Evelyn Olaf and Johannes 2011

Evelyn and Olaf Korn are visiting here, along with Johannes (he's 10). I had planned for them to stay downstairs with us, but they have this rented fancy camper thing and are down at the campground at the bottom of the hill--pool for them, not quite so much togetherness for all of us. They arrived Friday afternoon from up near LaRochelle, where they had spent a week, expecting a hot, sunny week on the beach. It has been rainy, windy and cold (at least, cold for late July) in this part of France now for about ten days. So much for their escaping Germany. Friday evening I did confit de canard and pommes sarladaises (duck legs poached for a LONG time in duck fat, with sliced potatoes sauteed in duck fat, with fresh garlic and parsley on top) and a salad. Wine, of course, and bread. Sorbet for dessert.

Castlenaud from a distance

Yesterday we went up the river to the big chateaux, Beynac, Castlenaud, (across the river from each other, ideal for the fighting between the French and English in the Hundred Years' War), and a couple of other notable "houses". We actually visited Castlenaud because it has all these medieval battlements and crossbows and things that appeal to children especially. It also has videos all over the place, which were what fascinated Johannes the most; evidently he has a promising career ahead as a film critic.

I didn't visit the castle; I've seen it, and my knees can't cope with the place. Figured I'd park myself in a cafe for an hour with my book and a glass of wine; problem was, they were up there at least three hours. It had been made clear to me that the cafe wanted me to leave after about an hour and a half, so I did...lovely, lovely medieval town. Nothing going on there except the chateau, though; I'm sure it is dead in the winter, just like it was during the Hundred Years' War, when everyone went back home until the summer weather made it possible to resume the fight.

foie gras mousse

Came back here and cooked more duck. I finally worked up the courage to try the foie gras mousse from LaLitote; served it with red onion chutney I'd made, and tried to copy the balsamic and chocolate syrup that accompanied it; mine was hard as a rock. The mousse was good, but I need to try again. I was trying to halve that ungodly recipe I got from the LaLitote website (with the ghastly internet translation)--the one that is supposed to serve ten, with all the strange amounts, no mention of things like salt and pepper--and was also in a hurry trying to get the rest of the meal together. You might say I sorta messed up, but it was still pretty good.

We also had magret (duck breast), with potatoes and green beans. Between the mousse and the magret, I served a green gazpacho, made from these heirloom tomatoes that are green with yellow stripes when they are ripe, used a yellow bell pepper, garlic, green onions, English cucumber, fresh basil, EVOO, red wine vinegar, lots (LOTS) of fresh garlic, some water (no canned juice). Whizzed it all with that immersion blender. It was a hit.

Lunch today (Sunday lunch) at Ken and Val Day's (Brits) here near Lalinde. Gotta run. Plan to make some more mousse later, also plan to make some mi-cuit (foie gras cooked very slowly in a water bath in a terrine). Now that I've finally worked up the courage to cook the stuff, we're leaving...aargh...

cheers, lillie

random thoughts

We go back to the US next Thursday, and it's HOT and HUMID in KY. Might as well live in Houston, the way the last couple of summers have been. This time of year it's supposed to be hot and dry here, but it's been weird, a few hot days and now it's chilly and damp; feels rather like England does much of the time. Evidently it's REALLY chilly and damp in England right now, though, with highs in the teens (Centigrade) and lows around 7 (about 40). This year in this part of France will probably be a lousy year for wine.

Went to the market in Lalinde this morning. My vegetable man tried to sell me some more plums; I still haven't done anything with the ones he sold me last week. He said I was to wait six days, and it's been seven. Maybe I'll go buy some jars and make some Mirabelle jam this afternoon.

Evelyn, Olaf and Johannes Korn arrive tomorrow; still need to clean the downstairs and put sheets on the bed.

My lovely little red Sony camera seems to be moribund. Dropped it too many times. It appears that the only problem is that the front cover is loose, but sometimes I can't turn it on or can't turn it off, and when it's on, I sometimes can't get the picture taking button to work. Guess I'm going to have to replace it; I hate breaking in a new camera, though. This little thing has served me well, though; how many years? and THOUSANDS of pictures.

