First and foremost: HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU!!!
What with the holiday itself and greeting our good friends Diane and Evan from Los Angeles, I know that I'm seriously behind in keeping you all updated on events here in Chalabre, and for that I apologize.
New Year's Eve itself was quite quiet for us Possums. We've never been big party-people, and knowing that we had to get up early to drive to Toulouse to pick up Diane and Evan, did not make it any easier to celebrate late. It was actually pretty funny on Sunday morning. You could see which of us were the boring, non-celebrating, party poopers by who was out in the morning walking dogs and buying bread!
Still, it was worth it to get to the airport and see our friends. Diane had already visited us in September (now known locally as Madame Barbie!), but it is Evan's first time to the Shire, so we were quite eager to show him our little slice of heaven.
It was not the most beautiful of days to see Chalabre, however, as it rained nastily most of the day. Monday was also an ugly day, but we still got to go to Limoux and walk around. By Monday night, however, the weather started to get even worse, with sleet falling several times. David and Jane stopped by for a dinner of "leftover soup" and delicious sausage from Mireille and Didier's butcher shop. "Leftover soup," by the way, is one of those dishes that is never the same twice, since you take all your leftover veggies, pop them into a pot with some ham or bacon, lots of garlic and herbs, then cover with water and either cook in the pressure cooker for fifteen minutes, or simmer for about 45. You never know what you're going to get!
Unfortunately, Tuesday dawned with bad news. Both Diane and Evan were sick! We still don't know if it was the gastroenteritis that has been hitting around the area, food poisoning from a particularly ghastly meal they had in London, or just jetlag and New Year's Eve setting in to punish them.
Luckily, by early evening, they were both feeling loads better and by yesterday, were their own cheerful selves again. That was good news, because we had to go to Carcassonne to rent them a car. On the way back, we stopped in Mirepoix for lunch. Since Le Commerce is closed the entire month of January for its annual holiday, we had to try somewhere new.
There is a restaurant called the Cantegrille that we decided to try. Diane went in and asked for a table for four, which they told her was no problem. However, when JM and I walked in with Maggie, they suddenly told us that they didn't have any room! Since the place looked half empty, none of us believed that for a minute. I would have preferred them to be honest with us, if they preferred not to have dogs in the dining room. I wouldn't have been offended. Now, though, I will never go back there, because I felt very insulted by their attitude.
Still, it turned out for the best, because we went to L'Orangerie, another restaurant we'd been meaning to try outside the Couverts. We had a truly outstanding lunch and adored the owner/chef, a sweet woman who was somehow managing to run the entire place on her own because her waitress had called in sick! We'll definitely go back there.
It was an interesting meal, because there was a table of 12 in the back of the restaurant. Six of them were the worst behaved children that I've seen in a long time. They were loud and obnoxious, spilling things all over the floor, and their parents really did nothing to stop them. We almost got up to leave because of it. I don't understand why parents take their kids to restaurants and don't teach them how to behave. The few times that Maggie has been unpleasant to another dog in a restaurant, I have taken her out and put her in a time-out. Certainly, it is easier to do this with children than dogs?
At any rate, it all turned out for the best, as I said. They left, we had a great meal and we found a new "regular" spot.
Ciao for now!
R
(see pictures on my personal site.)
What with the holiday itself and greeting our good friends Diane and Evan from Los Angeles, I know that I'm seriously behind in keeping you all updated on events here in Chalabre, and for that I apologize.
New Year's Eve itself was quite quiet for us Possums. We've never been big party-people, and knowing that we had to get up early to drive to Toulouse to pick up Diane and Evan, did not make it any easier to celebrate late. It was actually pretty funny on Sunday morning. You could see which of us were the boring, non-celebrating, party poopers by who was out in the morning walking dogs and buying bread!
Still, it was worth it to get to the airport and see our friends. Diane had already visited us in September (now known locally as Madame Barbie!), but it is Evan's first time to the Shire, so we were quite eager to show him our little slice of heaven.
It was not the most beautiful of days to see Chalabre, however, as it rained nastily most of the day. Monday was also an ugly day, but we still got to go to Limoux and walk around. By Monday night, however, the weather started to get even worse, with sleet falling several times. David and Jane stopped by for a dinner of "leftover soup" and delicious sausage from Mireille and Didier's butcher shop. "Leftover soup," by the way, is one of those dishes that is never the same twice, since you take all your leftover veggies, pop them into a pot with some ham or bacon, lots of garlic and herbs, then cover with water and either cook in the pressure cooker for fifteen minutes, or simmer for about 45. You never know what you're going to get!
Unfortunately, Tuesday dawned with bad news. Both Diane and Evan were sick! We still don't know if it was the gastroenteritis that has been hitting around the area, food poisoning from a particularly ghastly meal they had in London, or just jetlag and New Year's Eve setting in to punish them.
Luckily, by early evening, they were both feeling loads better and by yesterday, were their own cheerful selves again. That was good news, because we had to go to Carcassonne to rent them a car. On the way back, we stopped in Mirepoix for lunch. Since Le Commerce is closed the entire month of January for its annual holiday, we had to try somewhere new.
There is a restaurant called the Cantegrille that we decided to try. Diane went in and asked for a table for four, which they told her was no problem. However, when JM and I walked in with Maggie, they suddenly told us that they didn't have any room! Since the place looked half empty, none of us believed that for a minute. I would have preferred them to be honest with us, if they preferred not to have dogs in the dining room. I wouldn't have been offended. Now, though, I will never go back there, because I felt very insulted by their attitude.
Still, it turned out for the best, because we went to L'Orangerie, another restaurant we'd been meaning to try outside the Couverts. We had a truly outstanding lunch and adored the owner/chef, a sweet woman who was somehow managing to run the entire place on her own because her waitress had called in sick! We'll definitely go back there.
It was an interesting meal, because there was a table of 12 in the back of the restaurant. Six of them were the worst behaved children that I've seen in a long time. They were loud and obnoxious, spilling things all over the floor, and their parents really did nothing to stop them. We almost got up to leave because of it. I don't understand why parents take their kids to restaurants and don't teach them how to behave. The few times that Maggie has been unpleasant to another dog in a restaurant, I have taken her out and put her in a time-out. Certainly, it is easier to do this with children than dogs?
At any rate, it all turned out for the best, as I said. They left, we had a great meal and we found a new "regular" spot.
Ciao for now!
R
(see pictures on my personal site.)
