Food, Renovation, Wine

The Kitchen Sink

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Relationnel is arriving this afternoon with the kitchen sink. Well, almost. I wish he was. I am taller than the average Mrs Frog, unfortunately, which means that most sinks are way too low for me. It wouldn’t matter if I had a dish washer, but that is the one major item missing from Closerie Falaiseau and short of putting it in the bathroom (and that would not pass muster with my gîte guests now, would it?), it will continue to be missing until the kitchen is renovated in a couple of years time, at the same time as the addition of a very large bay window, complicated by the fact that the walls, you will remember, are about 70 cm thick. But I want light and a view of our wood.

The kitchen sink in Blois – I would like the bay window on the right of the small window

What Relationnel is bringing, though, is the electric knife sharpener (why do knives become blunt so quickly?), my sewing box (someone’s going to notice that coming-down hem soon), a couple of warm pullovers (so I can wash my only woollen cardigan) and the second cheap-O espresso maker (because pieces keep coming off the one here and my extragently expensive one now lives in Paris without me).

He’s also bringing the fireback for the renovated fireplace which he bought in Baie de Somme through leboncoin.com on Monday. I was so sad not to go with him but it seemed a little silly to take the train to Paris (1 ½ hours) then go another 2 ½ hours by car and back again. So I’m waiting eagerly to see the monster  which is a metre wide and weighs over a hundred and fifty kilos.

Leonardo’s company closing file is also coming down, sadly. I can’t believe it’s not finished yet but the Court wrote to say there were some things missing and a couple of errors. But Relationnel is also bringing the flowers Leonardo sent to me just as I was leaving Paris last time – the florist suggested delaying delivery until Relationnel could bring them down to Blois as it seemed a bit dicey to take them on the train with me.

Last year’s Christmas cake fresh out of the oven

More importantly, the Christmas cake tin and ingredients will arrive tonight as well, though only Relationnel and I will be around to stir and make a wish, an unavoidable break in tradition this year as the cake is already late. I should have made it last time I went back to Paris. Of course. But I was too busy trying to close Leonardo’s company.

Taking the temperature of our home made foie gras

Apart from that, Relationnel is bringing all the materials needed to finish the BIG FIREPLACE OPERATION so we can wish in the New Year in front of a blazing fire, sipping vintage champagne and eating homemade fois gras (if we ever find the time to make it!). It could take a while to unpack from the trailer when he arrives. Then we’ll go out and celebrate our anniversary!

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Food, French customs

Nougat? Did You Say Nougat?

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I’ve at last decided to leave Paris again because of the balcony renovation and go back to Blois. It’s not that I want to. This living in two places is starting to wear me down. I’m also exhausted by the company-closing business. And I won’t see Relationnel for another 9 days. However, Françoise, my friend and neighbour in Blois, has very kindly said she’ll pick me up at the train station, which makes me feel better.

Memebers of the Confrerie Gourmande du Nougat de Tours at Blois train station

When I arrive, I see several people wearing mortar boards. A graduation ceremony in a train station? That can’t be right. It turns out to be a Brotherhood, with a few sisters thrown in. They are dressed in blue silk coats, white gloves and mortar boards with white, red and yellow trimming and are called the Confrérie Gourmande du Nougat de Tours! You may remember the word “gourmand” from my post on café gourmand.

They are busy setting out cake boxes, plastic cups, apple juice, quizzes and pens. They’re also handing out small slices of cake to taste. Françoise gives me a quiz to do. We have to read the information panels to find the answers, then ask one of the brothers or sisters to answer the last question – who are the Brotherhood’s patron saints? They turn out to be Saint Michel (pastrycooks) and Saint Martin (Tours and sharing!). We complete the quiz and get all the answers right so are each presented with a box of nougat cake!

Me in my Australian Akubra hat tasting the nougat cake

The cake consists of a shortbread crust filled with apricot marmelade (they used to use alberge, a sort of early peach), interspersed with candied fruit and covered with a moist almond topping sprinkled with icing sugar. Very tasty, I must say!

Apparently, the little round cake was forgotten for many years but one of the first recipes, dating back to 1865, was found in the library of a famous restaurant owner in Tours, Charles Barrier, in the cook book of Charles III of Monaco’s chef. A little bit complicated I agree. It was resurrected in the 1970s and “nougat de Tours” has been selling like hotcakes ever since.

