http://lindamathieu.com Linda Mathieu's experiences living as an American expat in France Fri, 16 May 2008 05:47:26 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Most people make the trip to Granada in Spain to visit the Alhambra, a spectacular castle still in the Moorish style, nothing else can show what the Moors did in Spain as much as this place. Part of it was under reconstruction and I missed seeing the famous Lion ... http://lindamathieu.com/2008/05/15/alhambra/ Cordoba is home to a cathedral called la Mezquita which means mosque even though it has been a cathedral for more than 750 years. I was here with my exhusband in a whole other life time. I know this because I have a photo of it, but I have ... http://lindamathieu.com/2008/05/13/cordoba/ Of course, Spain is the home of the famous bull fights. I've never seen one in person and I know I never will as I don't like to see anything suffer or die in front of me, except for flies. We did a tour of the bull fight ring ... http://lindamathieu.com/2008/05/11/bull/ I think Seville was my favorite city that we visited in the Andalucia region. I enjoyed walking around the winding narrow streets and it is full of beautiful parks and fountains. I can't imagine how hot it must be in the summer there because it was in the 90's ... http://lindamathieu.com/2008/05/10/seville/ As you might have noticed, it was hard to tell where we were last week. We were obviously by the sea and there was a tropical feel. Here are a couple of more photos that might yield some more clues: Does this help? If you have actually been ... http://lindamathieu.com/2008/05/08/where-am-i-2/ Maurice and I have been away for a week. See if you can guess where we were by these photos: What? You can't guess from this? They are everywhere. These were everywhere. A killer view Picturesque streets I will post some more photos next time and see if you ... http://lindamathieu.com/2008/05/07/where-am-i/ It isn't only us everyday folk who hope to publish books. Even Napoleon wanted to as seen by this article from Paris. (I don't know why, but I can picture Sarkosy doing this too.) PARIS (Dec. 2) - A single manuscript page from a love story written by Napoleon Bonaparte sold ... http://lindamathieu.com/2008/05/04/napoleon/ When I moved here, I put a top sheet underneath as this was the way I was used to doing things-putting sheets under bedspreads. The French don’t do this, but just use the duvet. The problem with this is that the duvet cover has to be washed and ... http://lindamathieu.com/2008/05/02/beds/ Remember that scene in the movie by Barbra Streisand, The Face in the Mirror, where she is at a restaurant and very carefully makes a little pile on her fork of food from her plate make the perfect combo? It’s not the best movie I’ve ever seen but I liked ... http://lindamathieu.com/2008/04/30/the-perfect-bite-2/ One day Maurice came home with the information that he had just purchased tickets for a concert of music from Argentina, something I know very little about except that it often has a tango music influence. In fact, years ago I went with Maurice on a business trip to ... http://lindamathieu.com/2008/04/27/music-from-argentina/ Fish en Papillote This is a dish I've looked at for a long time, thinking about cooking it. I finally decided to give it a try. It turned out to be very easy, quick and tasty-a winning combination. I did it with the parchment paper but I think next time ... http://lindamathieu.com/2008/04/24/favorite-french-recipes-fish-en-papillote/ ..to a field near you (if you live in Provence). I'm just starting to see the poppies that grow wild around here. Soon there will be fields of them. There are iris growing wild as well. Our very own, personal lilac bush. I'm sure they must grow wild somewhere too but I ... http://lindamathieu.com/2008/04/22/coming-soon/ There are a few things we would have done differently with our home had we known a few facts. Outside, we wouldn't have had as much terracing down to the lower area and we wouldn't have had a rock garden. We think it would have been better to have had ... http://lindamathieu.com/2008/04/20/the-rock-garden/ Lucious French strawberries sprinkled with sugar. Does it get any better, or sweeter, than this? "I guess I'll hand my tears out to dry". Isn't that the name of a country western song? Being as it is April, we are getting all sorts of April showers. I tried to do my ... http://lindamathieu.com/2008/04/17/spring-in-a-bowl/ I wish I had a new French recipe to post but ever since I returned from Switzerland, the part that is close to Italy, I have been on an Italian kick. I had the best fish in lemon sauce while there and some incredible polenta. My first try at ... http://lindamathieu.com/2008/04/15/not-even-french/