Children and Trouspinette

We have had our middle daughter and her eldest son to stay with us.

Middle daughter is going through a bad patch at the moment and needed a well earned break.

Her son, our 1st grandchild, is in the pre-teen stage. He is a lovely boy, very bright and is into Greek, Roman and Egyptian history/mythology. Good with computers and also very keep on Astronomy. But, whilst here his favourite phrase was "I'm boooored." He was forbidden to go on the computer as the weather was absolutely superb so we arranged many trips out for him, and his mum. My hubby could just about keep up with all that was going on.

There is a 'Forest of Adventure' fairly close to us. You are harnessed and can make your way through the tree tops on fine rope ladders and also slide down ropes etc... The boy loved it, his mum avoided it at all costs and Granddad did half the course... I didn't go to that one. They also did a visit to the local Ostrich Farm where they have also created a maze out of maize!

We also did Puy du Fou - still my favourite - it is a long time since they had been there and they absolutely loved it. At last they boy forgot his boredom. We also managed to fit time for the beach and also a day with some friends... I know that our daughter went home feeling chilled out and relaxed and that our Grandson had a good time with us. He hopes that he can now come out to stay on his own in the future and stay all summer. He is learning French at school but says he is only learning 'words' at the moment. Hmm - I wonder. We now Skype each other all the time... Love it!!

We also celebrated our friends 75th birthday. He is amazing for his age. His family were there, of course, as well as many of his friends. We had a lovely evening in a beautiful setting by the river that runs past their mill.

The new owner of our local restaurant has been to visit for afternoon tea and we had a wonderful 'getting to know each other' chat. She is an absolute treasure and we got on very well. She is a devotee of 'Ginger Nut' biscuits which she loves to dunk! She also partook of some of my 'Coing' Aperitif. She called it Trouspinette. This sent me on a websearch. It seems that originally Trouspinette was a Vendeen aperitif 'fait a la maison'. The recipe, it seems, could include any fruit or nut, so the delicious stuff that we have been making under various names is all Trouspinette.