Clever Nettles

This year's vegetable plot has been a bit neglected (oops) as we're busy installing a new swimming pool (exciting!), but we can't help but notice the flourshing, blooming explosion of vegetation all around us unaided. 

Besides the summer wasps, there's only one downside to all of this greenery.. which is the quantity (and quality!) of stinging nettles.  They're everywhere this year.  Stoop to pick a handful of wild flowers and you'd best be careful, or you'll have a stinging, itchy palm for the rest of the day.  Not my favourite plants.

Our French neighbours don't, however, see nettles as the adversary I do.  For locals of the Alps, nettles are not only a widely respected health food for use in soups and salads (I'm imagining a horrendously burning tongue/throat sensation), but can also be used to make tea and used as an an organic pesticide and fertiliser.  No wonder they're happy to see them growing rampant in the backyard!  I've even been told they have pain relieving properties (must look into this, as in my experience they've only caused it!).

Natural curiousity and a little bit of research led me to this brilliant article in the Guardian's gardening section, where I discovered that nettles can also be used to make beer and that they actually improve the quality of the soil in your garden.  Who knew such an unattractive plant had so many practical uses?

I'm slowly working up the courage to make a nettle soup, as the locals claim it has incredible health benefits. An old arthritis remedy apparently involves flogging arthritic limbs with a bunch of mature nettles.  Sounds like fun.  Apparently the needle-like hairs inject histamine, acetycholine, serotonin and formic acid when touched. This creates a temporary irritation which lessens and can even temporarily eliminate arthritic pain (or maybe it just hurts so much you forget about your arthritis for a while?..).

More research is required to convince me, as I'm still imaginging nettle soup would be like a burning mouthful  of tiny needles.  Maybe I'll wait until my mouth becomes arthritic, then try it... stay tuned.

The Season So Far

Stop, wait!  How did this happen?!

We woke up today and realised that Half Term is done and dusted .. which means we're half way through the ski season already!  Where on earth did all that time go?!

Agast, I've had to sit down to reflect on how we've spent the season so far .. what have we been doing?

>The snow has been absolutely stunning (the best since 1966 I've heard ...not that I was skiing then!).   So this means that we've been obliged (poor us) to get out there and enjoy it with our guests!  From gently taking the aptly named Marvel (green) with a few nervous guests, to jumping and swearing our way down the challenging Ger Bowl (off piste / black) with those feeling more adventurous, we have truly loved every minute. Powder snow and big smiles all around!

>We’ve been busy trying to share the FdC secret by inviting journalists from the Guardian, the Sunday Telegraph and Prima Baby to stay. We joined them in improving their ski technique with the Couples Ski Camp, being healthy with our Ski Boot Camp (which you'll be able to read all about in The Sunday Telegraph Stella Magazine on April 15^th) and introducing little ones to the snow for the first time during a fabulous family weekend.  What a cross-section it's been; it feels as if we've gone some way towards proving that Samoëns really does offer something for everyone.

>We’ve watched our guests make snowmen (and women!), sledge down the garden, play with LouLou the ever sociable cat (getting fatter by the minute as she hones her adorable "they don't feed me" look), come back from ski school with an array of medals, ski down to the pub (so while we're not quite "ski in", we are now officially "ski out").  We've set off ethereal floating lanterns at New Year, celebrated monumental birthdays , anniversaries and even had some engagements.  Snow AND love is in the air this year! 

> So far this season we (and by "we" I mean Jeremy) has prepared 650 adult meals, along with 110 children's meals, and 63 afternoon tea cakes.  We've made 750 beds, done 57 round trips to Geneva airport, along with 250 trips to and from the ski lift.  Amongst all this hard work we've popped 65 champagne corks... wait, make that 66!!!  Here's to the next 9 weeks!

A flavour of a week in a life of a ski chalet

Well the winter season has well and truly begun! All the highs and lows that punctuate our lives as chalet owners have taken place this week…..

