A Week In The Mountains, Lots of Snow and A Super Snazzy Dinner!

I’ve officially been up in the mountains over a week now – it’s gone so quickly I can’t quite believe it has been that long!

There has been a lot of logistical sorting out, a lot of planning and working out exactly how things are going to work out here, and how I can best document the things I’m getting up to on this blog – after all, that’s why I’m here!

So far, its been a lot to get used to, and as the lifts aren’t open and the buses aren’t running yet its been quite quiet – but I guarantee there will be some adventures coming up that are just too exciting to think about!

I’m feeling a bit more settled out here now – a lot of that, granted, due to finally having internet and the ability to contact everyone and know what is going outside this tiny mountain bubble!
There has been so much snow fall since I arrived – this time last year apparently they hadn’t had a flake of snow, but yesterday saw yet another huge snowfall with more forecast this week – which is very very exciting.

I’m also attempting to get used to the cold. I’m not sure I will ever be entirely used to it though – I went out for dinner on Friday night and getting into the car from the flat (less than 50 yards) had my teeth chattering and my whole body shivering so much that I asked what the temperature actually was. 7pm, -6.5C – I have a whole new definition for the phrase “I’m freezing”!!

It’s been really nice to spend a few evenings in too – just to have some dinner and curl up with my laptop to start brainstorming ideas and blog planning for the next few months in the warm, whilst watching the snow fall outside my window!

After a few days of lots of logistics and chatting/booking things, and several evenings in (apart from friday night’s dinner), myself and my team were very excited to be invited to a local chalet for dinner last night, and all I can say is we were completely blown away by the whole evening!

On arrival we were presented with canapés and champagne (yes, actual champers, none of this bubbly wine stuff!) and had a bit of a chat in front of the fire.

We then moved into the dining room, again equipt with a gorgeous roaring real fire, and carried on chatting.
At this point I will add to any newbies reading my blog, I absolutely LOVE sushi. If you have been following me for a while or have been reading this blog for a while you will know that, but for anyone new (hi!) I completely LOVE sushi. I had kinda kissed it a fond goodbye when I left for the mountains. I already knew the standard local food up here was everything to do with cheese, meat and potatoes (which, obviously, is no problem to me!) so I imagined that sushi was going to be a fond memory when I heading up here, but, to my absolute joy our starter for the evening arrived in the form of Salmon and Tuna Sashimi with soy sauce and wasabi crackers!!!! Too excited for words! It was, of course, completely beautiful, and it made me very happy to realise that maybe sushi wasn’t so far away too!

Our main course was the most stunningly cooked duck with black cherry jus and vegetables – it was so beautifully pinkly cooked, gorgeously plated up and generally really really tasty – I couldn’t fault it at all – YUM!

As a severe chocoholic, there are many many worse sentences than “For dessert I have made snickers ice cream with chocolate mousse” – umm, chocolate with chocolate – YES PLEASE!
When Gary, the chef, announced this dessert I could have got up and danced – it was just the perfect balance for the meal and it was all made to perfection! I could have had a bucket-full of that chocolate mousse, and Gary, if you happen to find any extra ice cream, you know where I am – AMAZING!

After dinner, we sat back by the fire and finished our drinks before hopping back into the car and driving back home (obviously not after drinking – sober drivers only obvs!)

Just such a wonderful evening – our hosts made us feel so very welcome and we had such a wonderful evening!
You could say we were spoilt rotten – I hope we get invited back – I could get used to this alpine dining!!

Over the next few days there is a few more meetings and more planning (just the nature of it really until the ski lifts open!) and a few little bits and bobs are organised (I think there is some food tasting at some point and some other things too) so I’m keeping pretty busy really! I love being busy, and being busy in the mountains is just so much fun – but having a few seconds to look out the window and see the snow falling every now and again makes me sit back and have to give myself a good shake!

I started this blog just under a year ago, and here I am now (in very blurry selfie-form!), blogging from the mountains in france – on a real adventure. I still can’t quite get my head around the fact that my life has brought me out here to do something I love in some of the most beautiful surroundings there is, possibly anywhere!
There have been a few moments since I arrived where we’ve been talking about something super exciting or I’ve looked out of my bedroom window to see snow covered mountains instead of concrete and I’ve had to give myself a little moment to take it all in and realise it’s actually real. It’s so exciting, and I can’t quite believe it’s happening! 🙂