Tag Archives: Les Grouets

Blois, Food, Les Grouets, Life in France, Mushrooms

Thank Goodness for Friends and Neighbours

December 22, 2014 Rosemary Kneipp 14 Comments

The weather is revolting. When it’s not raining, it’s grey and overcast and I can’t remember the last time we saw any sun. The adjustment to retirement is proving far more difficult than anyone imagined so I am truly grateful for any distraction that will take us out the house and into the company of others.

The first distraction on the programme is a gougères and mini-croissants workshop at Martine’s in preparation for Christmas. We tasted both these goodies at her place recently when she held a book signing.

The gougères are a speciality from Burgundy, where Martine hails from. They are little puffy cheese things, light as a feather, delicious and surprisingly easy to make. You can also freeze them for later use (as in Christmas).

Next come the mini-croissants filled with ham and cheese, salmon, goat cheese or whatever else you think will taste good. You start with store-bought flaky pastry and use a little cutting wheel to make sixteen wedges. You cut the filling to size, roll up the wedges and pop them in the oven. Hey presto! Perfect as an apéritif with vouvray sparkling wine.

Gougères and mini-croissants beside the fire

The second distraction is lunch with the girls from Françoise’s gym. I’m not really into gym but I like meeting all the participants. Sixteen of us, including one game husband and the gym teacher, have a most enjoyable lunch in the Initiation dining room of the local catering school, where we’ve already eaten a couple of times in the Brasserie.

A little help from the supervisor in getting the flambeed bananas right

For 14.50 euro, we have an apéritif, eggs Benedictine, poulet chasseur and flambéed bananas which are prepared at the end of the table, together with a local red and coffee. As usual, good value for money. The young apprentices are very serious and do a good job under the attentive eye of their supervisor.

The view from the dining room - grey as usual — The view from the dining room – grey as usual

On Saturday, a local caterer, Eric Bacon, is holding an open day where you can taste and buy various Christmas foods, such as foie gras, salmon, snails and a selection of tarts. Around six, we walk up the hill with our four neighbours from Les Grouets to Eric’s place where a large tent is keeping everyone nice and warm to the sound of the accordéon. Our local biscuit maker, Damien, is also there as well as a representative of Daridan vineyard near Cheverny.

Sharing an appetizer platter inside Eric Bacon's tent — Sharing an appetizer platter inside Eric Bacon’s tent

We taste their cheverny, cour cheverny, sauvignon and « fines bulles » (natural sparkling wine with fine bubbles) and choose the sauvignon to go with the appetizer platter we’ve decided to share : shrimp, whelks with herb mayonnaise, foie gras and wild boar pâté.

Chanterelles mushrooms in their natural habitat

Going down the hill is much easier particularly as Liliane has invited us all to share a duckling that has been simmering on the side of the wood burner all day accompanied by chanterelle mushrooms that Jean Michel and Alain went picking the day before while Françoise and I were enjoying our lunch!

The Mikiphone, the smallest talking machine ever made

Halfway through dinner, Alain brings out a surprise. It looks like a large tobacco tin and turns out to a Mikiphone pocket phonograph patented by a Swiss firm in the Jura mountains in 1924, the smallest talking machine on the market. We watch as Alain puts it together, then gets out an old vinyl record. The sound isn’t brilliant because the stabiliser is missing but the songs are still recognisable!

We walk home feeling warm and fuzzy at the thought of having such wonderful friends and neighbours to help us through this period of adjustment to togetherness as one of our Australian friends so aptly described it.

Closerie Falaiseau, Cooking, Food, French customs, Les Grouets

Mulled Wine and Chestnuts with the Locals

December 15, 2014 Rosemary Kneipp 13 Comments

It’s one of those dull and dreary rainy days in December with little motivation to venture much further than the fireside but our local association, Les Amis des Grouets, is having its annual mulled wine and chestnut evening just down the road at 6 pm and we missed it last year.

This year's Christmas cake — This year’s Christmas cake

The Christmas cake is in the oven but this year only Jean Michel was able to stir and make a wish in person. Black Cat and I chatted on skype while I was making the cake (she was ironing in New York!) and she made a virtual wish.

So, umbrellas open, we call in to collect Françoise and Paul on the way. As we get close to the church, we can hear accordion music and see fairy lights.

We pay our annual dues and buy a ticket each. Fortunately, there are a couple of tents (no doubt the same ones that were used for the bread baking day in May when it was also raining …) but surprisingly, the rain lets up completely.

We are given a white paper bag to collect our chestnuts and raffle tickets to get a plastic cup of mulled wine. We’re allowed refills, we’re told.

