The poor team think that once they’re completed shut down, packed up in Meribel and are safely back in the UK that they’ll hear the last from us.  Oh no, the task masters that we are then try to make them write a blog to sum up their season although this is proving easier said than done and they all seem to be avoiding me for some strange reason!  Sarah’s is the first and it’s an epic one at that.

Thank you Sarah for this and also for being such a superb asset to our team this year in Chalet Aurigny, you were invaluable.  Thank you also for putting up with Kev in the morning, sorry for the corruption when it came to beer drinking and getting a taste for Mutzig, and well done for your perseverance in the powder! Have a fantastic summer and we wish you all the very best for the future and in your new Brixton residence.  xxx

Here’s Sarah’s Blog, Meribel 2009-2010….

We’ve been in Meribel for a week. It’s the second week of December 2009, the lifts have been open for only a few days and it’s our first chance to get out on the mountains and ski. After a week of deep cleaning the chalets, moving logs, and learning how to be the perfect hostess, the chance to get out on the mountain is met with much excitement – after all, whatever anyone tries to tell you, this is why you do a ski season - five months in the Alps, being able to ski every day apart from changeover day equates to more skiing than most people do in a whole lifetime. By April, I will be a skiing goddess, I thought…

So maybe it was not quite the start I had hoped for. But I was so proud of myself that day, and thanks to all the encouragement from my new Fish and Pips friends, I realised that while a ski season was not going to turn me into a professional skier, it would be the best five months of my life, full of new experiences and never-ending fun shared with lovely people.

Trying to sum up my season is so difficult; it was a complete whirlwind of amazing adventures all packed into five short months that seemed to fly by. Writing this three months after leaving France, sitting in a hot London office, I am feeling somewhat nostalgic and wishing I was sat in a deckchair in the sun at the top of the mountain with a glass of rosé in hand! Because that is pretty much what I was doing EVERY afternoon while I was in Meribel! It’s a tough life being a chalet host with Fish and Pips!

Of course, there was a bit of work involved! But thanks to our wonderful guests, I never felt like I was really working at all. It was more like having guests to stay in your own home, and I took pride in doing my job well. I loved welcoming our new guests each week and hadn’t expected that in turn, Kev and I were often treated as part of the family for the week, which was wonderful. Particular mention to our Aussie guests from Perth, which left me rather outnumbered for the two weeks they were staying with us, but who were brilliant fun and who let us throw a traditional Aussie BBQ, albeit in the snow, to celebrate Australia Day. Also to Mark Palmer who came with his family to write an article for the Daily Mail. Initially worried about what they would make of us and wanting everything to be perfect, we were treated to a week with an utterly lovely family, who always made sure Kev and I had a drink and a canapé too, and even invited us along with them to the Altitude Festival, which was happening in Meribel that week. I was truly sad to see them leave, but promises to stay in touch have been kept, and I have gained some very good friends.

As well as the guests, working in the chalet alongside your chef helped make the job much easier and much more fun. I cannot imagine having to run a chalet on my own, and think that Holly and Philippa’s focus on working as a team is what makes Fish and Pips so special. Paired with Kev, I’m not sure he quite knew what to make of me at first, but we found mutual understanding in our shared need for silence in the mornings! Having worked for Fish and Pips last year, he very much guided me through our first week of guests. By the end of that week, having survived badly-timed illness, and achieving the impossible feat of producing an entire Christmas dinner in two hours, we felt like a proper team. Throughout the season Kev taught me to love beer (well, Mutzig!), introduced me to depressive Australian music and fed me the most delicious food every day! It wouldn’t have been the same without him.

In fact the whole Fish and Pips team were wonderful and I loved not only working but skiing, drinking, dancing, laughing and living with you all. I have so many great memories. Highlights include our posh picnic in Chamonix, Vinnie’s dancing on stage during La Tania Day, the debauchery of Ladies Night at LDV, numerous girly lunches with a bottle of wine, skidoos and the Refuge, and pretty much every super Sunday.

Thank you Holly and Philippa for inviting me to be part of the Fish and Pips 2009/10. It is five months that I will never forget. Not only did I have more fun than I have ever had, but I have learnt so much and have done so many things I am proud of. It was an absolute pleasure to work for you, and although I am sad I will not be coming back next year, I am looking forward to coming to stay as a guest sometime soon!

