Home Sweet Home

After arriving back in Lyon, feeling a little glum and lost I made it my priority to change the studio into a nice little pad for us both, thats when (joy of joys's!) we found an IKEA that you could get to on a tram!

So off we pottered and bought lots of wonderful things like bright green toilet brushes, pillow covers and shower mats, a rainbow of clippits and more plastic tubs than we know what to do with!

After a few more trips and a bargin mini-oven purchase from one of the large supermarkes (30 euros!!!!) the studio now feels much more homely, despite the clinical white walls, floor .......

The oven's first test was its ability to make crumble - and it passed with flying colours, we've since made pizzas, courgette cookies, potato wegdes, garlic bread...... yummy!

I also spent a lot of time exploring the city while J was in lectures, its truly beautiful, I went to the Croix Rousse area, it was originally a town in its own right that has been swallowed into Lyon although it has kept a majority of its charm, daily markets and a square that is occupied with old men in berets all morning and afternoon (although never between the lunch hours 12-3!). The area has amazing views over Lyon and a huge park with a runined castle within it on the banks of the Soane. The shops in Lyon are incredibly diverse, allowing me hours of fun exploration - for those of you that know me via INEBG - I have so far found 7, yes 7, organic supermarkets that are absolutely choc-a-bloc with goodies that are much cheaper than in the UK. We recently found a new one only a short walk from the studio that is also the cheapest!

The 'Palais des Thes' (www.palaisdesthes.com) also scored pretty highly on the 'favorite shop' list for me, there are walls and walls of the most amazing tea (we're currently sampling 'The des Concubines'). Another great discovery for us was the sunday morning market on the banks on the Soane, we have now got into the routine of waking up early, buying huge amounts of local fresh fruit, veg, cheese, meat and wine, stopping off at our favourite bakery (resisting the beautiful pastries but quite often failing....) for a pain complet or pain aux grains, trundling back up the hill and stuffing ourself silly on our pruchases! We slightly underestimated out love for courgettes at one point and purchased 2kg for 2 euros (bargin!!), the first few nights was fine, then we realised we were going away for the weekend and still had 12 left, on the morning of our departure out came the recipe books... In the style of Gordon Ramsey:

courgette. pan. fry. add ham. creme fraiche. cool. freeze. pasta sauce.
courgete. pan. fry. spices. tomatos. cook. cool. freeze. curry sauce.
courgette. mushrooms. tomatos. cook. cool. freeze. pasta sauce 2.
courgette. remaining fridge items. cook. cool. freeze. pasta sauce 3.
courgette. flour. eggs. butter. sugar. choc chips. mix. bake. courgette cookies.
courgette. onion. cook. cold pasta. peppers. cheese. Lunch for the journey.

I NEVER WANT TO SEE A COURGETTE AGAIN.

With a weeks supply of courgette based meals in the freezer we headed off on our weekend away!