2014: Year of Change

As we bid farwell to 2014 and welcome 2015, I, like the rest of the wolrd reminesce on what happened last year, and wonder what (hopefully good) things the new year will bring.

2014 was a year of massive change for our family. When it started, never did we suspect it would mean:

• New job for BabelDad.
• New job for me.
• New country, language, culture in the landlocked, yet huge melting pot, island that is Switzerland.
• Saying goodbye to dear friends that we made these last ten years in the North of England.
• Saying goodbye to our lovely house.
• Saying goodbye to our dream of going back to the South of France.
• Getting one sea nearer our families.
• And last but not least, new pregnancy with BK4 expected in February this year.

So here's to warm memories and new adventures!

Happy new year! Bonne année! Gutes Neues Jahr! عام سعيد

Guess How Much I love You

You know how some people's love is proportionate to the amount of food they offer you? Well, in my case, my love seems to be measured by the ORIGIN of the food I give.

I was busy putting the final touches to a pizza I made to take along for lunch at a friend's house. I poured a good glug of olive oil. BabelDad interjected: "That's olive oil from Algeria! You must really like those two friends of yours!". Actually, yes, I do.

You see, this is not JUST olive oil. This is extra virgin oil extracted from one batch of olives coming from a single olive producer in a small village of Kabylie, that my parents bought for me from a long-time family friend, that my mother poured in a plastic bottle, wrapped and secured the day before we took the plane back to England, knowing she would not see her daughter and granddaughters for another year.

Likewise, that is not just couscous. That is semolina grains that my mother watered, rolled, steamed and laid down to dry on the roof terrace under the warm spring sun of Algiers, counting the months and days till our arrival.

Food is really charged with emotion, isn't it?