Here it is Ladies and Gentlemen, the famous pictures of my family's little cottage in Normandie.

I know it took me almost on month to share this pictures, sometimes we get overwhelmed

I'll show you 3 pictures: 2 of the house and one of the garden.

As you can see it's a traditonal thatch cottage.

It must have been built 250 years ago, or so. I don't have more time for blogging right now, I'll tell you more about it next time.

OK, I come back to my blog, I have been very busy this last weeks, we have a lot of family outings in june, and I really did not have time for my computer's friends, I'm sorry.

I also had to deal with the death of the eldest member of our family , my father's aunt, she was 93 and we all have been very sad, because we have no more grand parents for a long time now and she was a kind of granny for us, and the memory of the family... 

She was also my sister's godmother's and I had to comfort her.

Godmothers and godfathers are very important for us Catholics, they are almost as important as grandparents for children.

I have a lot more to tell today, I'll try to come back later this evening (with my Normandie's pics )

Today I came back from Normandie where I had a nice time with my parents.

Today is Mother's Day here in France and I have been blessed with hand made presents from my children, this kind of present is priceless for a mum

They are so precious !

I took a picture of the presents I received:

They made all this lovely things at school, they also learn some poetry for me.

I love so much being their mother  

Tomorrow, I'll post pics of my parents's cottage in Normandie, my mum is a very good gardener and she has a beautiful garden !

Yesterday, I have read a post about aprons on Mrs B's blog.

I love aprons too, as I am sometimes a bit messy  when I do my housework, and as I wear most of time long and flowing dresses, I need to protect my clothes if I don't want to ruin them.

Last year, for Christmas I sewn aprons for both my mum and my sister :

I also made an apron for me and one for my youngest daughter with the same pattern, but I don't have pics of them yet...

I'll be off blogging until next sunday, I leave tomorrow morning to spend the "Ascencion day" long WE with my parents in Normandie.

Next sunday is also Mother'sday in France, and I want to celebrate it with my mum.

Yes I know, we are always having vacations in France, this one is a religious legal holiday.

I'll bring my camera to share pics of the beautiful countryside cottage of my parents.

I wish a nice week-end in advance to all of you !

Last week, I have sewn spring nightgowns for my 2 daughters.

I use a nice cotton fabric printed with big strawberries. For my older daughter I used a Simplicity pattern, for the young one I created it myself with a nightgown she already have.

In my area (semi-rural area, about 20 miles from Paris), I can't find well-stocked fabric stores. I use to go to Paris about twice a year to buy a lot of fabric.

In Paris, near a place well-known by tourists called "Sacré-coeur", on the "Butte Monmartre", there is the most famous fabric store of Paris. It is called "Le marché Saint Pierre".

In this place you can find everything you want, from very cheap cottons to beautiful silk and embroidery.

I love to go there, even if I have to take a nearly 2 hours train trip to reach it (I never take my car to go to Paris, to much traffic, and no places to park).

I went there last october, and I still have some fabric left !

I use to sew most of the nightgowns and pajamas for my family, they are easy to sew, I can use very pretty printed fabric. In stores, night wear is often very poor quality with ugly cartoons characters on it .

Sorry for haven't blogging for so long

I am very busy, it's full spring around there and I spend most of my free time in my garden, we have a rainy spring this year and everything grows very fast (we have to mow the lawn once a week!)

Anyway, today I'll post a simple meal menu, the one I have made for dinner this evening.

Broccoli soup with diced bacon fat "lardons" and garlic croûtons and for dessert chocolate custard.

Chocolate custard recipe:

1 liter of milk (4 cups)

1/4 cup of sugar

1/8 cup of cornstarch

1/8 cup of powdered cocoa (unsweetened)

Take 1/2 a cup from the milk and mix it with sugar, cornstarch and powdered cocoa.

Boil the left over milk in a saucepan, then put the mix in and let boil one minute.

Pour it in ramekins and refridgerate for 2 hours.

