But in my Valentines' card were two tickets to see another ballet: La Lanterne Rouge (Raise the Red Lantern).
T and I went to see The Nutcracker at Christmas, and although I had been to see the ballet as a child, it was The Nutcracker which made me appreciate and love ballet. T didn't come away from the performance filled with quite so much enthusiasm about ballet as I did...
But in my Valentines' card were two tickets to see another ballet: La Lanterne Rouge (Raise the Red Lantern). In addition to a brand new language, culture, way of life; when you arrive in a new place money also takes some getting used to. What are the values of all the coins?! There’s only so much you can get away with using notes which usually have their value clearly printed on them.
We had finally got used to the Euro and had reached the stage where we knew what each coin was without needing to peer at it before paying. But then we went and changed currency again, this time to the Canadian Dollar. So back to squinting and holding up coins to the light to see their monetary worth before handing them to the waiting cashier. (After holding up the queue whilst I desperately search for the numerical value hidden on the coin, I then put on my best clipped British accent to pretend I am ‘just visiting’ – never mind we have been here nearly five months…) Pancake Day. There has been no 'Shrove Tuesday' references here, it is solely about the pancakes. There wasn't going to be any pancakes made in our house at all, but after hearing someone talking on the radio, T asked hopefully on Monday if we were going to have some, so I couldn't play the 'I forgot' card. (I am on salads at the moment, as other things are really making me feel ill, and so was feeling all baah humbug about it all seeing as it's a bit more fiddly than I was hoping supper would be, and I couldn't even eat the end product.)
In Spain, the day is more of a carnival - supposedly: the first February we were in Sevilla we had just moved out there and were in the midst of hotel-living-house-hunting-wedding-planning mayhem; I doubt we would have realised if a pancake came and slapped us in the face. The second February I was doing my best impression of a hermit. Therefore my knowledge of how, and if, the Spanish spend pancake day is non-existent. I don't remember seeing anything about pancakes in Munich either. There, it was all about the 'krapfen' (known as 'berliner' elsewhere in Germany, they are doughnuts), and the Faschings party - my understanding, this huge party is Munich's version of the Carnival/Mardi Gras. But back to pancakes in Montreal: which ones to make?! The thin, light English style ones we grew up with, served sprinkled with sugar and lemon juice or, as a very special treat, golden syrup. Or do I go 'local' and make the puffy, smaller American pancakes?? For four years we have been living away from England; for four years I have been reaching the limits of my luggage allowance with Whole Earth peanut butter. Anyone who came out to Munich was asked to bring a jar or two of this peanut butter, whenever we went home a large space was left in the suitcase for this nutty gold. Peanut butter is available in Germany, but the jars I tried were far too sweet for my taste, and had a weird aftertaste; even those that were made from solely peanuts. In Sevilla we were saved from Peanut butter rationing, as we drove the 200-plus km (120+ miles) to Gibraltar (rather, to Morrisons on Gibraltar) every few months to stock up on English staples.
I came out to Montreal armed with one solitary jar; reasoning I may need the comforting familiarity of a food I can safely eat without feeling too ill afterwards to help get me through those first weeks. It soon went. I spent a great deal of time scanning the supermarket shelves for the illusive jars that contained nothing but peanuts. It’s crazy what they put in the stuff once you start looking – oil, sugar, stabilizers, salt – there is just no need! Finally coming across one make fitting the remit, it was bought home only to fail the taste test. Desperation called for a radical solution: I was going to have to make my own. Waking up to just a very light sprinkling of snow, and a 'warmer' day (just minus 22 degrees with windchill), our planned road trip could still go ahead this time! The Canadian capital, Ottawa, is the fourth largest city in Canada and lies just a two hour drive east of Montreal. The perfect road trip destination!
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December 2015
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