okalani<P>Sarha<P><P>Okalani chambres et tables dhotes<

North or south of Albi?  How long have you been here - are you working?  Any kids?  Sorry, so many questions, but might as well get it all asked in one post? Sarha

Speaking from experience in having "problems" with  my neighbours - in fact soon a court case - all caused by them might I add, not us, I would definately go and see your notaire and make sure that he has done everything legally.  Check with as many people as possible that he is not breaking the law in any way as far as the drain. Unfortunately, as said earlier if you signed a letter and you don't know exactly what it says that is unfortunate, but again talk to the Notaire and check your deeds. If you don't do it know, he will either take advantage of you again in the future or you might have other problems with your property etc. Just cover yourself -I have learnt the hard way and am still learning!!!!

Where abouts? How long have you been here?

Having read through this thread I have not found one other person who lives in the Tarn.  We are near to Castres and wondered if there are any other forum members near us?  

I rent my livebox, luckily, I am on my third now and still can't even get it connected to my PC.  I have been through the whole process on the phone with someone both in France and in UK and still it won't connect to my computer.  The price is only 3 euros and definately a better option than buying, but I would love to get it to work. If anyone can give me some advice as to what I am doing wrong I would be very grateful.

I have searched France for Mica and it is virtually impossible to buy - why I don't know.  I bought mine very reasonably from the UK and they posted it to me.  The whole process took about 2 weeks. The company is The open Fire Centre in Oldham [email protected] I think for 4 small sheets it cost about £24.00 and I was able to pay by credit card. Hope this helps - if you need any more info.let me know.    

We are in the Tarn and out of 5 large supermarkets, only Super U give out free bags.  The Champion bags for life are lovely - I recently brought a bright pink very "chic" one - it only has a little logo on it so other supermarkets won't be able to tell where it comes from!!!!  But I don't think they really care do they?

I have received all of the above and also faxes saying that someone has requested details of my business and my finances and that I should phone an 08 (pay for number) to receive the info.  It seems that there is always someone out there trying to rip you off, wherever you live!!!

If you haven't got cream, you can't make a good lemon mousse. Why don't you try making a lemon curd tart.  If you want the recipe let me know.

Having experience many problems with the French banking system I was loathe to accept travellers cheques, but I have to say they were as easy to pay in as any cheque and cash.  I am with Banque Populaire and I literally filled in a paying in slip as I would with a french cheque, marked down the number of cheques and paid them in.  Just sign the back- no problems, no charges.  Brilliant!

OK - here follows very scrummy (and easy) recipe for fig ice cream!!! 500g fresh figs cut into quarters 125g caster sugar 125ml muscat or sweet wine (muscat is best) 125ml double cream (I use the creme entiere fluide)   Place figs and sugar into food processor and blitz until creamy. Add wine and cream and mix.  The next bit is upto the individual - you can either put it into an ice cream maker and churn (in mine it takes approx. 30 mins).  Alternatively, place in plastic box and put in freezer, after a few hours mix and then repeat this process until ready. Then eat - delicious served with an almond and fruit tart!!!!

Thanks for that, I have now put the right words to the previous explanation to my friends and have just been directed to the local sloe bushes.  Thankfully the local French have never heard of a use for sloes, so I will definately profit this christmas - I will be in a sloe haze!!!

You can buy lamb shanks at any butcher, but you have to order them.  The best place to buy them is a large butcher, like one within an abbatoir.   The other place that is cheaper to buy them is Leader Price, but again not always available.  They are definately not as cheap as in the UK!

Have you tried www.xe.com, they will transfer a minimum of £2,000 and the charges are very reasonable. We have had the same problems with French banks - maybe "under the matress" is the best option!

Can anyone tell me what the French call Elderflower and also the french for Sloe bush?  I am hankering after making Sloe Gin for christmas  

Figs are great in a chutney.  I also make fig ice cream, which is lovely.  Let me know if you want the recipe!

The French love English desserts.  In my village most of them would sell their soul for my sticky toffee pudding!!  They have never experiencedtextures and flavours like our puddings - let's give us a pat on the back for our cooking The other day I had a French couple staying here for dinner and I overhead them say - "an English woman that can cook".  When you talk to French people about English cuisine they have this image of "pudding" and jelly and dry roast beef. Why, I don't know, because personally a good old english meal beats Confit de Canard any day!

Yes, baking powder is levure chemique - you can buy it anywhere.  Also, if you have a Metro (professional use only) you can actually by Baking Powder in a large tub. And for the currants etc, if you go the local markets and buy them off the dried fruit stall, it is cheaper and you can buy as much as you want. Happy baking.

I think that old saying of "it's not what you know, but who you know" goes a long way when living in any foreign country.  The longer that you are here, the more contacts you make and the more likely you are to get a reasonable job, that you are interested in. Good luck to all!

My neighbour collected 45 kilos of cepes this weekend, fortunately for me he can't possibly eat that amount!!!! Cepes can be frozen raw, just brush them over to get rid of any leaves etc and slice them, pop them into bags and straight into the freezer.  You can then cook them from frozen, in garlic and butter.  They will have retained a bit of moisture, but that will soon cook out. Happy fungus-ing!    

To set the record straight - I am registered correctly for everything.  I am registered as chambres d'hotes, tables d'hotes and salon du the & Glacier.  I researched everything very carefully before doing all this, as I forsaw all potential problems- I only serve meals at lunch time to the passers by as I don't have the right to do so in the evening - I am CdH and table d'hotes not restaurant, but with salon du the I can serve lunch.  To people staying here I can serve what I like, when I like. Thanks to the jealousing of one of my French neighbours, she has reported me for everything!! - I have had every inspection you can think of - hygiene, fraud, impots, gendarmerie etc, etc and pleased to say that I have passed them all with flying colours. In UK I trained and worked in hotel and catering and am a qualified chef so made sure I did all my research properly.  

We ask for 1/2 the total room rate as deposit, which is either payable by UK cheque or UK bank transfer into my UK Bank account.  The balance is then payable 4 weeks before arrival.  This is for all bookings for 5 days and over, for bookings for less time we just take the 1/2 room rate and then they pay the balance and any extras incurred, ie. meals etc at the end of their stay. This means that people won't check out early or leave without paying!

don't worry we do! and on top of that we do lots of advertising in family magazines etc.  

I make green tomato chutney every year and I usually use white vinegar (I have used it in Delia's recipe too).  But I like to try all different types, sometimes I use cidre vinegar with the white vinegar. The fun is making your own mix!! Good luck. Sarha www.okalani.com  

This is fantastic news for us - as we specialise in children's holidays in our b&b, so if you don't want these families, please send them to us!!!! We find that the majority of children that come here are great, but we are set up for them, and all the parents take responsibility for their children.  Most days in the summer we have 5 rooms full of families, at any one time we could have up to 15 children here - plus my 2! Maybe we are gluttons for punishment - but it keeps my bank balance healthy. www.okalani.com