Life Lessons

As we approach the end of our first family adventure, the following things strike me as ways to improve my life and the life of my family. And in doing so, hopefully a portion of the world around us, even if it is a small portion.

These ways seem so simple here -- I have no choices in France.  But it will take some effort in Canada.  I hope my family members will work on them with me and we shall grow as a family in our view of the world and our view of ourselves.

1) Eat better.

2) Walk more.

3) Use less energy.

4) Be grateful.

5) Be proud of our country and who we are as Canadians.

6) Be proud of ourselves as individuals.

7) Be champions of each other.

8) Make the effort.

Merry Christmas to all!

The Dolomites

I have always wanted to see the Dolomites, a mountain range in northern Italy.

When Trevor and Sandy and I went to Italy in 2007, we saw the Tuscan region in the northwestish, but the Dolomites are in the northeast. My Nono took his family, including my mom, there when she was 16.  They arrived in Italy by boat.  I wonder if Shawn and Annabeth would have traveled well by boat...

Even though we only saw them through the car window, the Dolomites did not disappoint.  The vineyards on the hills were particularly colourful.

If in danger, go straight up into the hills and get yourself a bottle of good Italian wine.

A

As we drove, and as nighttime fell, the mountains became rockier, darker, more like the ranges we had passed through in Austria.  



I love the ominous sky and the lone village in the mountain.

We stopped to get gasoline and coffee.  I found that my language skills popped right back into the forefront of my tired and taxed brain as though I had never left the country.  I was quite proud of myself to have a conversation with the old men at the coffee counter, and to keep the gas attendant from filling up our car and overcharging us for it when we were clearly in the self-serve lane.  You never can trust those Italians, but they sure are beautiful to listen to!

Gotta Love 'Em

Here's something we make better than the French: ketchup chips.

French people don't eat ketchup.  They balk at ketchup; they laugh at us for eating it.  I told my hairdresser recently that it will be hard for me to go back to eating grocery-store food when I return to Canada, since this region of France, Burgogne, is known for being a cornucopia of high quality and widely celebrated breads, cheeses, wines, meats and pastries.  Most average food at the supermarket is completely natural, with no artificial colours or flavourings and no preservatives (hence the reason I have to haul my kids onto the bus twice a week to shop for it).

Anyway, my hairdresser laughed and muttered some comment about ketchup.  "Oh no," I spoke up quickly, defending the faith.  "My family eats a lot of ketchup.  We love ketchup!"

But the French don't, and so I can't imagine why they set out to make ketchup chips.  The end result tastes like nothing more than vinegar, with no salt.

Plus, it's only on rippled chips, so not enough of the chip touches your tongue to ensure a good BURN, you know?

Back when we visited Great Britain, we bought good ketchup chips.  Shawn hated them immediately, and Annabeth rejected them instantly, then hesitated just long enough to think about what she'd just eaten... and she begged for more.

Below are some photos of ketchup chips, and much more:

THUMBS DOWN!

Doesn't look right, does it?

Genetically modified food is banned from France, so all the grapes have pits in them.  My kids don't mind anymore, and the grapes are delicious.  Only at McDonalds in Kids Meals have we seen grapes with no pits.

Granola bars = another foodstuff the French DO NOT know how to make.

I later retracted this thumbs-up.

I really don't think our neighbourhood grocery store "welcomes" our family at all: each child wants their own mini-cart, plus the stroller, and the shopping stroller, and the big shopping cart.  All in a store half the size of Price Chopper.

Thanksgiving in Dijon: big salad, some bocconcini, baguettes and various cheese, Lego turkey, fresh flowers, special olives...

A fave

No added colour, no added preservatives.

I've never eaten any of these breads.

We do eat a lot of cheese, but not THIS much.

Caramel tea is a great reason to give up caffeine.

No pits.

Jar By Jar

The countdown is on!  Only two weeks until we leave our Dijon house.

Trevor has promised me that yesterday's once-again aggravating family trip to the grocery store by bus will be our last of that scale, and I, in turn, have promised to make do with whatever we have in the house when preparing meals.

Thus it is that today, along with a can of lentils, I personally finished our very first jar of mustard that we bought when we arrived.  It was Honey Dijon.  It's gone now...sniff.  I took a picture of it to mark the occasion.

These three were next: the salad dressing went bad even though it was in the fridge (no preservatives), so I had to dip the pickles in fig jam instead.

Cute little jars, eh?  This one went bad, too.  It was my favourite.  I was sad, again.

This stuff is good for everything: add a little to your boxed soup; pour it over spaghetti; cook your beef rounds in it.  And of course, it is really tasty when applied to actual ratatouille.  Trevor became quite good at that in our four months here.  :-)

Our lone hydrogenated vegetable oil product in all the time we have been here.  We have only found the all-natural just-peanuts style one time.  Too bad we didn't buy a dozen jars when we had the chance, because Skippy (albeit a welcome taste of home) is pretty disgusting.

More gourmet mustard to use on our.......

...frozen chicken nuggies!



This traditional desert is really good.  When someone else bakes it.

Check this post regularly to see which jar will be the next to go on our COUNTDOWN....TO....CANADA!!!!!!!