Southern Fried French

C'est La Folie! A Little French Serendipity

Can you listen to one more French connection story, which happened while France is far away? This one was quite a surprise, you’ll see.

A few weeks ago, our loyal reader Martin sent an excerpt from a book called C’est La Folie: One Man's Quest for a Meaningful Life, by Michael Wright. The author is a citified British theater critic who impulsively buys a wreck of a French farmhouse called La Folie, and moves there with only his cat for company. His goal is to become a Manly Man, wielder of chain saws, herder of sheep and possibly seducer of French babes. The excerpt Martin shared was about the levels of macho when it comes to buying a fixer-upper house from a French realtor. It was so hilarious—and Ron and I had lived it—that I immediately bought the book.

In case you missed it, here is the excerpt. In it he refers to the categories of French houses for sale: completely renovated, needs a little work, unfinished renovation, (barely) habitable, and needs everything.

“I will soon learn that there are five levels of manhood in the French estate agent’s virility test:

1. Rénovée: I am a rich cissy.
   2. Petite travaux: I’ll wield a paintbrush if you promise not to wobble the ladder.
   3. À finir: I watch DIY shows on the telly and have my own hammer drill.
   4. Habitable: who needs a bathroom when your tool belt is as big as mine?
   5. À rénover: I am a fearless caveman, skilled in the black arts of the mason, the roofer and the plumber, and I only visit the blacksmith when I have a problem with my teeth.”

I started reading the book on a flight to Cincinnati to see our kids, and by the time I arrived, my mascara was running down my face from laughing so hard. I’ve never read such a charming and funny book about French life, and that’s saying a lot since I’ve read most of them. I also shed some real tears--his treatise on the real heros of the world, for example, touched my soul. The wheels were turning—maybe I could contact the author on Twitter or Facebook, to tell him how much I loved his book.

Above, some of Michael's passions, in an image from his website

When we got off the plane, I tucked the book in the side pocket of my stuffed carry-on, where it stuck out precariously. Suddenly I heard a voice behind me: “Excuse me, are you enjoying C’est La Folie?” It turned out that the attractive blond woman who had spotted my book was a good friend of Michael Wright and his wife, and had visited La Folie! We chatted and she updated me on his macho mission a bit, though I cautioned her about spoiling the ending for me. She gave me his email address. What are the odds?

And if you end up wanting to hear the outcome of Michael’s quest, there is a sequel to the book, called Je t'aime à la Folie.  Just as charming as the first!

In the COMMENTS: Jonathon P, your comment by the tour guide at the Hemingway House really tickled me. Anne, maybe it's because those cats have such interesting names--and maybe they resemble their celebrities? Vicky, thanks for the tip on the Chat Noir socks, a must-have. Anne W. has another French mystery series to recommend. Iz, come back to visit!

 

 

“One Cat Just Leads to Another”

Once again little French connections keep popping up  on our trip to Florida (as in last week’s post). We took a quick side trip to Key West, and visited the former home of that literary lion and doyen of the “Lost Generation” of Paris ex-pats: Ernest Hemingway. 

Hemingway’s house is a beautiful bahama-style cottage on an acre of land, right in town, surrounded by lush gardens. Hemingway was a collector of wives (4), of adventures, and of 6-toed polydactyl cats, which are said to be lucky. The direct descendants of his cat Snow White, 55 of them and all with the polydactyl gene, roam the property. Which of course was the main event for me, and for lots of the hundreds of visitors touring the house (House Rule: Pet the cats, but don’t pick them up).

One might call them working cats, as they were a decorative part of the tour, and as far as I could tell, they came in three categories. There were the Camouflage Cats, who tucked themselves deep into the thick undergrowth, hoping for an uninterrupted nap, and radiating “Do Not Disturb”. There  were the Celebrity Cats, who spent their day hanging out with the crowds, preening and posing for selfies (I spotted one Asian tourist who sat down on a bench for a brief rest, and was surprised when a cat jumped up in her lap, curled up in a tight ball, and settled down for a lengthy nap). Finally there were the Practical Cats, who wandered through the grounds and the house, pausing occasionally with a deep sigh to indulge visitors with a quick caress, but basically going about their business as if there weren’t crowds of people milling around.

You could easily spot the cat fanatics in the tour groups. They wandered the paths, bent over and peeking under the palms, cat-spotting, their cameras at the ready. I was among them, bien sûr.

As our tour guide said, “No matter what interesting story I tell, the cats always upstage me”. 

Our tour guide competes for attention with some kitties.

 

The Hemingway cats, who are named after famous artists, actors, and writers, have their own full-time Manservant, who pampers them excessively, as evidenced by the fact that most of them are a bit, ahem, rotund.

Some of Hemingway's notable quotes about cats:

“No animal has more liberty than the cat, but it buries the mess it makes. The cat is the best anarchist.”

“The cat has complete emotional honesty - an attribute not often found in humans.”

“One cat just leads to another”.

This is what a 6-toed cat looks like (this photo by Rob O'Neal)

 

Tennessee Williams at work.

 

Cat-spotting was a tourist sport. There was lots of flora to hide in.

 

Mae West takes five.

 

Winston Churchill sat right in the center of a dozen tour-goers, listening attentively to our guide.

 

Audrey Hepburn takes a break from the limelight.

 

Marilyn Monroe and Gina Lollobridgida take a snooze...

 

..unfazed by the surrounding crowd.

 

Sometimes a girl has to find a spot where no one can bother her, like Ginger Rogers did.

 

 

There is a large cat cemetary.

 

 

A Camouflage Cat says bye-bye.

 

In the COMMENTS: In response to John's question, Bruno's fictional town of St. Denis is based on Walker's own French town, Le Bugue. You can read about it here. Janie, I couldn't discover any more book tour stops. Jean-Paul, thanks for the recommendation. Suzanne and Lillie, St. Armand's Circle in Sarasota is simply the most charming shopping area I've seen in the states. 

Several folks recommended that Monsieur Walker self-publish his cook book, which I suggested on his facebook page, but he says the Germans own the photo rights. Zut alors!

 

Favorite READS: Speaking of Martin Walker you may not know that he has written one non-Bruno novel, a fascinating account of the caves in his area called Caves of the Perigord, a thriller which will teach you about their history. And our reader Martin has a new Bruno-type series for us, by author Donna Leon, whose detective is called Commissario Guido Brunetti. Try the first in the series, called Death at La Fenice. And one last book, on cats: a friend gave me a copy of a book about a French cat, called Henri, Le Chat Noir: The Existential Musings of an Angst-filled Cat. It's absolutely hilarious, as are Henri's accompanying youtube videos (in French, with English subtitles). If you know cats, I promise you will be on the floor laughing.

 

 

Serendipity in Sarasota

Ron and I are superfans of the the Bruno book series, which I've praised here several times. Bruno, as you Francophiles probably know, is the chief of police in a small town in the Périgord, as imagined by British author Martin Walker. The author was a journalist who now lives in the Dordogne, and in the series Bruno and his colorful cadre of friends offer up lessons in French. Along with an intriguing mystery, you’ll get a a good dose of France's history, a sprinkling  of politics,  a generous dollop of current French culture, and a soupçon of romance thrown in. And recipes!

Recently we escaped the Burgundy winter with a little trip to Florida, and imagine our surprise and delight when we were strolling down a street in Sarasota and saw this sign in front of a of  independent bookstore:

It was happening the very next day! So at quarter to three we had parked ourselves in the front row, eager for the “chat”. Sitting to my right was a couple who were such big fans that they had booked a gîte in the town where Walker lives, for a week. “We actually met 'Bruno' at the Saturday market!” the wife told me  (Bruno is based on the local policeman, named Pierriot). The woman on the other side of us was so enamored with Walker’s books that she’s been “stalking” the author, she told us. As the clock turned three, she said excitedly, “I wonder if he’ll be very late, like a rock star?”

Msr. Walker was every bit as fascinating a speaker as he is a writer. His enthusiam for life in the Perigord was so infectious that Ron and I were painfully missing our own home in France before his talk had ended.

The Walker family's life in the country sounds idyllic. He gathers grapes with his neighbors, and truffles to perfume his cooking. He makes his own vin de noix (walnut wine)  as we do in La Bourgogne. His favorite dish is Boeuf Bourguignon, but he makes it with the local Bergerac wine so he has renamed it Boeuf Périgordain (sorry to reveal this, my fellow Burgundians, I know it's a travesty). His secret ingredient is a generous final splash of his own Vin de Noix. He has 30 chickens, so he gives away lots of eggs. In return, a side of wild boar , or a leg of lamb, shows up on his doorstep, or a mess of trout caught that very morning, or a case of wine. The area is poor, but bartering saves the day.

The author said that “There is a traditional German saying that the sum of all happiness is 'to live like God in France.' So we like to say in this region, 'And when God takes a vacation, he come to the Périgord!' ".

He and his wife Julia have written a Bruno cookbook which is only published in Germany (his best market), but is a bestseller there, and in fact received an award for the best French cookbook. But American publishers won’t take it on. His publisher told him: to get a cookbook published in America you must either be an international star chef, have a cooking show, or look like like Nigella Lawson. Which, he said, let’s him out.

One of his cooking tips: if you have to have a scrumptious truffle on hand, put it in a sealed bag with your eggs. It will perfume your omelette. He also puts thin slivers of truffle between a wheel of brie sliced lengthwise, and lets it sit for a few days.

Walker was promoting his latest book, A Taste of Vengence. Don't despair if you're in Bruno withdrawal, the next one will be out in June: The Body in the Castle Well. The Château des Milandes, the former home of famous jazz singer Josephine Baker, figures into the plot (above, the UK cover at the left, US cover on the right. Which do you prefer?).

Walker touched on the Gilets Jaune, which he sees as the French version of the populism that is sweeping the western world, mostly due to economic disparity and ecomonic revolution caused by technology and other factors (see Brexit, Trumpism, etc). 

Monsieur Walker closed with advice to would be writers: write every day, and record the little things, for later use: a description of an interesting person, or a great meal, for example. And “read the collected letters of Hemingway to F. Scott Fitzgerald,” he said,in which Hemingway advised that writers should always stop writing for the day, not at the end of a chapter or paragraph, or even a sentence! The theory is, It’s easier to pick it up that way, the next day. And so in my next post….

 

Of course I asked for a photo! And he kindly obliged:

 

The US cover of his latest book, which came out at the end of last year:

In the Comments: Merci beaucoup for all your kind comments on the house. Bonnie, your comment really made us laugh--we do wonder what we're doing some days! Maybe it's too early--we'll see.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We Renovate a French Farmhouse, Part II

If you read the last post, you've seen the before shots. So, what was it like to renovate a farmhouse in a foreign country, clueless and with poor language skills? (they're better now, happily).