I seem to have forgotten to write about that other really good place we ate near Grasse, La Belle Cerise or something like that, in a village up on a hill called Fayence. All these ancient villages seem to be up on hills; this town had basically one street that wound up the hill. Have to find the photos...

Lillie

La Litote, Vence

entry to LaLitote

Phil and wine and water in front of
LaLitote, see water bottle

Mousse de foie gras, LaLitote

another photo of facade

my main course, some sort
of fish with veg and quinoa

Phil's main course, steamed mussels

So I read about this place in the Michelin Guide Rouge (red guide, e.g., restaurants and hotels, with some maps and things thrown in), the Gault-Millau 2011 (big fat yellow thing, in French only, much more reliable, however, I have found, than Michelin), and, I THINK, Rick Steve's France 2010 or 2009 or whichever one I had (past tense--I seem to have lost it). And I THINK it was the Rick Steve's guide's review that mentioned the foie gras mousse at the place that is the actual proximate reason we ate there, rather than someplace else for lunch. Lord, it was GREAT.

Can't remember how much exactly it cost, but it wasn't exorbitant. I am going to try to make the foie gras mousse; turns out there is a recipe on the restaurant website. Take a peek. Go to www.lalitote.com. After you get there, you will find a link for "recettes". There are two: one is for an entree, unless you're already in the English translation, in which case it's is for "entries". (the other, I think, is for a dessert..I think we both had sorbet for dessert). If you know ANY French AT ALL, look at BOTH recipes, for the Mousse au Foie Gras, in English and in French. I have printed them both out, and plan to use both to figure out how the **** to make the stuff. I think both recipes are a hoot. Ours didn't come with rhubarb marmalade (rhubarb wasn't in season), but with some salad stuff and this goo that was reduced balsamic vinegar and melted bitter chocolate. There was also coarse sea salt on top. OMG, it was GOOD...

Cheers, Lillie

Vence again...the cathedral

Roman tomb I

Roman Tomb II

Bishop I

Bishop II

Another tomb in wall--I think

Two More Bishops

Chagall Mosaic

Another carving in wall

So the cathedral in Vence is a strange place. In the first instance, it is the smallest cathedral in France (by number of people served). Secondly, it is built on the site of a Roman temple, and has Roman carvings and roman tombs in its fabric.  Problems again with placement of photos; I will comment on them in order.

The photos marked Roman tomb I and Roman tomb II are imbedded in either side of the door to the church.

Next consider the photos labeled "Bishop I" and "Bishop II". They have names but I don't remember what they were. Both look VERY young, and were displayed next to each other. Try to see the expression on Bishop I's mouth. He looks to me as if he had spent his entire (very short) life sucking lemons. Does NOT look like a very nice guy. Bishop II, on the other hand, appears to be saying or thinking "who, ME?" "WHAT?!? Me a Bishop?" "How did I get into this?" The paintings or frescoes of the other two bishops appear to be your average not-very-nice Bishop.

Have also included photographs of some other interesting carvings that are on the wall inside. There are more; they just aren't shown here. And there is a lovely Chagall mosaic on a wall inside the church. Marc Chagall of course spent the last years of his life in St. Paul and Vence. He was born a Hasidic Jew in Russia; I find it really fascinating that so much of his later work was in Christian churches. He and his wife are buried in the cemetery in Vence.

Another notable thing about this church (the architecture isn't all that interesting, to me at least) is the panels with the list of locals who died in WWI. I have yet to find a church in France without a memorial to the parish's war dead from WWI. There are several hundred listed in this little church in this little village. It's probably everyone from the diocese, but even so, there are SO MANY names on there. Recall, however, that 25% (TWENTY-FIVE PER CENT, that is ONE FOURTH) of ALL the males in France died during WWI. That's not 25% of all the adult males or males of draftable age, but ALL males, died in WWI. Most of them were, however, between the ages of 17 and 40; virtually an entire generation of men was wiped out. Small wonder they had no stomach for another war only 20 years later; there was no one to fight it...

