They both have the flu

Well, when both of your kids have the flu, life gets kind of quiet... they are contagious and so are you... potentially.. so we have spent this week in a vacation-mood. It's like we didn't plan for vacation and decided to just stay at home and relax - and cough. For me, time to get order in that big bunch of papers on my desk, for them, extra large TV sessions, Nintendo, drawing and lego... I also went outside to rake some leaves.

Exciting, isn't it...

Anglet, the beach again

Temperatures are diving... but I still went for a Sunday walk on the beach with my friend Anna and her children in Anglet.

Nuit des Fignos in Bordeaux

I spent one year studying in Paris at Arts et Métiers as an exchange student. Now, twenty years later, I met up with many of my old school mates at the yearly gala organised by the Bordeaux students, Nuit des Fignos.... some had lost some hair but they were all very much like they used to be... don't know if it's good or scary, but the essence of their personalities seemed intact!!!

We started at the school in the afternoon - missing the ceremony by little but that's another story - going on to a very animated dinner and ending up with the gala in Hangar 14 by the quais in the very centre of Bordeaux. Live music with five different themes.... and crowded with beautiful girls who had taken the dress code seriously (tenue de soirée exigée)....

For those who don't know, Arts et Métiers is an engineering school that puts a lot of emphasis on team work, solidarity and traditions.

The school bar

Tradition ask for a personnalised outfit

The restaurant... what's the name again... next to Saint André...

Our gang, the Bo-190

Kanougas from Pariès in Bayonne

A new culinary discovery! I had heard about Kanougas from Pariès, a soft kind of toffee flavored with coffee, chocolate, vanilla/almonds, chocolate/walnuts, coffee/hazelnuts.... but today was the first time I tried them out. Exquisite... The recipe is secret of course, but their softness is due to adding whipped cream... supposedly...

So if you are in Bayonne, Socoa, Saint-Jean-de-Luz or Biarritz, do make a stop at their shop and try them out! They also sell chocolate and tourons.

Chocolate flavor....

People watching in Biarritz

Chic mummies

The thing about Biarritz, besides the breathtaking natural scenery, is the people. The mix of crazy young surfers and chic ladies. We spent Sunday afternoon at the Grand plage in the very centre of Biarritz. I could have spent hours just watching all the people....

Look at the ladies to the right!

Lonely girl contemplating the sea... or on the phone?

Don't know the temperature of the water but too cold for me...

Bjorn playing in the sand with the Hotel de Palais in the background.

Some of the children have found means to go faster....

Surfer... again... but they do catch the eye! For several reasons.

Took a while just getting the sand off his feet

Luxury: the Moliets beach in winter

Can we take off our shoes? Of course.

Moliets in the middle of January. Pure bliss.

See Spain there far away in the haze?

Roy, I got you something!

The old man and the sea

Future football stars

This weekend in food photos

In French they call it flou artistique. I guess hazy is quite the equivalent in English? Anyway, this is côtes de canard and Roy helping out in the kitchen (oven tomatoes filled with goat cheese). And he has the helpers glass of wine within reach....

Well, this is normal looking bass.... in the oven with some coconut oil and veggies!

Most festive apéritif all categories: pink champagne!

Coffee and coca light in the sun in Léon

Comptoir Cuisine, new restaurant in Bordeaux

Maria and Roy came to visit us this weekend. Maria is one of those friends who first moved to Sydney - darn her - and then just recently moved to England - bless her - so when I picked them up at the airport in Bordeaux, we took a quick trip to Bordeaux to have lunch and walk around. The Comptoir Cuisine is a new restaurant next to the Regent Hotel. Open cuisine downstairs and classic restaurant upstairs. We had todays menu; delicious salmon tartar, bass and pudding.

Then we walked around and admired a Bordeaux that is always lovely, even when the weather is very grey.

Modern style in the restaurant

Detail

The fountain at Place du Parlement

Before and after!

In front of Place de la Bourse

Oysters in Bayonne

Suddenly got this oyster craving.... go to Arcachon.... too far... let's try Bayonne. Didn't really know where to find oysters but intuition guided us to the market place (les halles) and !!!! of course, Bistrot de l'huître was the place to go! Pascal had Gillardeau oysters, considered the Rolls Royce of Oysters and truly they were excellent....

This is the best time for oysters. I love eating things in season... enjoy something fully for a short period of time and then let go. Spend the time out of season thinking about oysters... longing for them and then rediscover them again. Can be oysters or asparagus or strawberries or whatever....

We then walked around in a Sunday closed Bayonne before heading back home again.

Outside the restaurant....

Talaia, a new restaurant in the centre. Have to try it out some day.

Deer for New Year's

I've been bad at updating my blog. Hibernating?
New year's eve was just what I had wished for, pretty calm with friends, family and good food! The deer was absolutely divine...  I went to bed at 5.30, tired but happy.

2010 was a good year but it also held some disappointments for me, personal projetcts that didn't turn out as I wished. Oh well. I look upon 2011 with renewed energy and lots of ideas. Let's see what will come true....

Won the award as best helper in the kitchen!

Best butter ever. Can be eaten straight out of the box.

A couple of the candles I lit up. The were about another hundred plus sixteen in the trees in small glass containers (former yoghurts)

Best dressed - but her hand blocks the very original neck decoration....

Yummy! The black things in the back are truffle slices...

Almond macarons.....

... crisp on the outside and a little bit chewy on the inside....