First of all, being so close to a 14th century church, we were in a historically protected area. That meant an architect was required, and it meant nearly a year of planning and approvals. Our realtor recommended a local married couple who worked together: she (German) was an architect, he (Greek) was an engineer. They spoke multiple languages and they were our saving grace. They were willing to work with us in a flexible way, because we wanted to do some of the work ourselves.

After that, there was lots of hard work and many  sub-contractors on site. In our experience, almost all were very professional and well-trained. It was difficult, it was fun, and it was for sure an education.

So see what you think about the outcome, below. 

A POSTCRIPT: We've lived in this house, happily, for 15 years. Now we're getting older, and we decided on one more small adventure. We are down-sizing, leaving the country life for the city life in a nearby town--still close to our friends, but more urban. If we are able to sell our beloved house, which goes on the market this spring. If you know anyone interested, I've got tons more pictures, and can be contacted at [email protected]. Stay tuned for the next adventure!

 

The galerie and entry.

The church is right across la rue.

This is our barn/garage.

Here and below, the terrace in the back garden, off the kitchen.

The front door and entry hall.

 

The entry hall, with bath to left and LR around the corner to the right.

We built in an armoire in the guest room, which with the entry is in the oldest part of the house. The adjoining pigeonnier now holds a 'boudoir', a tiny private sitting room for guests.

 

The ensuite guest bath doubles as a powder room.

 

You go down a short stairway to the LR, which was formerly a barn.

 

We added the limestone fireplace.

The dining room, open to the LR. This is the wall I laid bare and then repointed.

The kitchen is in what was a second barn attached to the house.

The view from the kitchen

Upstairs, the master suite. There is also an office and third bedroom.

 

In the COMMENTS: Thanks for all the fun comments on our renovation, and we hope you like the afters. Loved the comments about my “hammer drill face”. Debbie, I wasn’t saying "Come on punk, make my day!”, though it sort of looks like that.  More likely it was, “Is this frickin’ job EVER going to be finished?”. And readers, you must not miss  the hilarious quote Martin shared from the book C'est La Folie. I immediately ordered a copy!

Favorite READS: Want to contribute to the Hurricane Florence relief fund? Then you might want to buy Stephen Colberts book, Whose Boat is this Boat?, with all proceeds from the sale going to the fund. They've raised 2 million so far! It's a very short and very funny little book, and all the quotes actually came from Trump, on his visit to the disaster site. (you can check out the book on most e-library sites too). If you like this kind of satire, as I do, you'll also want to check out the childrens book which Mrs. Pence and her daughter wrote about their pet bunny: Marlon Bundo's Day in the Life of the Vice-President. John Oliver followed up the book with his own version, called A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo, in which the bunny reveals he is gay (the Pence family believe homosexuality, and any religion other than their own, are evil). Oliver's book has vastly outsold the original, spent a great deal of time on best seller lists, and 100% of the proceeds go to AIDS research.

*Kitchen and bath photos by Gordon Beall, courtesy of Meredith Publishing.

Grand Designs in Burgundy: We Renovate a House!

Happy New Year everyone!

When I started this blog, dear readers, we were living in the château, where we stayed for 3 years. Then we bought a very old stone house in a nearby village and jumped into a (too big!) renovation. 

Well that was over a decade ago, and I haven’t really gotten around to talking about our house!  So, this week, for your viewing pleasure, I present the “befores”, and in the next post the “afters”.

Good stone country houses with charm are difficult to find in Burgundy (and in most of France, for that matter). These are in good supply but there aren’t many for sale. I looked for a full year after we moved into the château. Then one day, I came home and posted this note on the front door for Ron, who was out cycling:

This house “ticked all the boxes”, as the Brits like to say. Great location 10 minutes from Cluny, in the middle of a quiet perched village and (bonus!) across from a gorgeous 14th century church. Mostly covered by aged crépi (stucco), there were hints of beautiful golden stone peeking through. It had a front covered galerie, a pigeionnier, a million dollar view, underground power lines. It had a large barn on one side with gates between house and barn, so it formed a sort of compound. The barn was big enough for cars and then some. The yard was a manageable size. Two other barns attached to the main house could be transformed into a grand great room. It faced south, very important in our climate. The price was unbelievably low.

There was this one teeny tiny issue: it needed EVERTHING. We’re talking a house with no kitchen or bathroom (great stone outhouse, though). It was essentially a very sturdy shell . But we’d done renovations in Charleston, right? Piece of gâteau!

We were in denial, of course, that we had bitten off a bit more of that gâteau than we could chew. It became our full-time job for the next two years, and in addition to a lot of personal sweat equity (and that of our friends: thank you, Pete, Monty, Jean-Marie, Benito, Joan, Richard, Pierre...), we supported a number of French artisans for a while.

A friend who stopped by to see it right after the sale blurted out, "THIS is your dream?!" But there’s a happy ending to this story, in the next post.  The photos below will give you an idea of what the 'getting there' was like:

The house, with 2 attached barns and pigeonnier is on the left, our working barn is on the right.

 

The downstairs of the house proper. Now it's an entry hall with stairway, and guest suite

 

This was the living room (actually, the only room the family lived in) but is now the guest room. The sink you see was the 'kitchen', in its entirety.

 

The larger barn that's attached to the house is now our living room, and we added a fireplace there. There was a giant wine press in this barn, which sadly we had no place for.

 

The smaller barn attached to the house is our kitchen. The door became the kitchen sink with a window above. The ceiling went away.

 

There was no real access to the upstairs, which is now our master bedroom suite plus an office and a third bedroom. Here we've just poured a concrete subfloor.

 

The exterior, in progress. New roof going on, skylights going in, and the stone has been exposed.

 

Here I am removing the crépi from the LR wall with a hammer drill. I worked on repointing it for 6 months after we moved in.

 

Ron is working on shutters which will cover our new living room French doors, to be installed in the barn door opening.

The former owners were self-sufficient. This barn, which faces the house, has a barn for a horse, one for cows, and one for goats, plus a stone chicken coup, rabbit hutch, and out-house. Also a very grand second floor that could be converted into a gite.

 

A sheep, resting by our outhouse. Five of them got in the yard one day, and Farmer Ron had to herd them down the street to their pasture.

 Don't miss the "afters" in the next post! If you haven't already, be sure to subscribe by adding your email in the upper left hand corner.

 

In the COMMENTS: Thank you all for the wonderful holiday wishes. Natalia, a big welcome and gros bises to Ari and Elley! Mary, I see that donkey in the Cluny market, toting kids and shopping bags around, most every Saturday in summer when the weather is fine. Jane, my mouth is watering--I'm dead impressed with your menu. And a whole pig's head? Oh la LA!

Favorite READS: dear friends gave me a a wonderful cat-lover's book, called The French Cat, by Rachael Hale McKenna. It's full of beautiful photos and fun quotes about cats. Like this one, from Hippolyte Adolphe Taine: "I have studied many philosophers and many cats. The wisdom of cats is infinitely superior." 

 

Joyeux Noel, with an Extra Fête

Yikes, Is it Christmas already? Are you, like me, hopelessly behind? I thought so. So in between procrastinating with my shopping list and delayed decorations, I decided at the last minute to throw a cocktail party for 40. Welcome to the insane season.

Hors d'oeurves are not my forté, and to me the hardest part of a party is planning the menu. I thought I would share my menu with y'all, and perhaps save some other overly ambitious soul the trouble of inventing one. After all, there's still time for a new year's party!

So in case you're contemplating paying off a bunch of your social debts in one fell swoop (and having fun doing it!), here is my humble fare. I say humble because when I briefly googled party hors d'oeuvres, I fell into a rabbit hole of 7-layer dips, fancy fritters, waffle sliders, cookie dough dip and God knows. I jumped right back out again, none the wiser.

In the south, the living is easy (both in South Carolina and southern Burgundy), so I kept it traditional. I named it a Sunset Happy Hour, to give it an informal vibe, and to keep it short and simple. Anyway the French hate to eat standing up, so it has to be short or they will start looking around for a chair and wondering when dinner will be served.

No southern party would be complete without Pickled Shrimp, and that pleases the French too, so that was the star of the show (recipe below). Strictly make-ahead is my mantra for entertaining, and that filled the bill. I made a big platter of deviled eggs, some with avocado, for a little Christmas green color. I added a platter of asparagus with roasted red pepper dip (red and green again!), and of course a plateau de fromages with several kinds of cheeses and garnished with fruit (easy!). A few days before I made a couple of batches of my British neighbor Linda's Pistachio Parmesan Sables, which are fabulous, and froze them (I used pecans instead of pistachios). I also tucked some homemade sugar cookies in the freezer, and the day before the party I made Henri's Gâteaux Minute, his delicious almond cookies which take 5 minutes to throw together.

For the drinks: a collection of nice French wines, some brandied eggnog, and a pitcher of Perrier with orange and cucumber slices, for the designated drivers. Et voila! It's a fête.

 

Some more of my Christmas party decorations:

Another time saver: on-line invitations by way of Paperless Post. They're very cool invites, but the best part is, they keep track of RSVP's for you,on one comprehensive list, and even send out reminders to us laggards who sometimes forget to RSVP.  More power to you if you do the beautiful mailed invite thing, but that requires more advance planning than I'm capable of this year

It's perhaps shameful, but I also emailed my Christmas cards this year (I used the CreateaCard ipad app to make them). So I'm sending you one of our Christmas cards, dear readers, which comes with a grateful thank you for following this blog, and my very best wishes for a holiday full of good cheer, and a happy new year!

 

RECIPE: Mickey's Pickled Shrimp

My mom is in the hate-to-cook crowd, but she has her specialties, and she makes great pickled shrimp. Easy and you can and should make it a day or two ahead.

I used one pound of shrimp per 10 people.

Boil a pound of shrimp with old bay seasoning, (Undercook it slightly rather than overcooking it! ). Peel them, leaving the tails on or off as you wish.

In a glass dish with a tight lid, layer the shrimp with thinly sliced onions (1 medium onion will do) and about 10 bay leaves.

Make the marinade with 1/2 cup olive oil, a generous dash of red pepper flakes, and 1/4 cup of lemon juice, a couple of cloves of chopped garlic, sea salt and pepper. Some chopped parsley is good if you have it. Mix well and pour it over shrimp.  Let it marinate for at least a day, turning the container over or stirring often.

Drain before serving. I toss in some lemon slices at the end for a garnish.

In the COMMENTS: RE our 'chariots des courses': Vicky, nice story about your mom. Ralphe, peut être on dit 'caddy' aussi, je ne sais pas. Jane, who lives in our area, has reminded me that you can have your groceries taken to your car from the Cluny market by donkey! There is a dedicated donkey for this purpose. Of course I have a photo of said donkey in my file:

 

Tooling Around the Market

Outdoor Markets in Charleston close up tight in winter. Not in France! The Saturday market is a year-round tradition here. 

The markets change seasonally, of course. In summer we look for local tomatoes, fresh herbs, and all the wonderful veggies of summer. There are stands that are a riot of color, selling geraniums and petunias for window boxes and pots. Everyone vies for a space in front of the busy stalls, including the tourists and the campers who show up for summer sun.

