You had me at bonjour

All in a weekend: Cassis, Banon and Gourmet Food.

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsty@Bonjour) — Wed, 23 May 2012 09:45:00 +0000

Hello everyone! Hope you're having a great week so far.

It's go, go, go at the moment - making sure my friend sees the best that Provence has to offer during her 2 weeks here.

This weekend was jam-packed with fun despite the weather's best efforts to thwart us.

We headed off nice and early Saturday morning to the seaside town of Cassis.

Unfortunately the open waters were too rough to take the boat ride out to the calanques (limestone inlets and caves along the coast) but we made up for it with play on the beach and a few merry-go-round rides.

After lunch the wind got a little unpleasant so by mid afternoon we headed home again. They've redone all the beautiful cobblestone streets behind the marina - it was fun to see the work in progress.

Sunday was another early start, this time up to the Luberon Valley to the Banon Fête du Fromage, the Cheese Festival.

We saw this on the way:

Banon put on a great show.

Oh yes, Banon, you ARE super.

And the cheese...wow. Oh wow. The CHEESE!

This is Banon cheese, made in the local area and named after the town.

Before coming to France this cheese would've frightened me. Now mould is my best friend.

This was a cheese I'd never seen before - soft goat's cheese made with rose water throughout (and a little rosemary on top) - it was amazing.

Of course there were things other than cheese, such as these:

And this cool bookstore:

But really, it was all about the cheese:

Those rounds on the bottom were 60cm (2 ft) across. Incredible.

Unfortunately the heavens opened at midday (and didn't stop until Tuesday afternoon) so we gave up our plan of having a nice lunch outside. Instead we took our haul home and pigged out there:

We went a little crazy, I'll admit. But we get to eat cheese all week, yay!

This is the Banon cheese, inside its chestnut leaf wrappings:

Sunday night I'd made a booking at the very popular Poivre D'Ane restaurant.

The food was really lovely, although the mister got a few sideways looks going out to dinner with two ladies. Why do people always find that so interesting?

The trip in and out of the restaurant had us soaked - the rain did not let up the whole night. And then we came home to find the laundry leaking.

In other news, did you know the Monaco Grand Prix is on this weekend? I didn't! My bestie and I are now going to Lyon for our weekend away.

Given that Lyon is referred to as the gastronomic capital of France, I don't think we'll be disappointed.

Have a great week! x x

Provence Poppies

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsty@Bonjour) — Fri, 18 May 2012 15:01:00 +0000

Man, I love poppies.

Vibrant, happy, but so very delicate. They don't last more than a few weeks before they start to fade or shrivel from the sun - but while they're here they sure know how to live it up.

The mister spotted a gorgeous field full of poppies near Rognes in the Luberon Valley but I haven't been able to get out there. Now I fear they will be well past their prime.

These pictures were taken last night in a field just around the corner from us.

They look so cute popping up between the ears of wheat, although a field of nothing but poppies would look better. Bloody farmers, so inconsiderate (she says, munching on a wheat-filled baguette).

One of my oldest and dearest friends is here visiting - she arrived this morning. It was a sort of late notice trip and she's such a busy girl that sometimes these things don't come off, so I'm really excited to have her all to myself for 2 whole weeks. Yippee!

I have a whirlwind of activities designed to show off the beauty of this little corner of France. And we're going to have a girls' weekend in Monaco next week! Yay!! More exclamation marks!!!

I wish you all a wonderful weekend with someone you love,
A bientôt!

Le Petit Village

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsty@Bonjour) — Wed, 16 May 2012 13:03:00 +0000

Phew, it's taken me 'till Wednesday to recover enough to tell you about our weekend visiting Sara Louise and her hubby in Le Petit Village.

We couldn't have asked for a nicer day - sunny, warm and no wind (not like Sunday).

We lunched without the mister, close by Le Petit Village (as the village is so small it doesn't have a resto). The 2 year old took a shine to Sara's husband. Besotted was the word, so besotted he started calling him Daddy. Raised a few eyebrows at the table next to us, that's for sure (what kind of harem is that man running?)

The mister was riding his bike in to meet us so we killed a little time with a wander.

(For those wondering, the 2 year old went back to calling his own father 'Daddy' as soon as he turned up. Disaster averted.)

Once at Le Petit Village we installed ourselves in le grand gîte and then I got my own personal tour.

Beautiful old stonework everywhere:

Except where it's looking a bit newer - courtesy of Le Brother-in-Law, who's a mason (surely the hardest working profession in the Luberon Valley).

The Priory.

I loved the sun dials built into many of the cobblestone alleys:

Sara and I both thought this chair should've been reupholstered instead of abandoned to a life of dead leaves and cat pee.

If you read Sara's blog you'll know about the Honey family:

The doorways, windows and flower pots just kill me:

The grand finale to the tour is coming down through this passage way...

You find this view. Not too shabby.

After our tour we went back to the gîte and got down to the business of aperos, talking English and preparing the BBQ. I'm not going to lie, a fair bit of rosé was imbibed as well.

After the kids had eaten and the sun began to set I snuck back to the old part of town for a few more photos.

It was very quiet and a little spooky.

Sara's tales of Nazi zombies sucking out the brains of lost Australian tourists played on my mind. (They were in trouble if they didn't like rosé.)

Quick, back to the church. Zombies hate churches.

The next morning Sara brought us all coffee (love you, love you, love you) and then gave the mister and the eldest kids their own tour of the village (amazing she didn't charge us, really).

The wind was pretty ferocious by mid morning, so we loaded up the car and left Le Petit Village in peace.

Another great experience that I owe to this blog, without which I would never have met Sara Louise.

Thanks Sara (and hubby) and thanks Le Petit Village. Hope to see you again soon!

French-style embroidery sampler

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsty@Bonjour) — Mon, 14 May 2012 09:12:00 +0000

I showed a sneaky-peak of this embroidery a few months ago:

It's now finished and has been in its new home for quite a while:

I made it for Maaike who blogs at CreJJtion and who made this beautiful crocheted baby blanket for me when the baby was born:

Back when he was teeny tiny

I'm excited for Maaike as she has a new shop on Etsy offering crochet patterns and her gorgeous (and customisable) baby blankets. The perfect handmade gift for a new baby!

