jeudi, août 30, 2007
Les Vacances Sont Fini
Alas, it is true. The end of yet another all-too-short summer holiday, and back to reality. In this case, reality is a two day working week for me (three days for Alex) and then a long weekend in London, leaving this afternoon! So it is not all bad after all. Not that Paris is so very bad either for that matter, but it isn't quite lying on a beach all day and eating pasta twice a day!
For that is pretty much how the second half of the holiday went- lying on a beach, eating pasta twice a day- although occasionally we went crazy and had a pizza instead! Sometimes we went even crazier and had the pasta as an entrée as you're of course supposed to, and followed it with more food! Aside from the pasta though, Sardinia was gorgeous. We stayed in a town called Alghero, which was nice, but the really nice part is really the coastline, which we saw a bit of when we rented a car for a few days. The whole coast is gorgeous turqoise mediterranean water with white limestone cliffs descending into it. And of course, lots of little coves and beaches, sometimes sandy, sometimes cliffy, to have a swim. It's hard to describe, and the photos don't really do it justice either, but suffice to say- fabulous.
A final plate of pasta was obtained in Pisa, site of a three hour stop-over, not quite enough time to scale the tower unfortunately, since those tickets need to be bought almost exactly three hours before you get to go up! But enough time to laugh at the number of people taking photos of themselves holding up the tower. And to take some photos of our own!
Sweden was also very lovely, and brought it's share of swimming, albeit in somewhat colder temperatures! We stayed for a few days out on an island in the archipelago called Finnhamn where we got several swims in the Baltic, and where we had to fetch water from an old pump that you actually had to pump! We also had a grill-korv session one night and had the Lunch of the Day, just about every day we were there, including Strömming with Lingon (Baltic herring), warm-smoked salmon, and even some pyttipanna and falukorv (other yummy swedish stuff)! Other than Finnhamn, there was a lot of walking around and stopping for beers in Stockholm, since for once we have managed to visit when the temperatures were on the right side of zero! There was a visit to Skansen, the Zoo, to see some bears and elk, a trip to Gröna Lund, an amusement park, where we played Fem-Kamp, a pentathlon of various alley games, and went on a couple of great rollercoasters! Also some reluctant swimming in Camilla and Patrick's lake.
Our cabin on Finnhamn. No water or toilet but so cute!
The first swim on Finnhamn.
The view from the restaurant where we had our lunch and beers.
Me, Linda and Simone on Finnhamn, the restaurant just behind.
Us at our grill-korv party on Finnhamn.
Blueberries and lingon a-plenty. Yum!
Having a beer with Camilla and Patrick at Mossebacke in Stockholm.
The gang at Mormor's place.
The local fauna.
And then there was the Great Sur-Strömming Horror of 2007. Oh. My. God. The horror. The absolute horror. We have tried it now, and never again will I let anything so foul sully my mouth again. For those of you lucky enough to be innconet of the awfullness of Sur-Strömming, this is basically fish that is rotten. And stinks like rotten fish. And tastes like rotten fish. Apparently it started back in the day when the poeple had to pay their taxes to the king in food and produce, and some unhappy fishermen didn't like this arrangement, so they sent the king a barrel of rotting fish, telling hime it was a "delicacy". He apparently believed them. Apparently, some people still believe them. The fact that the minute Alex bravely opened the can, big black flies started circulating, is indication enough that this is not food fit for human consumption. Quite simply- the foulest thing I have ever tasted.
The horror begins...
Before the tasting...
...And after!
If anyone is intersted, I have also posted more photos on Facebook, follow this link:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=18854&l=807e1&id=609916345
For that is pretty much how the second half of the holiday went- lying on a beach, eating pasta twice a day- although occasionally we went crazy and had a pizza instead! Sometimes we went even crazier and had the pasta as an entrée as you're of course supposed to, and followed it with more food! Aside from the pasta though, Sardinia was gorgeous. We stayed in a town called Alghero, which was nice, but the really nice part is really the coastline, which we saw a bit of when we rented a car for a few days. The whole coast is gorgeous turqoise mediterranean water with white limestone cliffs descending into it. And of course, lots of little coves and beaches, sometimes sandy, sometimes cliffy, to have a swim. It's hard to describe, and the photos don't really do it justice either, but suffice to say- fabulous.
A final plate of pasta was obtained in Pisa, site of a three hour stop-over, not quite enough time to scale the tower unfortunately, since those tickets need to be bought almost exactly three hours before you get to go up! But enough time to laugh at the number of people taking photos of themselves holding up the tower. And to take some photos of our own!
Sweden was also very lovely, and brought it's share of swimming, albeit in somewhat colder temperatures! We stayed for a few days out on an island in the archipelago called Finnhamn where we got several swims in the Baltic, and where we had to fetch water from an old pump that you actually had to pump! We also had a grill-korv session one night and had the Lunch of the Day, just about every day we were there, including Strömming with Lingon (Baltic herring), warm-smoked salmon, and even some pyttipanna and falukorv (other yummy swedish stuff)! Other than Finnhamn, there was a lot of walking around and stopping for beers in Stockholm, since for once we have managed to visit when the temperatures were on the right side of zero! There was a visit to Skansen, the Zoo, to see some bears and elk, a trip to Gröna Lund, an amusement park, where we played Fem-Kamp, a pentathlon of various alley games, and went on a couple of great rollercoasters! Also some reluctant swimming in Camilla and Patrick's lake.
