The Secret Is Out!!

It was a rocky start to my travels......Friday's flight out of Sioux City: CANCELLED. It was the last flight out. One hour and forty-five minutes and several highly emotional calls to Delta operators later, I had re-booked a flight that left Des Moines at 9 a.m., which meant that I had to be on the road by 3 a.m. in order to make it to the airport. I had to unpack my BIG suitcase and had to fit all my clothes, etc. into a carry-on suitcase. The flight left on-time......I arrived to meet P.O.D on time and we made it to JFK in time to catch our international flight.

On the plane with a "nice" in-flight meal, one bourbon, and a cushy neck pillow later, I was sound asleep waking four and a half hours later somewhere over France, P.O.D. at my side. Ahh.

This is the big surprise. We are spending a week in Monte Carlo, Monaco, and Nice, France. I couldn't say anything before because this adventure was a clandestine journey to surprise Mr. G (you have previously met The Fabulous Mrs. G….or “Fab”) in the land of his ancestry, Southern France.

The trip has been wonderful so far. Our room overlooks the marina, in which high-end yachts dock and gently rock back and forth in their “parking spaces”. We look out over the Mediterranean and the breezes are warm and calm.

Being 1SweetMama and sharing a friendship with Fab, who is also one to appreciate ice cream, or glace, as it is called en France, we have made it our mission to eat as much of it as possible. So far, we have had chocolate with chili pepper, tomato basil (yes….ice cream!), a yummy salty caramel (I wrote the name down but cannot find it at the moment….I will share it with you later), dulce de leche, pistachio, avocado, and even a few gelatos…apple and mixed berry.

Wanting to experience as many gastronomic opportunities as possible, I have eaten Mediterranean Sea Bass, calamari…which actually looked like mini squids swimming on my plate (they looked terrible but tasted delicious!!), sole meunière, oysters, rosé wine at every opportunity, and South Beach diet be darned…..lots and lots of good, crusty French breads.

Quickly…today included several hours driving to tour a winery, Chateau Beaucastel, eat lunch in Avignon, and on to Hyères to visit the Catania family and have dinner with them. Spaghetti and Caillette (a chestnut and ground meat mixture wrapped in a cabbage leaf with bacon).

I will give full descriptions in a future blog entry….photos, anecdotes…..etc…. á bientôt!

Until next time, I remain….1SweetMama