I have also done some sewing for my daughters, I'll post a pic tomorrow (I hope so...)

 I have found this on the comment section of Candy's blog today, it was written by Carla, I had fun reading it, then I copy it for you  

I OWE MY MOTHER

1. My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE.
"If you're going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning."

2. My mother taught me RELIGION.
"You better pray that will come out of the carpet."

3. My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL.
"If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock you into the middle of next week!"

4. My mother taught me LOGIC.
" Because I said so, that's why."

5. My mother taught me MORE LOGIC.
"If you fall out of that swing and break your neck, you're not going to the store with me."

6. My mother taught me FORESIGHT.
"Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you're in an accident."

7. My mother taught me IRONY.
"Keep crying, and I'll give you something to cry about."

8. My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS.
"Shut your mouth and eat your supper."

9. My mother taught me about CONTORTIONISM.
"Will you look at that dirt on the back of your neck!"

10. My mother taught me about STAMINA.
"You'll sit there until all that spinach is gone."

11. My mother taught me about WEATHER.
"This room of yours looks as if a tornado went through it."

12. My mother taught me about HYPOCRISY.
"If I told you once, I've told you a million times. Don't exaggerate!"

13. My mother taught me the CIRCLE OF LIFE.
"I brought you into this world, and I can take you out."

14. My mother taught me about BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION.
"Stop acting like your father!"

15 My mother taught me about ENVY.
"There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don't have wonderful parents like you do."

16. My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION.
"Just wait until we get home."

17. My mother taught me about RECEIVING.
"You are going to get it when you get home!"

18. My mother taught me MEDICAL SCIENCE.
"If you don't stop crossing your eyes, they are going to freeze that way."

19. My mother taught me ESP.
"Put your sweater on; don't you think I know when you are cold?"

20. My mother taught me HUMOR.
"When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don't come running to me."

21. My mother taught me HOW TO BECOME AN ADULT.
"If you don't eat your vegetables, you'll never grow up."

22. My mother taught me GENETICS.
"You're just like your father."

23. My mother taught me about my ROOTS.
"Shut that door behind you. Do you think you were born in a barn?"

24. My mother taught me WISDOM.
"When you get to be my age, you'll understand."

25. And my favorite: My mother taught me about JUSTICE.
"One day you'll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you!"


THANKS MOM

I wish a belated happy  mother's day to American mums, in France mother's day will be on May 28

Several of my readers ask me to post some of my basic recipes.

I do not consider myself as a great cook ! As you'll see most of the meals I cook for my family on a daily basis are really simple, but healthy

I can call this Basic Family French Cooking, because it's the way everybody cook in France.

For exemple, this is what I have cooked for lunch today for me and my 3 kids (I don't work on wednesday, nor my children go to school).

It took me less than 30 mns !

Fish coated with breadcrumbs (just soak pieces of fish in milk then roll it in breadcrumbs and cook in a non-stick pan 5mns each side)

Flat green beans, cooked five minutes in a pressure cooker, then "sauté", in a Tsp of olive oil with garlic and parsley.

Serve with fresh lemon slices, for dessert apples, for beverage water, that's very simple, it's just the kind of meal I use to prepare for us, you can see it's not a big deal to have something healty to it in less than half an hour.

I think I know hundreds of this kind of meal, I change them according to what I find on the market, I cook more sophisticated meals on the week-end...

I'm going to try to post exemple of meal at least once a week, I can't promise you more because I won't have enough time.

The next recipe will be a cake called "quatre-quart", it's a very easy one that you can make with a child (I hope I'll be able to post it before the end of the week)

I haven't update my blog for a while because I have been busy doing some research on the French-speaking internet about ecology, I want to learn how to make my cosmetics with natural and organic products.

After reading Crystal's post about making laundry soap, I also did research to make my own with the products I find here in France, I have found very interesting things, I hope I'll be able to try soon

Now Ladies and Gentlemen, the Mayonnaise !!