You know it's fall, though, when the oysters come out. Tables of them with an abundance of varieties from the coast. There is steaming sauerkraut too, and the aroma of warm, fat sausages and ham, ready for the choucroute garnie. Mushrooms of all varieties sprout up in fall as well.

Of course we all hang out at the local café after our shopping, but we change bars in winter. The Brasserie Nord, the sunny bar at the center of the market where we gather under the parasols in summer, is replaced with the noisy, packed, and convivial interior of Cici's, where they serve hot orange wine with a smile. Stake out your table early, or you'll be left out in the cold.

To shop at the market any time of year, you must have the proper tool: un chariot de courses. These rolling bags are de rigeur for toting your veggies. I stash one away in Charleston for when we visit, and they're an anomaly there; everyone's always coming up to me to ask where I got it (Amazon has them, of course). A rolling cart is handy for toting other things too, you would be surprised how often you'll want to reach for it.  Then of course there are the classic French market baskets, giant colorful sacks with leather handles that are sold mainly at the markets. I have a collection of them too, as actually it takes un chariot AND a giant basket to haul my Saturday goods!

 

I snapped a sampling of carts and bags at our weekly Cluny market one fall day:

 

Our loyal reader Colleen Taylor is a fine artist, and she also paints cards,  like the beautiful Christmas wreath below.  If you want something special for your Christmas greetings, you can check out her cards, and her other artwork, at Fine Art America.

 

 

Raise Your Glass to Bordeaux's New Museum

La Cité du Vin, Bordeaux

Is it a twisty vine? A shattered wine glass? A wavy wine bottle? Or maybe just a wave? Whatever you see in the dramatic building that looms over the Garonne river in Bordeaux, you are in for a treat as you step inside. La Cité du Vin was conceived as the ultimate experiential and interactive wine museum, or, as their website puts it, “A journey through time and space to discover wine in its universal, heritage, civilisational and cultural dimensions.”

According to the architects, Legendre and Desmazières, the building was designed to “mimic both the swirl of wine in a glass, the twisting curves of the grapevine, and the waves of the nearby river”. So there you go.

On our recent visit to Bordeaux (our last post), La Cité du Vin was at the top of our to-do list. And it did not diasppoint: we spent a full morning there, went back in the afternoon, and didn’t even make it to the tasting room! If you love wine, it’s simple.  You must go.

The museum covered every aspect of wine you can imagine, from terroir to how corks are made to a history of the wine glass. My favorite bit was their opening number: you sit in a big space where you are surrounded by giant screens, and rolling across them are gorgeous aerial videos of vineyards from every country on the planet. It really brings home how global is the cultivation and love of wine. There are tons of interactive exhibits, so it’s family-friendly. Example: a  fun and creative  virtual ride on a global wine mechant’s ship, sure to delight the kids (and adults).  There is also a daily architectural tour of the building.

Our impression, upon departing the museum: there is so much more to wine than we ever dreamed—and we live in Burgundy!

Below: screens with videos of vineyards of the world flash by you.

 If you go: you can hop on the tram downtown, which drops you off right at the museum.  Plan to spend the day! They’ve built a fabulous  gourmet halles right across the street, so you can pop in for lunch and choose your favorite eaterie.

 

Tuck your nose into the funnel and squeeze each ball to get one of the aromas of wine: vanilla, blackberry, smoke, grapefruit...

 

Exhibits in the main hall tell the history of every aspect of wine.

 

A tasting room, which we missed, but we'll be going back.

 

Just hop across the street at lunchtime, to a large hall with lots of restaurant choices.

 

In the COMMENTS: Nicole, thanks for filling us in on how Bordeaux came to be such a hot destination. Anne, I think Bordeaux has a maritime climate, since it’s very near the sea. Hot summers, mild winters, rainy in between. Julie, We were also disappointed in the the TGV, specifically the price. Maybe it’s better if Paris is your starting point. We didn’t book early as we should have, but still it was way cheaper to drive, even with the parking. 

 

 

Bodacious Bordeaux

A postcard of Bordeaux

Newly hot and  hip! The town the French want most to move to! Voted most beautiful city in the world! Suddenly Bordeaux is trending. Could it live up to its hype? We decided to find out, after the buzz grew so loud we couldn't ignore it.

We were in Bordeaux 20 years ago, but just overnight, as the start of a biking trip around the Dordogne. To be honest, it didn't make much of an impression and we could barely remember it. So off we went last week, to the other side of France, so we could bring you a report.

Part of what has made the newly polished Bordeaux pop is the addition of a new TGV line. Before, it was far from Paris, and no direct autoroute took you there. Now, it's 2 hours from Paris on the train.  If you're headed for Paris, it's an easy addition to your trip.

So what did we think? Pretty darn fabulous. Bordeaux is perfectly sized to have a big-city feel while remaining walkable and intimate. But there are also quiet trams gliding down the main street, and you just hop on and off. It's been fluffed and buffed, with beautiful gardens, parks, and great restaurants and shopping. The architecture rivals Paris. There is the lively square with the Grand Théatre, the Place de la Bourse (stock market) on the River Garonne with its participatory "water mirror"  (a light coating of water on the square, where a mist periodically rises up). There is the iconic Monument aux Girondins in an expansive park.

Frolicking on the "water mirror"

We couldn't resist the chance to eat at Gordon Ramsey's bistro, in a dazzling location right across from the Grand Théatre, with a super outdoor terrace. We also liked La Brasserie Bordelaise, a traditional sort of French bistro where we had our best meal of the trip.

And of course there is the wine! We went to their wonderful new wine museum, subject of a future post.

IF YOU GO: We found Bordeaux to be pricey. Especially the parking (four hours, on the street with a meter will set you back 30 euros). So get a hotel with parking or find a garage (30 euros per day). But avoid bringing a car if you can, you won't need it. For luxury at a relatively moderate price, with a great location, we recommend Hotel de Sèze. For restaurants, we liked the above mentioned ones and next trip we hope to eat at the fabulous Grand Théatre, at Le Quatrième Mur, where we stopped for a drink (elegant and surprisingly reasonable) and Le Gabriel Bistrot at the Bourse was also said to be great.

Le Grand Thèatre, viewed from Gordon Ramsey's bistro

 

Le Monument aux Girondins

 

Une pique nique at the Monument

 

Le Bistro Bordelaise

 

The bar at Le Quatrième Mur

 

Nightlife in Bordeaux

 

In the COMMENTS:If you liked the village names, don’t miss all the additions: our readers have lots of funny town names to share, in the France and in the States (Ian, I love “Bouzy”, in Champagne! And Suzanne, in addition to the elegant Paris, Texas, we have a Rome in Ga. and a Florence in SC). Ralphe, thanks for the interesting history of “vilains”.

 

 

 

 

A Town Called "Fish"

Fish Painting, Etsy

I'm just back from visiting a friend in a nearby village named Château. So where is the château in Château, you may ask? Answer: there isn't one. Well there was one, oh maybe a couple of hundred years ago. But the name remains the same.

The naming of French villages is a curious thing. I got to thinking about it the other day, when we passed through Poisson, which means 'fish' in French. Is there a story there? Must be. Imagine telling someone you live in Fish.

One of our favorite local restaurants is in Bourgvillain. Translation: "Ugly village". In fact it is neither ugly, nor a village, exactly; more of a pretty hamlet. I asked the proprietor of the restaurant what the story was. "Well, the nearby château was pretty, and the village grew up around it and was not as pretty, so they named it Bourgvillain." Whatever.

Then there are many villages with names which are vulgaire. The French seem to love them.

Did you know that these quirky French village names are so common that the mayors of said villages got together and formed an association? Which is called, in typical grand French fashion: Association des Communes de France aux Noms Burlesque et Chantants: dont le nom évocateur prête à sourire, à rire ou dont la musicalité est porteuse de pittoresque et de folklore. (Association of Communes of France with names that are Burlesque or Musical: the name must evoke a smile or a laugh, or be musical in a picturesque or folklorish manner). 

Then, in our commune, there is the village of La Vineuse, or "wine-ish", which colloquially means "wine breath". Perfect fit  for our household!

 

 Here are some more villages that have "picturesque" names that are insolite (unusual):

Coubisous, Aveyron, means a kiss on the neck 

Corps-Nuds, Brittany. Pronounced like corps nus (naked bodies). Apparently it's trendy to take  selfies by the sign, in the buff.

Monteton, "my nipple, or more correctly, "my tit",  in the Lot and Garonne. You know this sign must get stolen often.

Folles, Haut-Vienne. Translation: I live in Crazytown!

St. Barbant, Haute-Vienne: barbant means boring. Never heard of that saint.

Vinsobres, a wine village in the Rhone,  a charming place. It's a well-known wine village, and the name means "Sober wine".

Poil, in Brittany: fur on an amimal, or the hair that covers human body parts. A poil means naked.

Condom, in the Gers. Well this one, which gets a lot of attention, is self-explanatory. They don't use this word in French (it's préservatif, here), but they're well aware, and proud, of it's meaning.

Anus, in the Yonne

La Baffe, in the Yosges, means a slap

Bourré, Loir-et-Cher, means drunk

..And finally, a name that clearly evokes the US president's deplorable behavior: Pussy, in the Savoie.

 

A housekeeping note: For anyone who got an email reminder for the last post, then another one later, mes excuses. I have no idea what happened, my blog seemed to go rogue on me. We'll see if it happens this time, hope not.

In the COMMENTS: For you francophones, Ralphe has a lovely story to tell about his cat Chocolat. Alix has a “gaggle" of cats in her neighborhood. Suzanne we will all say a prayer for your kitty, and yes I aspire to be a cat lady too (nixed by Ron). Vicky, please hang in there with that chat sauvage. Tom, good luck with the trip, I think you will need it. Christine, love love the story of the hypothetical cats! Paula has brought up a hotly debated topic in the cat world. I am of two minds myself. For a good discussion of the topic, I refer everyone to The Lion in Your Living Room.  Which is a wonderfully interesting and well researched book for anyone to read, about how cats domesticated us, and took over the world, the internet, and maybe your household.

 

Favorite READS: Natalia, who always knows the best books,  has another great book recommendation for us:  The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton, set in the 1600’s in Amsterdam, which has an interesting concept (see her comment for details). Can’t wait to check it out. And if, like me, you are a fan of Miss Fisher, on Netflix: I happened to discover that the series is based on a bestselling series of mysteries by Kerry Greenwood. They are fun and light, like the series. I was surprised to find them all at my (online) public library. 

And by the way, for anyone who doesn't understand the importance of sterilizing cats, this poster (spotted in my vet's office), may help:

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Being a French Foster Mom

Ron says he's the only thing standing between me and my becoming a "crazy cat lady". It's true I'm afraid. I'd have a dozen if I could. But since our dear French cat of 10 years, Domino, died last year, I've been catless. So I decided to be a temporay keeper of kittens, of the unwanted, abandoned kind. I've fostered 15 or so in the last few months, 2 or 3 at a time. Some need socialization if they are feral, and some just need a temporary home until they are adopted.

