Christmas in July

Christmas came early this year.

It started with a gift for my mum, who is basically Christmas crazy. She has all manner of decorations and even has her own shed to store them in. What she didn't have was an Advent Calendar.

I'm not sure where I found the idea. Probably Pinterest. Or maybe I morphed a couple of ideas together. Anyhoo, I'm sure Pinterest is the reason I held onto my old baking trays when Mr Frog bought me new ones from Aldi. It can't just be because I'm a bit of a hoarder. Right?

Here's what I came up with.

It's one of the simplest crafts I've done in ages.

1.Take one old baking tray/cookie sheet (FREE) and go at it with a can of spray paint. I chose white (because I had some. FREE)

2. Measure some xmas coloured scrapbook paper to size (already had because I bought it on sale ages ago. FREE)  and wrap around some matchboxes (ten of which I already had because I had to have them when I first saw them. FREE) from the craft shop. They come in packs of ten, so I bought another pack ( stupidly expensive when you're buying this many!) and then they didn't have any more. Commence swearing like a sailor, then save the day by buying actual matchboxes and turf the contents. (Seriously thought about keeping the matches, because surely I could use them for something, but after two weeks on the dining table they had to go.)

3. Adorn each box with a number from a purpose made sticker sheet. Thank you Kaisercraft for making my life easier.

That's basically it.

But then I realised that mum could display some of her massive magnet collection on the tray during the year, so I found a box to house the little boxes in (also FREE).

I love it when  a gift does double duty.

So, not long after I posted this off, we were invited to Christmas in July. Of course, I'd need a hostess gift and it would need to be homemade. I've got a rep' to protect.

I've been dying to make Mulled wine "teabags" almost as long as I've been obsessed with handmade tea bags. So, I went to Pinterest again, and used this and this as guides. The American measurements annoyed me no end, so there was a little bit of educated guessing going on.

Sadly, there was no time for a tasting so I can only hope they're as delicious as they look!

One "teabag" will do one bottle of wine, so I figure two bags will generally do for the winter. And of course they need to be packaged just so...

The morning of our lovely lunch date, Mr Frog trimmed the herb garden, so they came too.

Properly dressed of course...

And that is how we Christmas'd in July.

 Mr Frog has decided that next year, from Yule (in June...yes, I'm Pagan. The nude dancing is optional.) until Bastille Day on 14th July we will be celebrating Xmas, with decorations and everything.

You've been warned.

Now, it's time to start preparing those xmas crafts... don't leave them till the last minute, you'll just do yourself a damage.

What do you have planned for Xmas? Or is that a dirty word right now...?

MC

Adventures with French Food, a Picture Book

Tadpole's yoghurt. In glass jars. I very nearly smuggled the empty jars back to Australia!

One of the best things about France is the food. Obviously. It can also be one of the worst, funniest, weird and amazing things about France.

Let me show you just a few things I encountered on our recent trip to our other "home".

First, we arrived just in time for Xmas which is celebrated on Xmas eve, with lots of food and wine, until midnight when you open your gifts.
Among other things, we had:

Oysters, almost the size of my hand.

Snail like creatures from the ocean...

Yep, I had one. Not bad really.

And then, after numerous other canapes...

The cheese platter, made fancy with figs and walnuts

And lastly,

Dessert, why just have one choice?

My mother in law decided that New Years should be a simpler affair,so she headed to Picard, a store that sells pre-prepared, frozen food, but not as we know it.

A few canapes to start...

All ready made, from the store.

And then just for me, because I once had them at my local bar and thought they weren't bad, they gave me these...

Snails, in all their garlic butter glory, from the freezer to the oven.

For your viewing pleasure. You're welcome.

 We had a few other pre -made and quite lovely canapes, then pulled out dessert, also from Picard.

Eclair anyone...?

Oh, and these...

Because one is not enough.

After New Years, we headed to Marseille, stopping on the way in Lyon, the Food Capital of the food capital. We arrived late but in need of dinner, so my in laws went out for a walk to the local Carrefour (the biggest supermarket I've ever seen) to bring back a microwave meal or some thing.
We expected a microwave meal each, and prayed for wine.

We got this:

A moveable feast.

They came back to the tiny hotel room with bread, saucisson (which my father in law had to hack at with the cheap hotel knives), crackers (for Mr Frog, trying not to eat too much bread) sliced meats, numerous fresh/frozen meals (some of the best I've ever tasted), cheese and a demi bottle of wine.

 This turned out to be one of my favourite meals.

A half bottle of wine, just enough for the pisshead Aussies, and lovely.

