A trip to France....

Well, yesterday, my hubby and I decided to get up at 2.30 AM, left the house at 3.15 AM - yes, that is right, AM!!!! Why? We wanted to go to France for a quick shopping trip. Catching a ferry at 5.30 AM allowed us to arrive in Calais at around 7 AM which in French time was 8 AM seeing as they are one hour ahead of us. Buy some fuel for the car (very cost effective), park up and the doors of Cite Europe near the Channel Tunnel were opening. The only shop trading was Tesco which has an outlet at one end of the mall, purely for booze!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hiccccc!

After doing a couple of trolley loads to the car and back we went to Carrefour which is a large department store at the other end of the mall. Incidentally, there are loads of small French shops (would be in France!) plus a delightful food court with proper restaurants offering every manner of French cuisine. Anyway, we digress. I wanted a new pan, you know the one which is dishwasher safe, you don't need any fat/oil to cook with etc? Found one at a reasonable price and shape and size I wanted.

Then on to the food counters..... cheese, cold meats, raw meats (their beef and pork is lovely to cook)as well as the fresh fish counter! I have two cool bags in the car so food will keep fresher on the return journey. Also, picked up some beautifully fresh smelling strawberries and red currants. Then on to the jars and tins section to pick up various sauces etc.

Just about done now. Just need to pick up something to eat on the boat on our return journey. Yes, soft baguettes with tuna, hard boiled egg, tomato for me and ham, egg and tomato for hubby! A small bag of crisps each and a fresh salad - coke to be bought on board - what a feast :)

We had an uneventful trip, listened to a bunch of bikers who had just travelled over 1000 miles during which time one had experienced a nasty accident but was well on the road to recovery; group of French school children sat in the far corner of the eating area - well behaved!

Passed through customs who did not seem interested at all, drove home without a glitch to arrive around 1.45 PM, unloaded the car.... just like opening presents at Christmas time!

Last night we celebrated a successful journey with a beautiful French bought steak and rocqfort cheese, jacket potato and fresh lettuce and tomato from France. To toast ourselves a bottle of red - this is the life!