Category: In English

It is strange that neither one of us has written about this very important subject before. After all, “what else have we got here in France but food and wine”, as our French neighbour Veronique says?

Clearly, this is a subject one should take seriously and treat with utmost reverence. So we have
embarked upon a project. Our aim is to try out all the restaurants both in Gex and in the area around. We are not yet done. But we have found some nice ones.
There is a moule restaurant just across the street. They serve mussels in all kinds of different forms, but we are not yet fully convinced of its merit. It wasn’t bad, but not wow! However, they have now opened a summer terrasse, so I think we will give them another go.
The Italian pizzeria down the road to Geneva is a good place. They make excellent pizzas in enormous real pizza ovens just by the entrance, also as take aways. And they have excellent spaghetti alle vongole. The proprietor has impressed us with his keen eye for people who come back, and his total control of all the tables, although the restaurant is big. You pay by the counter, and he always seems to know which table you’ve had and what you have eaten.
Ferney has quite a few very good restaurants, gourmet ones, and Chateau de Divonne is excellent. Both the food and the milieu – not to mention the view. But the price is also clearly higher than anywhere else we have been yet. And we have tried some restaurants in Geneva, all good.
You very quickly get used to the fact that no meal is complete without cheese. And that desserts are a must. I think I haven’t eaten this much sweets in years. The dessert in itself is not yet enough, you see. After that you will still need something sweet with your coffee.
Meals are also surprisingly large. I’ve stopped ordering menus, not because they are not often quite good value for money, but because I get far too much to eat. And I can’t stand the hurt faces of the waiters when they look at me and demand an explanation! Why haven’t I finished the food on my plate? Did I not like it? Was there something wrong? It doesn’t help one bit to try to explain that I never eat much and that I just couldn’t press down more. They clearly do not believe me. So I compose my own meals, that is much better.
And the wines! Suddenly we’ve realized that French wines do not have to cost a fortune to be really, really good. Quite the contrary. The local Caveau offers splendid wines for 8-9 euros. Box after box has already fond its way into our wine cellar, and there is still ample space for more.

Life in France could be much worse!

Annika

The Jura mountains are whitecapped again. The air is crisp, but down here at 600 meter above sealevel all springflowers are blooming and the trees are their loveliest spring green. The cold will slow down spring a little, but I guess that’s OK. Then we can enjoy the coming of spring a little longer.

While I was out walking with Africa on Saturday morning the cows were let out. When we came back towards town they were all there, behaving exactly as they should – jumping, running, fighting playfully with each other. What a joy! Africa was thrilled, and so was I. About a third of them have wonderful big bells, and since the field is just outside town, we can now both see them and hear them from our house. It certainly adds to the joy of spring. Africa is still thrilled but also a bit scared. They are, after all, very big and very black and white. And strange. And terribly curious about who we are. A little higher up we found 8 calves, smaller and not so dangerous according to Africa. She even put her nose close to them, trying to understand.

Not far away from the happy calves the Large Hadron Collider of Cern is up to speed again, some 100 meters under the ground. The collision energy of 8 TeV it now has achieved is a new world record. Two worlds completely apart. What happens at Cern is almost as incomprehensible to me as it would be to the calves, could we explain it to them. To them it is also probably of no consequence whatsoever. But both these events happen at the same time – one an example of our most advanced scientific achievements – the other life as it always have been. Spring arrives, new life starts, the cows are let out to graze as they always have, and so the circle is again complete.

Annika

Yesterday the weekly Saturday market in Gex offered fresh white asparagus from Provence, as well as strawberries. Delicious!

Unfortunately the exceptionally warm weather is going to return to what is apparently more normal at this time of the year – +3-4 degrees at night and +14-15 during daytime. Not that we can really complain about that either. Still some snow left high up on the peaks of Jura, and Mont Blanc on the other side is still as snow-covered and majestic as ever.

Work has been quite demanding the last two weeks, with trips to London & Istanbul. Good meetings and seminars, but quite exhausting. Especially coming home from Istanbul took ages – the plane was two hours late and we all looked forward to either spending the night in Zurich or taking the train to Geneva. Fortunately Swiss waited! that was great. It´s been good to spend a quiet weekend at home with just some gardening and walks with Africa. And a visit to the local market from which we came home with more wine!

Annika