This recipe seems to be very simple, but it's not

There's a knack to it !

In France, I think everybody knows how to do the mayonnaise, it's something we learn to do very early from our parents...

Of course, you can find convenience ready-made mayonnaise in grocery stores, but most people prefer doing it from scratch, the taste is really better and it's not good to eat mayo to often because it's really full of fat

What you need:

- One egg yolk

- A teaspoon of mustard (in France, we use mustard of Dijon)

- Oil, I use sunflowerseed oil, but use the one you prefer

- salt & pepper

First, put the egg yolk in a bowl

Add a full tsp of mustard

The hardest part is beginning now, start to pour the oil very slowly with the bottle on the left hand. With your right hand whisk on the quickest speed of your electric mixer, (the ones with very strong muscles can do it with a fork...) As I'm left-handed, I do it upside down...

Stop pouring oil and whisking when it has thicken enough, it doesn't take more than a few minutes.

Then you can taste and add salt & pepper as you like it.

Put it in the fridge and don't forget to eat it quickly (within a day), because it contains raw egg.

Voilà !

I have done a lot of research on the net about frugal living during the past year.

I have learnt a lot of very interesting things, and change some of my cleaning and cooking habits  I already knew some of those, but others where new to me...

Frugal Cooking  Tips:

-Make your own salad dressing, mayonnaise and cake mixes, I have never ever buy one of those ready-made! I can share recipes if someone is interested, they are known by everybody in France

- I never buy convenience food, such as frozen pizza, or frozen meals, I make everything from scratch, of course most of the time I cook very simple meals (I only have 1/2 an hour to prepare dinner during the week), I cook better meals during the week-ends. 

- I use my  crock-pot all the time, I cook ahead some meals for the next week on sunday evening.

- During summer, we go to a "pick your own farm", and I freeze my own bags of veggies for the winter, we do this as a family, the kids help us and we have a lot of fun (the farm is just a few miles from home)

- I never buy take-away food, nor go to fast-food (it's expensive, unhealthy and a very bad eating habit for kids).

- About every other month we go to eat in a restaurant, it's a family treat !, we always go to same restaurant, because they have free kid's menu  on saturday lunch.

- I buy in bulk meat (I freeze it), potatoes, onions...

- I bake my own bread and I make my own yoghourt (in France, we eat plenty of yoghourt)

That's all for the moment, I'll post some cleaning tips later.

Feel free to share more frugal cooking tips in the comment section  I always enjoy to learn more !

Lynne ask me several questions...

First one:

Books in english are easy to find in France when you live in a big city, but I don't !

Where I live, I only find classic english litterature or bestsellers like John Grisham, or Da Vinci Code style of book, it was not what I was looking for...

Of course, you can find everywhere translations of English/American books but as I understand English, I don't want to read translations.

Second question:

About my english, I have learnt english during 10 years in high school and university, I had several opportunities to go to England, I even went to USA once (student exchange) when I was 16 (I spent 1 month in StLouis, Missouri).

My mother was a trilingual secretary (French-English-Spanish) and she always told us how important it was to speak at least one foreign language...

Third question:

I won't post a picture of my laundry room right now because it's not a room I want to show for the moment

In fact I have a third bathroom that I use as a laundry room, and I have a big room next to it that we use as a storage room (it's a real mess). My hubby put me some clothelines across this room, near the ceiling, so I can hang 2-3 loads of laundry at the same time, I can even hang sheets.

When I hang my laundry early in the morning, almost everything is dry in the evening, I must add that we have a central heating, and there is heating in this room.

When this room is rearrange, I'll post pics ! 

Right now, I hang all my laundry outside, I won't have to use the inside clothelines until november.

I hope I have answered your questions

I have just discovered that I can find a huge amount of American books on the French Amazon.

That's such a good news to me

I enjoy reading American blogs, and each time a lady talk about a book she loves, I think: "I can't order it because the shipping costs from USA are so high..."