Unfortunately, there are quite a few French country folks who think that a) sterilizing cats is against nature or b) cats should be left to run wild (and uncared for) so they can kill mice in the barn, etc. So feral cats in the countryside run rampant, unless someone in each village is supervigilant and sterilizes the strays.

Keeping kittens is fun, but taming the feral babies is sad. They are timid, wild animals, terrified of humans, of touch, of noises, of everything, as they've been unprotected and unloved. Taming them means restraining them in a large comfy cage, and gradually gaining their trust until they're calm and playful enough to be let loose in a closed room for a while, then to be adopted. After all, almost no one has the patience to adopt a scared kitten who hisses and scratches.

After we've socialized them, it's so rewarding to see them adopted out to loving homes. I recommend fostering cats or dogs, whether socializing or just housing them, to any animal lover with time and love to give. 

In this year's batch, there was one kitten early on that was different from the rest. Sociable and fearless, and absolutely manic: when he played he somersaulted, careened, tumbled, and lept joyously and with abandon, right into our hearts. He didn't get adopted right away, and then somehow before we realized it he was cuddled in our laps, nestled between us when we went to sleep, and had his own personal food bowl and toys. Christened 'Vino the Bambino', we now seem to have a permanent cat. Umm, I forgot to tell you the main drawback of fostering--there always seems to be one that sticks around!

Now get ready for some kitten porn! Here are some of my "fosterees":

 

Nougat (the white one) was tame, but Tino was not. Both went to wonderful homes.

 

Black cats are hard to adopt out--some folks are superstitious. The buff beauties below went quickly. But in the end we found homes for all.

 

3 Charmers (had a hard time parting with these babies!):

 

Mimi got lucky: monsieur who adopted her, a châtelain, had a large dog who needed a companion. She is now the queen of the château and, of course, the boss of the dog.

 

3 peas in a pod

 

Goldie was so feral and aggressive (and a bit older, so harder to tame), we thought we'd have to put her down. But we hung in there with her, and she surprised us. She's very loving and on the road to becoming a great cat for someone. And isn't she a pretty girl?

 

This one started out as an adorable foster kitten (first photo) and grew up to be our cat, Vino the Bambino. He's 6 months old now.

 

In the COMMENTS: Jan and Jane have been to Guernsey, thanks for your review. Tom, good luck in your move to France, we look forward to hearing more about your adventures. Nathalia, what a story about Jersey—hope you find that book. Dick, have a good cruise and we will see you soon at Moise Island. Libby has visited the Isle of Wight, here’s one of her posts on that trip, at her blog An Eye for Detail.

 

Favorite READS: Nathalia, our loyal reader and  book recommender extraordinaire, has a new one for us, that she can’t put down: The Masterpiece, by Fiona Davis. Gail, I read The Woman in the Window too, a very unusual book. Suzanne, I just started the first Jean Luc Bannalac books, recommended by Cindy last week, it looks promising. Vicky says thanks to all the readers who’ve recommended books, and I couldn’t agree more. My reading list is now too long to ever finish!

 

 

A British Isle with a Dramatic History, A French Connection, and a Pie

After I mentioned the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society book last week, I got lots of comments and emails about it--it's a beloved book, and of course back in the news since the new movie came out (which I haven't seen, though it was at our local theater here in France. It's a long story, but we ended up at the wrong movie, and saw The Book Club instead--it was fabulous by the way!).

I just re-read the book, and your comments got me thinking about that curious little island of Guernsey. Where is it exactly? It's closer to France than to England--does it have a French connection? How has it turned out after the war and the German Occupation? And what is a potato peel pie?

Map courtsey of Buzzfeed

A little research revealed: Guernsey is a self-governing British crown dependency, but not part of the UK. It has 62,000 people, and it's 25 miles around it. If you've read the book, you know some of the history, at least of the occupation. It was part of France at one point; in fact French used to be the official language, and some residents still speak an old version of Norman French. But when 80% of the children on the island were sent to the UK to avoid the Germans, many came back and the English language mostly took over. Tourism, international banking, and the raising of those famous Guernsey cows are the major industries these days.

It seems there is a lot to see: Neolithic sites,  Castle Cornet, and ancient burial sites. There are water sports of course, with so many miles of coastline. We francophiles will want to visit Victor Hugo's castle, Hauteville House, where he wrote Les Misérables while in exile, it's now a museum managed by the French (though currently closed for renovations).

If you're in the north of France, you can hop over on the ferry from St. Malo, it's a two hour trip. From England, it's three hours, from the ferry in Poole. 

The town of St. Peter Port

 Now about that potato peel pie. My friend Joan made one for her book club, when they discussed the book together. Fun! So, is it possible to make a potato peel pie that is also delicious? There are recipes on the internet for several versions, none of which sounded very good to me. But in case we fall on hard times, it's a good thing to have in your repetoire. I actually tried making my own version--pretty good, I have to say. I decided to go the salé route (savory), but Joan chose a pie that is sucré (sweet). Shall we have a potato peel pie cook-off? Time to put your creative cuisine hat on!

 By the way, the beautiful scenery in that film? Not filmed in Guernsey, sadly. Though Guernsey looks pretty great, from the photos I found.

So next time I'm in Normandy....I'm on that ferry! You too? And has anyone out there been there? We'd love to hear more!

 

RECIPE: Lynn's Potato Peel Pie

 

 My friend Joan made one, with whipped cream and a cherry on top!  Here's my savory version. 

This recipe is a sort of deconstruced twice-baked potato, with extra crispy skins on top of the pie. Now let me say that not only do the French not do baked potatos, but they would never dream of eating a potato skin, which for me is kind of the best part. So to my French readers, either stop reading HERE, or else prepare for a culinary adventure.

Bake 4 baking potatos, in a 425F (210C) oven (no microwave shortcuts for this recette). Grate a cup of cheddar cheese and set aside. Sauté some chopped yellow onions in butter.

When potatoes are done, remove but keep the oven hot. Cut them in half and scoop the insides into a bowl, reserving skins. Mash the potatoes with some butter and/or sour cream as desired, stir in half the cheese and the all the onions, and season with coarse salt and ground pepper. (If you're feeling lazy, as I was, instead of the onions just stir in some chives or chopped scallions). Spread the mashed potatoes into a pie plate. 

Brush the skins all over with olive oil. Place them skin side up on a baking sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, just until crispy. At the same time, put the pie plate in the oven, on a rack under the baking sheet.

When skins are crisp, remove from oven, along with mashed potatoes, and cut skins into smallish pieces--I quartered mine. Pile them on top of the mashed potatoes, and sprinkle with remaining cheese (and bacon, if you're a meat eater). Put them back into the oven for about 3-5 minutes, just until cheese is nice and melty. Sprinkle with chopped chives and serve.

 

In the COMMENTS: Do read Libby's story about her encounter with a Guernsey war veteran's family, which could have been right out of the book.

Favorite READS: Barbara and Bonnie recommend Wine and War, which has a place of honor on our bookshelf. Bonnie also recommends Les Parisiennes: How the Women of Paris Lived, Loved, and Died under Nazi Occupation. Our superstar reader Natalia likes Hotel Sacher (of Sacher torte fame), a Viennese novel of romance and danger; and an inspirational memoir by Maria Shriver called I've Been Thinking. Cindy, thanks, I had never heard of the Jean-Luc Bannalec mysteries, set in Britany. 

 

 

"Le Sandwich" of Summer

Maybe you've heard about the heat wave that's covered most of Europe for the month of July. 98 degrees (F) is no fun without air condonditioning, let me tell you. For sure it's too hot to fire up the stove, or even the grill. So it's time for some serious dinner salads and sandwiches.

Le sandwich can be found in most boulangeries in France, ready for le pique nique. In Nice there's a classic local sandwich called a pan bagnat. In the Nice patois, the name means "bathing bread" (in French, pain baignant). It's unique because the baguette and filling is dressed with a vinaigrette, then left to marinate.  Tuna, boiled eggs, anchovies, tomatoes, onions, all piled on and then drenched in a garlicky sauce. You wrap it up, put your cast iron skillet on top to flatten it, and leave it 4 hours or more, to get it good and juicy. A little mushy in fact. 

I decided to make a croustillant (crunchy) version of this sandwich. I brushed the toasted bread slices with the vinegarette,  addded layers of goodies--then ate it right away. It's a dagwood affair, with tuna, boiled eggs, pickled onions, and more. But really it's all about the bread. I used a sliced and toasted French boule instead of a chewy baguette. A boule is a round country loaf (photo above). Any rustic French or Italian bread or sourdough loaf will work well. The other secret is to use good quality white tuna, packed in olive oil, not water. Serve it with a chilled white Burgundy, of course. This one is going on our regular dinner menu!

 

 RECIPE: The SFF Crispy and Loaded Pan Bagnat

Use slices of rustic country bread or sourdough, toasted to a golden brown.

Brush one side of all slices with French Dressing #1, to which you  have added some crushed fresh garlic.

Then pile on the following:

• tuna packed in oil, lightly drained (nap it with the dressing first, it you like)
• sliced boiled eggs
• lettuce and tomato slices
• pickled red onions (see note)
• some basil leaves
• Thin slices of cucumber

(But don't stop there! Add any raw or leftover veggies you've got hanging around. Add anchovies or olives if you like).

Drizzle a little more dressing over the veggies and devour immediately.

A note about the pickled onions: I throw onions and cucumbers or other vegetables in a vinegar/sugar mixture and keep them on hand for sandwiches and salads. It takes just a minute: mix a cup of vinegar, a cup of water, a tablespoon of kosher salt, and 2 tablespoons of sugar. Heat and stir until sugar dissolves. Pour it over any raw vegetable. If you like, add some whole peppercorns and/or other whole spices; you can add fresh herbs too if you like, or a bay leaf. Let the vegetables sit out a bit, then refrigerate. The flavor improves as they marinate, and since they're pickled, they keep quite a while. 

 

In the COMMENTS:  Our reader Barney reports that another good English daily newsletter is Languedoc Living (and if you're looking to vacation in that area, check out Barney's website, MyBeaucaire, to see his apartments). Herm mentions Le Figaro, another excellent choice. Janet listens to News in Slow French. This is wonderful language practice; they read  the French news to you at a pace you can understand. Ralphe, merci for the correction!

 

Favorite READS: Natalia and I are re-reading the same beloved book: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society. I'm reading it again before I watch the movie, which came out recently.  Natalia also likes Paris by the Book, a best-seller which is going on my list. Mindy, thanks for telling me about  A Man Called Ove, which somehow I hadn't heard of, and the reviews sound great.  

