De la bière au vin is Kelly’s blog about her family’s move to Toulouse from Colarado.

Kelly says… “In August, 2011, we moved from the beautiful state of Colorado to Southern France. The name of my blog was difficult, but as you can see, we settle on “from beer to wine”. We are beer lovers and as you may know, Colorado is the beer capitol of the world. Now, we are residing in the wine mecca of Southern France. I am sure we will not be disappointed!

We have our 2 amazing girls with us and this blog will chronicle raising kids overseas, our adventures and all of our misadventures….there will be many, of this I have no doubt! Enjoy!”

Read more about… New Blog Alert – de la biere au vin

Bread is Pain is the blog of a “30-something American living in the Rhone-Alps, France with my French boyfriend. This is my 3rd country to live in outside of the U.S. but the first one that is non-English speaking. While I’m here, I’m getting my masters degree from the U.S. (online), studying French, and slowly eating and drinking myself through the country.”

Which is kind of strange as I thought that… “slowly eating and drinking myself through the country”

Was my job?

Well, let’s not hang around; this is a largely foodie blog so…

Let’s put on our bibs and…

Dive in and see what there is to eat!

Read more about… Bread is Pain

Every Tuesday I intend to do a quick review of some of the posts from the last week that have made me smile, made me chuckle or, even…. just made me think.

Some of these you may have seen yourselves.

And some of them you may have missed.

I don’t think of these in any competitive sense at all.

This isn’t a top-ten listing.

They’re merely the posts that have stuck in my head.

Read more about… That was the week….

Fans of that fantastic blog… An A to Z of Life in France will be overjoyed to hear that Doreen Porter, the blog’s master in chief…

Or, should that be mistress in chief?

Has committed her wonderfully witty observations to an e-book!

You can find out more about this wonderful book from https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/doreenporter

Doreen is also starting up a new blog to be found at http://www.franceatoz.blogspot.com

So, what’s the book all about?

Well, this is what Doreen has to say about it…

Welcome to France. It’s only about 90 minutes from London by plane, but it is most definitely Abroad. Moving there is not without its problems, not least the language. From calling a handyman to report a Musketeer in your bedroom, to offering to clean all the shoes in a shoe shop, there are pitfalls for the unwary.

Read more about… I is for Illuminated Salt and Pepper Pots (and other everyday essentials)

Now, I know that when most people think of Grenoble they think of Gigi getting her car broken into and her love of George Benson (whoever he is/was?)

However, there are normal people in Genoble and I’ve recently come across a blog by one of these.

Letter from France is exactly that….

An occasional letter from Patrick Owen who ended up in France with a wife and 2 kids after working in Nigeria and working on The Golden Hinde (that old ship by that really good pub, that for some reason I do remember did lovely Steak and Ale pies, on London’s South Bank.)

Read more about… New Blog Alert – Letter From France

Some blogs I find calming and, somehow, good for my soul.

Laury Bourgeois‘ Soar-Dream-France is exactly that sort of site – always interesting, always thought provoking, always calming.

So, when she let me know that a friend of hers was on her way back to Cadrieu at the end of September, I just knew that I needed to let you all know about her blog.

Evelyn is already blogging (about her life in America) at Melanged Magic and, with the transition to France, it looks like becoming a seriously good and readable blog!

All bloggers need encouragement; especially those who have just upped sticks and moved halfway across the world to live in a railway cottage in rural France.

Why not pop over to Melanged Magic and welcome Evelyn to Cardrieu?

All the best

In January 2010 I reviewed Angela in Provence and liked it an awful lot.

The other day I found out that Angela had moved to a new site at Provence Calling (provencecalling.com) and, if anything, her new site looks even better than the old one!

For those of you who don’t remember the review of the old site; I seem to have got quite carried away by Angela’s description of Bonking Snails at How to eat snails

For anyone who has never had the pleasure of reading Angela’s blogs (the old one or the new one), here is a little bit about her….

“Angela has lived in L.A. and London working as a costume designer on films, music videos and commercials. Directors she has worked with include Robert Altman, Alan Parker, Sean Penn and Daniel Kleinman. Music videos include Nirvana, Sheryl Crow, PJ Harvey, and Luther Vandross. Actors include Tilda Swinton, Tim Robbins, Peter Kaye, Martin Freeman, Lyle Lovett, Eric Cantona and many more……”

“Nowadays, she’s more likely to be found in her local food market, or walking her dogs, Molly and Ralph in Les Alpilles, looking for recipes and stories to bring to you about the people and customs of her adopted country, Provence, France, where she lives with her husband The Artist.”

Well worth a visit and…

For those of you who have the old site bookmarked (or in your favourites)…

Why not update it now.

All the best

Some people cut things fine, don’t they?

They hear the school bell ringing and..

Then they get out of bed!

Still, better late than never?

That’s my motto, anyway.

So, I’d like to introduce another bunch of future Assistants or Students in France!

Read more about… Arriving Soon… The New Wave (Part 5 – The Dog Ate my Homework Brigade!)