Today I have ordered 2 books on Amazon.fr (so far ):

Sink Reflections by Marla Cilley (the Fly Lady), I love her website and I wanted to read her book for a while.

Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook That Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictorats by Sally Fallon, Mary G. Enig, Marion Dearth

I have read a lot of good things about it on several blogs and I really want to try the recipes, as I'm fond of traditionnal values and good ol'recipes.

I'll receive them within 2 weeks, I feel like a little girl waiting for Christmas, I'm such a bookworm !

I was getting very frustrated not being able to buy books in english for a reasonnable price, now I must be careful not to waste to much money on them

I have found something funny to share, if you go here, you can find what is your French name, just try and tell me what your new name is ?

Today is Labor Day here in France.

It's a Legal holiday, and a day for Trade Unions to demonstrate in the streets of big cities, France is a country where people love to do demos when they disagree with something (that happens all the time ), we call it  "descendre dans la rue" (to go down the street).

We also have another nice tradition on May 1rst, we offer each others a spray of Lily of the valley as a lucky charm. I have heard on the radio that it came from king Charles VII (around 1600).

People are allowed to sell the Lily of the valley on the streets to earn some money (this flower grows everywhere in forest or garden in most part of France) on may 1rst only.

Nobody goes to work on Labor Day, everything is closed, we have 3 more legal holidays in May, that's why it is one of the French favorite month

In France, children go to nursery school from 3 to 6 (3 grades). This is not compulsory but concern 99% of young children. Then, we have the public school system "free, compulsory and non-religious", I must add that the nursery schools are a part of the public system, they are also completly free. Primary school goes from 6 to 11 (5 grades), next we have what we call "collège " (Jr high school)) from 11 to 15 (4 grades), next is "lycée" (high school) from 15 to 18 (3 grades). At the end of lycée you have to pass a very important exam, "baccalauréat", to be allowed to go to university. 

There is also a private system, similar to the public one, the only differences is religious teaching ( these schools are mostly catholic, for historical reasons), and of course you have to pay for it, some of the private schools are affordable, some are very expensive...

Currently my children attend to a private Catholic school, this school is frequented by middle-class families, with Christian values.

In the past (until the 50'), the teacher were nuns, but it's not the case anymore.

My older daughter is in the last grade of primary school (CM2), she 'll go to "collège" next year.

My son is in 3rd grade of primary school (CE2), and my youngest daughter is in 2nd grade of nursery school (moyenne section).

We have 3 terms in the school year.

- First one from september to december, we have 10 days of vacation for All Saints day, we celebrate  All Soul's Day, on this day we use to go to cemetery (we don't celebrate Halloween in France).

At the end of the First term, we have 2 weeks of vacation for Christmas.

- During the Second term, we have 2 weeks of vacations, in february, and next 2 weeks for Easter.

During the Third term, there is no vacation, but several  legal holidays, (Labor day and so on...)

Summer break start in the begginings of July, until september...

I know it seems to be a lot, and it's not always easy to organize for busy parents, even if we have both 10 weeks of vacation that's not enough

About the school days now:

In primary school my children go to school on monday, tuesday, thursday and friday 9am-4.30pm, and every other saturday morning, 9am-noon.

In France, most children have school meals (most of the mothers work outside their home).

The schedule is the same for nursery school, except saturday morning.

Voilà ! Of course, I'm interesting in discovering school organization of other countries, please share yours

Lynne ask me if I own a dryer for the laundry. I don't !

Dryer are quite common in France, but mostly for people living in apartment, people living in a house, as I do, use to hang their laundry outside on a clothes line. During cold monthes, where I live from november to march, I hang my laundry in the laundry room.

I don't like electrical dryers because I think they are a great waste of electricity, I also think that driers damage the clothes, all those pills you find in the filter when you clean it !

Of course, I understand the convenience of a drier when you live in an apartment, or in a place with long spells of bad weather.

I already have posted here  about my laundry schedule.