We visited Sara Louise in Le Petit Village this weekend, where I took lots of photos.

With those pics added to the ones from our Spring Trip, I have photos out the wazoo at the moment. I'm working my way through them and will have some up shortly.

There's nothing petit about the view

Hope you all had a good weekend - have a great Monday!

P.S. McSigh. Have you seen this? I feel like a French icon has been sullied.

Lovely Lacoste in the Luberon Valley

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsty@Bonjour) — Wed, 09 May 2012 08:54:00 +0000

As I churn through the laundry after our Spring Trip, here's a post on what we got up to on Easter Friday.

I had the mister almost to myself (only two kids at home) so we decided to take a quick day trip to Lacoste.

They don't make the polo shirts with the little crocodiles on them there. I know you were wondering (because I did too).

We drove through flowering fruit orchards en route:

And we could look across and see beautiful Bonnieux across the way:

Lacoste's population apparently doubles in the high season but it was still nice and quiet the day we visited.

First up was lunch. No surprises there.

You can just make out the mister and the baby on the balcony of the little restaurant where we ate (the set menu, very nice).

Dessert was the only thing I remembered to photograph (too busy scoffing), tarte au citron:

And this simple but to-die-for dish: a bowl of faisselle (fresh, soft, creamy goat's cheese) served with a jar of lavender honey which you spoon on yourself. A. maze. ing.

When the dessert menu blows our mind we always share them both - no dessert envy that way.

While the mister sorted out the bill, the 2 year old and I had a quick sticky-beak in the church:

This one was a very different style to what I am used to, but none the less gorgeous.

And of course there was a chandelier, so I was happy.

Listing starboard, captain

Dark clouds were starting to gather but we pushed on up the hill into the old village.

Through this gate:

Through cobblestone streets which we adore but are hard going on the baby in his pram (he was shaken, not stirred by the time we reached the top).

Looming over the town is the famed castle that was once home to the Marquis de Sade.

That Marquis was one sick puppy - his name is the origin of the word sadism.

If you're ever upset over the boy your daughter brings home, spare a thought for the Marquis' wife's dad. Wonder how he felt after reading his son-in-law's erotic fiction?

The castle has seen better days, although it's now owned by fashionista Pierre Cardin and hosts various cultural events.

The views across the valley are fabulous.

There are several sculptures in the Marquis' front yard - I didn't get the names as it was starting to rain by this point.

Man in a tree

Arms wide open

The Marquis himself (who spent a lot of time in prison due to his depravity)

By this stage we were getting wet and it was time to fetch the older kids from school, so back down the hill we went.

We were a little rushed at the end due to our long lunch (we are becoming more French with every meal we eat) but it was still a great day.

This lovely town gets two thumbs up from us. Get thee to Lacoste!

Oh, and this was seen on the way home. No idea whose it is, but isn't it grand? (I especially love the two donkeys you can just make out on the top lawn terrace. Hope they're hungry.)

Home Sweet Home.

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsty@Bonjour) — Mon, 07 May 2012 13:17:00 +0000

We are a family that loves to travel but we also love to come home again. There's nothing like sleeping in your own bed, eating in your own kitchen and knowing that the hair you find in the shower is from your own head. Amen.

Much like last year's Spring Trip, we covered a lot of ground in the car. We zoomed up to Paris, then across to Normandy (plus a teeny bit of Brittany) and came back home via the Loire Valley. Despite the weather's best efforts to thwart us, we had a really good time.

En route I got to meet the very lovely Nicky, who blogs at Growing Berries. She had us over for dinner (she has four kids too so it was a biiiiig meal), she let me poke through her fabric stash and test out her Bernina. Talk about a great visit, I even got to meet her Mum.

And look what she gave me:

Isn't it gorgeous? It has Jersey lavender inside so it smells wonderful every time I stab it. Woohoo, I love it! Thanks Nicky.

When we came home I had a parcel waiting for me too, from Krista at PoppyPrint. She sent me a thread catcher/pincushion she'd made - which is something I've been needing for a while but have been too lazy to make.

Catcher in action, such a great idea. Thanks Krista, you're a champ.

Krista also included a sweet collection of fabric perfect for a mum with small kids.

I think I need a badge making machine. Look at those bears.

My one and overcrowded (and old) pin cushion which was leaking stuffing from one corner is gone.

I now have my pins in Nicky's cushion and my 'I'm not dead yet' machine needles in Krista's cushion. I am now so organised it's scary. Yay!

I had a break from sewing while we were away. I didn't even take a small hand sewing project so I'm raring to get back into it. The question is what to do next?

Have you seen the QuiltCon Block Challenge?

Oh how I love the colours.

What about the Summer Sewing Contest over at Ellison Lane Quilts?

Do you know of any other good contests out there? Sometimes being told what I have to make is good for me - stops me vacillating and makes me focus. Not to mention getting me to try new things.

I have a few small projects to finish up - these two need some matching perle cotton.

I'd also like to get into some clothes sewing for spring. I've something planned for the whole family from boxer shorts to spring tops.

All I need now are those extra three hours in a day. If they could be slotted in after the kids are asleep I'd be most grateful.

Have a great week everyone!

A quick bonjour from Normandy

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsty@Bonjour) — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 21:52:00 +0000

We're touring around northern France for spring break.

It's rained every day so far.

It sure is green up here.

I had two posts drafted, complete with photos and ready to go in my absence. Both were deleted the day the new Blogger Dashboard changed over. I said a very rude word in front of my children.

We went to Camembert today.

It is only by the grace of elastane that I will arrive home in the same clothes I left in.

Wifi is sporadic but I'm still getting around the interwebs; looking forward to catching up with you all when we get back!

ANZAC Day 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsty@Bonjour) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 15:31:00 +0000

Lest we forget

Aix-en-Provence Carnaval 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsty@Bonjour) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 12:34:00 +0000

This weekend we went to the Aix-en-Provence Carnaval (where I took way too many photos).

Last year was a blast and I'm happy to report this year didn't disappoint either.