 

How Francophiles Stay Au Courant

Big newspapers typically have an international section, but what if you want to REALLY  keep up with what's going on in France? Like politics, culture, social issues. If you're a serious francophile, you want to be sure and get all the details, which means reading in English, unless you're lucky enough to be fluent in French. Or if, like me, you're kind of lazy.

Well, there's an app for that. Plenty of them actually, in English or French.

Here's an example of need-to-know news: you may have read an article buried in your local paper about a dust-up with one of Macron's security guards, whose name is Benalla. Over here, it's no small matter: it's l'affaire Benalla, or BenallaGate. It has dominated the top headlines since it happened: " 'Heat Getting to Parisians' says Macron of Benalla Affair"! "Benalla Slams Attempts to 'Get At' Macron"! It's what everyone's talking about, doncha know.

 

 

So if you don't want to miss a thing, there are lots of ways to stay au courant, in French or in English. And keeping up with the news is a great way to really get to know a county and it's people, if only from a distance. Here are some (internet) methods that we use:

For hard news, France 24 (that's their logo, at the top) is the French equivalent of CNN. You can get it on-line, in both French and English. Though they cover international news, click on France to get great in-depth coverage (free).

Euronews is a another popular international news site, and you can set the language to French or English (free).

 

 

Another major French news and weather site is BFTMTV. This one is in French (free).

Next up are the news outlets in English, designed specifically for Anglo expats. There are two main ones: The Local, and The Connexion. We have both apps, but we both prefer the Local. (Both used to be free, but now you have to subscribe to get all the articles, though some are free.). Both cover the latest hard news, but more in summary fashion.  They also cover culture, language, legal and other expat issues. Note that they both are UK publications, so you'll get a British slant on things.

 

 

If you don't need the daily news but are more interested in the latest in French culture, travel, language, food, etc., France Magazine or France Today are both good choices (subscription; some free articles on-line).

 

If you read in French,you can subscribe to the major newspapers and magazines. Le Monde and Paris Match are good choices (some articles free).

 

In the car, I listen to FranceInfo a lot, and you can do that too, for free on-line. It's great French practice, too. There are periodic headlines, with features and interviews in between.

 

Ron's trick: he sets Google Alerts for "France" and "French", so he gets all things French from a variety of English news sources. You could of course make your search more specific.

Please share if you have other good ideas!

 

In the COMMENTS: Lots of ideas for cooking simply with fire. Be sure to read about Emily's fête du pain, and Page's. Jon says, no bread oven needed if you've got a Big Green Egg! Lisa, who is camping in Michigan, shares a photo of her "bread oven": campfire toast with honey for breakfast

Lisa also cooks at home on a fire pit on wheels. She cooks all sorts of meats and veggies on it. I've got one of those, for cool evenings--never thought to cook on it, great idea.

 Meanwhile Martin has a real live four à pain chez lui, in its own charming bakehouse. Here are the photos:

 

Favorite READS: Christine has a perfect recommendation for francophones, given last weeks's post: Marcel Pagnol's  La Femme de Boulanger. And Mindy says don't read but LISTEN to The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion, by Fannie Flagg. 

 

 

A New, Very French Use for Your Fireplace

When expats buy houses in the Burgundy, they often have a wish list (we did!). An old stone house. Charming of course! With a pigeonnier ( a little tower). A boulangerie in the village. Fabulous views, bien sûr! A galerie macconaise across the front. A southern orientation. And so it goes. 

Of course, many things get deleted quickly, as reality checks in. There are't many houses for sale, and the charming ones always seem to be happily occupied.

On everyone's list, though maybe just as a wouldn't-it-be-wonderful-to-have item, is the ultimate country French accessory:  a four à pain. A four à pain is an old bread oven, where fires were once stoked and baguettes baked amongst the embers. Those that still exist are often now pressed into service to make wonderful pizzas.

I've shot houses for our magazines in the States that had them in their trendy kitchens. Here in France, they hark back to medieval times, when they were not just a designer accessory, but the way bread was made. 

The French used to bake their bread on the hearth, but in the Middle Ages community bread ovens, some inside of a small bakehouse, began to pop up. Residents would take their own dough to the bread oven to be baked. The wood-burning ovens, fashioned from brick and stone, were deep and vaulted, and might take hours or days to heat up to the proper temperature. Bread was scooted in and out of the deep ovens with a long handled peel. A large house might even have their own oven; we looked at several houses for sale that had them, free-standing or tucked into a barn.  These days, village or residential bread ovens are often pressed into service for a fête, to bake up something festive.

Speaking of shooting houses, I once shot a house in Charleston owned by a French expat. She had a standard fireplace with a bit of a raised hearth in her den, and she liked to cook "on the hearth", just like folks used to do. She used it like a grill; she had a simple standing raised rack she put over the embers, and she cooked roasts, steaks, chicken, everything, the old fashioned way. Good idea? I haven't tried it, but why not? A rack, a few bricks to support it, and you're in business! (photo above : the fireplace chez nous--big enough for a nice roast, you think?).

Photos: at top and below, a restored village four à pain in our area, being used to make pizzas at a fête.

 

 

The photo below, courtesy of Panoramia, shows an ancient four à pain, still in use

 

There is a communal bakehouse in Balleure (our château village), and when the baker goes on vacation, the villagers turn out to make bread themselves, the medieval way. This is Frédéric, an accidental Balleure baker. You can read about it at this post from 2010.

 

 

In the COMMENTS: Natalia has some books for us, see below, and some tips for our pastry, as does Suzanne. Colleen, thanks for solving the mystery of my wooden kitchen tool! Tom, congratulations on the house and the big move, please keep us posted. Chrisophe, can't believe you found a croissant cutter in Portland! And, I'm not surprised we have a lot of flea market shoppers in the group. Mindy, you can find the recipe for the olive oil toasts here. Glad you brought them up, Connie, I haven't made them in a while.

Favorite READS: I always love the books our loyal reader Natalia recommends. She has two for us this week, which I can't wait to dip into: The Tuscan Child by Rhys Bowen, and The Lost Vintage, by Ann Mah, which is set in Burgundy. Suzanne, thanks for alerting us to Martin Walkers new Bruno book, A Taste for Vengeance. I'm halfway through the series and I don't want it to end!

 

A French Baker's Secret Weapon

OK, a nickel to the person who can guess what tool this is. Hint: it’s from a French boulangerie.

It came from a vide grenier, or “empty attic” sale, which are a standing destination on Sunday mornings around here, for us and most everyone we know. Having previously furnished my house mostly with vide grenier finds, I’m now on the lookout for linens, fun café cups, toys for the grandkids, and the like.

My friend Ali is a champion vide grenier shopper. Her specialty: sniffing out the unusual bricabrac that is uniquely French. In fact it is the French tools of all kinds that are the most interesting, from grape harvesting and wine making tools to farm implements to kitchen utensils. The latter are especially intriquing. There are serving utensils for escargot or frog legs, all sorts of molds for patés and gâteaux, and strange looking whisks. I have a nice metal mold for French madelines, for example, which I’ve pressed into service to keep my earrings sorted.

Some of my French kitchen tool finds: a thingamabob for pressing on a conical strainer, a pounder of some sort, a meat tenderizer.

So Ali arrived chez nous with the mystery contraption, as a gift. But what could it be? Drum roll: it’s a boulanger's croissant cutter! Who knew? Certainly not me, the reluctant baker. (And when I said a weapon, in this title of this post, I meant it. This thing would be very effective at whacking someone over the head. If a bad guy ever sneaks into my kitchen, it's the first thing I'll reach for).

Ali was clearly overestimating my baking abilities. I’ve never even contemplated making a croissant. But it’s such a fascinating tool. What to do?

Ron had an inspired idea. Here one can buy wonderful ready-make pâte feuillité, which is like puff pastry in the states, but maybe a little thinner. You can use it like a pie crust or pizza crust, for a sweet or savory tart. It comes in a circle, rolled up and ready to go. “Let’s use that,” he said, “and roll it with the cutter. We’ll roll them into croissant shapes and put butter on them” (though butter is pretty redundant in this case). He even wanted to join me in this cooking adventure—a rare event.

We made them both sucré and salée: the sweet ones, with cinnamon and sugar, and the savory ones with chives and sea salt.  Needless to say, they were quite easy to cut out.  And a surprise: they were really delicious! I regret to say that we polished off the whole batch toute de suite, just the two of us.

Of course you can make these using just a knife, but should you come across a croissant cutter, at the lowliest vide grenier or the fanciest kitchen shop, you know what to do!

 

RECIPE: Ron's Pastry "Croissants", for Aperos or Dessert

Pre-heat oven to 400f (200c).  Cut puff pastry or pâte feuilleté into long skinny triangles. Brush lightly with melted butter. Roll them up, starting at the wide end. Brush again, lightly, with butter. Place on a sheet pan and bake for about 20 minutes, until lightly browned (watch them closely). 

For savory nibbles: right after cooking, brush again with melted butter. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt and chopped chives. Of course you could add a bit of grated cheese, or chopped pistachios or...endless variations here.

For sweet nibbles: after baking, brush with melted butter and dip into a cinnamon sugar mixture. Before baking, you could add a filling if desired: sprinkle them with finely chopped nuts and/or raisins (or even chocolate?) then sprinkle with cinnamon/sugar mixture or coarse sugar or brown sugar before rolling them up.

These are best devoured shortly after they are made, or at least the same day. Merci, Ali!

, 

In the COMMENTS:Anne (of the Musics and Markets blog), fun that you got to visit the home turf of your Scottish clan. Michaela recommends the annual Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, where creative freedom reins. I’ve got to read the Crystal Cave after Suzanne and Natalia’s suggestions. Judy you are too kind, and yes, has it really been that long? Barbara, happy to provoke such a fun memory. Jane, we didn’t try white pudding, but we did encounter a few of the famous midges. 

Favorite READS: I don't know how I've missed Love & Death in Burgundy: A French Village Mystery , since it takes place in my area. It's a fun and funny mystery--the narrator is an American living in a small Burgundy village, who is quite the social climber, trying to be accepted by the French and scratching her way up the (very short) social ladder, while immeshed in a local murder investigation. A pretty accurate picture of the local dramas in a small village!

 

Summer est arrivé. On y va!

 

 Summer's here, and we're off on adventures! My big trip this year: off to moody, mysterious Scotland with les femmes for 10 days. With a name like McBride, how could I not make a pilgrimage to Scotland? And to keep things  interesting, I went with Nicole (our châtelaine); Belinda from Pittsburgh, who speaks some French and lived in the château for a few months while her husband was on a French assignment; and Henriette, Nicole's delightful cousin from southwest France who speaks not a word of English, and had never met Belinda.

We turned out to be a most compatible group, with Henriette and Belinda coping just fine, by using some French, some creative sign language, and the dozen or so English words we taught Henriette. Nicole, who had traveled there before, was our excellent tour guide and I was (gulp) the wrong-side-of-the-road driver.