Miniature cheese - a single serve on the left, and the tube on the right held about five of the little cheeses in front. And they were YUM!

We only had time for one good meal in Lyon, and we weren't dissapointed.

Entree... "French" onion soup and some fabulous salad I can't remember. The lovely staff got sme fries for Tadpole from the restaurant across the lane.

We stayed in a lovely apartement in Marseille, not far from anything, close to the beach and a short car ride to my brother and sister in laws place.

While peaking through the cupboards, I found this:

250ml of dry white wine, especially for cooking, in a tetra pack. GENIUS!

We happened to be in France in time for Epiphany, also known as Galette Season. A frangipane tart that is traditonally baked with a porcelain favour inside. Whoever finds it in their slice is crowned (literally with a paper crown) the king or queen. De-lish, and fun.

Galette in Marseille. My mother in law was queen, this time.

 My brother and sister in laws treated us to an amazing meal at their place.

Fresh Foie Gras, forget how it's made, it was divine, and so was the very sweet wine that went with it. (Very similar to Noble One)

Homemade lasagne, done the right way, cooked for hours and served with good bread and salad.

Dessert. My brother in law made me a little one, knowing I'm not big on dessert.

 And then with tea or coffee after dinner, these little bikkies, very similar to biscotti.

I ate A LOT of these.

Yep, we were spoiled!

We somehow managed a night out on our own. Mr frog and his Clochette out for dinner. Crazy. I'd had my heart set on having a Bouillabaisse in Marseille, but it turns out that not only are they expensive (50 euros), they're massive.
I, am not. So, I had fish soup instead, and not only was it delicious, but it came out like this:

Make your own soup, adding all the ingredints to taste.

Our next stop was the mountains. Merlette to be exact. Unforunately I didn't get any decent pictures of the beautiful Fondue,or the adorable restaurant we had it in, but I did get a shot of this:

Me and Tadpole enjoying a Vin Chaud (mulled wine) and a rusk on top of the mountain.

Now let's talk about tea. Actually, let's start with the coffee in France. It's bad. Really bad. I don't know how they can stuff it up so badly being so close to Italy, but there you go. So, I drank alot of tea instead.No probs there... unless you ask for milk, which sometimes results in this:

In lieu of tiny UHT milk containers, they gave me hot milk to put my tea bag in. Seriously.

Also, some people like to drink their tea or coffee in a bowl, of which their were many in our mountain chalet.

Giving it a go, French Style.

On our last night in the mountains, the rest of the family went out for fondue, and we stayed in. With Tadpole in bed,I made us this very basic meal. Potatoes and frankfurts. Mr Frog would never eat frankfurts here, but in France he makes an exception. And those little potato cubes are straight from the freezer, and something Mr Frog misses. Weirdo.

You can even buy pre diced potatoes.

One last thing from our mountain adventures...

A little something to warm you up...

Oh, and this.

My first snow man.

On the way back to Paris, I needed a little snack. Mr Frog got me these. They were good.

I really just love the packet!

When we got back to Paris, the grandparents went off to a party for a couple of nights, so we invited our friends over for dinner. The meal was a disaster. (Don't try cooking a casserole you usually make in the oven on the stove,in a kitchen that's not yours, with meat of poor quality). However, the company and the drinks were not.

A bottle of Champagne, complete with fancy seal.

Cosmopolitans made is an empty "Pollen" jar. Yes, Pollen.

The following day, after a slight miscommunication and an act of love at the last minute, we had lunch with the same friends. These are the place settings.

This is what I dream of in my own home... the perfect place setting.

I mean seriously, can you even believe it?

Meanwhile, our friends entire house looks like Versailles. Incredibly beautiful. And lunch was to die for. On our last visit they tried to kill me with lunch. This time I was prepared. Lunch on a weekend or special occasion in France is a LONG affair. Entree, main, salad, cheese, dessert, and then a little something with coffee or digestif.

This was just one of the little cakes we could choose.

The amazing thing? It wasn't sickly sweet. Wonderful.

On our last night in Paris, we went into the city for dinner, to a place in the Marais, called JaJa. They only use seasonal produce and the menu was small and divine. This is the entree we had to have.

Foie Gras with roasted macadamias and grapefruit foam.

Mr Frog and I both had rabbit for our main, but had to swap plates early on, due to the fact that Mr Frog couldn't get the meat off his portion of rabbit, whereas I had the breast. (Just proves the philosophy of the restaurant... they use the entire rabbit.) The wine warranted a photo of it's own. Mr Frog adored it!

Another please!

 And so, this concludes your visual food journey. If you got this far, thanks for sticking around!

Bon appetit!


M.C