Cheers, Lillie

Vence

I loved Vence. Went there the day after I visited St. Paul. Don't get me wrong; St. Paul is perfect--perfectly gorgeous and perfectly preserved. But it's not real. There is evidence that people must actually live there, but it doesn't seem like it. And it is THE MOST visited village in France.

alley

another alley

gate

old cathedral

lamp in main square

building in main square

amuse bouche lunch

first course, carrots

moules frites

pastries

rue du marche

Street food--fried wonton skins,
stuffed with Swiss Chard and
cheese, and fried stuffed zucchini blossoms

Zucchini blossoms in market

yet another alley

fountain just inside gate

Vence seemed, on the other hand, real. There are actual houses and businesses outside the old city, cars, parking, people, e.g., life. There is also "life" inside the old town. It's "real", doesn't seem like a museum the way St. Paul does. It's not hard to believe that people actually live there. 

The alleys and small squares all around the old town seemed to be "alive", with shops and businesses and houses that actually had people living in them. Also, the town has expanded outside the wall and down the hill. The first time I went, it was by myself, and I had lunch and explored the medieval rue du marche (Market Street). Lunch was a salad, carrots and salad greens, followed by moules frites (steamed mussels and French fries. It was good. 

Sorry about the formatting. 

Cheers, Lillie

Le Vieux Logis

back of old farmhouse

across the garden to the village

yew garden

The Tremolat restaurant is in a Relais & Chateaux site, which is an old farm restored to have a few rooms and a restaurant. The restaurant is in the old renovated tobacco barn; the grounds look very English to me.

Cheers, Lillie

Food in Tremoulat and a correction (I think)

dining room

amuse bouches

magret sechee, quail egg and mayo

First, the correction...I am not certain whether the Infanta who married Louis XIV (the Sun King) in St. Jean-de-Luz's cathedral in 1660 was Spanish or Austrian. I have in the past couple of days read both. It probably doesn't matter, though; I think all European royalty spoke something that we wouldn't quite recognize as French back in the 17th century, and they all married other royalty, what with alliances between countries cemented by marriage seem to have been more important that just about anything else.

So P and I haven't exactly had a riveting time this summer over here in Couze, what with not socializing with any of the English ex-pats around here, there being no night markets at Cadouin (Marche Nocturne they call them around here, you go there to EAT, and they are a great deal of fun); the only one we've sort of been to was last Monday in Couze. It was hotter than Hades; the vendors were all in the shade; the tables were all in the sun; and it was supposed to start at 1900 (7:00 p.m.) but nothing much had happened until about 8:00 by which time we were hot, hungry, and disenchanted. We bought some paella to take back to our house where we could at least eat in the shade, and left. Could eventually hear the Basque band (sounded pretty much um-pah-pah to me) from our patio. I didn't manage to get up early enough to go to the LeBugue market yesterday, and decided that if we aren't going to do anything tourist-y or social, we should at least EAT.

Today we went for lunch to a Michelin one-star restaurant in Tremoulat, walked in and asked if we could eat. I expected them to say no as we had no reservation (back-up plan was the Bistrot d'en Face, owned by the same folks, much, MUCH cheaper, across the road), but they said okay.

At lunch during the week, there's no menu. You can only do the "tapas menu" which is basically a "tasting menu" where you get lots of small dishes ("tapas" are Spanish and mean basically "small plates", and a "tasting menu" is not unusual on a French restaurant menu, but there being no other option is indeed unusual). Sooooo, that's what we did. Had aperitifs, Kir au vin blanc, which is a glass of dry white wine with a bit of Creme de Cassis (black currant liqueur) in it, and then we ordered a bottle of their house Bergerac Rose.

They brought the "amuse bouches": sorry about that; they are up at top. First is a view across the dining room, then a photo of the amuse bouches platter, and finally, the magret sechee (dried duck breast) wrapped around a quail egg with homemade mayonnaise on top. Lovely. The other ones were basically guacamole, very plain, with lemon juice instead of lime (limes are hard to find over here), tomato on top, and a LOVELY pate brisee (pie crust pastry made with butter) wrapped around a mixture of chopped filet mignon, chorizo and red peppercorns. One mouthful, but to die for...

green gazpacho

vichysoisse

langoustines

Next we had (and the photos may or may not be down here) green tomato gazpacho. Wonderful stuff. Suspect that it's a combination of what Americans mean by "green tomatoes" and the heirloom tomatoes that are green when they are ripe, but not sure. It was lovely stuff. The Vichysoisse seemed to be finely diced, cooked potatoes, with finely diced skinny (French) green beans, with a cream sauce poured over it, with leeks in it, some prosciutto, couple of other things, some sort of pastry and a strip of shaved Parmesan. Lovely stuff; I ate it all, worrying all the time about all that cream making me sick. The langoustine dish was interesting, with langoustines and some sort of sweet bell peppers on top of puff pastry. The gazpacho and the vichysoisse were both a "ten".