High
Lovely French guests arrived to get our season started. Charming, patient with our French, and ready to help with theirs when we got stuck (see ‘lows’!)
Low
Just as we need to get the minibus going for our first large group, the clutch goes, and then the wiper motor goes on our French guests car!
High
The French guests managed to find a dry day to get home, and the minibus was fixed an hour before the group arrived at the airport!
Low
A very big bill for the minibus!

High
Lovely English guests arrive to celebrate Christmas with us. The Dads arrive ahead of the rest, with a car loaded to the roof with presents, which were duly hidden in the garage away from prying eyes. The children were told they would have to wait until they got home for their presents, so they had a big surprise!
High
The sound of children at 4am Christmas day morning, when they discovered Santa had been after all!
High
Skiing on Christmas day – and then back for a feast!
Low
Waking up Boxing Day to find the oven had decided that enough was enough, and packed in!
Low
We are still waiting for the repair man to arrive.
High
A surprisingly tolerant chef. Long may it last!

Low
The jacuzzi goes temperamental. (what is about equipment when you need it?!)
High
The jacuzzi repair people saying they would work through the night if necessary

Highs
- All the snow that fell in the week before Christmas, and then the sun shining all over Christmas! What a glorious present for us all!
- Having a wonderful team in the chalet turning out stunning meals, and always with a smile for the guests.
- Having time to look after guests and to ski, and to spend time with friends! (shush – don’t tell anyone!)

Autumnal Forest delights

With the evenings becoming cooler and the dusk closing in earlier as each week passes, we can't help but rave about how atmospheric the autumn is in Samoëns.  Yes, it can be rainy and miserable at times, but with the dampness come the "fruits of the forest", as the locals call them.  Mushrooms.  Millions of mushrooms.

They're plentiful yet it takes work to find them in the forests around here, because every man and his dog is after them!  Good mushrooming sites are closely guarded secrets amongst the locals and even between family members.  Once you know where to find the goods, you tell no one, because a good harvest of fresh mushrooms is like finding gold.  This autumn our neighbours tell us that the French locals are outraged by the number of Swiss who're crossing the border to forage for French mushrooms!  It's an indication of just how highly prized wild mushrooms are in France.  Mushrooming is a very popular past time for the French, who love nothing more than spending a day wandering the great outdoors in search of (free) organic goodies that they can take home to cook a delicious meal with.  It's an activity perfectly aligned with the French culture - bringing together hand collected, seasonal, wild produce for traditional home cooking.

The fruits of our guests' labours

This week we had a delightful couple come to try their hands at mushroom foraging as an anniversay weekend getaway.  They were awestruck by the fiery display of autumn foliage that greeted them as they arrived in Samoëns, and chose a spectacular weekend to spend wandering deep into alpine forests on the hunt for edible mushrooms. Our lovely guide Aga followed her nose - and local tips - and they were rewarded with a healthy basketload of mushrooms at the end of the day!  Amongst the mushrooms collected are cèpes; meaty, flavoursome fungi that cannot be cultivated and only grow wild.  They're highly prized by the French, who eat them in creamy sauces, or simply fried in butter.  

All in all, autumn is a wonderful time of year for a cosy weekend in the mountains.  With no tourists around, it's a wonderful time to experience the area stripped of all artifice, as a simple farming village.  Here are a few more photos .. because we feel the need to share them!!

Kids' Ski Hats

Our Christmas guests have told their children they're only getting a few presents, but Dad is actually secretly driving the family car across from the UK laden with gifts to put under our 12ft Christmas tree.  The kids are in for a huge surprise and we can't wait to see them light up with the Christmassy-ness of it all.  The anticipation has got us thinking about fun ski-related gifts for kids, and we've always loved the inventive headwear that comes out with each new season.

www.littleterra.co.uk

 Zaney headwear has become increasingly popular on the slopes for the last few years, and whilst we all know adults in crazy headwear is a no-go zone, an official child sanction means kids are allowed to go all out.

