Abi’s friends are leaving tomorrow for UK, but she will stay on for the party at the weekend. We will miss them as they are a lovely group of young people just starting their careers and we really enjoyed hosting them. Joe, Jan and Dot arrive back from Barcelona and join us tonight with the kids and some other friends at the Restaurant Le Rol.

The weather is glorious and the pizzas huge! We order a selection of salads and several carafes of wine to accompany the meal.

When we arrive back at the house, we play the parcel game. See below for instructions!

THE PARCEL GAME (courtesy of Joe and Jan!)

Two packs of playing cards

As many presents as you wish (normally around 2 or 3 for each player). These gifts can be as cheap and ridiculous as you can find and normally the more extravagant the wrapping, the more the recipient thinks they’ve won a big prize! Get everyone to buy a couple of silly gifts and wrap them up before the game. Place the presents in a big pile in the centre of the table.

Dealer deals out one pack. Then he or she lays each card down from the other pack, one by one. Whoever’s card matches the laid card, gets to pick a prize. You can pick a prize from the middle of the table OR you can steal anyone else’s parcel if you think they look more interesting. When all the cards are dealt and the stealing has stopped, then everyone opens their presents. Wrap anything nicely with ribbon and someone will want it! I wrapped a child’s potty (new) up in a huge box and Abi’s french friend Victoria was astounded when she opened it!

 

Good luck and enjoy!

 

 

August 2002

We have travelled and lived all over the world.  The Far East, the Middle East, US and Europe, but France was fast becoming our favourite destination and we have been visiting it now for many years.  We were both fascinated with French Culture and food, particularly because we had run a restaurant in the UK.  We found French society so different from the money orientated society which now seems to prevail in many parts of the UK.

Over dinner in France, the diners would discuss the provenance of the food, how it was cooked, the vintage of the wine and which region it was produced in.  No discussions over preposterously over-priced properties, or what private school they had managed to get their children in, or which latest model of car they drove.  No –  food, rather than property prices – was a much more desirable topic at the dinner table.

We discovered South West France about fourteen years ago.  We flew into Carcassonne and were immediately entranced with the magical site of the Medieval Cite, close to the airport.
We spent our anniversary eating at an incredible Restaurant, right in the middle of Le Cite.  It was August, a fabulously clear night and we sat outside, sipping  Blanquette from Limoux  (believed to have been the first sparkling wine and the recipe subsequently taken and used to make Champagne) and devouring huge Crevettes dripping in butter.  Our daughter was sitting with us, enjoying all the lovely food and staring with saucer eyes at the dogs sitting underneath the tables.  No canine bans here! “Mummy, look, all the doggies can eat too!” Yes, this was France at its best.  Hot sunny days, gloriously warm nights sitting outside, drinking wine and eating food to die for.

I think that was the night we decided we wanted to live there.