Sunday Lunch

Thought they said that it would be cold over the weekend, with decreasing temperatures in the week seeming to confirm that - but well, we had over 20ºC finally and it was really wonderful.

I finally got Hubby to take out the Garden furniture so that we could eat out in the courtyard under our Magnolia tree (minus the flowers - all dropped already, imagine the amount of sweeping we had to do). The children like it too as they could cycle, ride on their scooters etc in between bites (OK, not good for table manners and digestion).

No, we didn't do any BBQ as we do not possess a pit. Will definitely get one when we move to Italy, but for now, we have nada. Dutchess' advice about charcoal cooking being the best still rings in the ears, but the Hubby would have nothing of it. If you want a BBQ chez moi in the future, it'll have to cook on a Gas BBQ. Monsieur has better things to do than to build a charcoal fire. Some men love to DIY, but not mine, I guess. I didn't marry the Postman, and I didn't marry Bob the Builder either.

So took out my heavy iron grill and put it on the electric stove. Made a Thai Pineapple Rice, Tomato Salad, heated up a can of Heinz Baked Beans, cooked some Bacon and Eggs Sunny-Side Up and grilled a dozen of Merguez Sausages, a succulent Entrecôte steak...

Then Hubby had to mow the garden. It was a Sunday and we were not supposed to do that, of course. But we had been on holiday, he had procrastinated for a few weekends and since he no longer lives in Stuttgart during the week, we did not see any other option. The grass reached the knees. Wild flowers were blooming.

The doorbell rang in the middle of the mowing. Shucks, must be some kaypo neighbour coming to read us our rights (the Germans in general like to poke their noses into their neighbours' business). I started to tell Eldest Son not to get the door, but it was too late.

Well, just as well that he did. It turned out to be his best friend Marcel, the little brother and the mother. Though they didn't call before to say that they would be coming (they live in Karlsruhe now - an hour away). And I was actually sun-tanning topless in the courtyard.

We were wondering earlier if we shouldn't have invited friends over for tea on such a nice day, so I guess la question ne se posait plus. Marcel is now studying in the European School of Karlsruhe, a school built for kids of diplomats of the European Union, and costing 12000 Euros a year. But his family doesn't have to pay a cent for any of their 3 kids, they were lucky to win their plea for a scholarship as the father (HP guy) had to work in Germany, the kids couldn't speak German and couldn't go anywhere else. Cristina, the mother, is a born businesswoman and is supplying Karlsruhe and Stuttgart with her home-made Empanadas. Kind of like our curry puffs (but without the curry and usually with meat).

We blah blahed for an hour or 2 and then drove to the Clara Zetkins Haus together.

Wonderful place this little house in the forest in Sillenbuch, Stuttgart. It has a playground with slides, swings, see-saw, sand pit etc and kids just love it there. There is a small restaurant in the house serving drinks and simple German food and also small rooms that you can rent for conferences, tea parties, music lessons etc. I always get a plate of Fries with Sauce (from the roast meats they serve) to grow fatter on when I'm there.

Then I made us Shuijiao Soup and we spent the evening in front of the TV. The French Presidential Elections, my dear friends. We are on opposite camps, Hubby and I. He's for Segolène Royal and the Socialists. I'm for Nicolas Sarkozy on the Right. Not that I like the guy, but I just am not a Socialist. Besides, if we get Ségo we also get Hollande (her partner and Secretary of the Parti Socialist). I can't stand the guy. Though if she announces that if she gets elected President Dominique Strauss-Kahn would be made Prime Minister, I may change my mind and switch camps.

Ironically, the guy with sympathies for the Left works in a Capitalist company seeking to make huge profits and he spends half his time firing people for that. Me, I am more for the Right, but those who know me know that I've spent my teenage and early adult years doing voluntary work for the Elderly. I was also a CWC member of the Democratic Socialist Club back at University. So it doesn't really mean anything, Right or Left, it's the programme that really matters, nowadays the lines are often blurred.

Anyway this is like watching Star Academy since nobody in this house voted yesterday. Come to think of it, I have never voted in my life - and not for lack of want. Just never got to.