Three Minute Squiz With… Danielle Kabos

Picture courtesy ofChris Riordan of www.twodegrees.com.au

After a distinguished career as a staffer in federal politics, the public service and corporate comms, Danielle Kabos did what so many of us dream of. Along with King Charles Cavaliers Trevor and Darren (yes, really), Danielle and husband Mike chucked in their great big jobs for a life in France. There they have restored a 350yo home in Arromanches-les-Bains,Normandy, turning it into a chic B&B calledLa Pommetierto play host for most of the year to guests touring the D-Day beaches and enjoying the local food and history the area has to offer. Back in Oz for a quick fix of home, we caught up with Danielle for a Three Minute Squiz.

Where and how do you Squiz?
In bed at 10pm – I wait up for it.

What was the first concert you ever went to?
INXS. It was their Listen Like Thieves tour at the Sydney Entertainment Centre.

Where were you born?
Sydney.

Name four people – living or dead – you’d love to sit down to dinner with.
Julia Child, Deborah Devonshire, HRH Prince Charles (we’d talk gardening and fancy chickens among the gossip) and Ben Stiller (as Zoolander, Walter Mitty or himself).

What was it about France that drew you and Mike to upend your lives and move?
The food.

What was hardest – restoring the house, learning the language or getting a French drivers licence?
Restoring the house. The French attitude to OHS issues is pretty special. We’d gasp with horror every day. And with our new (read infantile) language skills at that point, the work was largely communicated via interpretive dance.

You’ve not only moved country, you’ve changed careers and now work full-time with your husband. What’s your advice to people thinking of doing what you have done?
We have just learned that you need to get out of the business and have a holiday. We’ve just done that after three years and luckily found out that we actually still like each other when we’re not colleagues.

What do you miss most about life your in Australia?
Friends, Glad Wrap, spray oil and self-raising flour.

What skill or talent do you not have but wish you did?
I’d love to be able to ski well. I’m known on the slopes as ‘Tripod’.

The best piece of advice your mother gave you?
Always get a breadboard that fits in your dishwasher.

What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
Humility.

French women – as cool as they’re portrayed?
Not in Normandy, maybe in Paris.

How has your perspective on food and wine changed since moving to France?
Never to eat or drink on the run and not to eat in between meals. The French are very set in their meal times. And they drink their wine with their meals.

Trevor and Darren – how long did it take them to learn French?
As long as it took them to learn English…

What would you say is the most currently overlooked news story Australians should know about but don’t?
#buttermaggedon in France. Sh*t got real when the butter went overseas.

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