We tried to get the same viewing spot as before on the grass around the large Rotonde fountain, but the whole thing had been decorated with fabric and cushions and fenced off:

With some interesting-looking machines placed in the basin:

The usual pre-parade festivities were in full swing - namely confetti:

And of course silly string:

This year's theme was La Fabrique de Rêves or The Dream Factory - explained in the literature as everything to do with the night: the real-life, the cabaret, psychedelic night parties (!), dreams, nightmares, angels and demons.

A lot of stuff to cover and they did that and more!

We started with these harbingers of doom:

Then progressed to the Moulin Rouge:

The guy driving the tractor pulling the cabaret float cracked me up:

grumble, why do I always have to pull the float with the guys dressed up as girls?

Next came the shoe cars:

Pushed by these guys. No VPL here as they're all wearing thongs (Bada-BOOM!)

I have no idea what this is all about:

The mister remarked he must be a bike rider.

Toight like a toiger

Some of the psychedelic party I suspect:

No idea:

I think this fellow represented bedtime stories:

His head is made of books:

This percussion band was one of about four playing throughout the parade. (Does percussion include drums? I can never remember. There were drums and things you shake and things you bang with gongs. That's my technical analysis.)

Confetti canons!!

Another big eye, this time in slippers with boxing gloves and angel wings. Still a mystery.

This float was really well made:

Great attention to detail. Look at those teeth!

A man-eating tree:

And all his friends

Caged angel or demon?

Isn't confetti in your beard just the worst?

More angels:

The Sun King in all his glory (great use for left over gift bows/ribbon - make a wig!)

I think these ladies represented the fires of hell. Or they were advertising KFC Zingers.

Like last year, the floats paused for a while at the Rotonde fountain. The bands were all playing and everyone crowded around to see what the grande finale would be.

Waiting...

BOOM!

FEATHERS!

And more feathers!

For the love of poultry, won't someone think of the chickens? Sob.

The pillows (full of feathers) were all thrown into the crowd to encourage a full-on feather brawl!

I only put this one in because I love what King Louis is up to in the background:

This was after we pulled most of the feathers out. We lost him for a while there:

Honestly, it was like nothing I've ever seen before - the mess was spectacular and I have no idea how they cleaned it up. How on earth will they top this next year?

There will be feathers floating through Aix until next Carnaval I suspect. (I wish I'd taken a photo of the kids making feather angels - you know, like snow angels, but in the feathers.)

Lots of photos, but I hoped to make you feel like you were there without having to leave your chair or fish feathers out of your bra!

Flocking Chevrons Quilt

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsty@Bonjour) — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 09:43:00 +0000

It's fitting that I'm posting this on Friday the 13th - this was not my lucky quilt.

When I saw Jennifer's generously free Chasing Chevrons quilt pattern on her blog That girl...that quilt, I knew immediately I wanted to make it.

Photo from Jennifer's blog That girl...that quilt.

Most of those participating in the quilt-along were using different coloured chevrons on a solid back; I wanted to use white chevrons on a colour gradation background.

I'd had the majority of the very classy Alhambra II line sitting on my shelf waiting for a suitable project, so I dusted it off, added more blues and greens and set to work making all my HSTs.

I pressed all the blocks up on my design wall, colours gradating out from the centre spot, and really didn't like it.

I made them gradate across the quilt, then on the diagonal, and really didn't like it.

I had them gradating from a central line and really didn't like it.

(I'm sorry I didn't keep photos of all these outtakes - I know you guys like to see them. Sorry.)

I was starting to feel a little ill by then. I'd taken a lovely design and fantastic fabric and screwed them both up royally. I've wasted all this fabric, I've wasted all this time, don't you KNOW that blue and green should never be seen without something in between?

Step away from the quilt, Kirsty.

There was nothing for it but to get drunk, trash some cars and invest in some quality buttock tattoos.

I felt a lot better after that (although my bottom was a little sore) and realised one of the blue fabrics I'd added (not from the Alaham II line) was actually the wrong kind of blue and messed up my gradations. I also drew inspiration from Jennifer's pattern itself and laid out a new background in the form of one large gradating chevron. I liked it. Phew.

All laid out it was still a little over the top though - my busy background with the chasing chevrons was too much. I decided to face my chevrons all the same way and it made a big difference. I had to move some of the chevrons so they stood alone (otherwise they turn into zig-zags) but then it was done. Voila, Flocking Chevrons.

I wanted this snuggle-on-the-couch-watching-movies lap quilt to be very soft and drapey. I had a nice flannel sheet for the batting and spent hours online looking for a navy patterned flannel for the back.

No dice. Instead I ordered some Lotta Jansdotter Echo in Moira Navy and crossed my fingers it would be one of those nice soft quilting cottons (it is, beautiful fabric).

It wasn't quite wide enough so I pieced together long strips left over from the top to extend each edge.

I wanted to quilt in white on the front (so it wouldn't mess up my chevrons) and navy on the back. I couldn't get the tension right despite testing and many lines had to be unpicked. I gave up and used white cotton for both sides.

Then I realised that my machine was making some loose stitches - more unpicking, cleaned the machine, changed needle. More loose stitches, more unpicking - my machine did not like the flannel.

So I unbasted the whole thing, removed the flannel, re-basted with cotton batting. (On the bright side, I was then able to sort the tension so I could use white on top and navy underneath). I nearly cried with joy when the quilting was finished.

My simple quilting pattern echoed the chevron.

The binding was the only part that didn't cause me heartache. I pieced a scrappy binding, matching the binding colours to the quilt to create an 'invisible edge' kind of effect. For this reason I sewed my binding strips together on the perpendicular, rather than the diagonal. I was going to machine sew the binding but in the end decided to hand sew it down - I was in need of some zen by this stage!

So, it's done. A bit of a drama but I do think it's come up nicely and most importantly, it's very snuggle worthy. Thank you so much Jennifer for the pattern!

I could say the strongest swearword used during the making of this quilt was flocking, but I think we all know this is a lie.

Have a wonderful, wonderful weekend everyone. Flock on!

Garrigue en Fête at Pont du Gard

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsty@Bonjour) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 09:33:00 +0000

Wow, how fast has this week gone? I hope you all had a wonderful Easter!

