Food shopping.

 

When I was in California, we were about a one mile walk from the Ralph's and Trader Joe's, and in the beginning people used to be surprised that my roommate and I would walk there, and not take the shuttle.

 

 

Well, this week I did my first Migros run by myself in quite sometime, and I now remember what it's like to walk 4 miles down and back up a mountain with as much food as my little arms and Philly tote bag can carry.

 

 

What I had forgotten was that no matter what, the magic number for me, when it comes to the amount I *should* carry back, comes out to about 20 euro...

 

 

 

...really doesn't matter too much what the 20 euro is, but it always seems that 20 euro averages out to being a comfortable amount of items for me to haul home.

 

 

This trip, I brought home 29 euro worth of goods, plus two dinner plates, and I realized that it was going to be an uncomfortable 2 mile walk home once I started walking away from the cashier.

 

 

But, I did it, got everything back in once piece, without my trusty Philly tote bag breaking...

 

 

...yet.

 

 

And, once I got about halfway home, it started snowing like crazy.

 

 

 

It always surprises me how the slight change in elevation from the Val Thoiry to Thoiry can be the difference of rain or snow.

 

 

So, needless to say, catching snowflakes on my tongue did cheer me up a bit.

 

 

Oh, and in other news, the town's officially put the phallic santas back up on the light posts...

 

 

...which means it is really starting to feel a lot like Christmas in Thoiry.

 

Phew!

 

A la prochaine friends...

 

Honey



First of the season.

 

Last Friday, we had our first tartiflette of the season, and if you remember I was uber excited about it.

There would be cheese!

 

 

And wine!

 

 

And friends!

 

 

And snow!

 

 

Well, two of those things kind of wrastled with each other a little bit, and spoiler alert, the snow won, so a few of our friends were unable to make it. We carried on, just with a few fewer in tow.

 

 

In case you didn't notice the need for two tartiflette vessels in the first picture, there was a necessity, due to just how extreme that tartiflette was.

 

(Read: Someone got a little layer happy :cough:Doc:cough:)

 

There were also plans for a snowman, and those plans included an eye patch, which was made by the one and only JimmyDegs out of paper and scotch tape...because obviously it needed to be waterproofed.

 

(That's what happens when you leave snowman plans up to two physicists who have been drinking.)

 

 

The snowman didn't happen unfortunately, but that could be because we were playing Munchkin Zombies and watching Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas until 4 am...there really is only so much time in a day, isn't there?

 

 

Oh well, at least we've got the supplies for the next time we get dumped on by snow.

 

Have any of you tried your own tartiflette night yet? I'd love to hear all about it!

 

A la prochaine friends...

 

Honey



Snowshoeing adventure.

 

After a successful first tartiflette of the season (more on that later), we woke up Samedi matin to find a glorious sight:

 

 

Not only had the snow continued all night, but we had accumulated over 30 cm!

(That's over a foot for all my fellow 'Mericans out there.)

 

 

So we grabbed our snowshoes, packed some snacks and some tea, and headed up to the cow pasture behind our house and the trails that head up to Tiocan.

 

 

The snow was really deep in the cow pasture because there aren't many trees to trap the snow...

 

 

...at some points I sunk to just about my hip!

 

 

Once we got close to the trail, the snow was a little more packed, so it was time to bust out some yoga postures, because that's just what we Bikram yogis do...

 

 

We then got on the trail, which led to more sinking-to-my-hips-in-the-snow moments as we were the first ones through that trail for the day...

 

 

...we made it up to the road that leads to Tiocan, and were surprised to see people skiing down the road, as the plows hadn't come through yet...

 

 

Oh, and then there was also this guy riding his bike down the same road...

 

 

And after about 30 minutes of walking along the road, we made it to Tiocan.

 

 

Where it was completely windy and freezing.

 

 

We didn't stay long, in fact just long enough to inhale a container of rice each and lose the feeling in our fingers.

 

 

So we began our descent, and in good timing too because we made it back to Hauts de Thoiry just as it was getting dark.

 

 

We finished the night with some fondue (because clearly having had tartiflette the night before did not quell our cheese lust) to congratulate ourselves for our effort, and fell asleep on the couch with glasses of wine in hand...

 

 

...because isn't that the way a day of snowshoeing should end?

 

I should think so.

 

Hope you all had a wonderful wintery week end in your part of the world!

 

A la prochaine friends...

 

Honey