Les Trois Copines

Les 3 Copines

We didn't go directly to Paris. Stopped by at MIL's 17th century stone house for a few days. Must say that hers could challenge mine in spiders and other insects. Only that she belongs to those who subscribe to the "natural ecosystem" theory. Moral of the story they were everywhere, in the WC alone I counted at least a dozen of them (always double check toilet paper before using it). The kids freaked out of course and couldn't quite absorb the ecosystem lesson. She had the added joy of keeping cats for pets and somehow still managing to have them semi-savage. Meaning they like to bring back their trophies (birds, mice...) to their human parent and leave them at the foot of her bed. Fancy Hubby freaking out and running the vacuum in his mother's house. I found a few feathers in the kids' luggage, though thank God not the rest of its owner.

Anyway, I was given the honour of cooking a "Chinese lunch" for 2 of MIL's best friends on our 1st Sunday in France. We are coming a full circle, of course. Nowadays we like to keep on eye on the Mother and know what she's up to. Thanks to the Internet, we know that she - Queen of Chat aka Merry Widow - is (1) in France (2) at home (3) connected and therefore (4) safe and sound. What she's doing exactly we couldn't unfortunately discover in real time, so it's good to know that she has decent friends with whom to have fun with, make girly talk etc. So we were happy to finally meet E and C...

Pre-cooking Preparation

Not being in my own kitchen and knowing that I would be tired after the long drive, I've opted for 3 simple Chinese dishes : Sweet and Sour Pork, Chicken with Ginger and Spring Onions and Salt and Pepper Prawns. MIL chose the cheeses and E provided dessert (a Pear Tart and a Raspberry Charlotte).

Sweet and Sour Pork

Chicken with Ginger and Spring OnionsSalt and Pepper PrawnsCheese Platter

Pear Tart

One must admit that those ladies are in good shape for their age. E told us that she jogs for 2 hours a few times a week. I wish that I have a thing for physical exertion. Blogging is great, but unfortunately it doesn't quite exercise the body. Sex is probably still the best compromise. Which is why I hold my dear Hubby quite dear. He may not be much of a handyman, but he certainly has a number of other uses.

Finally another purpose of our visit was to dump the kids with their grandmother for a week. Another person to get a taste of what it's like to stay at home with 3 crazy kids. 3 days into exercising her grandmotherly duties, MIL begged for mercy and vowed never to babysit all 3 at the same time ever again.