On Easter Sunday we headed west to the Pont du Gard, where Aidan had invited us to join in the festivities at the Garrigue en Fête.

La Garrigue is the scrubland that exists on the limestone coastlands of the Mediterranean. It has its own particular plants and animals, which this fête celebrated. As an Australian, La Garrigue reminds me of the bush - that mainly dry, low-lying-scrub-with-a-few-trees kind of environment.

La Garrigue with an old aqueduct thrown in for good measure.

We should start with the food, oui?

Aidan ordered us picnic paniers which included all the goodies below:

water, baguette, duck terrine, nougat, salad, onion confit and cheese

As well as a grilled-on-the-spot duck or pork sausage and two cups of wine.

This cheese with the onion/balsamic vinegar confit was pretty darn tasty.

After lunch we took a wander around the river's left bank visiting the various animations set up for entertainment.

This merry-go-round constructed mainly from drift wood had a macabre steampunky vibe going on which surprisingly did nothing to deter the kids.

Two adults from the audience had to power it by bouncing up and down on the see-saw:

While the keeper of the merry-go-round played tunes (Aidan was chuffed when he played Riders on the Storm.)

Horse-drawn carriages took folks on a 10 minute tour of the area for free. I think the best part for the 7 year old was when the horse pooped mid ride. Sheesh, boys.

Isn't the motion and sound of a horse-drawn carriage so soothing? I don't know how all those early pioneers managed to stay awake.

This flamboyant fellow in his birdcage created hairdos for passersby.

Here's the after shot - there was a lot of teasing and hairspray involved so I'm sure she had a good time undoing it all that night.

The petting zoo had goats and sheep and this sweet little spring lamb:

From the where do people think these things up? files were these two ladies in stroller baby costumes. They'd obviously spent a great deal of time around babies as they had the mannerisms and tantrums down pat - very funny. Well, our 2 year old thought they were hilarious.

Of course it was only a matter of time before someone offered the baby a beer:

Into which she carefully dunked her dummy (pacifier):

Mmmm, beer.

The majority of the day was spent enjoying the meal, music and animations, although we did manage a quick walk over to the bridge.

The view:

In other news, I've finally finished Flocking Chevrons and hope to show it to you tomorrow, photos willing.

And check this out - Kim made a camouflage version of the Modern Chevron Quilt. How cool is that?

Hope you're all having a great week; see you soon!

Happy Easter!

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsty@Bonjour) — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 07:58:00 +0000

Have you been good? Will the Easter Bunny be visiting you?

Here in France les cloches de Pâcques (the church bells) deliver the Easter eggs. On Easter Thursday all the bells fly away to the Vatican carrying with them the pain of those who mourn for Jesus' death. They return on Easter Sunday bringing eggs in celebration of the Resurrection. Accordingly, across France all church bells are silent from Thursday until Sunday morning.

It feels a little strange as Good Friday isn't a public holiday here in France, as it is in Australia. The big kids are at school but the mister has the day off, so we are going to have a little drive somewhere. The plan is Lacoste, but that may change.

Wishing you all a peaceful and love-filled Easter! With a side of chocolate.

(I really miss hot cross buns.)

Kids' Carnaval

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsty@Bonjour) — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 10:29:00 +0000

Springtime means Carnaval time! The maternelle and primaire schools in our village celebrated on Friday.

The kids get to put on costumes and enjoy a sugary, carbonated goûter (afternoon tea).

The younger maternelle students (aged 3-5) don't leave the school grounds; parents crowd into the schoolyard to watch their small parade and songs.

French mummy shoes seen at my daughter's school.

The primaire kids parade through the streets before arriving at the village square.

There was music and bags of confetti

and bright ladies on stilts.

The confetti war is still my favourite - 300 kids attacking each other and their teachers - amazing.

A little confusing if you're only 2 years old, though.

Other goings-on around the craft room:

Long strips to finish off the backing for the Flocking Chevrons quilt.

And playing around with the filigree beads and some floss.

Hope the week is being kind to you. A bientot!

Friends, fools and fish.

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsty@Bonjour) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 11:44:00 +0000

I've had a super bloggy last few days.

Firstly, I got to meet up with the lovely Krista from Poppyprint and her family in Aix-en-Provence. It was great to meet face to face over a café crème while my 2 year old ate raisins off the ground. Sigh.

Then we ran into Delana from du Jour, right in front of the flower market. Quelle chance!

And finally, after much planning and date-changing and replanning, Aidan from Conjugating Irregular Verbs and Sara Louise from Le Petit Village (and their hangers-on) came over for a Sunday BBQ lunch.

As you know, Sunday happened to be April 1st and Aidan was kind enough to bring along a sweet frangipane*-filled pastry from her boulangerie. It was one delish fish.

Aidan's eldest is well versed in the French April 1st tradition of sticking paper fish to the backs of April Fools.

All the adults got the treatment; this one was my poisson d'Avril:

I am bizarre (strange). How can one so young know me so well?

I got to pull out my latest Provençal find - an aperitif liqueur called Noix de la St Jean. This translates to St John's Nuts. Yes. I...well...hmm.

It's a walnut infused fortified wine and is very tasty. Sara Louise's hubby was kind enough to point out that you can use it in your coffee too - excellent!

I made more cardamom panna cotta from a blend of Blandina and Susan's son's recipes (and added a few extras of my own). Here's la recette - it's pretty easy and a good prepare-ahead dessert.

Cardamom Panna Cotta (for 8 servings)
1 cup milk (I used low fat 2% as it's what we have in fridge)
2 cups full fat cream
5 sheets of gelatine
100g sugar
half teaspoon real vanilla
10 cardamom pods, squashed under a breadknife 'til their guts pop out.
6 black pepper corns
1 small whole dried birds-eye chilli

Mango and Ginger Coulis
1 large ripe (or over-ripe) mango - cannot be green/hard
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 tablespoon lemon or lime juice
2 tablespoons castor sugar
one third teaspoon minced fresh ginger

Pop the milk in a saucepan and heat (do not let it boil), adding the cardamom pods, sugar, vanilla, pepper corns and chilli. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Once the milk is hot remove the saucepan from the heat source, put the lid on and let the spices infuse for 20 mins.

