I tried

To shock the kids with this diorama of a T-rex helping himself to some organs, but it was instead greeted with cackling and snorting. Should I be worried?

Paella, v3

kicked ass.

oh la la

Never has a V8 sounded this good

This sounds like bullshit

According to some French wine producer, Americans used to add Coke to wine.

Thanksgiving

Since Thanksgiving isn't a holiday here, we celebrated on the weekend, with Maty-jane and family and some other friends, new and old. Mary Jane and I tried a new (to us) method of preparing the turkey -- spatchcocking! Despite the antique name, it is all the rage, apparently. First important thing to know about turkeys in France: they have heads!

After some poultry knife (Deba) work, and some cracking of bones, we slipped the turkey into our oven, and I'll be damned if the thing wasn't ready in under an hour. Definitely the way to go.

It was a pretty nice spread: stuffing, turkey (delicious and moist), roasted garlic mashed potatoes, orange-cranberry sauce (we found the cranberries at Picard, and they were waaay better than berries -- small, tart and flavorful) and then pecan pie, apple crumble and pumpkin pie. Nice.

RIDE

Cat sliding down the windshield

A new knife

I've been wanting a Damascus/pattern welded knife for a while, mostly because they look beautiful. The Banno Bunka that my mom bought me has been a bit of a revelation for preparing vegetables, so I thought I would take a chance with something new. I wanted something made near my dad's home town, and came upon the Nigari Forge in nearby Hirosaki. Of course, there was a strong rivalry between the country boys of Aomori town like my dad, and the Samurai of Hirosaki, but close enough! It's a single bevel, which I am more comfortable sharpening, too.

Lunch with CZ

At a new (to us) place in town: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g187264-d3580943-Reviews-Une_Semaine_Sur_Deux-Grenoble_Isere_Rhone_Alpes.html

Fort St. Eynard

Forgot how tought that one is, but what a view at the end!

Lunch ride

a blast from the past

Miss ya, Daddy-o!

Lunch ride with Vero and friend

New coffee source

This is the best yet. It's rather pricey to ship from the UK though.

Paella, V2

I am improving!

Blog will be coming back!

A perfect storm of busyness, laziness and a hard drive crash have conspired to stop me from updating the blog, but I'll be updating again soon (once my drive is fully recovered).  I'll start posting again and post dating entries soon

Kids climbing lesson

And we headed into town to pick up cheese, as well as a replacement drive for the crashed imac drive.

Later on I went on a ride.  I had planned on going to Sarcenas, but felt *terrible*, so turned around after Proveysieux and did some riding along the river.  Erf.

Next, the kids and I went to the park and then to Alinea

and then I broke the imac down to try to replace the drive

Lunchtime ride

with Vero and her friend up to Narbonne and Pont de Vence

Commute view

Weekend in Annot!

After a long hiatus, we spent the weekend bouldering in Annot.  It was the first trip in our new used Renault Espace, now named the "Dragon Wagon" by the kids, and I have to say that despite being an ugly car, it is great for road tripping.  It is quiet, you can put as much stuff as you want in it, the handling isn't too bad, and it is comfortable.  It also gets pretty terrible gas mileage, but hey, you can't have everything.  The seats are removable and reconfigurable too.

Since we would be missing halloween, I convinced (forced) the kids to wear the costumes I had brought back from the states, and took some photos of them along the way
In front of the Mont Aiguille !

And up the road from a town near Annot, where Chloe and I had once stayed in a *terrible* hotel.  They served us grey gnocchi.

and near the Verdon

Once in Annot, we headed up to the farm, unloaded stuff and went up the hill to do some climbing at the Paf le Chien sector.

I managed to do "Choupette Magique" without too much trouble and then Chloe and I fell off "la Dalle qui rend fou" until the light ran out.

My friend from work Alejandro and his girlfriend Anna showed up later in the evening, but despite my best efforts to stay awake and wait for them, I fell asleep!

The next day, after some aeropress coffee, we went back up the hill to the paf le chien and rue du plaisir, And Virage sud sectors.

The climbing was great, as usual, but Chloe dropped a shoe somewhere, and we all spent a long time looking for it.  I eventually found it in a big pile of leaves.  We went back to la Rouie (the farm) for lunch, and some of Alejandro's friends showed up with their two young kids!  We all headed back out to the place des Cardeurs section where we all mostly fell of things (except the kids).

I did "le groin" in a try or two, but fell off stuff that I know I did last time, like "Citizen".  Boooo!

We headed back to the farm once darkness fell, and we ate raclette -- using the raclette machine that we brought down from Grenoble.  Zoe and I showed everyone how to make S'mores, improvising a bit with speculos cookies instead of Graham crackers.

The next day it was off to the Madness sector for some of the old classics.  Chloe did an old project of hers called "Bachotage", as well as a new one -- Bacaulareat.

Next, we had the most amazing bouldering trip lunch ever:  Alejandro made Paella!  And then he and Anna schooled up on the do's and do-not's of Paella Valenciana.  First:  no mixing meat and seafood.  Second, paella is not a dumping ground for the things you have lying around;  it is a specific dish.  It's pretty much oil, rice, saffron, flat beans, rabbit, chicken.  It was pretty damn awesome, and the kids loved it.  What a fabulous finish to a weekend of god climbing and perfect weather

There was just the small matter of driving home!  Not too bad with the Fall colors though