French cuisine is on its way!

Like children with a new toy, this week has seen us revel in our newly installed gas central heating. We have concrete floors which retain warmth and these old fashioned cast iron radiators chuck out wonderful and even heat. We still wake up to the sun shining through our full length windows but it is cooler now, so the incredible hard work of Mr. Fix It and Justin, our boiler engineer, was undertaken in the nick of time.

So, warm as toast and basking in the Autumn sunshine during the day, we turn our attention to our future kitchen. This is a great space, around 28 x 14 ft, widening out at the “eating end”. Although I have become used to cooking on our mini oven – indeed a casserole cooks as I write this; it is amazing what you can rustle up in such a small appliance - after 9 months of having no real kitchen to speak of, I am greatly looking forward to this next stage: planning and fitting our kitchen, putting soft lighting in, having a breakfast bar to linger at with a coffee in the mornings, listening to music from the huge speakers which Mr. Fix It has owned for many years and which will nestle underneath the units.

Mr. Fix it is raring to go (his energy is boundless) and his plan on paper looks both slick and functional. Buoyed up by thoughts of fine French cooking from the wonderful cookery book he gave me “Rotis of France”, this coming week will see him putting in the groundwork and me clearing a space at the kitchen end, ready for the wall and floor treatments ahead of the units going in. So it was that we headed off to Ikea in Montpellier to look at kitchens, find a sink, lights and the like and the planning mode will soon become execution mode.

I look back to when we first arrived here, this kitchen space we now have as 2 rooms then, almost begging to be uplifted. The day the wall came down was another one of those days to remember: here suddenly was this new space.

We already have our floor: old pine strips which Mr. Fix It will be laying in due course and I have had the happy task of sourcing taps, lights, an actual kitchen and deciding on which oven to install. The corner fireplace lends a cosy air to this space and with 2 radiators opposite, we envisage many convivial evenings around our dinner table, candles lit, music and hopefully some fine French cooking. We had a taste of what was to become when we had a visit from some of family recently. Why, even Mr. Fix It turned his hand to some cooking.

The concept of DIY is relatively new in France but it is my guess that it will become more and more popular over the next few years. There are some great appliances around however and our American fridge/freezer arrives Thursday, ready to take its place in the new kitchen. This next stage of our renovation is a big deal; after all, the kitchen is the heart of every home. With Christmas fast approaching and a visit to Germany and then to England to spend time with our family on the cards, Mr. Fix It is determined to start the process now and to have it up and running by the end of February. Watch this space!

Meanwhile, Eddie & Alfie keep us grounded. They don’t care about the kitchen and have no interest in our house renovation. They only know that they love the long walks by the canal, sitting by our log fire and tucking in to French dog food: life could be worse for them and for us.