23 december

Yesterday I had the feeling that I had died and had woken up in mango heaven :)  We went to see some friends of my parents who live on top of the hill just above the beach of l'Ermitage at La Saline les Bains. A lovely French couple. They have an open plan house, with a swimming pool and a big veranda that has a great view of the sea and the filao trees on the beach. As the sun sets on the sea, they have a kick ass sunset every day. We went there before going to the beach and had planned to stop to drop some litchis in exchange for some mangoes. We left with a 20 litre esky full to the brim of ripe and green mangoes, a quasi full one litre bottle of freshly made mango juice (that I drank virtually by myself at the beach) and 4 freshly cut coconuts.....  
The temperature at the beach was perfect! with not too much sun, not too hot on the beach and the water was just right, and the dim sims, licthis, mango juice and crepes did not go astray at all. We even saw father christmas on a kayak in the lagoon. This was all so relaxing....

At home I did a bit of gardening, mostly pulling out more weeds. Dad made fun of me  a bit, saying I take such good care of the salads it looks like  I talk to them and they're growing out of fear to disappoint me. They do look good :) And at least  mum's patch is a bit more tidy. They're planning a thunderstorm for tomorrow so dad has been putting up the gazebo and pulling a tarp at the back of the house to give us more space. I think we have eveything we need for tomorrow (let's hope so because there are non stop queues at the supermarkets at the moment).

The supermarkets got me thinking the other day. Once you get over the fact  that you have to do some work at the cashier and bag your own stuff, and too bad if you forgot your bags, it really is quite a sight, especially at that time of year. So much variety. even if not as much in terms of cheese compared to France for instance. I mean, I even bought snacks ready to eat inside the supermarket the other day (at the back, near the meat). There is a hot food takeaway section too (dangerous for me because  even when we go early, around 8, I HAVE to buy some chinese honey pork,  or samosas and then I have eaten my daily intake of proteins by 10 am).   But what really got me yesterday were the produce ready to eat "sous vides". They even had a collection of tapas goods, little portions under plastic, ready to take home and heat up,  with exotic names like "choritos" and "emincette de volaille". There was a big alley of such produce. The fish was presented on huge open air ice blocks. The frozen good section is four times as big as the ones in safeway (you shloud see the frozen dessert section!). There is a jewellery stand inside as well. And all the discounted and specialty produce is placed right near the one and only entrance so, at the moment, to go in, you have to pass through rows of .... toys.... How do you resist buying stuff?


All right, I have to go it's breakfast now. I'll be having,,,,,, mangoes!  It will be amazing if I don't turn orange today. Pool lounging and the beach has turned me a nice shade of caramel at any rate!

I will just add that I won't be putting pictures of people on this blog because I actually think my parents and family would object to it.