Nougat cakes from Dominique Grias’ bakery in Tours

Of course, Leonardo Vinci, an iconic figure in Touraine, is supposed to have been a fan as well, because he loved almonds and candied fruit which were known as “chamber spices” back in Renaissance times. The Brotherhood was set up in 1998 and holds a “Best Nougat” competition every year open to professionals. The cake I tasted comes from the ovens of Dominique Grias, 91, avenue de la République, Tours-Nord.

A complete list of places to buy the cakes is to be found on the Brotherhood’s website – along with the recipe. Enjoy !

http://www.nougat-tours.confreries.org

Art, Dieting, Food, French customs

A French woman’s secret to staying slim – Saint Malo – Dali’s restrospective at Beaubourg

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In this Wednesday’s bloggers’ round-up, New Zealander Rebecca Russel (now living in Nice), tells us in a post on My French Life how French women manage to stay slim while American blogger in Paris, Sylvia from Finding Noon, who “likes food a lot”, suggests places to find slimming things like crèpes and butter in Saint Malo in Brittany. On an entirely different subject, Pierre from Paris on Demand describes the Dali retrospective at the Pompidou Centre this winter. The last one was at least 33 years ago (I know – I went to it!), so this year’s is not to be missed! Enjoy!

A French woman’s secret to staying slim

by Rebecca Russel, who lives in Nice on the Côte d’Azur, and is the Director of a property search company, Côte Abode. While looking for French Riviera property on behalf of international clients, she also keeps a keen eye on the latest places to eat, shop and simply enjoy visiting.

I was reminded of how French women eat while dining at a restaurant with an American friend recently. Halfway through our meal he noticed that as each course arrived I would methodically divide up the food and set aside a third.

He meanwhile wolfed into snails in garlic butter (well, he did want to try something French), followed by a whole fish encased in crushed almonds and cooked (again) in butter, accompanied by my leftover pureed potatoes with truffle oil. He finished the entire bread basket before the mains had arrived. We followed this up with cheese and dessert. Read more

Saint Malo

by Finding Noon, an American living in Paris who appreciates fine art, good music, succulent food, and breath taking scenery

Two weekends ago we went to Cancale, and I raved about our trip, and it was fantastic, but then life happened and I start writing about more timely stuff, like the Paris Photo Festival, which I really encourage you to go see, which means I got side tracked and didn’t fully finish talking about our trip, which is fine, because, well, do you really care about every little thing we saw and tasted and experienced? I hope not, for your sake! On the other hand, I do like food an awful lot and we had some great meals on this trip that I really want to remember so I can book places for our next trip, so today, I am indulging myself and making a list of my St Malo favorite foods. First, the fish that got away. Read more.

Dali’s retrospective at Beaubourg

by Pierre from Paris on Demand, aimed at helping tourists and Paris lovers to get to know the city of Light under a different perspective, offering news and updates on exhibitions, museums, restaurants, off-the-beaten-track addresses, events and tips to prepare their trip and understand the Parisian way of life.

The Beaubourg Museum will definitely be one of the hot spots in town this winter with the Dali retrospective which will display more than 150 pieces of art by the eccentric artist who was a prolific painter, sculptor and writer.Along with the paintings, visitors will have the opportunity to watch unreleased videos of the artist, TV commercials he directed, photographs…

This exhibition is an unprecedented tribute to the most famous surrealist artist who was a pioneer and an example for future generations.

http://blog.paris-on-demand.com/2012/11/28/dalis-retrospective-at-beaubourg/

France, French customs, Home exchange, Restaurants, Wine

Red Tape in France part 2

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Part 1 of the story of how I closed Leonardo’s one-man company ended with the drab tax office in Saint Maur so that leaves only two more places to go. First, the legal publications office, back in Paris, then the commercial court in Créteil, also in the eastern suburbs. It would have been more logical to start with the LPO, but I didn’t know that when I began. Of course.

Opéra de Paris

I drive to the LPO, but it’s just near the Paris Opera and there is absolutely no chance of parking. I can’t even find the street, let alone park. I take the car back to our garage and decide I’ll leave the LPO until tomorrow . When I get up to the 3rd floor and open the door, I can already hear the workers chiselling and talking loudly.

Scaffolding on my balcony in the Palais Royal

I change my mind about the LPO. Halfway there, on foot this time, I realise that I don’t have the right papers. I’m fading fast. I go back home but I don’t have the keys and can’t remember the downstairs door code . I try Relationnel but he’s not answering. I phone Black Cat who comes to my rescue. I have the code to the home exchange key box upstairs, so that’s fine. I can get in. And stay in.