Quite a few people eventually arrive but very few children which is a pity. However, the ones that are there have a lovely time roasting marshmallows over an open fire.

The chestnut burner is manned by Norbert, who was the baker on bread baking day, and the postman who doesn’t actually live in Les Grouets but likes the neighbourhood so much that he comes back after work.

Roasting marshmallows over the open fire

We are starting to recognise a few people. Françoise introduces a neighbour who is a retired mason and once did some work on our house, but he can’t remember the details.

I explain to his wife how to make foie gras au sel as we spent a fun day last week with Françoise and Paul and Susan and Simon from Days on the Claise teaching them how to devein foie gras ready for Christmas. For a detailed description of our workshop, I suggest you go over to Susan’s blog.

Françoise, Susan, Simon and Paul tasting the vouvray used for the foie gras

In return, the mason’s wife promises to send me her kugelhof recipe. I’m not a great kugelhof fan but it seems this is a variant so I shall try it out for Christmas. Which reminds me that I should also make Liliane’s gingerbread cake as well.

I’m linking this post to Lou Messugo’s Christmas edition of the All About France monthly link-up. For other entries, click here.

Cooking, Food, Loire Valley, Wine

Bread Baking Day in Les Grouets

May 26, 2014 Rosemary Kneipp 7 Comments

The sky is overcast and we’re hoping it’s not going to rain because we’re about to attend the 8th annual bread-making day in our neighbourhood, Les Grouets. It’s all happening at a bread-oven I’ve already photographed in the past.

8th annual bread baking day at Les Grouets — 8th annual wood-fired bread baking day at Les Grouets

We didn’t expect to be in Blois this weekend so we’re not sure of the programme. We arrive about 11 am and things are already in full swing. The baker is busy baking, the man who sells Les Grouets biscuits on the market is busy talking, the local caterer is busy selling his wares, the local wine grower is busy pouring glasses of wine and the other female members of the Amis des Grouets association are busy selling loaves of grouetin bread and brioche.

Our neighbours talking to the biscuit baker — Our neighbours talking to the biscuit maker

After talking to the biscuit maker and the wine grower, we make our way to the main tent to buy some bread. We are welcomed by the president of the association who is squeezing an endless succession of limes for the midday apéritif – for all those present, though it’s better if we buy something, he explains.

Some of our neighbours arrive to buy pizzas so we put in an order too. Jean Michel goes off to put the bread and brioche in the car while I continue talking to the neighbours. Then I spy the lilac lady who used to live in our “house of happiness”

The temporary baker discussing his trade

I go over to see her and see exclaims in surprise, “Oh, how lovely ! You said you wouldn’t be here this weekend. Let me introduce you to everyone.” It turns out the baker (who’s not a baker the rest of the time, just the owner of the bread-oven) is her brother.

She then introduces us to her sister-in-law and two nieces who used to live in our little house. She is very generous in her praise of us and tells them all that we are très sympathiques. We recount our lilac story and they soon start reminiscing about the little house and the middle house. We learn that their aunts lived in the house on the other side of ours as well.

Who's for some wine? — Who’s for some wine? And maybe some of that paella?

We all go into the tent for our aperitif and the lilac lady insists that we stay with them. We buy some little freshly-baked bread rolls with rillettes and sardines to go with our lime, sparkling white wine and dash-of-cointreau cocktail. Better not have too many of them!

Somehow the pizza orders have gotten well behind but at 2 pm, we eventually collect ours and take it home to eat in the little house which has taken on a new dimension now that we have met the last people to have lived there!

We’re looking forward to the next event when we’re living full-time in Les Grouets – the end-of-year dinner at the little château at the end of our street. And next year, I’ll be able to take my own bread along to bake as there is little chance of our own bread oven being functional for some time yet!

Architecture, Loire Valley, Mushrooms

An Autumn Walk in Les Grouets

November 8, 2012 Rosemary Kneipp 3 Comments

The sun’s shining outside and we’ve just had lunch. Instead of getting back to work on a very boring translation and the Big Fireplace Operation respectively, I suggest to Relationnel that we go for a walk. What’s the point of living in the country if we can’t make the most of autumn? Relationnel immediately agrees so I put on my big thick walking shoes and off we go.

house_autumn — Closerie Falaiseau in autumn

We turn right out of the gate and walk down the road until we get to the railway underpass. We turn right again, up the hill, to the forest. I see there is a sort of path on the right, so we walk along that. Then I see a cyclist bearing off to the right once more and suggest we follow him. We keep going until we come to a sort of clearing.

In front of us is a fairly steep slope and I realise this must be what Alain meant when he talked about being in the forest and seeing the tree tops. The light is amazing and it really is very beautiful and peaceful. We come out of the forest and past a field of stubble, then through a bower of trees that have already lost their leaves.