I'm never overwhelmed with my laundry because I use a schedule that fits exactly the needs of my family, I have a delate fonction on my washing machine, I program it for very early in the morning so I hang it before leaving to work.

Today, I'm going to share with you the morning routine I'm using on my working days, monday, tuesday, thursday, friday.

I have another schedule for wednesday and saturday morning, and nothing for sunday, as I believe sunday is the Lord day and the Bible says that we have to rest on seventh day.

Here it is  

Morning routine

To do	Time
Get up !!!	6h20 5mns
Open the window/bed	6h25 5mns
Take shower/get dressed	6h30 20mns
Get breakfast ready/empty dish-washer	6h50 15mns
Hang laundry out	7h05 10mns
Check my purse/get my lunch ready	7h15 5mns
Wake up children	7h20 5mns
Open the window/bed in children’s bedrooms	7h25 5mns
Have breakfast with children	7h30 20mns
Close windows/make beds	7h50 10mns
Put away breakfast/wipe the table /sweep under table	8h 10mns
Brush teeth/make up (for me)	8h10 10mns
Are the children ready ?/girls hair	8h20 10mns
Quick tidy up of the bathroom	8h25 5mns
Backpack verification/snacks	8h30 5mns
Coats/shoes Take the trash out	8h35 5mns
Go !!!	8h40

I think you can understand why I would like so much to be a SAHM, isn't it frightening to see such a schedule...

I don't want to leave my house in a mess, and I don't want to be overwhelmed when I come home, then I prefer to do a lot in the morning, I also have to say that my children help me, I don't do it alone.

I'll try to post my evening schedule later today, or tomorrow.

Of course don't forget to tell me what you think of it.

Here it is, I have finished to translate my evening routine. This schedule start just when diner is finished (about 8PM). I have 2 other schedules for after work time (because sometimes I come home at 5PM, sometimes at 6.30PM).

I use this schedule every day of the week, unless on saturday evening.

EVENING ROUTINE

To do	Time
Clear table/Load dish-washer	20h00 10mns
Get breakfast ready/ Set the breadmaker & coffee machine up	20H10 10mns
Check children teeth/braid girl’s hair	20H20 10mns
Reading time with Alice	20H30 10mns
Tuck children in bed/Lay out tomorrow’s clothes	20H40 10mns
Tidy up cofee table/ Quick clutter control	20H50 5mns
Check tomorrow’s planning	20H55 5mns
Free time	21H00 1Heure30
Bathroom time	22H30 10mns
Lay out  tomorrow’s clothes	22H40 5mns
Bedtime !!!	22H45

I'll try to post my other routines by the end of the week

Appetizer

Do you prefer salty snacks or sweet treats?

I'm a sweet one, but I don't snack often (as we say in french "sugar appeals sugar", if I start I can't stop...)

Soup
What is your favorite board game?

Uno or Monopoly with kids, and "Dames Chinoises" with hubby (don't know at all how to translate)

Salad
If you were to have a painting done of you alone, what would you want the background to be?

A countryside landscape, with spring flowers

Main Course
What's a "big word" you like to use to impress people ?

As I'm graduate in litterature, I have learnt latin during several years, when I want to impress someone I use some latin words...

Dessert
What kind of shoes are you wearing today?

I wear sandals, from beginnings of april to october;

I don't live in a very warm place, so people often think I'm a bit weird , but I don't mind I love to have barefeet

Mrs B ask me why we leave the skin on garlic in the "poulet rôti"'s recipe.

In fact, when you leave the skin on the garlic glove, it won't cook the same way as if it was peeled.

The garlic inside the glove is becoming very creamy, you just have to sqeeze it with your fork, and you have a delicious garlic cream that comes out of it, simply yummy !   

The taste match very well with chicken, but it's also very good with lamb.

I hope I have answered your question !

And please Ladies, I would like very much to learn American (or other countries of course !) ways to cook a roast chicken, I'm sure some of you have recipes to share with me