I think I’m a country bumpkin at heart. I have decided to embrace Cornwall living and make the most of my new surroundings, so where better place to start than the Elderflowers in abundance around St Columb!

A good friend Emily swears by the Elderflower Cordial recipe that her family use and that has been passed on by a close and dear family friend, Mrs Hollocks.  With Elderflower being a favourite of mine we decided to give it a bash.  Emily picked the Elderflowers, I ordered the citric acid online (never knew this was quite so difficult to get your hands on, but now know it’s not only used for legal purposes!) and we got concocting.  We left our brew for 24hrs, strained it and then proudly bottled it up.  DELICIOUS! It’s been put to good use so far - cordial of course, numerous takes on elderflower cocktails, added to jams and coulis, my Mum even put it on her cereal.

 Although Elderflower season is very nearly over, there might be a few flowers still out there going to waste, so try it for yourselves.  It’s so simple, satisfying and yummy.  Looking forward to the Elderflower Champagne next year….

Elderflower Cordial by Mrs Hollocks

Makes 3 litres

3.5 lbs Granulated sugar

2 Lemons

2.5 oz Citric acid

30 Elderflower heads

2.5 L Boiling water

Pick the Elderflower heads that are in full flower.  Shake off any bugs.

Put sugar in large bowl together with citric acid and cut the lemons in half the squeeze juice and add to sugar.  Put Elderflower heads on top then pour on the boiling water, stir until dissolved.

Leave for 24 hours.

Strain through muslin (a new J cloth or tea towel would do).

Pour into bottles.  Store in fridge for shorter term, if not freeze in plastic bottles.

Last week Holly and I met with are friends Neil and Amin for a good old chin-wag on the ski industry and some lunch in the sun in Battersea.  Hols, Neil and Amin reminisced about their 24 hours ski race back in January which sounded such fun, though more the eating and drinking side, than the middle of the night chairlifts alone.  They are trying to rope me in to it next year….

Lunch was swift and Neil quickly marched us off to The Duke of Cambridge pub for the England-Slovenia game where we got into the swing of things with Neil’s England ‘Dragon Hat’  which he found in his ‘Supporters Cupboard’ at home!  Goodness knows what else he has in there!!!

What a shame the game on Sunday didn’t go quite as well for England…  Fish&Pips are now supporting Argentina!

Our new website is live www.fishandpips.com! 

After A LOT of to-ing and fro-ing and driving our website man up the wall, it’s finally up and we’re really pleased with it.  Have a look at our new Val chalets (excuse the old images, they don’t do the chalets justice in the slightest and we’re getting new ones in July) and Special Offers - we’re offering up to 15% off before the end of August. 

Please let us know if there’s anything we’re missing or that we could do better or need to amend.  We want our website to be as user-friendly, clear and helpful as possible.

We hope you like it!

x

It was a sad week for F&P last week, we had to say farewell to our beloved Nicholas Payne who’s off back home to Newcastle, Oz with the lovely Serena.  He’s been an invaluable part of the F&P team for 3 yrs and will be sorely missed by all team members, guests, friends, Meribel, England and Ireland! 

We met Nick 3 yrs ago at an interview in London.  He arrived with a very neat and tidy folder of CVs, menu plans and references, he was dressed in smart trousers and a shirt, fresh faced and with nice neat hair.  Wow we thought, what an organised and well-presented chap.  Not quite the shaggy haired, bleary eyed, Mutzig loving, jeans falling off the bottom, dog-eared receipt Nick that materialised in Meribel that we’ve all come to know and love!  We wouldn’t have him any other way now - his charm and hard-working spirit meant he more than pulled it off and went down a storm with every guest. 

Not only did he impress us with his personality and enthuasism, but he more than knocked our socks off with his cooking, we can even remember what he cooked us that test meal - beetroot salad (how we can we possibly forget those big bright purple teeth of his, we didn’t have the heart to tell him!) and delicious salmon for main course.  He had the job there and then.  I think it was one of the best decisions F&P has ever made.

Without sounding too cheesey, it’s hard not to….Nick has given so much to Fish&Pips - lots of laughter and sillyness, enthusiasm for the mountain, an incredible ability to bring the team together, shown us the art of working well with a hangover and firework displays, pushed our F&P cuisine up to the next level, and he’s inspired us all with his professional hard-work and never whinging attitude which will hopefully remain with us at F&P for a long time.  The list could go on and on.  Paddles you should be very proud!