The workers have not stopped. I dissolve into tears of frustration. I unplug my laptop from the large screen, keyboard, mouse and internet and go into the kitchen to try and get some work done. There is no internet connection. I eventually return to my office and plug everything in again. Nothing happens. The laptop won’t recognise the screen. I jab the plug in and out and it finally works. But the keyboard and mouse aren’t functioning.

Decorations on Printemps in anticipation of the next paragraph

I try all sorts of methods, to no avail. I can’t even turn the laptop off. I google solutions on my iPhone and finally manage to turn it off. I go and have a shower. When I get back, I turn the laptop on and everything works but by then it’s 6.30 pm and I’ve wasted most of the afternoon. The workers have gone home.

Decorations in the window of Galéries Lafayette

It’s next morning so after waking up to the drilling and chiselling, I set out for the LPO. I have to go the long way because they’re making another film in the Palais Royal. Now I’m having problems finding the street again, this time with my iPhone. I ask a lady in a pharmacy who tells me it’s behind Galeries Lafayette. Well, she’s wrong, but at least I get to see the Christmas decorations at Printemps (not bad) and GL (not much better than last year). I go past a tearoom called Pouchkine that looks interesting and make a mental note to go there sometime.

Café Pouchkine 64 boulevard Haussmann

I finally find the street, around the corner from the Apple Store. Now why didn’t anyone tell me it was there? I hand over the announcement with Leonardo’s power of attorney printed out and signed by me. They don’t even ask for his identity card. I find that shocking. That means that anyone can make a legal announcement! I am asked for an advance payment of 250 euro. Why advance ? “Because it could be a little more or a little less”. What is this? Surely they can work out exactly how much it’s going to cost!

Filming in the Palais Royal

One step left: the commercial court in Créteil but we’re going to the wine fair during Relationnel’s lunch break and he’s already late. The court will be closed by the time I get there. Also I won’t feel like it after all that wine tasting! Right then, first thing Monday morning. Next and last episode coming soon.

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Architecture, Italy, Travel photos

Monday’s Travel Photos – Ruins of Rome

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The most striking thing about the ruins in Rome is that they are part of the city, sometimes incorporated into more modern buildings such as churches and restaurants. One lot of ruins has even become a cat sanctuary! I’ve visited most of the more well-known ones with the exception of the Colisseum because it closes at “sundown”, though the definition of what sundown really is isn’t clear, and each time I’ve been too late!

The elusive Colosseum, originally the Flavian Amphitheatre, and the largest ever built in the Roman Empire
The white marble triumphal Arch of Septimius Severus in the Roman Forum
Another view of the Colosseum
The Arch of Constantine, next to the Colosseum built to honour Constantine’s defeat of the pagan Maxentius.
The Roman Forum surrounded by the ruins of several important ancient government buildings right in the centre of Rome
The Circus Maximus which could hold 250,000 spectators and was famous for its chariot races.
The Pantheon, the best preserved monument of ancient Rome and originally a temple dedicated to the seven planetary gods.
Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Mattini built inside the frigidarium of the Baths of Diocletian in the Piazza della Repubblica.
Torre Argentina where Julius Caesar was murdered on the Ides of March in 44 B.C., now a cat sanctuary!

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Cooking, Loire Valley

Pain d’épices and Pumpkin & Chestnut Soup

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I went walking with my new French neighbours in Blois last week. Two and a half hours, sometimes through muddy forest, but I survived and enjoyed it! Fortunately I was wearing my trusty mushroom-picking shoes but I think I should take a walking stick next time as the clayey soil is quite slippery.

A sculpted tree during our walk

Being three women with lots to say, there wasn’t much silence between us and it being France we naturally got onto the subject of food. Liliane had already given me some lovely chestnuts and a pumpkin so I told her about the soup I’ve now made three times (recipe below). It’s a bit time-consuming but worth the effort and I can use some of the milk that keeps getting left over when I make cappuccino.

Chestnuts and pumpkin for soup

Then Françoise told us about a new, very easy pain d’épices recipe she’d just been given. Now I always thought that pain d’épices was gingerbread but this one doesn’t have any ginger in it so I checked it out in the trusty Wikipedia. According to the Dictionnaire de l’académie française (1694), pain d’épices (épices = spices) is a cake consisting of rye flour, honey and spices (today including aniseed but not traditionally ginger). So there you go!

Pain d’épices

It was initially commercialised in Reims and made popular by Charles VII. They used buckwheat honey from Brittany. It soon took off in other places, including Paris, Burgundy and Alsace where it includes cinnamon. It was actually a sort of sourdough without leavening and was left to rest in a wooden trough in a cool place for several months. The honeyed rye flour fermented and the dough was cooked in moulds. Today, baking soda, invented in the 19th century, is used instead.

