Taking Flight: France- Day 9: Blisters, Band-aids, and Baking

Today was a long, adventurous, and tiring day. I would go so far as to say it was pretty good though!

me on the bridge

In the morning I got up, and we went to a couple of stores. One was a grocery store, and the other was a store called Giffy. They sell all sorts of really cool plates and decorating things. There were a lot of things I would have liked to get, but they were all too heavy to bring home in our luggage, which is sad. Then, I bought a yummy baguette at the grocery store, it made me happy. After that I lied down for awhile, before getting up and starting to make the crust for the tart I was making for dinner tonight.

The path we walked

At about 2:30 my mom and I drove into town. We would have biked, but it was extremely hot. (33 degrees Celsius, which is more than 90 degrees Fahrenheit.) I had worn my new set of heeled, open toe boots, because originally we had planned to just go shopping a bit, which wouldn't have required a lot of walking. On a spur of the moment decision my mom took us down a back road though. Then we decided to go and look at a famous bridge. on the way we walked around a big park. When we reached the bridge and by the time we crossed it I was carrying my shoes, due to the blisters appearing on six of my toes. (Several of my toes with more than one blister)! Now, don't get me wrong, these are comfy heels, but it was hot, and just getting to the bridge was a long downhill walk. Then we crossed the bridge, and my mom had the grand idea to go check out the aquifer that supplies all of the water to Cahors, which I had wanted to see, since it was only up the river a bit. So I hobbled on with no shoes on a rocky hot road (occasionally sticking my feet into my shoes when the ground got to hot or harsh, but putting my feet in my shoes ignited a harsh burning sensation in my toes). The aquifer was kind of cool, but by the time we got there we decided it would be faster to get to another bridge that would lead onto the main street rather than go back. Turns out that was an awfully long walk too. On the way we stopped at a wine store. My mom bought wine, I bought an extremely tasty bag of meringues.

The walk continued. My mom wore my shoes for awhile, but her feet lasted for an even shorter time than mine, and we traded back shoes. When we got back into town we went to a pharmacy and bought lovely padded band-aids (which now encase six of my ten toes) and I was able to sort of walk in my shoes again, as long as I didn't zip up the backs. We also stopped in a supermarket to get something to drink. My mom bought some lemonade, and I got some Sprite. The Sprite here actually tastes different. It is more tart and lemony.

As we walked back towards the car we stopped in a few shops to look around. I also bought some postcards and stamps. Eventually we got back to the car on our aching legs and headed back to the house.

Chicken potatoes and artichokes, with a
side of fried onions and a tomato
for color.

Strawberry/ raspberry tart with a frangipane
crust, and topped with white chocolate

As soon as I got back, I set straight to work on my tart and dinner. I was making a lovely dish called Poulet Pierre L'athuile (Chicken with Artichokes and potatoes), and also trying out a new tart recipe. Everything turned out absolutely perfectly. I also had a stroke of genius and sprinkled my strawberry raspberry tart with grated white chocolate, based off of a small pastry I had eaten at a bakery last week! It was the perfect finish to the tart. Everyone loved it, and all of the food was gone in a matter of ten minutes per course. It was pretty impressive actually! And everyone gave me a lot of compliments, which was really nice, because compliments don't come lightly in our family.

Me serving food. Everyone was taking pictures. I thought it was weird.

I always have fun serving food though, because I plate in fancily and serve it to everyone, and I think they enjoy that! It is fun for me too :)

After the food we all talked for awhile but eventually some drama started kicking up, and I went upstairs.

And here I am with a sore back, aching legs and probably about ten blisters. I am ready to sleep, so goodnight :)

Some Pictures: