On Wed of last week, we were invited to dinner at Nadine’s, Françoise’s sister who lives just around the corner from us. Nadine and her husband were away, scouting out locations for her next film and Françoise was staying at her place to look after the dog and horses. In addition to Will and I, Phillipe was there along with Jenni and her son Mathias. It was nice enough to sit outside for aperitifs, which was homemade bread with beans inside. Phillipe brought a bottle of Zubrovka, bison-grass flavoured vodka from Poland which is a real treat. The dinner itself was a “Tarte Limousin” which is layers of sausage meat and thinly sliced potatoes, topped with a pastry crust. Dessert was homemade “crème anglaise”, aka custard, served on a sponge cake. We all ended up staying there until nearly 1:30, including Mathias whose 6th birthday was the following day. We saw Jenni the next day and she said it would have been impossible to get him out of bed had that not been the case.
We were a bit slow on Thursday although I managed to go to my conversation group and Will cleaned the house. Our guests arrived on Friday morning at Limoges and Will went to get them while I did a bit of work. This was Iain’s fourth visit since we moved here, most recently in May of last year. Matt had been out once before, in December ’09 so this was his first time seeing our house. The weather was cold and wet on Fri and Sat so we didn’t do too much either day. That was fine with our guests, both of whom having been working very hard so were happy to just relax indoors. Iain works for an investment bank and has been doing two jobs for the last year. Matt works in tv, both as a writer and producer and he started as a freelance writer late last year. That night, I made dinner which was oven fried chicken, with bleu cheese potato gratin. Will suggested using a fork to hold the potato so my fingers remained intact. We had charcuterie for starters and patisserie from Milhac for dessert so it was a fairly easy meal. Despite this, I didn’t have dinner on the table until 9:30, just an hour later than planned.
On Saturday, our only activity was a trip to the supermarket in Nontron. Iain wanted to stock up on confit, wine and cheese and we also got food for the rest of the weekend. After we got back, Iain started making dinner and Will, Matt and I went for a brief walk. When we had returned, Iain had nearly finished making that night’s dinner. We started with quiche lorraine which was superb. For the main, he made magret de canard served with a citrus sauce, served with celeraic purée, wilted rocket and pan-fried tomatoes. Everything was delicious and I may even attempt some of the dishes myself. We played poker that night and Iain eventually won around 2am.
Sunday was a much nicer day. We had a lazy morning and then all went for a walk in the woods which lasted 1.5 hours. We had leftovers for lunch when we got back in preparation for a big meal that night. Around 4, Will noticed the Smoo had plopped down in front of the house in the direct sun which is unusual. Smoo’s neck and left cheek had gone very swollen and were getting worse. We suspected a bee/wasp sting since there are many of them about. Unsure of what to do, we asked the internet, both sets of neighbours and his parents what they thought and the consensus was to call the vet. He got their answering machine, left a message and they called back and advised us to bring him in. They gave him two cortisone shots and a diuretic and said that he probably wouldn’t look any better until the next morning. We were there and back in an hour but had to pay €75 for the visit. Indeed, Smoo was fine the next day, with just a little swelling, and he frolicked outside most of the day.
After we got back, everyone got ready and we left for dinner with a stop at St Jean de Cole along the way. We ate at Les Saveurs in Brantome and had a stroll around town first. Dinner was excellent, as always with three of us having fois gras followed by steak, and Will having cod for a change. We were all a bit tired after our big meal so didn’t do too much when we got home that night. The next day, Matt and I went to the Grotte de Villars in the morning since Iain had no interest and Will had just been. It was only my second time and just as pleasurable since we were in a group with only five others. I also understood the guide a lot more this time although she also translated some things into English. We had lunch here and then Will took the guests back to Limoges for their flight back.
The weather on Monday was the nicest it’s been here in some time with temps around 20C (70F). I took advantage of this by first tilling, then planting out the veggie garden. We had raised from seed four butternut squash plants, two courgette, eight peppers and a cucumber so those went in first. Then I planted eight full rows of corn, followed by some rocket and coriander. Meanwhile, Will planted five of the seven seedlings of our special crop and we put them in pots at the back of the garden. We hope to put the other two in the ground amongst the corn if it takes this year. The lawn desperately needed mowing again, so I managed to do the front before collapsing around 8pm. My war with the moles is ongoing, although it’s fair to say they are winning by a long-shot. Bryan loaned me his traps and gave me a tutorial but so far, they have avoided or ignored them.
The weather has gone back to cold and wet the last few days, so we’ve had the fire going even during the day. It’s meant to improve starting on Friday and I really hope so or else I’m going to demand my money back. At dinner last week, Will and I planned to tell Jenni that we wouldn’t be ready to perform, but we ended up leaving having agreed to do five songs! We have the set list planned and will be practicing every night until the concert which is a week from Friday. We are no where near ready to perform so I’m hoping the pressure will help motivate us.