Prep your gelatine sheets by putting them in a bowl of cold water. Let them soak at least 10 mins, no more than 20 mins. Drain the water off.

Put the milk mixture back on the stove and reheat (again, no boiling) then add the now gooey gelatine sheets and stir 'til they dissolve.

Put your 2 cups of cream in a large jug and then strain the milk mixture through a fine sieve into this jug. Mix the milk and cream gently, then pour 8 individual serves into the bowls/teacups of your choice. I individually cover them with cling wrap before putting them in the fridge to set to ensure they don't absorb any other odours. They'll need about 3-4 hrs to set.

To make the coulis, peel and chop the mango and use your weapon of choice to puree the pulp (I used a stick blender). Add the juices and sugar and blend again. If you have a stringy ole mango you might like to strain the coulis; just taste and see how the texture feels to you. I didn't strain mine.

Pop the coulis in the fridge until the panna cotta is set. Once set (I did this just before serving) you can spoon about 3 tablespoons of the coulis onto each panna cotta. Et voila! There you have it.

Hope you all had a fun April Fool's Day and all the best for the week to come!

*frangipane = almond crème = divine.

Let's talk about inspiration...

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsty@Bonjour) — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 09:10:00 +0000

Thank you for your lovely comments about the Modern Chevron Baby Quilt I posted a couple of days ago.

A few of you commented on how I found the idea for the design on a manhole cover and that got me thinking about inspiration and wondering where others found their own.

Obviously there is plenty to be found out there on blogs, flickr and Pinterest. Wallpaper is always a good one for patterns, as are rugs.

Sometimes the raw materials themselves provide the spark.

I bought these scrapbooking woodcuts and lovely wool felt/fabric fat quarter at the Marseille Craft Fair, not knowing what I would do with it. It's been sitting on my sewing table since then, where it will stay until I find some inspiration or it makes me feel so guilty that I put it away.

I also bought these charms and metal beads but I knew straight away that I would make some simple earrings with them. Just need to sit down and do it! (The little Eiffel Towers might become zipper charms.)

My favourite kind of inspiration is when something inspires me to create something else i.e. a bathroom tile layout to make a baby mat or a gay-friendly hotel bar to make a quilt.

I saw this window grill in Lambesc, it looks like a quilt block asking to be made.

When you get an idea does it usually turn out how you planned? Better or Worse? Or maybe just different?

Do you guys get that Great Moment of Regret/Doubt that I do? It always strikes after I've cut all my fabric and before I sew it all together. So essentially just when I need motivation the most. Way to go, muse.

It's Friday, woo hoo! Here's a cute little video from a series on one of the French kids' channels. It's stop-motion animation and just so clever. It inspires kids' creativity and helps them to eat healthier so wins all 'round! (If video below doesn't work hopefully this link to it will.)

MIAM ! 02 par Gulli

And a shout-out to the lovely Adina at Gluten Free Travelette for nominating me for a Versatile Blogger Award. Thank you!

Have a great weekend, tout le monde!

Tutorial: Modern Chevron Baby Quilt (Crib size)

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsty@Bonjour) — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 21:41:00 +0000

Chevrons are everywhere at the moment and I love 'em. I know I'll want to make this quilt again so I'm documenting it for my forgetful future-self and anyone else who might be interested.

If you've ever thought of sewing a quilt this is a great one to get started with. It's made from squares and half-square triangles which are quite easy to put together. Plus I've also got plenty of helpful links to guide you through the whole process.

Before we start - here's where I took my inspiration. A manhole cover. Romantic, oui? Just be thankful I photoshopped out the cigarette butt.

This pattern will produce a crib sized quilt (45 x 60 inches) for your baby-wrapping pleasure. You'll need to decide on two contrasting colours (I've gone tangerine and a beige/taupe) and then assemble some fabrics.

I chose 4 different neutrals (a half yard of each) and 7 different tangerines (fat quarters of each). A neat trick is to find a fabric with a repeating pattern in regular rows, like this one:

By just altering the spacing of my cutting, I ended up with three different looking blocks from the one fabric:

Once you've had fun pulling your fabrics together, you can start cutting:

From your tangerine colours you will need a total of 180 x 3 in squares.

From your neutrals you will also need a total of 180 x 3 inch squares.

Then we need to make the 72 half-square triangles (HSTs). What follows is an explanation of how I like to make them, but there are other methods. Get your google on or see this tutorial over at Jennifer's That girl...that quilt.

So, back to the HSTs - you'll need:

36 x 3.5 inch tangerine squares, and

36 x 3.5 inch neutral squares.

Take a neutral 3.5 inch square and draw a line diagonally corner to corner on the wrong side. I use a Hera marker, but a water soluble fabric marker works too. Match this neutral square with one of your 3.5 inch tangerine squares, right sides together.

Then using your marked line as your guide, sew a seam a quarter inch either side of that line.

Chain piecing really speeds the process up here. Feed your units in one after the other to sew one seam, then clip them apart, flip them around and feed them all back in again to sew the other seam. Then you'll have all your squares sewn up lickety-split.

You might notice I've evenly mixed my tangerine squares while my neutrals are still in their individual colour stacks (just lumped on top of each other). This way my tangerine fabrics will be evenly distributed among the neutrals in my HST units. (I didn't want all of one orange fabric ending up sewn to the one neutral.) Then I could just grab from the top of each stack without thinking about it.

Once you've cut apart all your two square units it's time to cut along the marker line to give yourself two HST units.

Press your seams either open or to one side, as you prefer. Remember to press and not 'iron'. Ironing involves running the iron back and forward like you'd iron a shirt, pressing is putting the iron down, shot of steam, lift the iron up and repeat. No moving the iron across the fabric as this stretches and distorts your triangles.

Now I have made these triangles a wee bit larger than the 3 inch finished product required. This is so there is some fat to trim so your HSTs are accurate and make pointy looking points. Yes, it adds another step, but it makes for a good-lookin' product.

Right, so trim/square up your HSTs to 3 inchs either with a square template or, like me, using the 45 degree angle line on your cutting mat:

Now you will have all your units cut and ready to lay out in your chevron pattern. Just follow the grid below, alternating your colours within each chevron in a way that's pleasing to your eye.

