie as well as a fabulous book section. For Christmas I bought Sue the Rachel Khoo's "Little French Kitchen". The photo above is of her first book, "Little Paris Kitchen", Sue tells me this one is so much better.

It must have inspired her to a cooking mood for Sunday Night. No cheese toasties tonight but it was a sit around the tellie situation. Get a grip Leon, I never do cheese toasties.

A bit of this, a bit of that. Not as much as I had in mind, as Leon informed me at about 1 pm that we had a meeting at 3.  All good but a bit short on time.

So, from the left... panko crumbed sardines with a lime aioli. Tomatoes oven roasted with a little sweet chili sauce on the top for zing, and some prosciutto at the end to go crispy. Oven roasted potato wedges, and lastly, a zucchini slice. I used to make this slice when the kids were little, and then forgot about it for about 20 years. A guy at Leon's work sent home some zucchini and voila! It has zucchini, eggs bacon, onion and cheese. Sooo yum. And very, very easy', which, being lazy I appreciate!

Then, we had bought some figs at the market yesterday. They are dripping from trees, if you are lucky  or farsighted enough, but I have to buy them and they are very expensive!!! I only bought 5. So this is a frangipane fig tart with a sweet short pastry base. We had it with thick cream....to save on calories, you understand. Otherwise you might need to eat more tart. Ahem.....

All in all a nice end to the weekend. (And there's some tart left for tomorrow.....if I'm quick enough.. which is doubtful *sigh*)

So the weekend has gone and the working week begins, see you with Wednesdays in France soon.

G'Day - Yep, it's that time again - happens once a week - this time with a full house.

Andrew, Mitchell, Carly, Sharon, Denise, Darren and Jack my Dad - oh yes, Sue and I.

Now that's a few bottles of bubbly for Champagne Friday.

A Family and friends Affair

Bloody Mary Sunday can wait for Saturday.

Do tell - what did you do on this Friday night?

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200,000 plus hits - what does that mean, really?

Just another Wednesday in France
It sounds nice doesn't it - 200,000 hits. People who have stumbled across your Blog.

But!!!! Let's get real. People hit the blog and think, that's not what I want............and move on.

But for some it touches a common point - we know because we read blogs and it happens to us.

I'm sure that some readers also read the Blogs of a couple of American Blokes that live in a Hamlet nearby Saint Aignan.

We've been doing this since I can't remember when (maybe 2009) but I remember why we did it. It was a way to share our journeys overseas with family and friends. The funny thing is that we made more friends, some we've never meet face to face and some we have - we've never been disappointed either way. I'm sure its the same for you. Without naming names, we've been very blessed with our friendships through our Blog.

Later this year we return to our final week in France at a Paris apartment that we stayed in previously.
It will feel like home as will the whole trip.

There's a lady in in California that has introduced us to others that we've connected with. We've enjoyed the company and friendship of a couple who live on the Cher river whom we rented a cottage in a little village in Thenay. We've enjoyed a marvelous evening ( a few actually) with them and another couple who live further up the river at Saint Aignan, Many sore heads the next morning!!!!

I can't remember if we met Celestine or her custodians first. Possibly at the same time.
Either way, its been an ongoing relationship thru Blogging.

Then there's that Aussie/English couple - well really, he's a 10 pound Pom and they took us for a lovely drive in Celestine. 

There's also a lady with a VERY tall husband whom we met on our last trip to walk around Odour sur Glane. Not a pleasant second time experience for her as the village remains as it was after the Nazis raised it to the ground and murdered all the inhabitants, women, children and the men.

Lunch afterwards confirmed that there was a friendship that continued via both our blogs.

There's others that we haven't met face to face but I feel we know them and share their daily life.

Odour sur Glane - no words can describe the sadness of the village.

Maybe we'll get to meet those we haven't as yet met but hopefully we will during our 10 week stay later this year.

Sue and I say thank you for reading and please keep sending comments.

We love hearing from you.

No More Car Industry in Australia

TOYOTA has announced it will cease making cars in Australia in 2017, blaming the cost of manufacturing and the high dollar.

Toyota announced the closure of its Altona plant this afternoon and was briefing workers on the withdrawal. The company has been making cars in Australia since 1963.

Toyota’s move follows the decisions of Ford and Holden to quit manufacturing in Australia by 2016 and 2017 respectively.

It means that from 2017, Australia will not have a local car manufacturing industry.

Over the last six months three of our major car manufacturers, Ford, General Motors Holden and Toyota have announce that they will cease building cars in Australia. Really it means Melbourne and Adelaide where the plants are located. Further to the actual employees at these plants there is the flow-on to the suppliers to the big three. Over the next two to three years there will tens of thousands workers looking for employment.
It's estimated that there will be over 30,000 jobs lost by 2017.

The Taxi industry supported local cars - Silver top taxi in Melbourne during the 1950s.

The recently installed Government have denied any further subsidies to the car manufacturers although there are other reasons for the closures. The high Australian dollar makes manufacturing uncompetitive in the global market and the Australian Market has changed. The general Australian population are not wanting big cars anymore - well they are but not as much as they once did. With more choices out there, Australians have discovered more economical cars.

I've only had Holdens and Fords as company supplied cars over the years. As personally owned cars, I've had British, Japanese, French and Italian cars, all of them smaller and more versatile or just that little bit different to be a bit more interesting.
During the 60s, most Australians drove a Ford or Holden, then the Japanese cars gave us an alternative choice. In more recent times, the likes of the Korean cars have improved to the extent that bang for buck, they are excellent value.



http://youtu.be/RSp7bxgca_Q