Thursday 13 December 2012

My French Life :: my latest article just published

My latest article has been recently published on My French Life!

Click here to get to it and while you're there, have a look at the other excellent articles on all thing Frenchy...

Friday 30 November 2012

November wrapup :: in pictures


From top left: quilts a'dryin'; top right: movember daddy and jack in le meridien pool; jack and daddy eating crepes at la foa; licking the spoons; a pretty church in the mountains on the road to hieghene; daddy digs; nellie enjoying crepes; liam and nellie in le meridien pool; jack and nellie at the chook; jack and his self-portait; more quilts a'dryin'; the pouembout rodeo; nellie ready to go out for dinner; the hieghene chookie.

Monday 12 November 2012

My French Life :: the local market

My next article on My French Life is now published.

It documents a great day in Pouembout which highlights lots of things we like about living here. I hope you enjoy it.

Thursday 8 November 2012

Tropical Tunes Thursday - Ukulele Lady by Kermit



My 'Tropical Tunes Thursday' took a few weeks hiatus but now I'm back. I found what I think is the last of the remotely tropical-themed Muppets songs (happy to be corrected) with 'Ukulele Lady'. I think you'll agree it's a sweet classic, Kermie-style.

Wednesday 7 November 2012

Seven Great Aubergine Slash Eggplant Recipes

Eggplant, or aubergine here in NC, is cheap at the moment. I paid about 200f for four smallish sized ones this week, which is a bit more than $2 Aussie. Based on price, I think we'll be eating more aubergine in the next few weeks - it's cheaper than a lot of other vegies available here right now.

For me, eggplant are best with the tried and true companions - tomato and cheese. Come to think of it, most vegetables taste best with tomato and cheese! However there is *sigh* a time to put the stodge aside and enjoy lighter flavours I suppose - lucky I love a curry, then.

 

Sunday 4 November 2012

La Poule Couveuse


 
Last Thursday was a public holiday in NC, but out of the kindness of it's heart, my husband's company switched this to the Friday for it's employees to make it a long weekend instead. In actual fact, it seems that many Néo-Calédoniens have taken a four day weekend anyway, so quiet are the streets.

Thursday 1 November 2012

My news :: My French Life

A quick note to partially explain my cyber absence: I am now a monthly contributor for the website My French Life.

You can have a look at my very first story here:

http://myfrenchlife.org/2012/10/25/fast-food-in-the-french-tropics-le-poulet-roti/

Thursday 4 October 2012

Tropical song :: 80's flashback


The now weekly tropical-themed song takes us to the 80's. This is for my brother, whose favourite this song was for a long time.

Friday 28 September 2012

Go bananas :: sing yourself troppo.

This week's tropical-themed song is about bananas.

Bananas have been a staple in our house since we had kids, but now they are eaten several times a day. There are several types here, from tiny little ones not much bigger than your thumb to very big ones which equate to about 3 normal ones.

They are all welcome in our house and don't last long. Plus they have no bones.

Friday 21 September 2012

Ripe bananas :: banana muffins

Almost two weeks ago I bought a big bunch of green bananas at the Koné Saturday Market. They were really green, rock hard in fact, so they sat in the kitchen slowly ripening. Problem is, once things ripen here, they go bad really fast! So we've been trying to eat our way through them but the last few are turning so it's time to get baking to use them up.


Thursday 20 September 2012

Put the Kermie in the coconut....

Natually, when I posted this post with The Muppets 'I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts' it was going to start something. And now I can't stop trying to find tropical-related songs.

So here's another. From my fave buddies again!

Sunday 16 September 2012

Bragging rights :: my first loaf of bread.


A very quick post because I can't contain my smugness and my husband is sick of hearing me ask him, deranged grin on my face, "But don't you think it's just GREAT??? How GOOD is it??!!".
 

Thursday 13 September 2012

A coconut-related music break, courtesy of The Muppets

Last weekend, on the long drive back from Noumea we had a selection of kids music playing in the car to kill time. The old version of this song, sung by Billy Cotton and his band came on and it was very funny. We sang it several times!

Hence, this morning Jack was singing it at breakfast. And it's been stuck in my head since.

I though I'd share the slightly newer Muppet version with you today. Feel free to sing it all day long, it will bring a smile to everyone's face!

Friday 7 September 2012

A blustery bakey-day (in a cheeky cheaty way).

The sun was cheery and warm when I woke up at 6.15 this morning and tiptoed around the house until the kids woke up. But oh my lordy, by mid-morning gloomy clouds had gathered over neighbouring Mini-Mordor (my name for the mountain near our house which has a mine on top) and soon the misty, swirly rain was falling intermittently, broken only by petulant gusts of wind.
 
 

Wednesday 5 September 2012

J'aime l'ananas!

 
 
Last week a lovely local lady knocked on our door, and after a couple of confused minutes I realised she was selling bags of 10 little pineapples for 1000F. They have been superb and my only regret is that I didn't buy 2 bags instead of one!
 

Wednesday 22 August 2012

Now we are Pouemboutians - our first month.

Exactly one month ago, packed to the hilt in our rental car, we pulled into the driveway of our new home just outside Pouembout, New Caledonia.

I had spent the drive telling myself that this was the beginning of a fabulous new chapter in our lives.

"We have to be positive everyday," I told my husband in the car. "Nobody is making us do this: it's our choice. It's up to us to make it great."

Jack was desperate to go to the beach in our first few days.

Sunday 12 August 2012

Getting potty.


It's been nearly three weeks and we've decided it's time to get our green on. Which is to say, time to get moving on establishing some sort of vegetable production and get some color into our barren garden.

Thursday 26 July 2012

Bienvenue à Pouembout!


I wrote this post yesterday but was unable to put it up on the blog. Here it is now:

We are here. In New Caledonia. About 3km out of the little town of Pouembout, near Koné, in the Northern Province. Our new home for the new few years, if all goes according to plan!


Monday 30 April 2012

Five things I'm packing.


The days are flying by. So much to organise - renting the house, Jack's equipment, cleaning the cupboards of outgrown clothes and outloved books in preparation for packing the material contents of our lives.

I don't feel like we're in the homestraight yet, but we're definitely rounding the last bend. My next task is to venture into the roof and haul out the suitcases, decide which to use, and then start the vexed and tedious job of selecting the most important things to pack.

Monday 26 March 2012

Update: delays and puppy problems.

Gus - comtemplating....well, nothing, really.
The past few months have been very busy. Since we found out that our relocation would be delayed a few months, I decided to take the month of February off from learning French to concentrate on Nellie's first birthday party and cleaning through the garage and cupboards for a stall at Camberwell Market.

Saturday 14 January 2012

What should we expect? The Expatriate Cycle.


When Rob and I visited NC late last year for our 'decision visit' we were warned by experienced expats about the prospect of going through the Expatriate Cycle.

The Expatriate Cycle is a cultural adjustment cycle with several distinct phases. There are many studies to be found on the internet which look at the patterns within the cycle, and the average duration of each of the peaks and troughs of the phases. Depending on which study or expat blog you read, there appear to be on average about 5 phases of adjustment, each with common and distinct emotional 'symptoms' or indicators.