Some of our favourites in the last few seasons have been the animal-themed helmet covers that come from the US.  A bit more clever than your average long-spikes-zaney-hat, the animal hats come in loads of styles and actually will help you to spot your little darling from a hundred yards away.

http://www.breckenridgehatcompany.com 

http://www.breckenridgehatcompany.com

Yes, they're hideous, but kids love them.  And we love happy kids!  It's always great to have something that they can unwrap and use straight away too.

The best new fad we've come across in the lead up to winter 2011/12, however, has to be the fabulous chunky knitted beanies from Chaos Hats, with huge oversized pompoms that are interchangeable!  The giant pompoms clip on and off and each beanie comes with two different colours, so you can change your hat to suit your mood.  We think they'd be brilliant for teenagers.  Unfortunately we can't seem to find a website that sells them yet - so they'll be something to look out for in ski shops this winter.  Do they do adult versions ...?

"Luxury Essentials" Winter Stockpiling

With our first winter guests due to arrive on Saturday 17th December (that's just 72 days away), we've started stocking up for the long winter ahead.  Like hibernating animals, we buy up big as the Autumn draws to an end, ready to bunker down in the snow for months at a time.  It is, of course, far too early to be buying food in, but there are plenty of far more fun things to purchase in preparation for indulging our lucky guests...

This weekend we placed a range of orders from our usual suppliers.  The first purchase on the pre-winter To Do list was our customised selection of Molton Brown bathroom products.  There's always the temptation to be distracted when browsing through all the goodies that are available for wholesale purchase from Molton Brown, so strong will power was required to avoid over-ordering.  They all look SO good!

Next on today's list was a vital Christmas element that we simply can't get here in France - the turkey!  Here the local butcher can only source small turkeys, but with a full house of guests over Christmas we'll need a whopper!  We order it from a fabulous organic butcher in Somerset and have it delivered to us here in France, so the order needs to be made well in advance.

Also from a secret source are the handmade chocolate favours we dress the beds with as a welcome gift for arriving guests.  A serious selection process was happily endured and we think we've found the best of the best.  When you see them, you'll appreciate their beautiful presentation just as much as their divine flavour.  These are seriously good chocolates!

Next on the shopping list were new staff uniforms.  This year we've redesigned shirts, jackets and aprons for our staff with the chalet's new logo.  We think they're professional and modern - and hopefully the staff will like them too!   We'll post some photos when they're delivered so you can make your own decision.

Slightly less exciting but absolutely necessary were the fine new towels we've purchased - 150 of them!  We like our guests to use quality products that are in top condition, which means re-buying linen and towels regularly.  There's nothing worse than a lovely bathroom with a threadbare towel!  A hot bath on a cold snowy night calls for a seriously big, fluffy towel; and we've now got enough to dry an army on their way to us.


Last on the list were scent diffusers from Perfume ID.  We find that scented candles produce too strong a smell for the shared areas of the chalet and love a scent to compliment the smell of the wood fire in winter.  Christmassy, heavy scents can be overpowering to live in (they're fine for an hour or two, but all day every day they're just nauseating), so we prefer the fine hint of perfume produced from diffuser sticks.  Perfume ID are specialists in 'sensory communication' and we feel their Eco-diffusers convey an elegant, modern message just right for relaxing our guests.

That's enough ordering for the time being, the fun bit will be receiving all these orders in coming weeks.

Aspen Fashion Week 2011

Yes!  Now that the weather's turning chilly in Samoëns, we've begun dusting off our winter gear for the winter ahead.  The wardrobe changeover happening at home and in the shops makes us eager to stock up on chic new snow gear every year - despite the fact that every year's expense is justified by the same phrase: "I'll wear this for years".

So let's look drool over some 2011/12 winter ski trends that emerged from Aspen Fashion Week 2011...

Fur, fur, fur and Aviators everywhere

Sorel snow boots (we noticed the Parisians went mad for them last winter too)

Metallics

Helmets - safety is cool again!

Black & white

Nordic-Inspired Knitwear + Grunge

Now, it's online shopping time.  Watch out Visa, this is going to hurt.  

Watch this space to see our 2011/12 purchases!!