French quarantine 2.0, day 7

18,880 steps 

Tomorrow begins the first day of loosening restrictions. Shops are open again (but not bars/restaurants). We can travel within a 20 km radius and be outside for 3 hrs at a time. 

I'm not sure we'll do anything out of the ordinary tomorrow as rain is in the forecast. But we could. If we wanted to. 

I went running today and had a hard time staying awake the rest of the morning. Weird! 

Dio's afternoon classes were cancelled as his teachers were absent. I "forced" him to come to the beach after lunch with me and Eric. He grumbled and complained. Ugh, life is SO hard having to go to the beach on a sunny day in the south of France. TERRIBLE MEAN PARENTS. 

We ran into so many friends today. The usual crowd of school parents, of course, plus many others either at the beach or the park. One of them has a husband who specializes in structural engineering and stabilization in old buildings, including Old Nice. 

This is great news--we have lots of walls to knock down in the communist apartment downstairs (no, we still haven't closed on it yet...but soon!). None of them were loadbearing when they were put in (probably circa the 1950s or 60s). But over time sometimes the interior dividing walls can start bearing weight as the large ceiling beams, called "poutres," shift or sag. We can have this person take a look as we begin ripping things out and evaluate if we need to reinforce anything structurally. 

I made turkey rolls with mustard cream sauce for dinner. I don't really have a recipe, just basic instructions. 

Slice a turkey breast very thin in as large of pieces as possible. Salt & pepper each piece. Spread some mustard on each piece; use the real French Dijon mustard, preferably the "forte" kind. Lay a slice of raw cured ham (prosciutto, etc.) and a slice of Emmental or other similar cheese in the middle of the turkey. Roll up & secure with a toothpick or string. 

Heat some butter in a pan & brown the turkey rolls on all sides. Then add some chicken/vegetable stock and/or white wine to deglaze, about 1 - 1.5 cups. Sprinkle in some thyme. Cover and simmer until the rolls are cooked all the way through. 

Remove the turkey rolls. Whisk together 1 cup cream and a few spoonfuls of flour (or cornstarch) and about 1-2 Tbsp mustard. Add to the sauce and stir until bubbly and thick. Salt to taste.