I decided to replace the aniseed in the recipe with equal parts of aniseed, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. The aniseed or Pimpinella anisum L is called anis vert in French, in case you’re looking for it.

I’m not a big fan of pain d’épices, but this one is absolutely delicious and I had to refrain from having multiple slices! Fresh or toasted pain d’épices is an excellent accompaniment to foie gras, by the way.

Madame Pfister’s Alsatian pain d’épices

Ingredients
20 cl of milk
125 g of sugar (I used brown)
300 g of honey (I know it sounds a lot)
1 soup spoon of aniseed (or 1 teaspoon each of aniseed, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg)
250 g of flour
1 teaspoon of baking soda
 
  1. Heat the oven to thermostat 6 or 180°C
  2. Melt the milk, sugar, honey and spices then pour onto the sifted flour and baking soda (sifted because otherwise the baking soda has a tendency to form little white lumps)
  3. Put into a well-greased rectangular cake tin and completely cover the tin with tin foil, after greasing the part that will come into contact with the top of the cake.
  4. Cook for 45 to 50 minutes, checking whether it is cooked by inserting a sharp knife. The mixture should not stick.

I read in a few recipes that you should keep pain d’épices for 24 hours before eating it, but this was delicious just a few hours later! Mr and Mrs Previous Owners loved it.

Pumpkin & Chestnut soup (N.B. contains potatoes)

I specifically mention the potatoes because I keep forgetting I need them and have to duck down to the organic bakery to buy some as our own home-grown potatoes have run out.

 
Ingredients
 
– 800 g  pumpkin
– 350 g potatoes
– 1 onion
– 1 knob of butter
– 15 chestnuts
– 40 cl milk
– half to one cup of water
– salt, pepper, nutmeg
 

1. There are different ways of preparing chestnuts. I tend to overcook them in the oven so my preferred method is to remove the outer shell with a knife, then cook them in boiling water for about 15 minutes, after which you have to remove the brown inner skin. This is the time-consuming bit. After that, you need to break them into small pieces unless you have a blender.

2. To save time, you can cut the pumpkin and potatoes into large cubes and pre-cook them in the micro-wave.

3. Slice and fry the onions until golden, add all the other ingredients and about half the milk. You can then mash or purée the resulting mixture and gradually add the rest of the milk. Heat to the right temperature.

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Australia, Australian customs, France, French customs

What am I really? Australian or French?

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If you’ve been following my blog, you’ll know that I recently went on holidays to Australia and it was not always as I expected. In my monthly guest post for My French Life, the global community of French and francophiles connecting like-minded people in English & French, I ponder on where I really belong.

I lobbied alongside fellow expats from the Southern Cross Group a few years ago to have the Australian constitution changed so that Australian citizens living overseas could have dual nationality.

We were successful so I applied for French nationality. Now I can vote in French elections and I have a French ID. I can’t vote in Australia, though, because I have been ‘disenfranchised’ as I no longer reside in Australia.

When I travel to Australia, I use my Australian passport and when I return to France, I use my French passport. It’s like slipping into another skin. Read more

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History, Loire Valley, Paris, Sightseeing

The Renaissance Supermen – Rue View – 75003 Paris

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This Wednesday’s bloggers’ round-up features two fellow Australians: Susan from Days on the Claise, compares two larger-than-life Renaissance monarchs, one from each side of the Channel, while Carina from Carina Okula captures Paris’ charming façades with her photographer’s eye before they disappear!

The Renaissance Supermen

by Days on the Claise, an Australian living in the south of the Loire Valley, writing about restoring an old house and the area and its history.

This portrait of Francois I at Chambord makes it clear to those of us who concentrated on English history at school and barely skimmed over the French that he is an exact contemporary of Henry VIII of England. (It helps of course to have done some costume or art history in the meantime too.) The two men were born within a few years of one another and died the same year. Neither were the expected heir to the throne when they were born. Both were very big men, physically, for their time, being 6′ or more. Read more.

Rue View – 75003 Paris

by Carina Okula, an Australian photographer and rhildren’s craft creator living near Paris. She also has a blog.

Since we arrived in France twelve years ago, little by little, parts of Paris could be seen to be getting a makeover. Unused shop fronts would be taken over with new stores popping up and injecting life into previously vacant spaces. It was a good thing, and the cycle of life went on.

