This really does show off our home town of St Malo.
What do you think?
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Becoming ‘published’ writers …….
One of the things we are loving about our new business as property
finders, apart from helping clients find their dream and the fact that building
the business in France gives us a much more relaxed lifestyle, is our rapid
development into being ‘published’ writers.
Writing has always been part of my previous life, certainly from a career
point of view (if you can call responding to catering tender specifications
writing) but never before would I say that I have been ‘published’……….
Apart from articles about us in local newspapers back in the UK and
being featured in a recent Daily Telegraph 'e' book expat guide, we have now
had an article published in French Property News, one of the UK’s leading
publications re all things French ……..
The article is about our home town St Malo, so it is certainly a topic
that we can be very passionate about and we hope that it will encourage more
and more people to visit and to consider buying property locally and dare I say
it to use us in order to do so!
I don’t think we are ready for the Booker Prize yet but if you want to
have a read click on the link ….
Monday, June 11, 2012
Fridges for friends - Unexpected but delightful …….. Dinatoire
Not that we want to become removals experts but over the last couple of
weeks we have moved fridges for friends. The first was our own which we had sold to a
neighbour so we could make room for our beast of an American fridge freezer
that had been brought over from the UK as part of our van load at the beginning
of May and the second (last Saturday) a reciprocal move of her old fridge which
she was donating to a friend.
Despite an embarrassed Darren – carrying fridges through the streets of
the old town crowded with tourists is not his idea of fun and a first floor
delivery address without a lift; the jobs were carried out with relative ease.
Now clearly we didn’t offer to make these moves for our own gain but we
were offered what was to be a most welcome aperro on completion of the second.
For those of you who don’t know, the aperro is a delightful little French custom
of early evening drinks supplied with a nibble or two over a set period of time
eg. 6.30pm to 8.30pm – easy control for hosts we think!
So with absolute confidence we planned the second move for 6pm and
leaving suitable time for aperros made arrangements to meet friends for the
evening at 8.
What we had missed was the word dinatoire!
Now dinatoire is a word we were unfamiliar with and as it had just
spilled over onto the second screen of the confirmation text we had received,
one we did not even know had been used.
We now know that dinatoire is a word used to describe dinner – casual
and buffet style ……
Cheese and grape canapes
Grey prawns in their shells
King prawns served with a salad of guacamole, radish, cucumber and pink
grapefruit
Foie de Morue (believe it or not fresh cod livers) served with toasted
bread and cracked black pepper – a real revelation
Melon and cucumber salad and a main course of …..
Porc au caramel (slow cooked pork in a cider and salted caramel sauce) with rice
Porc au caramel (slow cooked pork in a cider and salted caramel sauce) with rice
We just had no room for the fruit platter desert and needless to say we
missed our 8pm rendezvous with friends.
Still new friends made and a delightful evening had – and what a great
way to learn the meaning of new French word ……
Vive
la dinatoire ……….
Monday, June 4, 2012
The beginnings of Canada – St Malo:
We think you know that one of the things we love most about our home
town of St Malo is its history. One of
the many highlights of that history are the adventures of the famous
explorer, Jacques Cartier, the man
credited with discovering Canada or at least the small region of Québec he named Canada as a result of his 1534
voyage.
Charged by François I of France to look for gold in the New World
Cartier set off from St Malo on 20 Apr 1534 with 2 ships and 61 men. He arrived off Newfoundland 20 days
later. After what was generally regarded
as a successful voyage he set off on a larger expedition in 1535 with 3 ships,
Grande Hermine, Petite Hermine and Émérillon, and a crew of 110.
He returned to his newly discovered lands several more time throughout
his lifetime but died at home in St Malo and is buried in pride of place in the
Cathedral St Vincent in the walled city.
The connection between France and Canada has always been strong of
course but here in St Malo there is a terrific sense of pride that this is
where it all began and many Canadians make pilgrimages here each year to
retrace the steps of the great explorer.
The ‘Place de Quebec’ houses a mini cultural embassy ‘Maison de Quebec’
which hosts seasonal cultural events with many visiting Canadian performers
entertaining the locals and the tourists alike.
The natural link means that many Canadians have made this part of
France home and many more have chosen to buy holiday homes here.
If nothing else the common language makes their transition considerably
easier ………..
 |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)