Off on a trip.... of an studying kind!

I am holding off on posts whilst I am studying for my 10 week Travel Writing workshop. Time is precious right now with the last few weeks with my twins before I head back to work.

I am hoping that you will leave my blog on your reader/feed as I have more development plans that if all goes to plan, will be launched in the New Year.

Sunday reflective time...

Sunday reflective quote:-

"When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change".
Wayne Dyer.

Hope that your week-end in full of fun and I look forward to sharing more about my travels next week.

End of the week...

I remember when my Friday nights were filled with drinks, dancing and crazy behaviour. I will paint the scene of this Friday night.... 9:30pm, babies in bed, hubbie out and I am sat in old clothes catching up on household jobs and will probably be in bed by 10pm! I am not complaining, absolutely shattered after a week where the babies and my-self got ANOTHER cold, plus they are both teething. Determined to look after my-self and catch up on some sleep.

Thought I would share a picture from our holiday. The weather on this day was not so great (you can tell it is windy by my hair - it is not normally that style, honest! plus we have the raincover on to shield the babies from the blowing sand) BUT we did get to the beach. How gorgeous does it look? Absolutely deserted too - some-thing you don't see too often.

Night all.... ZZZZZzzzzzzzzz

Cake - FOOD PART 4

I assure you that this is my last French food post and I will move on to other aspects of the trip but I had to comment on the delicious pastries. Every day I would go into the patiserrie and buy a cake (taking forever deciding what to get, it drove my hubbie mad!). It would be packaged with care, in a perfect little box with a bow and in the evening I would unwrap it, stare at it for a while and then eat it. So very perfect and no where in the world makes cakes like they do in France.

Whilst I was on holiday I read French Women Don't Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano. I think, as an English women, that I may get slighter heavier if I lived in France but for a special holiday treat the cakes are perfect.

Sunday reflective time...

First up, thanks to all the new readers of globetrotting cacti. It means so much to know that what I write is being read and I do a little happy dance every time I get a comment (there are no video clips of the happy dance so you will just have to believe me on that one!). Thanks...

This week-end has been wonderful. Two friends who I lived with at university (between 1995 - 1999) have been to visit. We only get together a couple of times a year but it is like we have never been apart. Lots of chat (my hubbie hasn't been able to squeeze a word in!), shopping (vowed to brighten up my wardrobe and ended up buying two grey cardigans!), mugs of tea, glasses of wine, yummy food and of course, episodes of Sex and the City. The photo is of the three of us taken in a bar yesterday lunch time (I have their permission to publish it).

Quote of the week:-

"A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is brave five minutes longer".

Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Hope that your week-end is full of fun....

Puree food - FOOD PART 3

No, not for us.... the puree food is for the twins who are now 6 months. I am trying to make as much of the little ones food my-self (cooked and pulsed) but it is so much easier to buy ready made when travelling. It was the perfect opportunity for them to try some flavours that I would not think of preparing at home including artichokes (yum), courgettes (yum) and spinach (a big YUCK from them!!!!). The premade food was organic which helped me feel less guilty and I love the thought that they tried French food at such a young age. Fingers crossed this is the start of them travelling and exploring different food, flavours and countries.

Sea-food dishes FOOD PART 2

The Vendee region of France is famous for its diverse range of fresh sea-food. I LOVE seafood but living right in the middle of the UK it makes me rather suspicious of how fresh the fish is when it arrives on my plate.

Two of my favourite meals that I ate were a sea-food platter (consisting of prawns, whelks, oysters, mussels and crab). Deliciously yummy but messy to eat (and rather time consuming, not a great idea when you have 6 month old twins with you!). Also the moules provencal was delightful (mussels with a tomato, pepper and herb sauce). Of course this was served with pommes frites (as mussels routinely are in France). I remember ordering mussels with a side order of fries in San Diego and got a rather strange look from the waiter - whoops!

I hope that the pictures give you some idea just how yummy the food was....

Food - well it had to be discussed first. PART1

I appreciate that hearing some-one discuss the nitty gritty of their holiday is not always the most exciting things to read so I thought that I would break down my trip into themes and mix them up with other general travel thoughts over the coming weeks.

Food was naturally the first topic that came into my head. Croissants, fruit, sea-food, pastries, vegetables..... oh my goodness!

Trips to the supermarket were so much fun. The fruit and vegetables actually LOOKED like fruit and veg should. The colours were vibrant, they items were different sizes and shock, horror, some had marks on (I took some pictures on my iPhone in the store which my hubbie was mortified about - like that is rebellious behaviour!). They also tasted divine. So much different from the uniform produce in the UK, all lined up like identical soldiers and tasting of... well not an awful lot to be honest. This discovery has woken my taste buds (and brain) up to the desire to consume fresh produce (I thought that I was doing well and I always bought organic) so I am off to check out the local farmers market in the UK now I am home.

Don't you wish that you could put your holiday in a bottle...?

Don't you wish that you could put your holiday in a bottle? You could package it up, tie a bow around the stem of the glass and return home with it in your suitcase. When you have one of those moments (you know what I am talking about), you could unscrew the top and inhale a deep breathe in and reconnect with those holiday emotions. The feeling of the sun on your skin, the intonation of a different language, the fresh sea-food, the care-free attitude and (of course!) the taste of a decent glass of wine.

I am now back home caught up in e-mails, washing, ironing, cleaning, grocery shopping and all the other day to day chores and can not believe a week ago I was enjoying a tranquil holiday abroad. It is always good to come home but I really wish I could bring some of those holiday sensations with me....

Off to look at my photos again (sigh) and I promise to share more about my trip soon.

Sunday reflective time!

So how have things been? Two weeks away and I feel like I have a lot of catching up to do. We arrived home on Thursday evening and the time since then has been a blur of washing, ironing, more washing and yes, you guessed it..... more ironing. Don't you hate returning from your holiday in a relaxed frame of mind only to be met by household jobs.... bluuuurgh!

An amazing time was had in France. It has been a long time since I visited the country for a proper holiday so was not sure what to expect. The region was stunning, the food and drink was fresh and prepared so beautifully and the people were so helpful (especially with the two little ones who are now 6 months). An added bonus was that my French came flooding back to me. A little rusty would be the honest truth for the first couple of days but by the end of the holiday I was having full conversations and being complemented on my language skills (can feel my ego expanding by the minute). I promise to share my experiences in the coming weeks but for now, please enjoy the Sunday reflective quote of today....

"Many of life's failures are people who didn't realise how close they were to success when they gave up".

Thomas Edison.

Hope that your week-end is full of all things fun.....