What a week! Monster snowfall here in the French Alps has made for one of the best start’s to January skiing in some years. But it’s been tricky skiing – low cloud cover, heavy snowfalls makes for soupy gloopy skiing. The conditions on piste have been amazing. Bravo Piste Bashers! It’s also meant the runs are quiet. Lots of people don’t go out unless it’s clear and sunny, people living an hour a way in Geneva haven’t come up to the mountains for a day’s skiing. More snowy piste for me and big powdery off-piste for those that want to play.
Saturday was snowy with low cloud, a typically quiet change-over morning. Let’s stick to the runs with trees, better vision. Oh so quiet and peaceful. Look runs all to ourselves. Bliss! Oooomp. Bumph. Crunch. Crash. Slide. Yes I have a snow fall in the snow fall. On piste. I don’t do a lot of falling. But memo to self, fall in the powdery stuff and not on piste next time! 
Everything where it’s meant to be? Check! Get your breath back. There we go, pick yourself up girl. Come on, lets carry on and see how I am.Ski’s back on? Check! Tentatively now. Oh it’s ok, but my arm does hurt. Maybe a stop for a Vin Chaud is what the doctor would order. Aahhh that’s good! A few more runs and that’s enough for me, off back to the village to change out of ski boots. Umph and ouch I can’t pull them off! Slowly does it girl! That’s better. Just get yourself back home and dose yourself up with a painkiller, swallow some Arnica, you know you’ve bruised yourself, rub some deep heat cream in. You know you want to smell like…. well not like that!
Aahhh home. Now how do I get that jumper off? Look away now! Shower and change, the warmth feels good. More smelly deep heat cream, that’s better. But no chopping and cooking for you!
Meet the new Director of Cooking 🙂
Take a bottle with us to spend the evening with friends. Easy! What, we’re cooking Thai Fish Cakes and Non Fishy Fish Cakes? Let’s use the fresh red curry paste with the pork. That will be a new creation of Thai style Pork Balls with Red Curry Paste then. Great idea. Oooo those are GOOD! We’ll be making those again. Yuuuummm a Thai Green Curry with prawns. Perfect, I can eat this with my left hand. See. I finished a bowl full.
Huummmmm. Seems I’ve wrenched and sprained the muscles in my right arm and shoulder. I can’t lift my arm up. Can’t take any weight in it. One armed skiing anyone? Go for it. Sunday morning on a dreadful night’s sleep was a gorgeous morning’s ski. Even emptier slopes. Stick to the nice Red and Blue runs. Gently does it. Swish, swish, schusss here, pootle over there, ooo another schuss there. See I can ski 1 armed ! Ooomph bumph wallop, ski chairs. Made it! Breathe! Relax. Getting off now, get ready. Hold your pole in your bad hand, that’s it, and push with the good one. you did it! Just try to avoid jarring it and we’ll all get along fine.
Made it back to the village. Slump down on the ski bench, a quick painkiller, ahh that’s better. Arrgggh, those boots! Slowly slowly. Phew! Une The Menthe. Aahhhh that feels a bit better. Nice and cosy here. Hummmmm, a demi Pression? Mais Qui!
Home. Not feeling very hungry. Can’t cook either. Definitely a time for light duties – read sipping wine 🙂
Ta da! Thank goodness me and the cooker got properly acquainted in the week. Yes the week the blasted oven played nice. We had some VERY over-ripe bananas and a memory of an allegedly famous banana cake. Emergency email to the mountain man’s sister. Look’s easy. Now cooker, play nicely won’t you!
RESULT! A perfect banana cake, moist on the inside and a nice crispy outer. No icing/frosting needed, it’s sweet and delicious as it is. A perfect apres-ski cake 🙂
Banana Cake ~
Ingredients ~
- 4oz / 100g butter/margarine
- 6oz / 150g sugar
- 8oz /200g self raising flour
- 2 eggs
- 2 large/3 medium bananas – very ripe
Method ~
- Heat the oven to 180 (4/5)
- Grease a 2lb loaf tin
- In a bowl mash the bananas with fork
- In a separate bowl cream together butter and sugar, then mix the eggs in
- Combine the mashed banana with the butter/sugar/eggs
- Gently stir in the flour
- Bake for 40 minutes then lower temperature to 150 (2) and cook for further 30 minutes
- Turn out to cool
The recipe came via my mountain man’s sister, via the internet. except she doesn’t remember where. So sorry to who ever wrote this I can’t credit you. But I’d like to thank you 🙂
Think the closest I will ever get to Mont Blanc is writing in my diary every day with my Mont Blanc fountain pen! Sorry that you are somewhat injured – not fun!