Edinburgh, our starting point, was an amazingly beautiful modern city, with castles and the old town lining a long ridge that towered over the city (Photo at top). We were amazed at the nature close by: right in town there was a sort of wild plateau, covered in yellow gorse and mossy lime green lichens (photo below). We climbed up the rocky path, marveling at the panoramic views it revealed. Then at the bottom--an ice cream truck! Now that's nature at its most civilized.

From there we drove to the rugged and barren west coast, to a windswept village by the sea that was right out of a mystery novel (literally! see "Favorite Reads" below). The main draw here: Inverewe gardens, vast woodland gardens by the loch (lakes are everywhere  in Scotland). The rhododendrums were peaking, and we were in heaven. 

At Loch Ness, this lock leads right into the famous monster's lair

 We loved the town of Pitlochry, sort of your Scottish dream village. Inverness has the best in-town river walk I've seen, with small beaches and white water and fly fisherman. We finished up in the tony town of St. Andrews, where Kate and William met, with it's castle and cathedral ruins on the windy North sea. And speaking of royals, it was a treat to tour the 412 foot long Royal Britannia, the queen's yacht which is now decommissioned. We also saw the famous furry and horned Highland cattle, introduced to us by our new friend Colin. The Scots, by the way, are sociable and chatty, with a fine sense of humor that is probably essential to surviving the rubbish weather and often forbidding landscapes.

Nicole fends off a hungry Highland cow

 Nicole always claims to have a direct line to the weather gods, and she did not disappoint. One Scot we met congratulated us for arriving during "the three days of Scottish summer." Summer in Scotland being about 60F in the sun, but with an icy wind in the shade. But with one day of rain in 10 days, we were happy to share in what one taxi driver told us was the best weather they'd had in years. Merci, Nicole. For my part, I was glad to deliver the rental car and my precious cargo, all intact, back to the airport!

 

More highlights:

The lovely Blair castle, in Perthshire

 

The wild and windy north sea, at St. Andrews

 

Of course we saw plenty of kilts in Scotland

 

No this is not the living room of an elegant Scottish home, but the salon of the royal yacht Britannia

 

 And about that Scottish sense of humor, here are a few examples:

Spotted on Cowgate Lane

 

This kitchen apron also comes in a male version

A perky garden guy

 

 

In the Comments: I learned a lot from your comments this week, merci! Like Susan’s trick of putting the leftovers on a pizza, with creative results; Jonathon throws his (homegrown!) veggies into brown rice, and Francine uses quiches. I love your mom’s quote, Francine.

Rachel has a whole blog on the subject, check it out at And Then Make Soup (she’s making refrigerator pickles this week)

 

Suzanne: poaching salmon in beet juice, now that’s different!

 

Jane and Francine correctly point out that if you don’t peel your veggies, go “bio”, the French word for organic. I want to try Suzanne’s roasted potato salad, and Vicky’s roasted onions. Mindy, I think I like your food recycling program best of all.

 

Favorite READS: Here's a retro read for you: Mary Stewart's Stormy Petrel. I picked it up because it's a romantic mystery that takes place on Scotland's rugged west coast, on one of the very spots we visited. If you don't know the British writer Mary Stewart, she's a master of description, evoking a sense of place--great for armchair travel.

And if you want to do a little armchair fantasizing about the dazzling life in a really fancy château, check out Jane Webster's  new book, Château Life, a lifestyle cookbook recommended by our reader Doris. It will make a nice addition to your coffee table, and your daydreams! 

 

 

 

 

 

"Mise en Place", and Beyond

Grab a fork and clean your plate! Let's catch up with the French, and eliminate Food waste.

The French are organized, and thrifty. After all, they invented the phrase we've borrowed, mise en place, meaning you gather everything together before you even begin to cook, all accessible, prepped, and at the ready. And they're good at not wasting things. From tools to household goods to food, they repurpose, re-use, re-cycle, and when they cook, they use every morsel of animal or vegetable (unnerving as it may be, encountering a giant beef tongue or some animal head in the butcher shop). Throwing something away is just not an option for the French.

I thought about that this week when I read an article about food waste in the US. We waste a whopping 50% of the vegetables we produce, a world record. Yowsa! This would feed whole countries! So it's time to rethink those leftovers bits in the fridge, and do our part.

We've blogged about this before. At the end of the week, I gather up those leftover market veggies and/or bits of meat and make soup. But let's go further, and make a dent in that 50%.

First of all---maybe stop peeling vegetables? An awful lot of the nutrients in veggies are in the peel, AND most of the fiber, so why peel unless you have to? Carrots, potatoes, cucumbers all can be eaten au nature. Even in avocados, most of the nutrients are concentrated near the skin, so peel them instead of scooping them out with a spoon.

Next, let's think beyond soup, for using up leftovers. Francis Lam has a great idea which I'm adopting: pre-prepped grain bowls. Here's the trick: every week-end he roasts a bunch of veggies, including leftover dribs and drabs (don't forget that onion that's starting to sprout, and some garlic cloves), and pops them in the fridge. During the week, he makes a grain bowl and tops it with the veggies, eggs, and maybe some leftover meat or fish, plus a yummy sauce (he's partial to a lemon-herb buttermilk dressing). A couple of busy week-nights, sorted!

But there's more you could do with those roasted veggies. Make a big dinner salad, or a pasta primavera. Fold them in to a frittata or a casserole. Make a tart or a pizza. Or go all-out-French, with a cheese and veggie soufflé.

And of course there's stock! Nothing like a good homemade stock to use up leftover vegetables, bones, meat, alums, mushrooms, and that limp celery you were going to toss. Which brings us full circle, back to our soup, made even more delicious with our fragrant stock.

It may help to make one day a week into a food recycling day (i.e., cleaning out the fridge, and cooking what's left). I do mine before I reload on market day.

I'm sure our readers would like more tips--how are you addressing this problem? Do share!

 

I cut these lovely leaves from a bunch of turnips, and they're going in the sauté pan.

 

RECIPE: How to Roast Most Any Vegetable

Roasting caramelizes  the sugars in vegetables and browns them up, and if they're past their prime you'll hardly notice. There are not many vegetables you can't roast. It's a super easy way to cook and to add flavor, but there are a few things to know:

Cut them into chunks (be sure they are washed and well dried) and put them on a sheet pan. Of course the smaller they are cut, the faster they will cook. Drizzle them with a tablespoon or two of oil, just to coat; any oil will do, but I use a mild tasting olive oil. No need to get a bowl dirty; just toss them with your hands right on the pan. Sprinkle them generously with coarse salt and pepper, and other dried herbs if you wish. Important: they shouldn't touch in the pan, spread them out. Otherwise they will just steam. They should all be roughly the same size. I roast them at about 450 (220C), but you can slow roast them as well, e.g. if you have something else in the oven.

You can roast different vegetables together, just check them frequently for doneness, as different veggies have different cooking times. I tend to cut mine in large chunks, but I have a friend who cuts a bunch of different veggies in a half-inch dice, roasts them all together, and serves them just like that, and they're delicious.

Cook them until they brown. You need the charred bits, for flavor. Even if they're tender with no char, keep cooking them until they brown up a bit, they will be fine. If they're done and not browning, I crank up the heat.

I like to roast vegetables for soups. For example, I roast winter squashes with onion quarters before I finish them off with stock on top of the stove, and blend them into a velvety soup.

Roasting tomatoes before you add the to sauces makes them tastier, or they're good on their own.

If you serve roasted veggies on their own as a side dish, shower them with fresh herbs for a bright finish, and/or sprinkle with some fresh grated parmesan. Serve them over orzo or lettuce with a vinaigrette, and you've got a substantial salad or side. Or, put an egg on it, and call it lunch!

Here's a good chart from the Kitchn blog, to give you an idea about times:

General Roasting Times for Vegetables

Cooking times are for roasting vegetables at 425°F.

• Root vegetables (beets, potatoes, carrots): 30 to 45 minutes, depending on how small you cut them
• Winter squash (butternut squash, acorn squash): 20 to 60 minutes, depending on how small you cut them
• Crucifers (broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts): 15 to 25 minutes
• Soft vegetables (zucchini, summer squash, bell peppers): 10 to 20 minutes
• Thin vegetables (asparagus, green beans): 10 to 20 minutes
• Onions: 30 to 45 minutes, depending on how crispy you like them
• Tomatoes: 15 to 20 minutes

 In the COMMENTS:  Suzanne asks about pie crusts for those strawberry tarts. A regular crust will work fine, as will puff pastry, which the French call pâte feuilletée. Suzanne also sends a recipe for a luscious strawberry cream cake, which you can find at this site. Ellen, you are right, leftover strawberry shortcake is best, because what can beat cake marinated in berries? Natalia passes on the recipe for the delicious and oddly named Eaton Mess, perfect for summer berries. For anyone who shares my inability to make meringues, Mary James (of Mary James Dishes it Out) has come to the rescue. OK, I will try again! Debby, let us know how that olive oil and roasted strawberry cake turns out, very creative. Meanwhile, I've already made Connie's orange cream to put on top of strawberry parfaits, and it was great.

Favorite READS: Those serious about changing our troubled world, and who are up for a serious read, will want to check out the new book by our dear friend John Alderdice, Faith and Modernity.  John and his wife Joan have a second home near us. John, who is from Northern Irelanad and is a member of the House of Lords, has spent much of his career as an international peace-keeper, consulting with governments. He's a big believer in dialog as a problem-solver, even when there is a wide chasm of beliefs between parties. Hence the subject of this book of essays, a conversation between Muslims and Christians, surely a book for our times.

Also I can't wait to read Natalia's recommended novel, From a Paris Balcony by Ella Carey, which traces the lives of two women over a long period. And if you like this one, Carey has written other novels with a Paris connection.

 

What to Do with a French 'Fraise"

The French are the original seasonal eaters. They revel in what's fresh, celebrate the arrival of every fresh vegetable and fruit (even wild ones in the forest), and gorge themselveson them until their moment is over. Then they move on to the next ripening wonder.

A delicious example: strawberries. They're available most of the year, but imported, and ho-hum. But oh la la, when they come in season! The flavor is a berry wonder, heaven in a bright red package. And so on market day, I see folks carting big flats of them, heading home to preserve their fruity goodness.

So what does one do with a giant flat or two of berries?  We'll need plenty of ideas for that. 

Of course there is strawberry shortcake, one of my favorite desserts. I make it with sweet southern biscuits, and fresh whipped cream. But lately I've been folding those berries, right into the biscuits, for a breakfast scone. For that I drizzle some vanilla glaze over them.

The French are most likely to make a fresh strawberry tart, they like their fruit desserts very simple so the fruit comes shining through. In the tart's simplest form, they simply arrange berries on a sweet tart shell and glaze them with melted jam. To fancy it up, spread the tart with a bed of sweetened marscapone first, or on a simple custard if you prefer.