Recently though, the remodeling of the city has started to gather speed and move direction as the number of charming corner cafés, bistros, and boulangeries undergoing facelifts has increased.  Where once there were glorious mirrored panels and unique typography that housed the traditional establishments, modern lines of design are replacing those facades and interiors, and with them goes a part of history. Read more.

 

 

Australia, Travelling

Banking in Australia When You Live Overseas

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We don’t go to Australia all that often – only once every three years – but with the development of Internet banking, I thought it might be useful to have an account in Australia to avoid the hassle of international money transfers through my French bank and the cost of using a Visa card on holidays.

So I found a phone number for a well-known Australian bank and rang them. Within ten minutes, I had opened two linked accounts, one of which had an astonishing 6% interest rate. Certainly far above the 2.25% maximum I can get on my savings accounts in France. It seemed too good to be true.

I had some money transferred into one of the accounts from time to time for various reasons (if Leonardo had a bill to pay in France in euros, for example, I would pay it and he’d put the equivalent amount of dollars in my account), thus saving him an international transfer and giving me some savings for my next holiday in Australia. One day, I wanted to see how much was in the account. And that is when the problems started.

Until I went to the branch I had nominated in Parramatta and showed my ID, I could not obtain the Internet codes. I spoke to various people on the phone and was finally told that I could have my passport and signature verified by the Australian embassy and fax them through. Which I did, at great expense. However, I could still not obtain my codes and any further inquiries were ignored.

In the end, I decided to wait until I got to Australia in September, hoping that I wouldn’t die in the meantime and have my money go to the State! I waltzed into the bank thinking it would only take a few minutes. That was a misconception. I was asked for TWO Australian identity papers. Which I don’t have. I only have my passport. I have plenty of French ID – passport, ID card, driver’s licence, medical card, voting card – but not having lived in Australia for 37 years, I have no other Australian ID.

Nearly an hour and several phone calls later, at my insistence, my French passport was accepted as a second ID. To take money out, I needed a plastic card, but I couldn’t guarantee a postal address where I would be certain to receive the card while I was still in Australia. Tricky. However, I could take money out at the counter, with my Australian passport, at any branch in the country – for €2.50 a time. So much for saving money.

I then said casually, “I suppose this account really is getting 6% interest”. “Oh, no, that depends. Since you haven’t filed a tax number, there’s withholding tax. And you have to put 10 dollars in each month to get interest.” I was flabbergasted.   I asked if I could have a 12-month statement. No, I could only have the last 3 months. Now why hadn’t I been told all this when I opened the account?

I took out a large amount of money (no charge the first time!) and left the bank, angry and discouraged. Relationnel and I divided up the money between us and hoped we wouldn’t get mugged along the way. We were in Parramatta, after all.

Towards the end of our holiday, I went to see another branch on the Gold Coast, prepared to close the account and change banks. This time, the young man was much more cooperative. I was told that I could transfer money into the linked account then set up a monthly transfer of ten dollars so that the first account would be interest-bearing. With my plastic card, I would only pay 50 cents a time to take out money from the ATM. After several emails back and forth, I finally received a 12-month statement.

I can now consult my bank statement on-line, make transfers to other accounts, including international transfers, and receive interest!

But my advice, after all this, is to choose an international on-line bank that is especially geared towards expats and check all the ins and outs. You’ll avoid a lot of hassle. Banking rules are far too complicated for us lesser mortals!

Architecture, Travel photos

Sunday’s Travel Photos – London

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The last time we went to London, it was August, but the weather was not brilliant, as usual.  We stayed in Greenwich overlooking the Thames so most of my photos are understandably related to the river. The first time I went to London, in 1975, on my way to France, I adored it. It was like being on a Monopoly board or reading a Victorian novel. But then I went to live in Paris and London somehow lost its attraction. It has changed considerably since then and, except for the irrisistible Big Big, these photos reflect those changes.

Big Ben in all its finery
Once the London Eye, now the EDF Energy London Eye

The London Eye, or Millennium Wheel, was officially called the British Airways London Eye and then the Merlin Entertainments London Eye. Since 20 January 2011, its official name is the EDF Energy London Eye following a three-year sponsorship deal. I didn’t go up, even if it looks exciting!

The Tower Bridge

 

Olivers Wharf in Wapping

Oliver’s Wharf was built in 1869-70 in the Tudor gothic style to handle general cargo and, more especially, tea. Bought by developers in 1972, it was converted into twenty-three very expensive luxury flats.

On the banks of the Thames near Tower Bridge
Ducks and tricycles share the Thames

from the Tropics to the City of Light