Dance lesson for Hannah - and a Toulousian dining experience
Term has started and so Hannah's Jiving Juniors dance class was at 11am. I went along with James and Hannah to watch . James gave himself about 45 mins to get there and plugged in the co-ordinates for Ken to get us there in plenty of time. Hannah plugged in her current favourite DVD "Grease" and we were off on quite an adventure!
We went on a tour of the countryside, both James and I had doubts about Ken, James instincts are usually pretty good , but then you have somehow to either trust Ken to do his job, or forget about him and trust yourself. In this case we were half an hour into our drive along narrow country lanes out in the wop/wops, so to ignore Ken now may not be the best choice. We carried on and we ended up in the middle of what looked like nowhere, but it was the right place.
Hannah's dance teacher was there with a few other pupils and the 'old barn' was a wonderful place, the floor was beautifully tiled and there was a big mirror on one side, and a few props scattered around. We did the introductions and I took a few photos and we left to the sound of some really jazzy dance music.
This barn was only one of many old farm buildings scattered around the farm in the middle of nowhere, there looked like a marquee was being set up with chairs all around, must be for another club. This place was in fact in Mondonville and was called: Ferme Eco-citoyyenne de la Bouzigue.
I was fascinated by the set up, and what's more amazed that Rachel had found it, most dance schools in France run a strict regime for ballet which Hannah would not feel comfortable in. Rachel knew just the sort of dance Hannah would like and must have spent hours researching to find something which was fun and flexible and good for Hannah.
So I checked the web page: "The combination of the farm Bouzigue was created in February 1997, to create activities and events in relationship with nature and the environment. The growing number of structures , schools , centres, and individuals participating in our workshops proves that the relation to nature, to farm animals , awareness of the environment are real needs in society."
We had an hour to wait, so James and I drove to Mondonville to see if we could find a cafe. Mondonville is a charming little village with just a few shops, and yes, a tiny little cafe which has a well stocked bar as well as making very good coffee!
They were just coming to the end of their dance lesson when we got back and Hannah was doing well with her warming down exercises.
After lunch Rachel Penelope and I went over to the community hall to see what interesting clubs Tournefeuille had to offer. They were having an 'activity day'. Such a good idea, especially if you are new to the district, Rachel was hoping there was a club for people with allergies, always good to share ideas and recipes, and maybe one for children with special needs, but sadly, there was nothing like that. However we were entertained by a 'Line Dancing' troup who were taking their dancing very seriously, or maybe they were just trying to remember their steps. I did encourage Rachel to give it a go, but I don't think the cowboy boots did it for her!!
James friend Jake (ex Air NZChristchurch) returned from catching up with his girlfriends, and was staying the night, so we coerced him to baby sit for us and we went out for a meal, the first with just the 4 of us. Rach booked at Le Peyrolieres, a traditional Toulousian restaurant.
We went to the Metro and parked, it was only 2 stops in to town, and it was still pouring with rain. No tables outside restaurants tonight! Fortunately the restaurant was not far from the metro, small but homely and busy all night. Nice table in the middle, and an interesting menu, James got his iphone out to translate the menu and the owner came up with a flourish to explain what it all meant. He was so good at it that we all wanted everything! So my starter was home made goose pâté (I am against pâté de foie gras because of the force feeding issues -a bit pathetic really in France!), but it was a great choice as I have never tasted goose before and it came in a sort of miniature Agee jar along with lid, just delicious with some crusty bread. Mains were confit of duck and frites cooked in goose fat. No desert for me, but I did ask him to bring two spoons so that I could share David's tangerine gelato. We had a couple of bottles of local wine and good conversation, and were very impressed with the service from the owner, he really made the meal memorable for us, it may have something to do with his being an all black fan?
We heard next day that the kids had put themselves to bed as Jake had fallen asleep on the couch! What great kids.
No comments:
Post a Comment