THE GUILLET'S - fun in Heidi land: May 2011

Tuesday, 31 May 2011

A WEEKEND WITH RAINETTE

Meet Rainette, the class frog, o sorry, I meant to say the class Mascot. So Benjamin comes home clutching a diary and Rainette on Friday. Turns out we have to keep Rainette for a weekend and take photos of his comings and goings. Quiet neat I thought, and looking at the diary is just lovely, the kids really enjoy this project. As Manu is working and I have no car it had to be outings around here, so excuse the repetition as we take you around Praz with Rainette for the weekend.

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

Mothers Day in France

Gift from Benjamin

Gift from Samuel

Gift from Daddy

All pooped out

The diary we had to fill in

Saturday, 28 May 2011

SANGLIER

Huh I hear you say, Sanglier is a Wild Boar. We were invited to a friends place in Megeve for dinner where I ate my first Sanglier. It was shot by Oswaldo in Auvergne and they cooked the leg for dinner which took 7 hours on a slow roast.

They are very dangerous creatures actually and if they have young and you get to close they will charge. We have a few living here in Praz but I have never seen one thank goodness. The majority live in the centre of France in Auvergne and infact are so prevelant they have to be culled annually hence Oswaldo being able to shoot one. Despite its size these creatures run at a hell of speed.

So off we went, well it was delicious, not as rich as I thought but a delicious flavour. We met new people which is always a good thing and it was great company. We ate the pig with topinambour which is French for Jerusalem Artichoke, another new one for me. Very grainy like a potato mashed but a very earthy flavour. Delicious but a warning; it gives you GAS.

I was so impressed all this was put together by men, and served with baked apples stuffed with Blackberries. Yum

Seb in the background who invited us. The pig is cooked in a sealed oven dish, sealed with pastry and the leg stuffed with fat.

Kind of purple looking.

Oswaldo carving his cull.

So from me in a clockwise position; Seb, Manu, Antoine, Oswaldo, Amelie with baby Hanna (3 weeks old), Laurence, and Benjamin. Both Amelie and Laurence went to school in Notre Dame de Bellecombe which is a few minutes drive from here and a tiny ski village so they are both local or Savoiards as we call them.

And this is dessert. I have had this before it's an old recipe from Seb's grandmother who is no longer alive, but Seb has definitely done her justice in the execution of this recipe. A Rice pudding using a tiny glass of rice, 4 liters of milk and 6 hours in the oven. Have you ever. Well it's worth the fuss, because it is FABULOUS. Aunty Margaret eat your heart out!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thursday, 26 May 2011

WEDNESDAY'S OFF

The kids have Wednesday's off here and there is no school. Nice you may say but I say O bother. It completely breaks the week in half and then I am left on Thursday morning explaining why we have to go to school AGAIN. Anyway Samuel had an appointment in Sallanches so we went for a picnic afterwards. Sallanches is about 16 km away so not far. WRONG. It take 35 minutes and if you get behind a truck 40 and if it's snowing 50 minutes. We do this trip on Mondays and Thursday mornings as Samuel goes to an exchange teacher specializing in teaching kids French who aren't French. Great for Samuel, and it's free as it's offered by the government schools. Not so great for Manu and me, we are exhausted, it's a case of there and back at 8am and then there and back again at 11am but Samuel is benefiting so we do it.

Down the road from Sallanches is Lac Passy, a huge area in front of Mount Blanc, so nice to chill.

After that it was home to try Benjamin's new bike. Yip we succumbed to the pressure from a 4 year old. When we got to France last year, Samuel's French grandparents very kindly bought him a bicycle for his 7th birthday. Of course we felt it would be nice for Benjamin to have one to so we bought him one second hand from a rich old cow in Megeve, and needless to say it fell apart about a week later. So we said for his 5th birthday he could have a bike. We bought it early as they break up for two months in July so he can get some good riding in before the snow arrives.

Having never ridden a bike with two wheels I am very impressed. Off he went no problem.

Samuel has been very homesick recently and is the main subject brought up by his teachers constantly. His life as he knew it seems to have stopped since he left South Africa. So I made him and his brother do a project. We cut out maps of South Africa and pasted on all the pictures and things they missed most. It was lovely to see them happy. Of course nobody got left out, from Aunty Linda, there nanny Doreen, to Luke and William, Jess and Georgie, Isabella and Peter and of course Jessica Curtis. Even the cat we had to leave behind got a look in. Also featured on Benjamin's map was a baboon of course and most importantly the jungle gym and playground from Fish Hoek Pre-Primary he misses so much.

I asked Samuel 'why all the fishes?' '...because of the aquarium mommy' Silly me. Amazing the things they remember.

And lastly, when leaving the psychologist with Samuel yesterday she said I must play Uno and Scrabble with Samuel. I am killing myself with this child to do homework, read books, do our sums, play educative games. I wonder why the simple pleasures in life never get mentioned, like skimming stones, running through fields of daffodils or just picking up wood with dad. Just as important as books me thinks.

Wednesday, 25 May 2011

THE OTHER SIDE OF PRAZ

Last night we were invited to braai, or bbq, up on the mountain at a chalet opposite to ours. Because the river and the ski lifts are all on our side we rarely go up the other side which gives you a great view of Praz.