All laid out? Good. Break open a block of chocolate and then sew the whole thing together - first join your squares to make rows, then sew the rows together.

Whee! We're on the home stretch now. Now to make a backing. I used the tangerine left overs in mine, between two pieces of IKEA flat sheet. If you're getting jack of it all (or have run out of chocolate) and just want to finish, go with a single large piece of fabric.

What quilting pattern are you going to use? It can be as simple as a large grid, using the seams as a guide or some fancy free motion quilting to highlight your chevrons. I went for a straight-line pattern echoing the chevron shapes.

I drew the pattern on my quilt top with a water-soluble marker, one inch from my outer seams (added bonus is you aren't quilting over thick seam lines where multiple layers meet).

Make your quilt sandwich with backing, wadding/batting and then your quilt top. You can pin them together (great tutorial on this at Red Pepper Quilts) or you can spray baste them together. I chose to spray baste as my quilting pattern had lots of pivots and I wanted the extra hold as I hauled the quilt through my machine.

Choose the thread colour for quilting - I went with thread to match each fabric colour but you could easily use tangerine on your neutral chevrons and neutral on your tangerine fabric for a different look. Don't forget to consider the back as well. In retrospect I wish I'd only used tangerine thread on the back (bobbin thread) so the quilting stood out even more on my neutral backing. We live and learn, huh?

Once you've quilted it's time to bind. My favourite binding making/attaching tutorials are here: at Crazy Mom Quilts and Red Pepper Quilts.

Once your binding is attached you have to trim excess batting and backing, fold the binding over to enclose the raw edges of the quilt and then secure by sewing. You can machine sew it with precision (Red Pepper Quilts tutorial) or go for a quicker machine sew by using a zigzag stitch (like Rachel in her Stiched in Color tutorial). I chose to hand sew this one.

I choose a thread to match the backing (rather than the binding) and use a long length of it doubled up. I thread the two cut ends through the needle and the uncut loop hangs at the other end. I put my needle through this loop when making the first stitch to secure the thread without having to use a knot. I sew an uneven ladder stitch - about a quarter inch in the binding (I just zip along inside the fold) and then a smaller stitch into the quilt back and batting before heading back up into the binding. And I love using binding clips to hold it all in place; much more friendly than pins.

After it's all done, throw it in the wash to get rid of your water soluble marker, dry and then find a baby to snuggle with. Mmmm, babies.

Even though I'm late I'm going to link this up to the Tangerine Tango Challenge pool, which I first saw over at Ali's blog a.squared.w.

And there you have it. Not hard when the internet is here to guide you! If anyone is still reading, I wish you many chevrons and babies and plenty of time to enjoy them all.

P.S. If you see any boo-boos please let me know.

The City of a Thousand Fountains: Aix-en-Provence

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsty@Bonjour) — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 08:25:00 +0000

About 2000 years ago Aix-en-Provence was a Roman spa town, courtesy of its mineral hot springs.

A place where a hard working Roman could go to kick off his sandals and soak his weary corpus.

If you spend some time wandering Aix-en-Provence's charismatic streets you'll soon see why it's sometimes referred to as the city of a thousand fountains.

The majority of the fountains were built from the 17th century onwards, but I think the Romans would've approved.

I hope you all had a great weekend. I made two batches of cardamom panna cotta, trying to replicate the masterpiece I ate at l'Épicurien a few weeks ago.

Blandina had kindly emailed me a recipe (she's Italian and therefore in the know), as had Susan, who's son is a chef! Isn't blogging awesome?

I made Blandina's recipe completely with cream (although you can replace part of the cream with milk), and Susan's son's recipe was half-and-half. There was more sugar in Blandina's recipe and I used some vanilla as well. In the other I put two peppercorns, trying to get a bit of spice in there.

Both versions were delicious. As you'd expect, Blandina's was richer - the ultimate winter dessert. Susan's son's was lighter (so I could eat more of it!) but still beautifully creamy and would be a perfect summer meal-ender. I feel very chic being able to say I now have seasonal panna cotta recipes. As for the vanilla vs peppercorns - not much difference there. I might have to boost the amounts.

I guess that means I'll have to make more. Life is cruel.

Have a great week, everyone. Someone please do some exercise for me!

An afternoon in Cucuron

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsty@Bonjour) — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 00:04:00 +0000

After a morning spent exploring Silvacane Abbey near La Roque d'Antheron we headed to the nearby village of Cucuron for lunch.

Cucuron is another village with medieval roots, located in the south of the Luberon Valley.

We parked near the Étang, the large walled-in pond in the centre of the village:

Interesting fact: this is where Russell Crowe took Marion Cotillard for a music-dinner date in the Provence-set movie A Good Year.

We had a great feed of galettes (buckwheat crêpes) washed down with a Breton beer (except for the kids, who had whiskey). Then we took a walk around inside the ramparts.

Lots of lovely colour courtesy of the windows.

We also found the village church - Notre Dame de Beaulieu:

Built in the 13th century with a very different design aesthetic to Silvacane Abbey.

We walked up to the St Michel tower:

The views over the village rooftops were lovely - especially with the early spring blossoms.

More beautiful details to admire on the way back down.

Not to mention this lovingly maintained beast. Any Royal Enfield buffs out there? Is this a replica? (I love those leather seats.)

Cucuron really is charming and just the right size for an afternoon of leisurely exploration.

And here we are at Friday again. Must be French video time.

So, this happened in 2003. Why doesn't anyone tell me about these things??

Have a great weekend, Bright Eyes!

Le Fait-main en France

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsty@Bonjour) — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 09:34:00 +0000

I love France. I love handmade. Don't even get me started on online shopping.

I thought I should share the joy so here is some France+handmade+shopping all smooshed together, courtesy of Etsy!

Isn't this just effortlessly French?

One of the many stylish and thoroughly practical bags at Feyza's shop, ikabags.

Coucou. Je te vois! Snowy the bunny would love to celebrate Easter at your house.

Find Snowy and all his amigurumi friends here at Christelle's shop, à voir etc.

I love deep mysterious blues with a pop of colour... and there are three other matching prints.

Find marin fishes (and its friends) here at Aliette's shop.

