St. Valentin

Valentine's Day weekend began with an invitation to a special dinner by Christiane and Franco

Amuse bouche of beet creme

Beef cheeks

Scallops

Pear

Several desserts bien sur

A gift of chocolates - Christiane is the chocolatier whose family has had the company in Amboise for 100 years

A gift of flowers

And a gift of olive oil

Observe the label closely - Franco make the olive oil himself

The next night, it was a prix fixe dinner at Toque et Vins with Christine and Philippe

Amuse bouche assortment

An egg mixture done with a toquer a oeuf - an egg shell slicer

Scallops

Frommage

Dessert assortment

They presented us with a lovely coffee table type book we will cherish

We finished the weekend with brunch on Sunday with Angeline and Matthieu

We look forward to their wedding in June.  Our first wedding in France to attend.

Catching Up Part 3

Alexis, Lotte and Nicolas came over for Sunday lunch this week.

 Nicolas is quite the eligible daper fellow about town.

He operates a hot air balloon company, and one day he flew the balloon right above our front door.  He called on his cell and said to please bring him coffee outside our front door.

Barbara cooked the entire Sunday lunch herself, which is quite a change from bygone years.

Pasta we brought back from Rome

A typically French dish - terrine forestiere - using wild mushrooms.

Chicken with apricots.

Another typical French dish - pot au feu - beef cheeks and oxtails with vegetables.

Busloads of Japanese come by our window every day to take good photos of the chateau from our side of the river.  Lola loves going out to meet them.

Ron enjoys joking around and entertaining our friends.  Here is his biker take.

This is his Stan Laurel imitation.

David came from Blois to spend the weekend and we ate in a cave restaurant.  Below is the dessert

We had brunch at our home Sunday and Nicolas dropped in with a bouquet and ended up joining us for brunch.

Catching Up Part 2

We had a birthday celebration with Amélie and Amah

Enojoying the lights in Tours with Denise and Jack

There has been no snow in Amboise this year, but when we arrived in Michigan at our home, it was quite a shock.

We took a trip while in the States to Iowa to see Ron's family.  The hometown is so small with only 1200 that Amboise is a metropolis by comparison with 12,000 residents.  In Manson Iowa the convenience store is below.

We visited a memorial park to veterans where Ron's father, Weldon, and his 3 brothers are all honored.

Here are shots of the Manson Country Club

There are 2 restaurants in town, Big Beve's and the Pizza Ranch.

There is only one traffic light in the entire county.

Ron with Uncle Don, the only surviving brother of his parents generation.

The chandelier made of Pepsi bottles in the restaurant.

Then it was off to NY to see Barbara's brother, Howard, and his wife, Sara.  Here's a shot from Toys R Us in Time Square.

We had a chance to wish Judy O'Neill well in her upcoming retirement.

Visiting with nephew John on Christmas.

Then it was back to La France.