He’s not only been one of the best employees a company could ask for, but he’s become a really dear friend.  We’ll all miss him hugely, especially Abs (another shining star at F&P who will get her own dedicated blog soon!) who has worked with him so well and closely the past 3 yrs, and his partners in crime Kev and Vin (who we’re thrilled to have back for the 3rd year this winter).  On the positive side - as Philippa says it’s now a great excuse to come to Australia! 

Have a really safe and bonza trip home  Nick and enjoy some time off before you get back in that kitchen again!  Best of luck with the future, we’re certain you’ll be huge success in whatever you turn your hand too.

Thank you so much for everything.  Lots of love Holly, Philippa and the rest of the F&P team xxx

Here’s some snippets of Nick from the past 3yrs in Meribel…….. (sorry Nicko!) x

A few words on Nick from the lovely Caroline - owner of Chalet Le Christophe…

”Nick.  What can we say….. Amazing chef.  Awesome fun.  Always smiling.  No task too small.  No request too tiresome.  And above all…phenominal pyrotechnician!! We’ll miss you!  Good luck!! xxx”

People often ask us what we do in the summer, thinking we close at the end of April and the partying starts, then we open on 1st December for 5 months of hard graft.  Sadly not and it is straight back to the grindstone at the beginning of May.   This is even more apparant this year with the introduction of our new Val d’Isere presense - 3 chalets run with the same F&P ethos - convenient yet delicious skiing moment from the centre of the Espace Killy.  Anyway, more details on that to follow.

In the meantime Holly did allow me to have a week’s holiday - and what a week it was!  If you are ever after a holiday that isn’t with FIsh&Pips on the ski slopes, then sailing in the British Virgin Islands comes highly recommended!!!  Just a shame it didn’t last a little longer……

Sorry to have been off the radar of late. What with spring skiing to be had, saying goodbye to guests, shutting down, volcanoes, end of season parties and our Val d’Isere quest, I’ve had little time for blogging, but will make up for it from now on! 

So, let’s start with the great Balch lunch.  I’ve been meaning to write about this lunch for the past few weeks.   It’s infamous amongst F&P, and is quite honestly the highlight of our season.  Philippa always makes sure she’s back for this even if it means getting the first flight out in order for her to be sitting down to lunch by 1 o’clock!  We take lunch very seriously.

It’s an annual ritual now.  For 4 years in a row, the Balch family have treated Philippa and I, and now what seems to be most of the F&P team (!) to lunch at the Roc Tania on the last Friday of their 2 week stay.  With great views across the valley and keeping the sunshine longer than any other restaurant in the Meribel valley, it’s a superb spot to settle in for the afternoon.  A family affair with Charles, Tracey and their 4 fantastic children, it starts off with a civilised magnum of rose, knattering and lapping up the afternoon sun on the terrace.  Everyone orders their favourites - steak, tartiflette, brochettes, flambeed gambas - and tucks in!

After a good feed and plenty of rose, the singing and dancing on the terrace begins - normally lead by 9yr old Sonali, the best mover on the mountain.  Perhaps even a spot of paragliding - watching Tom Mayne circling above us after long lunch was possibly one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen.  As soon as the puddings are finished Charles promptly orders the traditional and essential round of Irish coffees.  By the time the first round is finished then the second is already on its way!  Top this all off with a round of Genepi, skis on and off we go - a bee line to the Ronnie!

After bottles of toffee, more singing, more dancing at the Ronnie we are carted off in the van by a sober member of the team and taken back to the chalets.  We always ask the staff to erase this afternoon and antics from memory and the next day we’re back to being responsible bosses again!

  Thank you so much to Charles and the rest of the Balch’s for making this day so special for us and all the team.

Apres is one of the fundamental elements in making a successful skiing experience for guests and seasonnaires alike. We believe we have some of the best apres ski in the Alps right here in Meribel - dancing in ski boots, knocking back bottles of toffee vodka and crowd surfing is a common phenomenon.  As much as we love the LDV in Meribel Village and the Ronnie for a spot of apres, an alternative wouldn’t go amiss in order to break the apres routine up a little especially for us well-practised-at-apres seasonnaires. So, it was a welcomed change to find a brand spanking new Folie Douce underneath the Plein Sud chairlift in Val Thorens (VT) this winter! 

