Archive for Guadeloupe

a journal of the warmongering year

Posted in Books, Kids, Mountains, pictures, Running, Travel, University life, Wines with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 14, 2026 by xi'an


R
ead the highly original Die Wand (The Invisible Wall) by Austrian writer Marlen Haushofer. A dystopia where a sole (?) woman find herself isolated from the rest of the World (and its fossilised beings) by a transparent wall. And learns bit by bit how to survive with an Austrian hunting lodge, a cow, a dog and a cat. This is a fantastic book in all senses of the term. From the survivalist aspects, which are always engaging!—and reasonably realistic, albeit I would have used the cow for carrying heavy loads, smoked the meat of the deer shot by the woman, made cheese out of the milk, rather than butter, and turned hazelnuts into flour—, to the psychological damage of loosing human contacts, to the erasure of the wall between this survivor and the animals (with a paradox that is the top spoiler of the book!).

Cooked a sweet potatoes and cocoa cake in preparation for my trail race on La Sainte-Baume, near Marseille. With cocoa made from the beans I had brought back from Guadeloupe last summer. Not particularly tasty, despite a large input of melted cocoa, since I only added a few eggs, no sugar, and no flour, but at least definitely healthy. And, no, it did not impact my speed in the least! And keeping up with cocoa I visited a chocolaterie in Marseille that solely uses Madagascar cocoa beans and offers workshops for making one own’s bars. As well as superlative pure, unsweetened, chocolate drinks.

Watched The Million-Follower Detective, a Taiwanese detective story combined with a superficial reflection on the impact and excesses of influencers. Very heavy going, with an omniscient villain and a cascade of convenient coïncidences.

La Lézarde

Posted in Kids, Mountains, pictures, Travel, Wines with tags , , , , , , , on November 20, 2025 by xi'an

is there a doctor on board?!

Posted in Kids, pictures, Travel with tags , , , , , , , , , , on November 9, 2025 by xi'an

When our daughter flew back from Guadeloupe during her residency, a few weeks ago, she heard midway (i.e. in the middle of the Atlantic) the dreaded (?) call from AF flight attendants for doctors in the plane to contact them. She did and, since she was both the most senior intern and with specialty the most suited to handle emergency cases, she ended up caring for a passenger suffering from respiratory issues. Fortunately, the flight was carrying medical oxygen tanks that proved enough to support said passenger all the way to a Paris airport. Once landed, an emergency team evacuated the (mostly recovered) patient in priority (but not Doctor Robert!). Amusingly, since she had purposely (!) left her doctor card in her blouse at the Basse-Terre hospital, she first needed to have a colleague on duty there to send a picture for the flight attendants to let her handle the patient!

a journal of the cha(ca)os (and fig) year

Posted in Books, Kids, Mountains, pictures, Travel, Wines with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 1, 2025 by xi'an

 Read the last part of The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell, which still  takes place in the early 1800’s at the Dutch East India Company trading post Dejima in Nagasaki, as the historical aspects—like the attempt by a British ship to take over the outpost—beat the weakest features of the story. The end does feel rushed.

I made my first attempt at a chocolate tablet by mixing the cocoa—cacao in French—paste (kako in Créole) I brought back from Guadeloupe—made from the cocoa seeds I had bought at the market, roasting and crushing them—with crushed biscuits and a tiny bit of butter. The result was keeping with the bitter chocolate flavour I enjoy in 100% cocoa tablets, if presumably richer in fat and sugar, and more on the chocolate biscuit side! As the fig tree is now delivering at full speed, I am making compotes and office deliveries on most days, along with picking great tomatoes (which survived the heat waves) and the second chili pepper that grew from the chili tree this summer—sadly so low on the Scoville scale that it didn’t much differ from the peppers that also grew there—. In a bountiful year, the only failure was the buckwheat attempt, since no single flower came to deliver. Expert advice is thus sought for next year! This did not prevent me from resuming cooking whey (from skyr) and buckwheat, rye, or chestnut crêpes (on the Amazon iron griddle that no longer sticks!).

Watched and enjoyed the series Dept. Q, a gritty, depressing, and engrossing detective story that mixes cold cases, domestic violence, PTSD, sexism, several levels of guilt, and a variety of Scottish accents, from Edinburgh to the Western Isles. Despite the captivity thread in the scenario that I always dislike as a weak option in this kind of story, albeit making more sense as the episodes unfold. The grey areas surrounding most characters keeps the series at quite an acceptable level of engagement, as does the range of personalities thus displayed. This includes most victims that could have fallen into the poor-dear trap, but remain ambiguous and equally guilty to maintain the balance. Looking forward new seasons (not in the Scottish sense, where most days usually cover all four of them!). Also watched the second season of Wednesday, enjoyable enough if on the light and repetitive side. With Jenna Ortega still running the show, along with a stronger presence of Catherine Zeta-Jones. Just missing the Cramps moment of Season 1!

Fuji [and back]

Posted in Mountains, Running, Travel with tags , , , , , , , , , , on September 19, 2025 by xi'an

Following my enjoying a lease of Hoka shoes during a half-marathon last year, with some noticeable improvement during the race but a highly specialised design preventing its use in other circumstances, I took again advantage of a running brand offer for free trial of one of their shows. Indeed, Asics offers a 90 day trial period on their gear, provided a registration, and I tested their (top model) MetaFuji Trail shoes during our trip to Guadeloupe, both on coastal paths and hiking trails. They proved rather light, well-fitted to my feet, pretty (with a picture of Fuji-san!) and sturdy enough for a month of daily runs (with no noticeable wear), but not particularly reactive on road (where was the carbon plate!) and both unstable and slippery on rocky trails as those around Basse-Terre. In fact, I ended up the vacations with a sharp return of my hamstring pain, possibly connected with relying on that shoe the whole time (and possibly due to heavy volumes since May!) I thus cleaned the pair and sent it back when I returned home (under the 90 day limit)…