Supercute Little Red Riding Hood felt brooches. Bonus: they can be used to distract children in times of crisis. BYO grandmama.

Find them here at Patricia's shop, Memi the Rainbow

Gorgeous: a hand-painted recycled-glass bottle. This is why the world should drink more cognac.

Find it here in Luliia's shop, Magical Space

I love me some photography and Marc Loret has plenty of prints for all you Paris-lovers out there.

Find Entrée Place des Vosges in Marc's shop, Marco La Grenouille

Nursery art made from pages of French fairytale books? Oui et il est très mignon!

Find the print here at Anais' shop, Galerie Anais.

Pinterest fans, remember to click through to the item before pinning, so that your pin leads back to the source. Proper pinning is sexy.

Happy shopping, mes amis.

Abbaye de Silvacane (Silvacane Abbey), La Roque d'Antheron

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsty@Bonjour) — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 14:31:00 +0000

Despite it being a little chilly this weekend we dragged ourselves out of the house to the Abbaye de Silvacane near the village of La Roque d'Antheron.

There are three Cistercian abbeys in Provence and this is one of 'em (the other two are Le Thoronet and Sénanque Abbeys).

The Cistercians are an enclosed order of nuns and monks who believe in material poverty, austerity, work (especially manual labour) and prayer.

The church was built by the Cistercians between 1175 and 1220, with the remaining parts of the structure (and other outbuildings) constructed in the 12th and 13th centuries.

The fortunes of the Abbey waxed and waned - at one stage the property was used as a farm - before the French government bought the church in 1845. The rest of the property wasn't purchased until 1945 and obviously considerable restoration works have been required.

So let's go in!

Looking back at the church doorway

Looking forward to the altar

The church was built to adhere to Cistercian rule, i.e functional and devoid of any ornamentation that could distract from prayer.

For those who dig architecture, it's mainly Romanesque with Gothic elements and has all sorts of naves, bays, transepts, transoms, culots and dosserets. Please do not ask me what any of these are.

It's simply enormous. You can see our seven yr old off the left there to give you an idea of scale:

While the Cistercians succeeded in curtailing the decorations, I don't know how they thought this architecture could qualify as non-distracting - it's so pure and beautiful.

This was the most ornate item I could find in the church, on the wall adjacent to the altar. Whatever used to rest on the pedestal is now gone:

To the left of the church was the cloister - a paved square/garden surrounded by covered corridors like this one:

You can see the garden area (where a water source is located) through the arches.

Speaking of the internal cloister arches, they've all deteriorated over the years but one has been restored to its original form:

On the top of the columns you'll see some stylised leaves - the only decoration motif the order allowed - and they appear elsewhere throughout the monastery.

This was the dormitory where the monks slept on straw mattresses:

Through this doorway is the chapter house where a chapter from the Rule of St Benedict was read each day:

The monks also made their public confession here. I'm tipping a lot of the world's problems could be solved if we brought in mass public confession. Can you imagine how embarrassing that would be?

Aren't those ceilings something else? This room was apparently constructed later in the 13th century, when the decorating rules had been relaxed a wee bit.

The windows in the refectory (eating hall), where the monks ate in silence listening to a religious text reading:

This room was where the monks did their book work (the Cistercians were the brainiacs of the medieval era) and was the only heated room in the monastery. Yikes.

Fireplace on the left there

When the two year old discovered how melodiously his voice echoed off the vaulted ceilings we went for a little wander around outside.

Original stonework and some new (and old) restorations

Over a stone wall we could see the ruins of other outbuildings that've been discovered:

We also enjoyed some early spring blossoms:

Silvacane Abbey is part of a 'privileged visitor' program where you can gain cheaper access to other sites in the partnership. Because we'd visited Lourmarin Castle earlier this year, we got in a little cheaper.

After our stomp around the Abbey we headed to Cucuron for lunch - but that's another post for later this week.

Cucuron, in the lower Luberon Valley. *le sigh*

I'm linking up again to Design Mom's Love the Place you Live. Pop over there for more armchair travel!

Nom, nom, nom.

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsty@Bonjour) — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 15:06:00 +0000

Not much to report here - my basting spray's arrived so I'm flat out quilting. Yippee!

We did finally go out this weekend to celebrate my birthday (competing social events, babysitter booked out - you know how it is). A friend from Australia happened to be visiting with work at the same time so we extended an invitation to him too.

We ate at L'Épicurien in Aix-en-Provence and really enjoyed it. Make sure you book though - the place is small and very popular.

The food was très miam miam and the staff were attentive and helpful. (Normally I'm too embarrassed to take photos of my food, but I had a fairly tucked-away seat this time so I snapped away.)

The boys started with a Pastis apero (aniseed flavoured).

Because we are little piggies, we had the three course meal like we usually do.

Entrée was goat's cheese rounds breaded and fried:

For main the mister had the fish, which had the most delish creamy, Asian flavours sauce:

I had the roast pork and it was amazing - super tender:

Dessert was, in my opinion, the absolute best. A cardamom panna cotta with mango coulis on top. Out of this world. Does anyone know a good panna cotta recipe because I just have to try and recreate this.

We took a short stroll after the meal.

Remember the boar in Place Richelme? Turns out he likes to party hard too:

We had to go up and see the balcony of the little studio apartment our friend was in for the night - he stayed directly across from the mairie (Town Hall).

You could throw a stone at the clock tower (I didn't though).

A great place to sit and sip a quiet drink, if you're that way inclined.

And the lights change colour every half minute or so...pretty.

Wasn't the moon obliging? How about pink:

Right, back to the quilting. Hope you all had a great weekend!

The last of Valnontey, Italy

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsty@Bonjour) — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 11:14:00 +0000

Some final snowy pictures from our trip to Valnontey, Italy.

This creek that meanders alongside the village and walking trail was fascinating to me. Each day it changed as it froze, melted and refroze.

A few times I carefully negotiated the ice to get close to the water and take some pictures. (Yes, I was that tourist - you know the one you see doing something really dumb to get a good photo. In my defence, the creek was only ankle deep.)

But the ice was just so pretty. I would've given my left arm for a macro lens. (I shoot with my right one, so it would've been okay.)