It’s an exact replica of the popular Folie Douce in Val d’Isere with; the Fruitiere restaurant which serves pretty good grub (personally I recommend the Thai prawn curry) with fantastic views across the VT valley; a snack bar; a big terrace with plenty of tables for dancing on; a DJ and Saxophonist playing on the balcony and music pumping out with the everyone going crazy from 3pm! If you’re skiing in VT then it’s well worth a visit.  You can get the last Bouqetin cable car or 3 Vallees 2 chairlift back at 5pm and ski (thinking you’re a God/Goddess on skis!) right down into Mottaret and down the Truite to arrive back in Meribel, hopefully in one piece.

Last week things were looking a little dodgy on the snow front across the Alps.  Thankfully we had Meribel’s fantastic snow cannons to keep our slopes going and with such a huge ski area there’s always something out there that’s more than skiable.  The run down to the chalets, the Lapin, was one of the best runs around last week keeping the snow really well as it doesn’t bake in the sun or have hundreds of people using it to get down at the end of the day.  I’m sure our guests will agree that there can’t be many runs home that are better than this! 

No matter how good the up-keep of pistes are here in Meribel, it’s also nice to have some of the fresh stuff.  Just as people were beginning to lose hope, two days ago it tipped down and we’ve had more than a foot at the top.  And, as I look up at the office velux window I can’t see the sky because of the snow.  It’s set to thump down with snow all night and tomorrow, and blue skies on Thursday.  I shan’t be in the office on Thursday Philippa, sorry!  I should imagine most of Meribel has a huge grin on their face, we do at F&P!

Well, I’ve been back nearly 10 days now and just about getting used to pistes and chairlifts again!  What an amazing trip.  I cannot even begin to describe it and I don’t want to rub it in too much, so I’ll summarise and put up just a ‘few’ photos instead.

Even the plane journey over there was an experience in itself with; phenomenal aerial views of Greenland’s glaciers and icebergs; 3 films back to back; red wine and sitting still for 9 hours - a rare luxury!  We stayed the first night in the airport hotel which did the job nicely and I can honestly say had the most comfortable beds I have ever slept in.  Up early the next morning for breakfast when the eating bonaza began.  I thought chalet eating was monstrous enough, but this was something else! Not only was their an enormous breakfast spread with 3 types of porridge, variety of breads, cooked goodies etc but there was heli-snacks, lunch on the mountain of soup, 3 different sarnies, homemade cookies etc, tea-goodies instead of afternoon tea which would consist of treats like chilli or ribs, and finally followed by a 3 course meal about 2hrs later!  Puts us Alpine eaters to shame.

After breakfast we set off on our 7 hour coach journey to Valemont.  7hrs zoomed on by with incredible scenery along the way, from the Calgary plains to the glaciers of the Rocky’s and wildlife at every turning.  We arrived excitedly at the heli-pad and waited our turn.  I got the front seat aclaiming nervous flyer syndrome - seemed to work!  A 15 minute flight through along the valley of the Canoe River and we touched down at Cariboos Lodge!  Huge smiles all round.  Our bags were taken to our rooms, we were introduced the extremely friendly and professional team, got kitted up, settled in and had a good nose around. 

The whole operation was seamless and coming from F&P I could appreciate just how much work they must put into something like this whilst making it look so easy.  But not only were they running a chalet-hotel to an excepional level, but they were also providing safe and incredible heli-skiing all day to 44 guests. To be looked after, fed, watered, have beds made for you, rooms cleaned was such a treat and I revelled in every second of it.

Our days at the lodge went something a little like this…

0700 - awoken by cow bell ringing in corridors

0730 - yoga and stretches

0800 - breakfast

0900 - 4 or 5 heli-drops to untracked, glorious and never-ending runs

1400 - 4 more heli-drops to untracked, glorious and never-ending runs

1700 - tea goodies, apres drink at bar or by fire, hot tub, steam room, sauna and maybe a massage

1900 - 3 course meal.  Delicious yet really informal, mixing tables, sitting with the CMH team and interesting array of guests

2000 - tequilla

The skiing was out of this world and like nothing I’ve seen or experienced ever before.  I think I, and the rest of our international ski team, ’whooped’ and laughed all day everyday.  The trip would not have been the same without our fantastic Spanish and Sweedish heli buddies, the highly experienced and entertaining guides in who’s hands we felt very safe, and of course all the team at CMH www.canadianmountainholidays.com.  Thank you all.

Without shadow of a doubt a trip of a life time.Enough said, I think I’ll let the photos do the talking.