Garden update

Our little balcony garden was going gangbusters up until the recent cold spell.  Since then, things haven't grown much at all, but here is the state of things:

A handful of strawberries

Quite a few raspberries

We started off with hundreds of blueberries, but the cold weather appears to be killing some off??

We now have baby kale!

The parsley is exploding, but the poor basil is limping along.

How cute is this little pea pod?  I also love its little tendrils.

The cherry tomatoes are slowly growing

The pepper plants we have indoors are about ten times larger than the ones outdoors

So it's not too bad overall, but the weather has been the limiting factor so far - come on Sun, it's time to make your appearance!

Things my husband says

Me - Do you like my new nail polish?
C - Yes, it's a really pretty pink color.
Me - Pink?? It's green/turquoise dear.
C- Green?  In that case, I change my mind - I hate it. You should take it off.
Me - What do you care, it still looks pink to you!
C - Yeah, but now I know it's green...

Riddle me this

My birthday is coming up soon, and for about the past month, C has been taunting me with the birthday surprise he has planned for next weekend.  I have however managed to get a few clues out of him, and so I'm putting them out there to see if anyone can guess what it is.

Clue 1: I do not need to pack a suitcase.
Clue 2: I do need to be pretty dressed up.
Clue 3: But I also need to wear comfortable shoes.
Clue 4: It is not something uber expensive. 

So, let's hear your guesses. If someone manages to get it right, I'll see if I can find a fun treat to bring back from the US for the winner.

Troyes

Between my travel schedule this month (Morocco, UK & 3 trips to the Loire valley) and C's travel schedule (Lyon, Limoges x 2 & 10 days spent at CDG), we decided we needed a weekend getaway to spend at least a bit of time together. I really wanted to be out on the water, so we took a look at a map of France to see if there were any big lakes within a reasonable drive of Paris. 

We found one near Troyes, and since it was only about a 2hr drive away, we booked a hotel and off we went on a mini-road trip.

We spent the first day cruising around the lake on a little electric boat.  It wasn't exactly the same as a being on speedboat, but it was super relaxing and one of the first sunny days in a LONG time, so who could complain?

The following day, we did a quick walkaround of the Troyes centreville. It was small, but lovely with all kinds of colorful timbered buildings:

As well as lots of tiny, hidden streets:

Mixed in with a bit of "standard" French architecture:

And the lovely Seine rolling through the city:

There were also plenty of cute places to eat - though next time I would think twice about eating all of those onions when on a romantic escapade. :)

We didn't have time for much else, but there are also a boatload of vineyards around, so there is definitely plenty to do for those looking to get out of the city for a weekend getaway.

The yoke's on me

The other day, C & I had just finished watching The Office, and he asked how many episodes were left.  I replied "Only one" and he said "Oh no! It's the last but one!  I'm going to be so sad when it's over."   I burst out laughing, and said "What did you say?" and he repeated "It's the last but one episode?"

Still laughing, I said "You can't say it like that - you say it's the second to last episode".  He thought about it for a minute and then insisted that it was an actual phrase, so we turned to our good friend Google.  And what do you know - it is indeed acceptable to say "last but one".  Looks like English Weekend backfired on me this time!

So that brings me to the question - does anyone out there actually use this? Maybe it's specific to British English?  It just sounds so awkward to me, like someone translated a foreign phrase word-for-word into English.

Le bar à tartines

Here's another fun one for ya, especially for those expats who remember the pre-Philly cream cheese in France days and what a pain in the butt it was to make a cheesecake back then.

Philadelphia is will be opening a pop-up cream cheese bar in Paris from June 5-9, at 14 rue Jean Jacques Rousseau - 75001 PARIS from 10am to 6pm daily.  They'll have all kinds of sweet and savory goodies to taste, and there will be cooking workshops held each day (advance reservations required). 

As a non-creative person, other people's creativity never ceases to amaze me.  I just saw a tweet for a "Beret & Baguette" bike event happening this weekend in Paris.  The goal is twofold - to promote the "retro culture" and biking, so folks are encouraged to dress up in their finest retro gear and ride on a vintage bicycle.  The dress code is "habits de la France d'entre deux guerres", or clothing from the time period between WWI and WWII.

The event will take place over two days, with a ride happening both Saturday and Sunday, and there's also a vintage ball being held Saturday night in the 3rd at Workshop Paris.

If you don't have a bike, Holland Bikes is offering a 10% discount on their rentals, making the cost 13.50€ for one day or 27€ for the weekend. 

We're going to be out of town this weekend, but if not, I actually might have gone to check out the bike ride - it must be pretty cool to see a bunch of people riding around looking like they stepped out of a time capsule, especially with Paris as their background.