At the end of the path, instead of continuing straight ahead, we turn right to explore the houses which Relationnel tells me overlook ours. I’m amazed that he knows where we are as I have lost all notion of geography by this time. We then start walking through brambles and Relationnel lets slip that “according to the satellite photo, this should take us back to the other path”. Ah, now the secret’s out ! He’s been checking out Google maps.

We finally have to turn back because the brambles are getting too thick and I am wearing my only decent anorak. We connect up to the field of stubble again and Relationnel finds a Marasme des Oréades (Marasmius oreades) but there’s only one so we don’t keep it. Then we see a whole ring of agarics but they’re on private property which means we obviously can’t pick them even if there’s no fence. A little further on, we see a little group of parasol mushrooms somewhat past their prime huddling together in the sun.

parasol_mushrooms — Parasol mushrooms huddling together

We go past a few more houses and I see a delightful little number plaque with blue shutters and a blue bike. Now, I wonder what sort of plaque I could find for a house that’s 400 years old and has mullioned windows and a half-timbered tower? And I wonder whether Mei Lun’s beautiful drawing of Closerie Falaiseau could be made into a plaque.

Suddenly I recognise where we are – we’re walking down a road called Rue de la Grande Filaire that I’ve never wanted to take because we usually approach it from the bottom on our bikes and it looks like a long haul up ! So we turn right and walk down Rue de l’Hôtel du Grand Pasquier that eventually meets up at the church on the corner of our road. Another 15 minutes and we’re home, delighted with our lovely autumn walk and ready to get back to work.

mai_luns_sketch — Mei Lun’s sketch of Closerie Falaiseau

France, Lifestyle, Loire Valley

Meeting the Neighbours in Blois Part 2

June 27, 2012 Rosemary Kneipp 8 Comments

Each time we’ve come down to Blois since we signed the final papers in April, most of our waking hours have been spent getting the gîte ready and planting potatoes in the rain. So this time, we decided we’d have a holiday. Yesterday was our first “work-free” day so after a côte de bœuf cooked on the barbecue in the garden, admiring our reflowering wisteria, we cleared the table and set off for a walk in the twilight. These are the longest days in the year when it doesn’t get completely dark until 11 pm!

As we were walking up our road on the way back from a long ramble at about 10.30, we saw two couples about our age in front of a house whose ivy-covered front façade gives directly onto the road and could hear them laughing and saying, “Shh, not so loud. Don’t be so noisy” – in French of course. So as we got closer, I said, “Who are these people making so much noise in our street?”. Everyone laughed and I introduced us as their new neighbours. Relationnel chipped in, describing the house. “Oh, yes, then you must be the Australian!” came the reply! Once again, my fame had gone before me. Mr Previous Owner had obviously been paving the way for us.

We chatted and joked for a few minutes, then Françoise suggested we all come inside for a digestif, explaining that they had been celebrating her husband’s birthday. We accepted with alacrity. Françoise and Paul arrived in Blois 24 years ago from the Paris area and found intergration into the local community difficult at first. Since Françoise has a degree in English and Paul works for an American company, they have hosted many English speakers over the years, mainly youngsters, but Françoise told us a very funny story about a 74-year old American who came to stay and was surprised at the lack of air-conditioning. She even wanted to change host families but in the end, Françoise was able to get her into the local bridge club and, from then on, things improved considerably.

Their neighbours from just a couple of doors down, Liliane and Alain, are real locals. Well, not quite. Lilian is, as she, her parents and grandparents were born in Les Grouets, which is the name of our neighbourhood. She knows all the local history and was able to fill us in on the area. I had noticed Alain’s accent but didn’t like to ask where he was from. Not that he would have minded. He’s a great wit and obviously the life and soul of any party.

It turns out he’s Solognot from the region called La Sologne, between the Loire and Cher rivers and only a stone’s throw from here. It’s known for its forests and lakes and was a favourite hunting ground of kings and princes. Its most famous châteaux are Chambord and Cheverny. You may remember that we went to a huge brocante at Chambord in May.

We learnt from Paul, who’s in IT, that we’ll be getting a fibre connection in 2014, which is wonderful news. Françoise brought out her iPad (oh, wasn’t I jealous!) and took photos so I told them about the blog and the Loire Connexion community for anglophones masterminded by Summer Jauneaud. Françoise was delighted because she doesn’t have a lot of opportunities these days to speak English.

The time slipped by incredibly quickly, no doubt helped along by some sort of mint on the rocks digestif and we didn’t leave until well after midnight! What a wonderful start to our holiday ! And very encouraging for our future life at Closerie Falaiseau.

Aussie in France