Welcome to summer! The heatwaves continue and we have two mini getaways to the beach. It seems like everyone is away and everything is shut, I actually don't mind this season at all. I'm even thinking we can visit Bouillon Chartier Montparnasse this month (there is always a crazy line outside every other month of the year..) will keep you all posted!
Getaway #1 to Sable d'Olonne...We were supposed to go to the island of Elba with the entire extended family of S, but he accepted an invitation to give a talk in China for that week so we didn't go. I went instead with my dad and G to Sable d'Olonne. This destination was picked by ChatGPT when I asked it "find a place within 3hrs direct train of Gare Montparnasse where the beach is within 15min walk of the train station" and voilà! It was an excellent choice.
Getaway #2 to Elba...
Amazing fresh mussels...
Goodies we brought back from SdO - those cookies were from the most amazing smelling boulangerie !
Back in Paris...
Goodies from Kunming : S went to China for a week and brought back these exotic dried mushrooms, rose pastries (we gave these to the crèche) and some Yunnan coffee.
I planted some tomatoes in this little forgotten corner next to the cemetery at work.. apparently there was a massive epidemic of tuberculosis a century ago and many patients were buried in the small cemetery just to the side of the hospital, overgrown and very atmospheric plce
It's probably the soil or something, not the most productive tomatoes but they are good for admiring and visiting each day. It brought a lot of pleasure to my colleagues to go and water them in my absence. They even joke that ça fait partie de la garde maintenant.. (it's part of the on-call duty)
Do you like my ChatGPT sign? (it says - goodbye to cigarette butts, green space is coming!) I decided to clean up the balcony of the on call room, which is this disgusting desiccated cesspit of cigarette butts. I'm going to do a little garden project in August...
There's been a lot of mulberry eating from the two giant trees in the carpark.
I celebrated my birthday with the family traditional noodles (pea & prawn) that my dad made - the first time in my life that my dad, husband and son were all in the same place for my birthday!
Beautiful bouquet of flowers from S, from this cute little flower shop nearby elflore
We headed to Elba with the grandparents (my dad and S' mother) in tow. What a journey! We counted 11 hours and 6 stops on the way back, and S' mother has started looking for a nearby place for next year. It was marvellous though, a pebbly beach on the Mediterranean sea, incredibly clear waters, lots of fish visible just metres from the beach.
We visited this cute shop selling all kinds of fancy food items. I love these giant pasta shapes!
Specialty kind of cake in Elba schiaccia briaca - infused with the local aleatico wine
Our routine was simple, morning = beach, afternoon = gelato / coffee, evening = dinner together on the terrasse and walk to the beach afterwards. The closest gelateria Gelateria da Massimo was amazing. Here the flavours are forest berries, strawberries and dark chocolate
Simple vegetarian dinner on the terrace - I finally made the vegetable tian from Recipetineats - it was super soothing arranging all the slices! here also with cannellini beans and orzo with tomatoes.
I saw this in the supermarket and I had to try it - a mix of pickled vegetables "for rice"
Here it is, delicious! also with mash of peas, fresh green beans, tomatoes with mozzarella
Nothing like a bit of local beer and chips...
Our favourite café was next to the gelateria, the man was incredibly friendly. Here was a giant biscuit with almond chocolate filling to go with our (excellent) coffee
Here's the sign on the wall from this café, it reads something like: Offer of the day - coffee, glass of water, sugar without limit, toilets, little spoons, newspaper of the day, chat with psychological support, jokes, weather info, info about the closure of the bus, and added on people wrote - niceness, family ambiance, favourite radio, stories, I added on AC!
Curveball time...
I was doing the garde one day when this massive truck arrived with a refridgerated cabinet - did someone order a billion prawns? Actually it was a portable morgue to deal with the excess of heatwave associated deaths that no longer fitted in APHP's existing mortuaries. Nurses told me that this was the way to go during COVID, but I've never seen anything like it! It's still parked outside the basketball court a month later...
I could have ended with any of the thousand photos I have of my monster this month, but I particularly loved this one, he's just chilling at the beach side bar, in his lobster shirt...
Sending this to Sherry of Sherry's Pickings who hosts the monthly IMK get together. Have a great month everyone!
What an action packed month! Loved the tomatoes and that you're creating a lovely green space to replace the place where cigarette butts go to die. Talking of dying, what about that (not so) temporary morgue? Will it be a permanent fixture? Your holiday food had me salivating and how cute was the sign from the cafe! And happy belated birthday! I know I'm biased being a July birthday person but July birthday people are the best!
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