Our cabin on Finnhamn. No water or toilet but so cute!
The first swim on Finnhamn.
The view from the restaurant where we had our lunch and beers.
Me, Linda and Simone on Finnhamn, the restaurant just behind.
Us at our grill-korv party on Finnhamn.
Blueberries and lingon a-plenty. Yum!
Having a beer with Camilla and Patrick at Mossebacke in Stockholm.
The gang at Mormor's place.
The local fauna.
And then there was the Great Sur-Strömming Horror of 2007. Oh. My. God. The horror. The absolute horror. We have tried it now, and never again will I let anything so foul sully my mouth again. For those of you lucky enough to be innconet of the awfullness of Sur-Strömming, this is basically fish that is rotten. And stinks like rotten fish. And tastes like rotten fish. Apparently it started back in the day when the poeple had to pay their taxes to the king in food and produce, and some unhappy fishermen didn't like this arrangement, so they sent the king a barrel of rotting fish, telling hime it was a "delicacy". He apparently believed them. Apparently, some people still believe them. The fact that the minute Alex bravely opened the can, big black flies started circulating, is indication enough that this is not food fit for human consumption. Quite simply- the foulest thing I have ever tasted.
The horror begins...
Before the tasting...
...And after!
If anyone is intersted, I have also posted more photos on Facebook, follow this link:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=18854&l=807e1&id=609916345
vendredi, août 10, 2007
Enfin l'été
Finally time for another summer holiday, à la française! Not really very french in style actually- we aren't going on a package holiday of the style where you have no need to leave the hotel and all meals are included, nor did we leave three weeks ago, nor are we going to Bretagne or chez nous, hell, I didn't even buy a bikini "summer 2007"! However, we are planning to spend a fair bit of time doing nothing but lying on ridiculously over-priced sunchairs on pebbly beaches!
The first destination is Sweden for a week, including a few days in the Skärgård- the Stockholm archipelago- on a tiny little island, and then a week in Sardinia, a much bigger island where some sun had better be on the cards. Or else. Followed by about six hours in Pisa, which is apparently enough time to go and take a photo of oneself holding up the tower. So stay posted here obviously.
Yay for holidays and escaping cold and rainy Paris for a few weeks and swimming in water that isn't saturated in chlorine and wearing thongs!
The first destination is Sweden for a week, including a few days in the Skärgård- the Stockholm archipelago- on a tiny little island, and then a week in Sardinia, a much bigger island where some sun had better be on the cards. Or else. Followed by about six hours in Pisa, which is apparently enough time to go and take a photo of oneself holding up the tower. So stay posted here obviously.
Yay for holidays and escaping cold and rainy Paris for a few weeks and swimming in water that isn't saturated in chlorine and wearing thongs!
dimanche, août 05, 2007
Gateau Australien
Who would have thought a simple Pav' would have the glamour to wow a french audience? Let alone a pav that didn't come off too well from a massive up-scaling attempt? Twelve egg whites later, and Jenny and Alex learnt a few valuable lessons about meringues and surface area and looong slow cooking and the fact that some recipes can not be successfully quadrupled. None the less, and despite the fact that said somewhat imploded gateau australien was squashed beneath a quiche until I rescued it in horror, the frenchies in my lab were mightily impressed by this lighter-than-light manna, all ears about Russian ballerinas and whipped eggs. Add to this their utter amazement when I told them that in Australia this was considered a rather unsophisticated dessert, and I would never have considered making a pavlova back there to impress dinner guests, and I think I now have the latter part of the meal stitched up any time a frenchy comes to dinner in the future!
As for the whipped cream the pavlova was slathered in, there is another mystery of the french that I'll never understand. They were almost as impressed with that as with the pavlova itself. For a culture which takes so much pride (justifiably, I'll add) in their food and cooking, how on earth can they possibly accept the horrible plastic foam that comes out of a can as whipped cream?
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Even now, weeks after the end of year BBQ that introduced Pavlova to the French masses, it is still the talk of the tea room with people coming from other labs to see photos of the fameux gateau australien and requests for an encore arriving daily.
As for the whipped cream the pavlova was slathered in, there is another mystery of the french that I'll never understand. They were almost as impressed with that as with the pavlova itself. For a culture which takes so much pride (justifiably, I'll add) in their food and cooking, how on earth can they possibly accept the horrible plastic foam that comes out of a can as whipped cream?
.JPG)
Even now, weeks after the end of year BBQ that introduced Pavlova to the French masses, it is still the talk of the tea room with people coming from other labs to see photos of the fameux gateau australien and requests for an encore arriving daily.
