Notre Famille

We have been fortunate to have two sets of relatives visit France.  Both families were in Paris for a few days.  Since the train ride is only 1 1/2 hours away and the cost is a mere 15 euros for seniors, it is easy and economical to hop in for even a day.  Below are the Pozin family from Chicago.

Jake just turned 16, and his generous parents, Jill and Mendy, gifted him with a "sweet" Jeep which daughter Marni will drive in 2 years when Jake goes to college (Go Blue).  We went to The Avenue restaurant that is known for having beautiful models as waitresses.  The waitresses and the patrons provided a genuine Paris people watching experience.

Soon after nephew Greg Miller and his "vivant" wife, Gabrielle, and their two children arrived from Philadelphia.

Ron and Hudson tortured each other in a 3 hour marathon Monopoly game IN FRENCH which finally ended with a triumphant Hudson !
Then we were off to the Pompidou Center for a modern art escapade.

Below are the 3 girls hamming it up - Barbara, Gabrielle, and mighty Scarlett (she is incredibly strong) !

Bien sur, we are looking forward to our next visitors from home.

Going Native

Well we did it.  We decided to cut our hair short like the French.  The same hairdresser, Eugenie, performed les coupes de cheveux.  Do you think people will now think we are French (at least until we try to speak)?

Another sign of acceptance is the kindness with which people approach us.  One gentleman who speaks no English brought us a gift of homemade confiture (strawberry preserves) that he prepares right from the fruit in the field.  Another couple next door use their home as a vacation getaway from Normandy.  Cecile and Frederic invited us over for tea.

Their home is 600 years old and the wood framing and staircases make that evident.

We were joined by their 6 year old son, Edouard, and Cecile's mother who raised a pharmaceutical veterinarian (Cecile) and her sister, a physican now in Africa helping the poverty stricken.  Frederic is an engineer living on oil platforms all around the world - 5 weeks on an ocean platform alternating with 5 weeks at home with family.

Visions of Julia Child

For Joyce, Joel, and Nancy and all the gourmands, here is a presentation of a typical French dinner we had at La Fleuray.  We promise to feature more repasts in the future in the blog, since dining is a major activity here.  For this meal the amuse bouche was shredded duck accompanied by onion straws avec un sauce bien sur.  The next course was so large we thought it was the main course, but it was only the entreé (appetizer).  It was a huge casserole of sardines topped with a blue cheese crumble mixture partnered wtth a brushetta of vegetables, sausage and cheese.

Following came the plat or main dish.  We both selected different fish dishes.  Barbara's was rolled with all sorts of things, and Ron's was accompanied by apples in liquor.

By this point we were doubting if we could possibly consume the dessert.

Never fear - we were able to indulge in a chocolate milkshake with a brownie topped by a cream roll with pink macarons positioned at each end.  A typical delightful dinner in Amboise.

Bon Appetit nos amis.

Maison Douce Maison

Ready for a tour of the interior of notre maison?  Here are the cherry decorated curtains we selected so as not to obstruct our view of La Loire and the chateau.

Next are shots of our living room:

The little desk is Louis XV and the buffet is Henri IV.

Next is our dining room which is Louis Phillipe:

Next is our bedroom which is strictly Ikea as is our office:

Finally our guest bedroom:

Bonne nuit.

Dinner at Eight

Joan Dupuis from New York invited us over for dinner with Denise and Jack Campbell.  Joan has been most gracious in advising us about life for expats in Amboise.  Like everyone else we have encountered, she chose Amboise after looking around elsewhere in France to possibly live.  She does not have a car and does just fine walking everywhere, as do the Campbells who also do not drive.  Jack was a theater impresario who met Denise, a French actress.  She recounted the story of the American liberation of Paris when she was quite young.  American soldiers were tossing candy to the French children.  She thought she had just received a piece of paper until she unwrapped hers and discovered chewing gum for the first time - it was such a precious gift to her at that point.  For those who wanted more detail about our repasts, Joan served gaspacho in a glass to drink like a cocktail, a delicious rotisserie pork, fresh haricourt vert, creamy cheeses, and a chocolate mousse cake - most of which she cooked herself.  Joan was a music major at a small Southern girls' school in the States and portrays the quintessential gentile Southern lady.  Inspired by the Troy Donahue - Suzanne Pleshette movie "Rome Adventure", she came to France to work right out of school and the romance with France never ended.

Time to Enjoy

Our first 4th of July outside the US, we celebrated with 3 Italians and 1 French woman at our bungalow.  Christiane and her husband Franco Mason are our landlords (couple on the left in the group picture).  Christiane's family has run a famous pâtisserie and chocolaterie in town since 1913 which she manages 7 days a week.  Franco is Italian, bien sur, and after a career in furniture manufacturing, now is renovating older buildings such as our house.  The other couple are Luigi and Isabella , whom we met at the UM Euopean reunion.  Despite owning several homes, unfortunately none are in France, so to meet again we will need to visit them in Italy at their 400 year old estate in Luca.  Isabella is a descendant of the de Medici family, and she wasn't too pleased with the French guide's depiction of her ancestor, Catherine de Medici, as having a room with many small boxlike compartments for her "poisons"  during the tour of the chateau at Blois.  Luigi's father was an Italian ambassador for most of his life.  So Luigi is fluent in English, French, Spanish, and of course, Italian.  He started a firm that grew to 120 lawyers, quite large for Italy.  Their son is now with Jones Day.  And for the foodies who have written me, the first picture is typical of a French cocktail party with various seafood, oodles of olives, cheeses, boursin wrapped in ham, and pâtés.  We leave you this time with Luigi's advice, "To health, wealth, and love - and the time to enjoy them !"

Allez Bleu

We went to a reunion of those who participated in the Masters of International Law program at the University of Michigan Law School at the Hotel Lutetia on the Left Bank in Paris this past week.  It has quite a history of hiding Jews and then housing the Nazis also.  Our opening reception was at the Hotel Talleyrand which was later owned after Talleyrand by Baron de Rothschild.  A most impressive building.  The next night we had a gala (pictures above) at a former palace that is now a private club.  Beautiful gardens for cocktails and then inside for an elegant dinner.  The assemblage of alumni was most impressive - many international judges.  The keynote address was from an erudite woman justice of the German National Constitutional Court discussing among other things adhering to German law as well as EU law.  Another speaker is with a prestigious Greek law firm whose office was bombed because they are working on privatizing some government functions in order to deal with the economic situation.  

We stayed an extra day in Paris to meet up with my cousins from Chicago and did a little shopping as well.  I bought an exceptionally beautiful umbrella from a shop that hand makes the fabrics and constructs them since 1834.  Now I understand the meaning of parapluie and parasol - protection from rain - protection from sun.  Each day is a new adventure.  By the way, we took Lola with us to Paris, and she was welcome in most places except museums.  However, during the first evening reception, we left her in the hotel room, and apparently she barked the whole time disturbing other guests.  So the next night for the gala, the concierge provided a dogsitter.