You can’t beat a slice of banana bread straight from the oven – delicious.
🙂 Mandy
Hi Mandy, how lovely to have a Mt Blanc pen 🙂 Hopefully I’ll have some photos soon of the view without clouds!
Beautiful, so beautiful photographs… Thank you, with my love, nia
Thank you Nia, I enjoy taking and sharing them. Claire
Awesome photographs.. just stunning! It is so difficult to ski, never mind in low light. That used to always scare me.. so now I just do x-country (yes, I’m a chicken). Now I want to give skiing a go again just because of your photos… oh… that banana bread too, while I’m at it!!
Thank you! I’ve never tried cross country skiing, I can’t help but think that you have to be a lot fitter for it than downhill !
brrr….Those photos look as stunningly beautiful while also making me feel the chill!! I’ve not seen snow like that in a long time! So beautiful to look at (I’m a real freeze baby). I’d prefer to sit indoors admiring the view with that freshly baked banana bread!!
Yes it has been a bit brrr, but cake soon solves that one 🙂
Hope you heal promptly, Claire, and enjoy your enforced “light duty,”
Thank you, I’m trying to rest it as much as possible. But it’s no fun not doing any cooking!
Ouch – keep taking that arnica! Am not a skier mainly becuase my one and only experience of it was spending more time on the ground than upright. Wish I´d had a lovely slice of banana bread for every fall I had!
I think the first week of skiing is the hardest, if you can make it back for a 2nd it starts to get a lot easier!
Can’t believe all the snow! California has been sunny and dry. Hope you recover soon so you may fully enjoy your time skiing.
The amount of snow has been amazing, every day you see truck loads, literally, being taken away from the village to be dumped down the valley.
Thank God, you had me worried, now can you PLEASE be a little more careful! We want you back in one piece.. c
I like me in 1 piece too! Luckily I don’t think it’s serious and a few days rest should sort it out. besides I need to be fit for the gardening season 🙂
Oh wow! This looks gorgeous! I’m so glad for you 😀
Thank you 🙂
I was raised on the slopes of Banff and Lake Louise – in the time when we could be on the slopes at 7:00 a.m. and cut the first trails. No one would be around. You’ve brought that back as fresh as an overnight snow.
You decadent thing…imagine having thai food after half maiming yourself! I have to force myself to whip up my banana bread and you do it with one arm??
Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!
That must have been an amazing place to grow up. There’s something magical about being on the slopes early. And thanks for popping in 🙂
So glad your injury doesn’t seem to be too serious. At first, I didn’t like the way this post going. Whew! And I’ve never seen Mt. Blanc looking so … so … so blanc. You wouldn’t happen to have any banana bread left over? Yum!
I’m sorry John I didn’t mean to string you along. Healing slowly but gently now.
Love it – looking blan(c)k :), a bit like the author of this blog!
Just wanted to let you know that I am living vicariously through your French Alpine life. Gorgeous photos and I can practically smell the recipes. Cheers!
Thanks Kevin, it’s a bit of a once in a lifetime experience and I’m happy to share it
Beautiful pics and too funny stories of you snow adventures! I want that orange chair!!!!
Stacey
The chair is cool isn’t it!
Oh my. Ouch. Gosh. Glad that you’re okay. Lovely photos, too!
Hi there Misk, thank you. It’s been fun to try and photograph where we are. Plenty of subjects, just need a bit more sun now!
Being so unskilled a skier that I can take a fair fall even going cross-country, I think I’d opt for the fabulous-sounding Banana Cake *without* the skiing in imperfect conditions! Say, a nice warm slice of that cake does sound like the perfect poultice–if not for physical injuries, then at least for injured pride and spirits. Speaking of spirits, how about a nice hot toddy with the cake?
he, he! That’s too funny (the poultice bit) !
One memorable Xmas day and as a recent learner I managed to ski into the tracks of the cross-country ski trail, got marvelously stuck and promptly fell over. And that was before I’d had a Xmas tipple!
Hope you are healing properly. Banana bread may be an undiscovered cure for falls. If it doesn’t heal you then at least it will make you happy.
Karen the banana bread was delicious – perfectly moist and not too sweet