My husband's favorite: serve a bowl of berries with side dishes of creme fraiche and brown sugar, for dipping. Of course you can also go savory, with a strawberry and pecan salad, dressed with walnut oil and raspberry vinegar, or balsamic (recipe on this post).

I've been avoiding the J-word, which is what most of the French make with their berries: Jam. Though the French preserve enough stuff to stock their own bomb shelter, all that sterilizing terrifies me. My newest discovery: strawberry freezer jam! Just make a simple jam and freeze it for a bright taste of spring when the season has moved on. It takes less than half an hour!

Or maybe a strawberry cake? Wish I had a recipe for that. What are your best berry recipes?

 

 

RECIPE: Strawberry Shortcake Scones

This is adapted from an Epicurious recipe. They call for heavy cream, always yummy, but I use milk or buttermilk. If I use milk sometimes I replace a bit of the milk with a beaten egg, for richness. If you want a lemony flair, add some grated lemon zest and make your glaze with lemon juice instead of milk and vanilla.

(A TIP, that's une astuce in French: throw a little water on your counter, cover it with one piece of cling wrap and flour lightly. After you cut your scones, roll it up and pitch it. Instant clean counter!)

• 2 cups unbleached white flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder (cut amount in half if using buttermilk, and add 1/2 teaspoon baking soda)
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 cup (238 ml) heavy cream,  light cream, whole milk, or buttermilk
• 1 cup of chopped strawberries (wash and dry well first)
• confectioner's sugar (icing sugar) for glaze

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees.
Place dry ingredients in workbowl of food processor fitted with steel blade. Pulse six times.
Distribute butter evenly over dry ingredients. Cover and pulse 12 times, each pulse lasting 1 second. Transfer dough to large bowl.
 Stir in  cream with rubber spatula or fork until dough barely begins to form. Add berries and fold until dough forms, just a few seconds. 
Transfer dough and all dry, floury bits to countertop and knead dough by hand just until it comes together into a rough, slightly sticky ball, 5 to 10 seconds. Cut scones into wedges or cut with round cutter. Place on ungreased baking sheet, close together. (Baking sheet can be wrapped in plastic and refrigerated for up to 2 hours.). Bake until scone tops are light brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Cool on wire rack for at least 10 minutes. Stir up a little glaze with confectioner's sugar, mixed with milk and a couple of drops of vanilla extract. Glaze. Serve with espresso and a smile.

  

 

RECIPE: Saucy Strawberry Freezer Jam 

I'm still experimenting with this one. I've made it a couple of times, but I've skipped the pectin because I forget to buy it. Strawberries have minimal natural pectin, so without it, you've got a chunky strawberry sauce instead of a thick jam. Which suits me just fine, actually. I stir it into yogurt or spoon it over ice cream. 

I was appalled at how much sugar goes into jam recipes. Yikes! I cut the sugar by a third in the recipes I found and it was still too sweet. There are lots of pectin recipes out there, (I'll try that next time), but this is what I did:

Chop up some tasty strawberries to make a generous 3 cups. Add a scant 1/4 cup of sugar and the juice of half a lemon. Put it all in a saucepan, bring to a boil, and boil for 10 minutes. Cool. Stir in a splash of brandy if you're feeling frisky.  Freeze. Fini!

 

You can also swirl some of this jam/sauce into meringue cookies  from BHG.com, pictured below. Don't these look beautiful? They'd be great at Christmas. I tried them and they were an utter failure. But that should not discourage you, as I've never been able to make a crunchy, non-gummy meringue cookie in my life. Even my mother, who doesn't really cook, can make them, nice and crisp. Sigh. Think I'll blame it on my oven.

 

Favorite Reads: might it be a good time to revisit the French classics? Or maybe, like me, you've missed a few. Dip into Victor Hugo with The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, or Les Miserables . Try Candide, or maybe Madame Bovary? You've seen The Phantom of the Opera but have you read it? Or head way back, maybe to your high school French class, and reexperience  Le Petit Prince . Gotta read that one In French, bien sûr.

A Pop-up Café in our Village

There are many ways to entertain, and one might say there are two camps: those who like to give the same big party every year, and those who like to shake things up.

Both have their merits. One relies on ritual and tradition, the other on the new or unexpected. Though I’m not above serving the same menu to successive groups, I fall into the latter camp. I find it hard to inject that element of surprise, that makes parties memorable, into an annual event.

Our creative and fun-loving next-door neighbors and dear friends, Marion and Jean Marie, are in my camp as well, in a more radical way. In fact they have a Thing about dining in the same spot, so they are always on the hunt for new ones. Marion told me that previously in their house in Holland, they've entertained in their guest room, inside their kid’s play house, in their garden shed, in their cellar.

Since we’ve lived here, we’ve dined chez eux in their barn, which they cleared out and decorated for a fête. They once fluffed up a tiny back-alley firewood storage space with candles and flowers and a portable fire pit, and transformed it into the most charming of venues. They pitched a tent in front of the steps of the village church for a drinks party. They had an intimate cocktail hour inside an abandoned tower in the village.

So Marion’s latest plan did not surprise me.

Between our house and the church, the road forks; one road leads through the village, the other down a small grassy lane. The Italians live between the two roads, but at the very point of the fork is a tiny and steep triangle which is village property. Years before our time the village walled it in, terraced it, added a few bushes, and installed a glass phone booth, back when many people in the village did not have phones (see photos). When we first moved in it was used occasionally by a phone-less artist down the road, or teen-agers arranging a secret tryst with girlfriends. But as cell phones became de rigueur, it’s become nothing more than a sad relic. One day recently, they simply hauled it away.


I was standing out in the road the other day, thinking the tiny new bare area might now be a fine place for a little bench. Then Marion walked over, her eyes twinkling. I know that look well. “We have to have dinner here! We’ll make it into sort of a village café!”, she said, with the enthusiasm of a child building a fort from cardboard boxes.

Within the hour we had the spades and buckets out. We weeded it and cleaned it up, and trimmed the hedges. “I’ll arrange it, we’ll eat at 6,” Marion said.

At 6 she rang the bell outside our gate, and we emerged to find a tiny table with a vase of plucked wild flowers, and candles glowing. The space is a bit public, so we had a few encounters as we sipped our rosé. A cute village boy stopped by to chat, looking for his brother. Friends passed and waved. A resident walked by leading her two miniature ponies, her sheep dog leading the way. We witnessed a near miss between a teen-ager on a moto and a car. A family of tourists strolled by, and looked a little puzzled when Marion called out to tell them that this was the new village resto.

Dutch friends who joined us have dubbed it the "Central Park" of our village (slightly smaller than the NY version). Who knows what comes next? Dinner in a cow field, maybe? We could lunch in that garden just outside the mayor’s office, with the fabulous view. Or perhaps breakfast on the boules court? Apéros in les pompiers parking lot? There’s just no telling what fun is ahead!

That's Jean Marie standing, Marion in the foreground, with Gerard and Marja, and Ron on the right.

 

Here is a photo from the party they gave in their barn, propped and pretty

 

The classic location for a French party: set a table or two out on the lawn. We’re lucky to have several areas in our small garden where we can entertain:

A grassy spot outside our living room…

Our terrace off the kitchen...

 

A shady spot under our big Laurier Sauce…

 

And we can squeeze about 8 on our galerie for drinks.

But I’m NOT cleaning out our barn for any party. Quelle horreur!

 

In the COMMENTS: Susan will make Poke bowls with duck, now there's a French/Hawaiian mash-up! Don't miss Natalia's book recommendation, it's one I want to read, set in Paris: The Room on Rue Amélie. 

 

Planning a TRIP TO BURGUNDY? Our charming French dentists (a husband/wife team) live near us, and they have renovated an outbuilding on their historic property, turning it into a wonderful gîte. A quiet village with great views, but close to Cormatin and Cluny. They have the facade of a historic church in their garden! Here's the link, which has lots of photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Taste of the Tropics, in a French Kitchen

 

Time for our annual Dinner Party Dilemma! The ex-pat and French crowd here entertain a bunch. The season is gearing up, so it’s time to get creative again. The menu criteria: something refreshing and fun; something to make-ahead, and not too complicated; and of course, delicious!

Here in Burgundy, where fancy French dishes are the norm, I like to serve something the Europeans wouldn’t normally eat, just to shake things up. In the past we’ve introduced them to grits, biscuits, tacos, pork barbeque, Beaufort Stew, pimento cheese, and other southern delicacies. And as my loyal readers know, I pick one menu and try it on a couple of groups, before moving to the next, which saves time in the planning stage.

So, future dinner guests, stop reading HERE if you want to be surprised. This year I’m going native with Hawaiian Poke Bowls. Which, if you’ve eaten out recently in the States, you will know well, as they are everywhere. There are many versions, and today I’m sharing mine.

I like Poke bowls (say poh-kay) because they’re fresh, healthy, and have lots of flavors. You can make them ahead, and you can change out the grain and veggies according to your liking. Plus different kinds of fish or shellfish will work.

I’m going with the traditional tuna, but with a twist. Poke typically features raw, marinated fish, but I like to sear the tuna first, just to rare or medium rare.

I’m not sure what sort of starter goes with a Poke Bowl, I'm hoping y'all will have some ideas. But I think dessert has to be a coconut cake or key lime pie, don't you agree? Or maybe just a bright mango sorbet.

Here’s my version, and I’m betting some of you have some interesting variations to share.

 

RECIPE: Hawaiian Poke Bowls, by way of Burgundy 

 

THE RICE:

In the bottom of the bowl, you need a grain. I like brown rice, but use white rice, or quinoa, or any grain you like. I serve the rice and the tuna warm, and the veggies chilled or at room temperature. The dish is  all about contrasts.

ON TOP OT THE RICE:

For the veggies and fruits, pick your combo, with varied textures and colors. Here is what I used:

sliced avocado

sliced scallions

grated carrots

sliced red cabbage

cucumbers

sliced radishes

chunks of pineapple, or mango would work nicely

Any kind of sliced peppers are good: bell or jalapeno, for example

To top it off, bean sprouts are common but I found some baby arugula

Chopped peanuts, for crunch

lime slices

THE TUNA

I cut the tuna into cubes and marinated it for a half hour to an hour. Sear it quickly in a hot iron skillet, just before serving. A pound will serve 4.

For the marinade, I used a couple of tablespoons of soy sauce, a tablespoon of grated ginger, a teaspoon of fish sauce, the juice of a lime, 2 teaspoons of toasted sesame oil, a pinch of brown sugar, and ground pepper.

THE SAUCE

Mix mayo with Sriracha, or other hot sauce, to taste, and a generous squeeze of lime. Serve on the side, for dipping.

 

In the COMMENTS: Ellen, you should do a US food map! And sharp-eyed Guy spotted a very intriguing dish, which you must translate. I don't think I want to sample it! Ann, sounds like I need to dip into the Nero Wolf mysteries. And speaking of books, don't miss Vicky's recommendation for a couple of wonderful novels. 

