Chaos and mayhem and pasta

Anyone had one of these days recently? Being a pastor’s wife, Sunday often has me outnumbered in the fight for a civilized world. 

I do my best to counteract it—lunch is hummus and picnic goods and dinner is always pasta and spaghetti sauce to keep my sanity afloat. 

Back in the dark ages (okay like 6 months ago) I used to slave away Sunday morning trying to scrounge up some form of after church meal Martha Stewart worthy until my husband finally knocked some sense into me and convinced me that while our children might not suffer too badly forgoing a weekly pot roast (and let’s be honest—three fourths of the time I’d forgotten to either grab the meat out of the freezer to thaw or to actually prepare the crockpot more than five minutes before we walked out the door) , they just might suffer from dangerously crabby mom syndrome. Can I please get an amen?

 So simple and repeated meals became the law of the land and I haven’t look back since. Except, maybe, when I see Isaline covered in red sauce despite all my best full body bib efforts. Alas. Sigh. Momma said there’ll be days like this. 

A Cueillette-ing We Will Go!

You guys. I'm in love with a farm. (A husband and daughter too just in case any of your were worried).  But not just any farm, a cueillette kind of farm. It's a good thing I've got friends that aren't as lazy as me otherwise I would have passed all this cueillette-y goodness without a clue (as in, my friend Heidi actually looks up cool places to go even after more than a decade of living in France). I mean, I've lived here for seven years now and just found out about these things the other day. But what is a cueillette farm, you might just be asking yourself? So glad you asked. Below, ladies and gentlemen, is a cueillette: 

        cueillir

   

                       vt  

              [ +fruits, fleurs]   to pick

           (ANTHROPOLOGIE)   to gather

           (fig)   (=attraper)   

               [+malfaiteur]   to catch

cueillette

   
      nf  

   [+champignons, fruits sauvages]   picking, gathering  
la cueillette des champignons      mushroom picking  

   [récolte]   harvest, crop

     (ANTHROPOLOGIE)  

   la chasse et la cueillette      hunting and gathering  

I mean, who doesn't want to go to a farm where catching, gathering, and hunting is involved, right?? The way a cueillette farm works is basically like a glorified u-pick farm. Only instead of just berries and whatnot, they have a little of everything, including flowers! Fun right?  

They way it works is you grab one of these big ol' wheelbarrows at the entrance and head out to whatever part of the farm that has the seasonal produce you might be interested in. 

Here's a list of just a few of their products mentioned on the sign below: beans, eggplant, tomatoes, spicy peppers, zucchini, raspberries, spinach and radishes. 

And of course not an awful place to take the kiddos: 

Near the entrance/exit they had a few products already picked and get this: pumpkins were less than 5 euros a piece! That's half the price of a Paris pumpkin! (Please understand this is important news to us American expats that are forced to tramp all over Paris every year looking for a dang pumpkin to carve only to have to sell all our possessions just to buy the thing)

Spaghetti squash below: 

Putting the wheelbarrow to good use: (laziness must run in the family...lol) 

In the apple orchards, pickin' with Papa: 

As it turns out the girl is much better at picking up apples on the ground than cleaning up her toys... 

After our hard work on the farm we decided to head over to the other end where the animals and store were located. 

This, believe it or not, is an 'insect hotel'. I still haven't decided whether it is cool or creepy... 

Isn't this just the cutest chicken coop ever?  It kind of looks like a little house! 

I have to say I was pretty blown away by their store. Here I am expecting a couple zucchinis and tomatoes and this was the view that awaited us:

I mean, everything just looks gorgeous, doesn't it?? 

I loved some of the different creative displays as well. Check out the sausage stand: 

And is this not the most beautiful display you've ever seen for fresh herbs? Only in Europe would they make a fountain into a plant display! 

They also have a cafe/restaurant within the store as well. It was a little pricey for our little outing but definitely something to not rule out in the future! (Besides, who doesn't love a dog presenting you with the menu??) 

Good times were had by all. Here's our fall harvest that we took away: 

 Not too shabby, aye? 

The name of the place we went to is called Les Fermes de Gally and you can check out the website here:  http://www.ferme.gally.com/_cueillette-acces-horaires-cueillette-de-gally   There are quite a few cueillettes in the Paris area though, if you're interested, just do a google search for cueillettes in Paris and you're sure to find some! Happy picking! 

Bday Bash

Apparently, blogging without a computer tends to be challenging. Such is our life for another couple of weeks until we can buy a new un-crashed one. Oh technology, one day your friend, the next your worst enemy... (except for when has technology ever really been my friend?) So forgive the month lateness of Livia's birthday bash (this time with friends of ours and their little kiddos). Actually it's rather fitting considering we couldn't get our act together and did the party a month late-now you get to have the photos a month late as well :)  

I tried to resist Pinterest's beacon and keep this as low key as I possibly could. I figure I'll save my birthday slaving years for when she'll actually remember it. And I was lazy. 

The back of our apartment shares a big ol' lawn/garden with the three other buildings on our lot so we figured big space + cushy grass + playhouse stuffed with toys = the perfect venue for a bunch of crazy sugar-highed babies and toddlers. 

Those are baby biscuits in case you're wondering...we cater for the under 2 crowd around here (no id necessary). Oh and the watermelon turned out to be delicious. Livia thought so both before and after her slice got dropped and then covered in dirt. I'm really banking on the 'dirt don't hurt' theory otherwise we might be in trouble... 

It pretty much consisted of a whole lot hanging out, gorgeous weather, bottle drinking (milk for the babes, beer for the guys),  and chatting while trying to keep our kiddos from doing ridiculous things. Livia apparently missed the memo that she was hostess and could mostly be found 30 ft away picking grass and doing other random shenanigans that basically involved snubbing the other kiddos. 

It didn't take long for the yard to look a little like this:

But hey, they had fun making that mess, so that's what counts, right?

I gave in to Pinterest for the dessert and went the cupcake route. With sparkly party hats of course--what party is complete without them, right? 

Here's a very telling pic where Mom and Dad are doing all the work while Missay Thang looks condescendingly on... Of course I quipped to the group that I wasn't sure how Livia was going to take the whole cake eating thing considering that she's never had processed sugar before. 

Then I got to eat my words while Livia devoured hers. Yes folks, that is massive concentration going on there. She aint holdin' nothin' back. 

Don't believe that look on her face. She loved every minute of it. She takes after someone I know but gosh if I can remember who.... ;) 

Of course after this she proceeded to wipe the rest of that cupcake all over me. Sharing is caring, really. 

Small Space Gardening

I heart spring. March is that great tipping point between winter and beyond and every time it rolls around at this time of year I can't help but do the happy dance. In honor of all that's bird chirp-worthy, I'm going to attempt a try at window box gardening! In our new apartment I've been blessed with 4 foot wide (and fairly long!) windowsills just waiting to be graced by my professional green thumb presence. [cue my mom laughing right now] At least I'm going to try...hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

Here's the line-up:

Basil

(The variety in French says: Grand Vert...big green?)

Cilantro

Mint

(It's all over France as a weed!)

Chives

Carrots

Wish me luck! ;)