Our last evening there I went for a walk, hoping to catch that evasive ibex on ~~film~~ pixels (no luck). Without the family the hush was incredible, just the gritty squeak of my boots through the snow and the occasional icy clump geronimo-ing from a tree branch.

Twilight slowly edged in as I came across this respite hut at the end of the trail. I walked around it in thigh deep snow and took some photos (good workout).

Then I started looking at those shuttered windows and the slightly ajar door and imagined going in there...and completely freaked myself out and ran away. (It was really quiet and the light was really eerie and did that shadow in the doorway just move...)

By the time I got back to the bridge I'd retied the straightjacket on my imagination and all was well. I took a few more pics then headed back to the hotel to have a nice German weissbier with the mister.

That's it for the snow pictures for this year.

We are at the end of our second week of school holidays here.

Still awaiting the Falling of the Tooth; it's been wiggling around in there for ages.

A little pillow has been made with some felt and left over polar fleece from a blanket. I wouldn't recommend the polar fleece - it's stretchier than my lower abdominals and makes for a bit of a misshapen pillow. I edged it with piping and used the original blanket's stitched edge for a strap. The felt tooth is blanket-stitched to the pillow with the top edge left open to create a pouch for teeth/euros.

Lumpy, but she'll do.

And finally, here's a little French pop to take you into your weekend - a catchy little tune by Coeur de Pirate. I love the videoclip and doubt there's a girl in the history of high school who hasn't wished she could do this. (Here's the link to it in case it doesn't do its thing outside of France.)

Bon weekend, tout le monde!

The longest finish in the history of man: Cathedral Window Blocks

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsty@Bonjour) — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 16:14:00 +0000

Guess what I finally finished? The super colourful Cathedral Windows I was sewing!

They came away to the snow with us this year (where I finished it). They came away with us to the snow last year. This bloody thing came away with me to my sister's house when she used to live in the US. It's has taken me over 18 months to finish this %$*@$ thing.

I like it. I don't love it. I hope the love will return as my memory of it's construction continues to fade. A bit like childbirth.

Hand sewing those flaps back was not for me. It was made even more difficult when I stumbled across this awesome tutorial on the Moda Bake Shop on machine-sewing Cathedral Windows. If I'd found this before I'd started, I thought, I'd be done by now. So demoralising.

But I'd already past that point. The point where you've done so much work that even though you want to give it up, you can't. Too much energy invested so an end product must be achieved. Stubborn, stubborn, stubborn.

I'm not crazy about how my flower centres look, due in part to my hand sewing and in part to the underlying coloured corners meeting here.

By choosing to have a different colour in each petal (rather than the same for all four as in the Moda Bake Shop example) I created a bit of a nightmare where the points met. Ah well, I still had to give it a go.

I started out with Anna Maria Horner's Good Folks line:

Somehow managed to fuse it to my ironing board (good excuse to buy a new cover):

Finally fused the colours down where they were supposed to go:

Then trimmed my squares for the top windows (slightly concave on each edge for less bulk):

Test drove my colours for the top windows:

Then decided to hand sew. Sob.

I just couldn't get into it. Didn't enjoy doing it. Was annoyed at how those meeting points were turning out.

Never mind, it's finished now and looks good when viewed as a whole. I don't do myself any favours picking it to pieces with a zoom lens.

Now, what to do with it? It won't last as a pillow, at least not in my house. I'm thinking I might hang it on the wall, what do you think?

(I am so glad it's over)

ETA: It's only 16 by 16 inches (40 x 40 cms).

Come on Spring - you can do it!

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsty@Bonjour) — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 10:51:00 +0000

Today it's windy and only 11℃ (52℉) but the weekend was glorious. Such a tease, this Provence weather.

We went for a bit of a family wander in the pine forest behind our home:

Fun to be had on the bikes:

No flowers out yet but there is still beauty in winter's leftovers:

And collections to be made:

This weekend I found myself without a quilt to work on. Flocking Chevrons is awaiting it's backing fabric and my Tangerine Tango needs basting spray (too many pivots in the quilting design to use pins and stay sane).

I ducked into Mondial Tissus to buy tangerine thread and these bias tapes and a ribbon made their way into my shopping bag. I foresee more spring skirts on the horizon for my little girl.

Seeing as I wasn't getting my craft fix I became an enabler:

Miss 6 received one of these French Knitters for her birthday the other week so I showed her the ropes. I had one of these (mine was called a Knitting Nancy) when I was 8 and I loved it. I've also made them out of a toilet roll with four matches taped to the top.

Did you get your craft on over the weekend? Or were you too busy out enjoying some sunshine? Either way, hope you had a great time.

Cogne, Italy

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsty@Bonjour) — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 16:49:00 +0000

Well, I've been burning the midnight oil trying to finish my quilt for the Tangerine Tango Challenge, but it's just not gonna happen. I have no tangerine thread. And I'm tired. But mostly it's because of the thread.

So instead of showing you a new quilt how about some photos of Cogne, Italy from our ski trip?

Cogne is three kilometres away from Valnontey so we decided to walk there for lunch one day.

The scenery on the way was gorgeous.

It'd been snowing and the roads hadn't yet been cleared, so we just pulled the lazy 2 yr old there on a toboggan.

We had a look around the small town which has that almost kitschy alpine feel (in a good way).

The local church:

More chandelier action:

Then we got down to the serious business of lunch. Given we were eating three course meals every night we tried to keep the lunches fairly low key.

We found a bar/café and had warm paninis.

And some of the thickest, richest hot chocolate ever made. Like a bar of chocolate melted into a teacup. Yum.

The alpine kitsch continued with hand-stitched reindeer on the curtains and these fabric panels: (The older I get the more I love kitsch; it always makes me smile. Then I thank God it's not in my house because I like my kitsch in small doses.)

Aerial skiing in a skirt: hardcore.

The walk home was all uphill - necessary after the hot chocolates.

We passed this on the way back - an outdoor snow play park. I'm sure you can imagine the reaction from the kids, which is why we had to come back another afternoon that week.

But with surrounds like this, it was no hardship.

So that was Cogne.

And now it's the weekend, how good is that?
Hope you all have a wonderful one!
Bisous x