Meg Behle is a fine artist, and it happens that she painted a French food map of a different sort as a gift for her son and daughter-in-law (he proposed to his wife at the Eiffel tower). She has kindly shared it with us. Wonderful!

Favorite READS: My week of mysteries: It so happens that while I was visiting Charleston this year, I went to hear not one but three mystery writers speak about their books, all in one week. Phew! The first was A.J. Finn (that's his nom de plume), author of the wildly popular new mystery, The Woman in the Window, An interesting and different sort of novel which I liked (old movie buffs, you'll love his thorough list), and he gets my Best Speaker Award, he's a great wit. Then we heard Stephan Kurkjian, author of a non-ficion mystery, as yet unsolved, called Master Thieves, which is about the greatest art heist in history. Ron read this and liked it. Then at an elegant ladies luncheon I heard Plum Sykes, socialite of British Vogue fame, talk about her new book, called Party Girls Die in Pearls: An Oxford Girl Mystery, which I have not yet read. Quite a range of thrillers!

 

Putting France's Favorite Foods on the Map

All countries have their regional specialties,  foods associated with a particular area or even a city. Think Cincinnati Chili, or Lowcountry Shrimp and Grits. In France, this is true but several times squared. In France, specialties, a point of great pride, come down to a town, or a zip code.

Many of those hundreds of types of cheeses can only be bought in a particular area. Our own Délice de Bourgogne is my favorite, though that’s more widely available now. But every town seems to have adopted a food that is their own. I’m reminded of this when we pass through Montélimar on the way to the Provence, and suddenly every store is full of nougat. Or in Nyons, where their special olives are on every shelf.

So I was intrigued when I came across a food map of France. Then I did a search, and found even more. Time to make a cross country trip to sample the specialties I’ve missed! My dear readers, you are sure to find a familiar favorite dish on these fanciful maps, if you’ve traveled to France.

The food map above is by Nancy Nikko and is available at Etsy. Check out these other  "food maps" below and see how many of the specialties you've sampled (to take a closer look, click on the links).

 

The Local claims this is the definitive food map of France:

 

Love the graphics on this one: 

 

Here's one by region:

 

And one by Claudine Panagopoulos:

 

Here's one just for cheese

 

And to polish off our meal, here's one for desserts! You can buy this watercolor print at Lucile's Kitchen

 

 A special note: Your Key to Burgundy is offering a special 10 day tour to celebrate women's rights, called Women in Burgundy 2018: Life, laughter, and the French Paradox. Sounds fun, n'est-ce pas?

 

 

Lessons from Across the Border: Living Italian Style

Ron always has one wish for visitors from the states: that there will be at least one takeaway from their trip that they will adopt at home. Something that captures the better part of French living. Like maybe the occasional glass of wine with lunch at home, or taking a Sunday stroll with the family, as all the French do in the countryside, or having a decadent cheese course after a meal.

We spent a week in Italy recently, also the land of the lovely lifestyle, and we nabbed a number of take-aways from the Italians, who do things with great style.  I'll share my list with you today. (hmm.. most of them involve food!).

 

--You DO decorate your cappuchinos, don’t you?  Just a little effort can bring a smile. 

 

No mistaking it, this one is certainly Italian:

 

 

Up your apero game.  These Aperol sprizers, ubiquitous in Italy, have become our summertime drink (recipe here). And they always serve them with a little treat, like ham on  tiny baguette squares, with an olive on top. Easy!

 

Pimp your pizza. Look at those toppings!

 

Travel in style 

 

The slow food movement got it’s start in Italy. Turn off your phone, eat in slow motion, and employ the art of conversation. 

 

A 2-gelato day is a good day. A 3-gelato day is even better (especially with a friend; that's my buddy Pete below, gelato-obcessed as well).

 

If your are a city dweller with no garden, a pretty window will do.

 

Cooking simply with fresh ingredients is the way to go .

 

Make it fun to eat your fruit. Kids were lining up to buy these colorful concoctions. Grown-ups were too!

 

Fashion is everything.

 

In the COMMENTS: And speaking of Italy, Patricia, how is it that I've been to Parma at least 3 times and missed the antique market?? Several of our readers have romantic ties to Vernona, including Natalia and Suzanne and Anne. Paula, I agree with you, exploring France is a lifetime adventure and then some. Gregory, thanks for the link to the article on Charleston wine, I had heard about it but not read it. Kathy, de rien!

 

Favorite Reads: spotted on Goodreads, a series of novels set in Bordeaux by a UK expat who lived there a while, Fiona Valpy. Her latest is called Sea of Memories. Sounds like a find--Anyone read/recommend them? 

 

How to Renew Your Romance in Italia

Does anyone else have this particular marital issue? I like to travel to places I’ve never been. Ron always wants to go back again and again to his favorite haunts.

So this time I was clever. “Want to go to Parma?" I said? He quickly packed his bags, it’s a favorite destination. “Oh, and by the way, Verona, where we’ve never been, is just a bit up the road!” And so we compromised (or, as Ron said, he was hoodwinked). Anyway, if you want to settle marital difficulties, what better place than the setting for Romeo and Juliet, Italy's most romantic city?

We’re not opera fans, but it’s what you do in Verona, and we heard it was an experience, so off we went to see “Aida”. And an experience it was! The huge Roman amphitheatre, the Arena, which dates from 30 AD, sits right in the middle of town, and holds 24,000 people. Under the stars in the cool night air we watched a fantastical production on a stage that sometimes included over a hundred costumed singers, a full troupe of ballet dancers, and at one point, four large white horses prancing about. Yowsa! And of course, the story is one the greatest romantic tales in opera: a slave (secretly, a princess) who falls in love with the General of the country where she is enslaved, and he with her---a doomed love affair if there ever was one. 

And then there was the gelato, and the wonderful food that is reason enough to check out this region of Italy. 

  I was totally unprepared for the beauty of Verona, with it’s colorful masonry rowhouses and fanciful architecture. It really is  the city of romance, and we ate at what was some of the tour books claimed was the “most romantic restaurant in the world,” the Osteria Ponte Pietra. Since restaurants in this area were amazingly affordable, don’t worry about the price, it’s a must-do. The inside is cozy and brimming with Italian charm. We ate on the narrow, flowery balcony overlooking the Adige river and the Pietra bridge. Great food and impeccable, personal service. And a fine bit of romance. Ciao, Baby!

 

If you go: we stayed in an unusual place, called Opera Relais de Charme, in a great location. It was a hotel right in the center with not much lobby to speak of, with just one employee. It had a new but slow elevator, so we got lots of exercise getting to our 3rd floor room. But it was newly renovated, pristine really, with a fun decor, and the rooms are actually small apartments with a kitchenette/salon. Be aware that the city can be crowded, especially during the opera season when we were there (mid-August). Next time we would stay just a bit away from the very center, as we were right off the busiest pedestrian street. See last photo for our choice for next time.

 

The Arena (pictured at the top) is right in the heart of the city. The colorful buildings below are just across from the Arena in the same square, the Piazza del Bra.

 

 

The Arena fills up at dusk; and below, Aida in all its glory.

 

The castle, Castelvecchio, right in the city, is definetely worth a visit.

 

There is hardly an unadorned window or door in Verona. This one reflects the castle wall, and below that, a door opens out to  one of Verona's many romantic balconies.

 

Cappuccino time in Verona

 

...and an art show on the street

 

Here is the hotel we're looking at for next time, a bit off the main square and who can resist the name? "The Gentlemen of Verona".

 

In the COMMENTS:  Suzanne, who could resist a truffle recipe with the calories of carrot sticks! Please do share! Francine, most of the photos were from Les Carroz in the alps, and some from Cluny. Natalia has a US source for those chocolate mushrooms. Jacqui has a chocolatier to recommend in the charming town of Châteauneuf du Pape--some with Marc, which is potent stuff!

 

I Could Live Here: A French Chocolaterie

Can you think of a better place to take up residence than a French chocolate shop?  The fanciful creations dazzle, it's a chocolate fantasy world. Truffles, bonbons, nougat stuffed with nuts and fruit, all dressed in their Sunday best, with ribbons and bows.

I was in a lovely chocolaterie recently in the Alps with our friends Pete and Dee, snapping photos of all the confections. There was one photo I did not take (which I regret!). We spotted chocolates molded from pages of the Kama Sutra. In intricate detail. Milk chocoate or dark, your choice!

A couple of recipes are below, but first, some typical French creations from chocolateries I have known and loved: 

 

 Below, a Christmas tree made of chocolate dazzles in a shop window. Works for me.

 

Nougat is a traditional French confection. Usually filled with nuts, often pistachios, this colorful loaf has dried fruit as well.

 

 

Beautifully packaged cones of milk and white chocolates.

 

Notice that these pretty cones, full of chocolates, are paired with Absinthe. Now there's a lively combo!

 

Chocolate teddy bears, in a Christmas shop window

 

You will often see candied oranges, dipped in chocolate (I like to make them, see my post with the recipe here!)

 

Chocolate lollipops, for les enfants of all ages.

 

There may be macaroons, in bright colors...

 

...and you may even find that some mushrooms have sprouted.

 

RECIPE: Two Quick Chocolate Tricks

If you want to add a French touch to dinner, either for company or just for fun with your family, serve an espresso with a little homemade chocolate treat on the side. There is no dessert as easy as these: melt 4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate in a metal bowl over barely simmering water, stirring frequently (sometimes I add a tablespoon of peanut butter to the chocolate, your choice). When melted, remove from heat. Stir in a cup of cornflakes (doesn't sound good, tastes great), or granola, or chopped nuts, or any combination of the above. Drop onto a plate in small teaspoons, and chill. The photo shows something similar in a Chocolaterie, made with almonds and with dark, milk, or white chocolate. 

The second trick, taught to me by youngest daughter Suzanne: buy some short pretzel sticks. Dip them in melted dark chocolate. Chill by standing them up in a small, short glass. Done and done!

 

In the COMMENTS: RE those villages, a couple of our readers live in fabulous villages which could fall into the very best category, but I didn't want to let the cat out of the bag and have them overrun with tourists, by publishing their names on my blog (Ha!). But they have been revealed, so do not miss: Goult in Provence (home of Alix and Paul, and also recommended by another reader) and Collioure, on the coast near Spain, where you should look for Suzanne. Note that Jan has another humane way to kill a lobster, worth a try. Colleen (of Colleen Taylor Fine Art), it's true that many towns in the Alsace have a German feel, as they have been occupied by them in the past, and the food tilts toward hardy German fare as well.

Favorite READS: Our reader Suzanne Dunaway, blogger and author, emailed me about an important new book, Modernist Bread which the New York Times calls "an important, myth-busting book". It's a 6 volume read! Suzanne has written two very accessible books on bread-making herself, which are in fact covered in Modernist Bread; you can find Suzanne's books at her website.