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| The beauty of Autumn |
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| Andy at almost 50! |
It's that blog time
again.
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| Birthday with Thumper! |
I spent a very pleasant time in the UK to celebrate Andy's
50th birthday and also to visit friends. I cooked him
dinner for his friends as my present and we also went out on the day
itself for splendid meal of Tapas with a "sourced from Sussex" twist.
Really good.
On my travels
managed to take in WNO's production of Rossini's Cinderella –
fabulous! (Thanks Shaun and Rebecca).
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| No |
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| Not picked yet |
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| No |
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| Not sure |
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| Probably not |
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| Not sure |
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| YES! The chemist gave the all clear to eat! |
I was away from La
Ribiere for 12 days and in that time summer left and autumn has
arrived, we still have sunny days (and no rain) but the morning are
misty and a bit chilly. However this has brought out the first rush
of fungi/mushrooms and I am pleased to say that some have even passed
inspection at the pharmacy and declared safe to eat!
My week back has
mainly been devoted to finishing the fence work, erecting a 743 foot
long electric fence (yes, I was sad enough to count every foot) to
deter Otters from have a meal of the carp and in finishing off the
first of several paths through the woods. This first one is to
enable non-anglers to walk close to the lake on the far side but to
not walk along the bank itself and disturb the fish or the anglers!
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| 743 feet of fence. |
Because the woods
have been so neglected, making the path has entailed clearing
undergrowth and then felling all the dead wood from what was once a
lovely coppice of hazel and chestnuts. I must have felled close to
200 dead trunks. I now feel I have got the hang of chain sawing in
safe and productive manner and also believe myself to be the king of
the bow-saw.
It has also been
time to get back to some local cuisine, so I made “Pâté du
Limousin, pommes de terre et viande” basically the local meat and
potato pie and a couple of loaves of bread for good measure. I had
to make chestnut bread as I have now frozen about 15 kg of them.
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| Pate de Limousin |
Cooking them and
peeling them ready for use is a bit of an art. You have to peel them
whilst they are hot otherwise the skin goes hard which means that you
almost get blisters on your fingers, but hopefully the end justifies
the means.
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| OLive bread and Chestnut bread |
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|
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| Boil |
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| Peel |
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| Ready |
Last Friday we went
to Limoges for the
“Frairie des Petits Ventres” loosely
translated could mean the “Merrymaking of the small bellies” I
think “small” as in “empty” as it is a food festival devoted
to local meat products and takes place in the
“Rue de la Boucherie”
which had been the centre for butchers in Limoges since the middle
ages. The fair dates back to these times but in its current form was
revived some 46 years ago. The highlight of this is “offal”
especially tripe and things like blood sausages, (boudin noir - black
pudding), andoullietes (tripe sausages) and duck hearts.
For more on the topic of Butchery in Limoges go here:
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| Three happy merrymakers! |
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| Tucking in - Boudin Noir in a Baguette ...yum! |
I loved the
duck hearts and the boudin noir with chestnuts but have to admit that
the tripe sausages had a smell rather too reminiscent of diarrhoea
and thus not a pleasant experience – what one would call an
acquired taste!
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| The tripe sausage - innards exposed! An experience. |
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| Possibly the worst band I have ever heard. |
However it was great
to experience the “merrymaking” with local beers and ciders and
be part of a Limousin tradition. On average 40,000 people attend the
fair held in just two small streets from nine in the morning until
two the following morning. Making merry in honour of St. Aurelian,
patron saint of butchers on the 3rd Friday of October for
hundreds of years!
Sunday also had the
surprise of my first “Vit Grenier” (clear your attic) – a
French car boot sale. Have to say I have never seen so much junk
being sold alongside a cider festival (Limousin is famous for its
apples), but except for a wonderful display of ancient tractors
altogether a rather underwhelming experience.
So back to the
countryside and on the look-out for deer (welcome) wild boar (not
welcome) and avoiding the crazy local hunt who are out an about every
weekend. So far this year they (the hunt in france) have managed to
shoot dead a cyclist wearing bright blue, as they tend to shoot first
and think about what they shot afterwards. Not helped of course by
hunting often after a very boozy lunch! I don't go into the woods
at the weekends!
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| Very French |
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That's it for now,
except to say that with the nights drawing in and the clocks goig
back at the weekend it is time to get started with “Learn French
with Alexa” downloaded from YouTube.
Saw this and was amused - it was in Tate Modern
Oh, and to enjoy some of the comestibles brought back from the UK .... and picked up at the market.
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| Suet, custard powder (for the anglers), spices, treacle and other goodies for autumnal cooking! |
Finally,
I will shortly have to say goodbye to my mate Diesel, as he and his owner John will be returning to the UK for Deer management duties in Scotland. He won't be able to take me out and let me play sticks with him! ACTUALLY, Diesel is one of teh most disciplined and obedient dogs I have ever seen. He sees me as "the guyI play sticks with" but as soon as John (his owner) takes over he reverts to being the well trained Deer stalking dog he has been for the last 9 years. I look forward to him (and John) returning to La Ribiere in 2019.
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| Diesel the Hungarian Wirehaired Vizlar: here offering me the chance to pick up the stick! |
Bisou, Bisou.
Last Friday we went
to Limoges for the “Frairie des Petits Ventres” loosely
translated could mean the “Merrymaking of the small bellies” I
think “small” as in “empty” as it is a food festival devoted
to local meat products and takes place in the “Rue de la Boucherie”
which had been the centre for butchers in Limoges since the middle
ages. The fair dates back to these times but in its current form was
revived some 46 years ago. The highlight of this is “offal”
especially tripe and things like blood sausages, (boudin noir - black
pudding), andoullietes (tripe sausages) and duck hearts.
Sunday also had the
surprise of my first “Vit Grenier” (clear your attic) – a
French car boot sale. Have to say I have never seen so much junk
being sold alongside a cider festival (Limousin is famous for its
apples), but except for a wonderful display of ancient tractors
altogether a rather underwhelming experience.