marinated duck

foie gras in broth

The marinated duck (above) was lovely; the foie gras in broth was nice, but not wonderful. Next came the "main dishes":

fish with mushrooms

lamb tenderloin

So on the left was the fish; Sandre or something like that, with mushrooms, on some lovely, lovely sauce. It was great, and then the lamb filet, e.g., lamb tenderloin (think the big piece on a lamb chop or cutting off that big piece on a rack of lamb...what do they do with all the bones?). It too was perfect. Perfectly cooked, perfectly seasoned, with a bit of potato, sauce, etc. Lovely all around. And then, for the cheese course:

Brie Truffee

Okay, this stuff appeared to be whipped brie (perfectly ripe, of course) in this little glass with a couple of slices of truffle on it. Amazing stuff. Sort of exploded in your mouth.

But then, one must have dessert...

fruit and sorbet

peach poached in mint

vanilla cream with apricot

The fruit and sorbet were lovely; the fresh peach was poached in hibiscus juice or something and mint with frothy minty cream on top; and the creme caramel was made with a vanilla bean, with apricot jam/compote/something on top. All were seriously good, and the portions were all modest.

Coffee afterward. The meal took two and a half hours, and was a lovely experience. Stay tuned for the grounds of the place.

Cheers, Lillie

Miscellaneous comments

coming around the corner to the cathedral

replacement bell tower

look at window

bosses in ceiling

altar

great facade

cloister

Pursuant to our visit to Bayonne ("jambon de Bayonne"!, e.g., HAM, what an American kid would consider normal ham) after our visit to St. Jean de Luz, I have a couple of questions as well as some fairly decent photos. First the photos of the cathedral at Bayonne...it had these great angels on either side of the high altar, no transepts, great bosses up on the ceiling, and a window design I've never seen before. And an enormous porch...photos are above; again, I can't seem to get them to go "left" when I say "left" or "right" when I say "right" or get text to wrap or anything, and I think it's a Google problem rather than a Lillie problem. So the cloister is much-admired and is, indeed, big and lovely. Hey, though, it pales in comparison with the cloister at Gloucester Cathedral in England. And the Cathedral itself could be English (we've been visiting too many of these bastide churches over here, and are both sort of hungry for English Cathedrals, or Notre Dame or Bayeux...); it's lovely. Those angels on the sides of the altar are lovely, too. The bosses in the ceiling sort of (this is stretching it..) remind me of those in York Minster (yes, yes, that's stretching at bit). The place is lovely, though. Problem is, we got there about 5:15 on Saturday and there was this sign outside which we ignored saying no visitors, service in session. There wasn't a service in session. And then a guy comes over and very autocratically tells us there are no visitors allowed because of the service (there was nothing going on, and if there were a service about to start, it was going to be a Mass with about 6 people in the congregation). So we sat down; I pointed out that, although they'd pegged us for tourists, they couldn't do anything if we acted like we were going to participate in the service. A bit annoying, actually.

The service wasn't to begin (I found out as we were leaving when I picked up the service leaflet) until 6:00 p.m., and people were starting to actually trickle in as we were leaving.

A couple of questions, though. The next day (Sunday) as I was driving to the Issigeac market there was a sung Mass being broadcast on the Culture channel (better than any of the French music channels, or, God forbid, the English music channels). Very bad acoustics, I trust, as I hope the organ and choir weren't as bad as they sounded, and I don't know where it was coming from. I realized they were referring to Jesus as "tu" and "toi" which is the familiar form of "you", which you use to children, your spouse, very close friends, etc., as opposed to the "vous" form which is more formal, but not necessarily all that formal. Was wondering why one didn't use the "vous" form, which indicates respect, for Jesus. Still haven't figured out what they do with God and the Holy Spirit. But when I got back, I looked at the Bayonne service leaflet. All the prayers use "tu" for Jesus, but prayers to Mary use "vous". Anybody out there know the explanation for this?

Cheers, Lillie