Every Tuesday I intend to do a quick review of some of the posts from the last week that have made me smile, made me chuckle or, even…. just made me think.

Some of these you may have seen yourselves.

And some of them you may have missed.

I don’t think of these in any competitive sense at all.

This isn’t a top-ten listing.

They’re merely the posts that have stuck in my head.

Read more about… That was the week….

Well, this lot appear to have snuck into the back of class after the register has been taken!

But…

As I don’t want to risk their education and put their whole future professional lives at risk….

I’ll ignore their tardiness and say a few words about…

Even more new arrivals to be the next wave of…

Assistants in France!

Read more about… Arriving Soon… The New Wave (Part 4 – the late arrivals!)

The French Village Diaries is the blog of the Brown family who live in a village called Loubillé in the Poitou-Charente.

And the Brown family consist of…

Husband Adrian…

Son Ed (who has his own blog at English Kid in France) and

Jacqui (BlogMistress) and rather a lot of animals and birds and things….

And, I’ve heard through the grapevine (Jacqui and Mrs A Taste of Garlic swap smoke signals on Facebook from time to time)…

That Jacqui likes gardening and…

More importantly…

Is rather a good cook!

So, lets wash our hands and dive into….

Read more about… The French Village Diaries

A new blog on the block that may be of interest to some of you is English Kid in France.

This is Ed’s blog and Ed says…

“My blog is about life in France from a child’s point of view. Having a bilingual life speaking French at school and English at home, growing up on a little fermette (small farm), and just generally living in France.”

By the way (and you’d never have guessed it), Ed is just 11 years old!

Now, I’m going to get round to reviewing it once Ed has got a few more posts on there but….

You might want to take a look at some of Ed’s writing or…

His Hot Tip of the Week

Or just catch up on his Blog?

Anyway, I’m sure it’s not for me to say but…

If any of you have children who are thinking about starting a blog (a great way for expat kids to keep up their written English skills?)…

Perhaps they might want to get in touch with Ed?

He seems to have made a great start!

All the best

P.S. I like your Chief Inspector Haddock story – carry on with it so that I can find out how it ends up!

The Overloaded Ark is Richard Brown’s blog and details his life with ten million animals in Loubille, Poitou Charente.

Richard describes his blog as…. “Thoughts of a retired couple living in la France profonde How to maintain and enjoy an ancient farmhouse.”

And lists his interests as… “Books drawing photography collecting pocket knives”

So, nothing about Citroen 2CVs, Lingerie Wearing Nuns or even Wild Mushrooms?

A bit despondent, I thought I’d take a look anyway.

Read more about… The Overloaded Ark

Whoops, almost forgot…

The Paris Wedding of the Year is just about to take place at Marie du 19éme, 5-7, place Armand Carrel.

The sensible and talented writer, Paris Paul is getting married to Blogmistress Extrodinaire, Paris Karin as we speak!

They’ve already had a practice session…

Doesn’t the bride look radiant?

I’d marry her in a shot…

If I didn’t have Mrs A Taste of Garlic!

Paris Paul, you’re a lucky man!

I think I may just adjourn to our regional offices (otherwise known as Bar Chez Michel, down in the village) and raise a little glass of something Ricardish in honour of the happy occasion!

All the best

Sarah at St. Bloggie de Riviere has moved!

She used to live at sarahhague.blogspot.com and now lives at sarahhague.com

As far as I can tell, she’s much the same in her new home as she was in the old one?

She talks about it in her post called Sarah Hague goes DotCom

Which confused me when I first saw it as…

I misread it as Sarah Hague goes Dotty

And cried out to Mrs A Taste of Garlic (who was having her postprandial nap in the pantry at the time)…

“What does she mean – she goes dotty? She’s been dotty for ages!”

Anyway, Dotty or not, she’s moved and you may want to update your bookmarks or favourites

All the best

After months and months of planning…

Mrs A Taste of Garlic and I have decided to commence the first stage of our world tour!

We shall be leaving the windswept wilds of slightly rural and very backward Brittany on Monday and heading south…

As fast as our old jalopy will go!

Now, we’re not very sure of where we’ll end up…

But we’ll be sort of heading for La Rochelle (as it’s downhill from here) and…

Read more about… The A Taste of Garlic World Tour!

Every Tuesday I intend to do a quick review of some of the posts from the last week that have made me smile, made me chuckle or, even…. just made me think.

Some of these you may have seen yourselves.

And some of them you may have missed.

I don’t think of these in any competitive sense at all.

This isn’t a top-ten listing.

They’re merely the posts that have stuck in my head.

Read more about… That was the week….

Carrying on from the last couple of days posts I thought I’d do some more investigation into the new wave of volunteers who, one day, will be able to tell their grandchildren…

I was an Assistant in France once…

Assuming they survive?

And, believe it or not, many do…

or, perhaps it’s only the survivors who tell tales?

Read more about… Arriving soon…. The New Wave! (Part 3)