Tid-Bits - yum!

Can't have a blog about France and not talk about FOOD. It is a French obsession.

Brian shops every day. The vegetables are so fresh, the garlic juicy and the onions braided.

We haven't taken advantage of the weekly market too often as the weather had been so bad. 

The English couple who have their house for sale and which we viewed also own a shop called The Brit Stop, 35 miles north of here.  OMG  it was great!!  We bought Heinz Salad Cream, Lincolnshire sausages, Carr's Water Crackers, Double Gloucester cheese and black pudding, this was heaven for us with limited access to Brit food in the US.

Taken at an open air art show

Back to FRENCH food: Speaking of DUCK, last week when were with Charles, the real estate agent, and he took us to a restaurant with outside dining overlooking the Gorges of the L'Averyon in Najac. Absolutely gorgeous.  We had the "plat du jour" (canard something)  baked duck legs (first brined as per Brian) served with a paste similar to the texture and color of pesto but not the same flavor, smashed potatoes and a mixture of spicy veg and, of course, bread. Then there was dessert - flan with caramel sauce and fresh cream whipped dotted around the plate. Charles and I shared a 25cl (1/3 of a bottle) of rose wine. Brian drank water. The entire bill was E34.00 ($48.00 inclusive)   The best restaurant meal we have had. 

Brian has been cooking dinner for Angus - steak hache, carottes, pommes de terre -  as we can't find dog food without wheat (ble, cereales): allergy.

                         Spoiled dog. 

One Friday we were at the supermarche and I saw lamb kebobs flying out of the cooler - seriously, everyone was buying them.

From the same art show we came across while sightseeing

Mommy Daddy & the little lamb.

We bought a package; 4 kebobs. Back home Brian tried to lite the little BBQ but no go so he cooked them in a frying pan; they were superb. Small cubes of lamb faced with a thin slice of fat then a square of green pepper all on little sticks.

So there we were in the supermarchec another time, and I picked out the package of lamb kebobs which .........yuck, turned out to be cubes of gizzards and liver - looked exactly the same to my myopic eyes.  When Brian went to cook them he realized it was not lamb. Angus was the happy recipient those.....  parts.

Moral of the story - don't let me near the meat counter. Truly,  I prefer not to see naked rabbits and ducks pieces anyway

Paula of the Brit Stop told me a funny story.  One of her first village fetes was one where everyone brought their own plate and cutlery. She was served tripe (cows stomach). She couldn't bring her self to eat it, she ate the vegetables and covered the tripe with some bread hoping she could just carry her plate away at the end of the evening. However, dessert was being served and everyone was asked to turn their dinner plates over.  As she turned her plate upside down the juices spread out over the paper table cover, like an Arctic oil spill. Hahahaha - funny story.

Now on to the veggie department:

The produce is signposted with name, origin and price. Just like our US stores but the countries of origin are more varied.

If it is priced per piece then we just put it in the cart. If it is by kg. (2.2lbs to 1 kilogram) we have to put it on the scale, pick the proper picture and press the button. Out pops a bar coded label with the price which we affix to the plastic bag. 

(Sometimes the pictures aren't quite clear so we fake it with the closest looking veg. making sure the pricing is close)

We prefer skimmed milk - could it be 'demi creme"? 

Non - it is ecreme. Who would have thought?  UHT (Ultra High Temperature) is what we buy as it does not have to be refrigerated in our tiny fridge before opening and lasts a long, long time. I don't care for the flavor but B. likes it in his cereal.

Today we were in a MALL. First one we have seen. The anchor store is Geant - a  huge grocery and everything else store. It reminded us of a Super Wal-Mart. We'll have to go back and spend a few hours, wearing our winter woolies - it was cooold in there.


Camouflaged goat - same art show

Goat cheese - fromage de chevre. One of the best tasting cheeses, warmed or cold, in the world. However, in all of our travels we have yet to see a goat - and I mean the 1000s of miles  traveled in France. Where do the farmers keep them - are they kept in barns and force fed? Are they in labor camps where they are hooked up to milking machines 24/7?
Do they every see their kids? One wonders...... we never see goat meat in the marche (store).




Baguette - We have been disappointed with the bread. It used to be each village had its one or two boulangerie(s) where the bread was baked two times a day. But now it is delivered already baked. It is just not the same. Not all bakeries have succumbed and we dearly hope that we will live where we find the bakery by following our noses.


Roquefort cheese - wow! what a taste sensation.
                Blue, tangy, creamy, rich.  
And Brian finally will eat it and enjoy it too!

An exceptional combination of circumstances gave birth to Roquefort cheese : an extraordinary geological feature, men’s tenacity and the special adaptability of a breed of ewes.. A visit not to be missed : down in the underground labyrinth of the maturing caves of Roquefort, formed by Nature after the landslide of the Combalou mountain. These high-vaulted caves, ventilated by the « fleurines »(natural draught passages which operate the natural ventilation of the caves) are where from January to June thousands of cheeses are nurtured in the hands of experts. You can visit the caves all year round.

We have been told that eating the cheese straight from the caves is "to die for".
It is only about 65 miles from us and it has the world's tallest bridge near-by, 2.5km of steel deck spanning the River Tarn. The Viaduc de Millau is one if the great civil engineering feats of our time.

Funny grocery store sights:

Magic Vinegar - can't remember if it was in the feminine hygiene or cooking aisle

Cat Shampoo - who washes a cat ???-they are self-cleaning.

 Piscine Rose - literal translation: Swimming Pool Rose Wine   
    

So what's for dinner tonight?  It's Wednesday - (Mercredi) so that means pizza. Last Wednesday we returned home late and while Brian rummaged around the kitchen I took Angus to the park. I noticed a big van with a generator at the edge of the park - it was  - Pizz 'A Nico (very clever).  We walked back over to the park and 10 minutes later we had our made to order pizza. He also sells beer and wine! 
                   What a great country........