Today’s title is a homage to my late grandfather who thought it rude to call one’s friends “old”, instead preferring to refer to them thusly. The friends this title refers to are Gerald and Albert, who I’ve known since I moved to San Francisco in ’93. They were accompanied by their boyfriends, Preston and Mark who we’d not met before. Gerald and Preston arrived in Paris from SF on Sunday, Albert and Mark arrived from LA on Monday morning, where the other two were waiting with the rental car to make their way to us. Despite a long delay getting out of Paris, they made good time and reached our place just before 4pm. We served our usual lunch out by the pool since the weather was still pleasant. We spent the rest of the day and early evening resting and catching up and then had penne carbonara with courgette (zucchini) from the garden for dinner. It was an early night and we were all in bed by midnight or so.
A bit of background on the guys. Gerald moved to Chicago in ’99 for grad school where we overlapped for < 1 year. He stayed there for a few years before moving back to SF. He recently started a new job as CEO of 826national.org, a non-profit that helps kids learn creative writing. He has been working in the non-profit sector for years and has a Masters in Creative Writing so it’s a perfect fit for him and he is very excited. He and Preston have been dating for just under a year and are very good together. Preston works in IT project management for Wells Fargo so has a very similar background to me. He travels a lot for work but seems to enjoy his job.
Albert has mainly lived in SF since before I knew him but he and Mark are in Orange County for another year while Mark finishes his MFA. Mark is a professional dancer so in addition to being a lovely guy, is very graceful and has a nice body. Albert is a consultant for Microsoft where he does data analysis for the Bing search engine. It means he can work from home most of the time which suits him well. The two of them met in ’01 and have been together off and on since then, mostly due to distance until Mark moved to SF a few years ago. It pleases me to see that both of my friends have done very well for themselves on the boyfriend front.
Back to the story of the visit. On Tuesday, we were up early so Gerald and I went to Mareuil for pains au chocolat and croissants. We were all showered and ready to go by 11 so first headed to Brantome for a stroll around. The weather had turned cool, in the low 20’s with some scattered showers. We spent an hour there and then drove on to St Jean de Cole where we stopped for lunch at Le St Jean, our usual restaurant there. We all had three or four courses of the regional specialties including goats cheese or Perigourdine salad, fois gras, confit de canard, cheese and dessert plus a couple bottles of Bergerac and coffee. Afterwards, we had a stroll about town, then drove back via the Chateau Puyguillem, where we just stopped for a few photos. We were all very full for the rest of the day which was a shame since we were having guests around that evening. I think we mostly chilled out and then Will and I started preparing dinner around 7 while some of the guys did a local walk.
We were joined that evening by Sharon, Richard and Brigit. It was the penultimate night in France for Rigit which is why we were having them around. Richard is not happy about leaving so he spent a lot of the night knocking back wine. They still haven’t rented their place so it’s possible he’ll come back to make arrangements in the near future. He hopes to move back here permanently but Brigit isn’t as keen so they’re at a bit of an impasse. Anyway, they came over around 9 and we sat down to a dinner of vegetable soup made by Sharon with winter squash, courgette and tomatoes from our garden, followed by stuffed peppers made by Will and me and then cheese much later on. Sharon’s soups are always delicious but she really outdid herself this time. The peppers were the same one’s we made last week but they were such a hit, I figured we’d do them again. After dinner, the cards came out and we played poker until 2:30 when I beat Will for the title (he contests this but truth is in the eye of the blog author).
It was a much later start on Wednesday so we skipped breakfast and went straight to lunch, made up of leftovers, tomato and cuke from the garden, bread and cheese plus fruit salad. In the afternoon, we went to Bourdeilles, just down the river from Brantome, where we visited the chateau in the center of town. Will and I had been to the town many times but never went into the chateau so we were happy to see the inside. It comprises a medieval fort, complete with tower and banquet hall, and a renaissance chateau, built for Catherine de Medici who didn’t actually bother to show up. It’s filled with art and furniture of the period, including the bed of King Charles V.
We stopped off in Brantome for a beer and then a trip to the shop for the guys to stock up on regional products, mainly cheese, confit and fois gras. We wanted to go out to dinner at the “bad boys” restaurant but they only serve lunch during the week, so instead we went to Au Fil du Temps in Brantome. It was excellent, as always, with most everyone having the Trio of Fois gras to start (pate, terrine and a whole liver served on a small tart tatine (apple pie)). They were serving beef rib (for 2) that evening so we got two of those for four of us and I have to say, it’s some of the best beef I’ve ever tasted, this despite ignoring the chef’s recommendation to eat it rare (we opted for “a point” which is more like medium rare). There were a smattering of desserts, all divine, followed by coffee before we headed home.
The boys were leaving on Thursday so in the morning, we all went to Mareuil to visit the cave a vin (wine shop) where we were all treated to a tasting / wine lesson from the proprietor. He spoke decent English and first offered us samples of the four grapes from the region (Merlot, Cab Sav, Cab Franc and Malbec), then a few more regional reds and then a white and a rose. This amounted to a fair bit of wine, especially since it was only just midday so we were all feeling good by the time we left. The guys each got a few bottles to take back with them on the plane; we looked into shipping but it would have been €100 per half case so not economical. We stopped by the Chateau de Mareuil for a photo shoot before heading home for lunch, which was very similar to the previous day’s. By the time we finished that and everyone was showered, packed and ready, it was 4pm so a bit later start than anticipated for the guys. I heard from Gerald that they made it to their hotel by 10 so the drive back couldn’t have been too bad. I was sad to see them go but very pleased that they made the journey out here and we got to spend a few days together.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, we’ve picked up right where we left off. I just finished the final changes on the prototype and have sent it off for feedback from the other guys. It’s official, eLeaf Media, LLC now exists and we’re days away from getting out there and selling. There’s always more work to do but for the next week or so, I will take a break from that work and concentrate on my other project, the time keeping app for our friend’s company. Will is helping out with the web pages so he’s started work on those today, which is a great help. He’s also going to be leading the house hunting effort, starting off by contacting local Mairies (Mayors) who usually have info about houses for sale in their areas.
The garden continues to bear fruit, especially the fig tree in our courtyard. Sharon and I picked around 30 last week but now they’re coming fast and furious and we’re getting that many per day! She’s started making chutney and I’ve picked out a number of recipes, mostly desserts, to try over the coming days. In addition to the courgette which are still prolific, we’ve had two winter squash that Sharon has used to make soup. There are a few butternut squash on the way so I’m looking forward to putting those to good use. Some of the corn is now as tall as me, so hopefully we may see some ears from them before it gets too cold. The weather has picked up today, it’s around 26 and sunny now so I’m writing this poolside. We’ve got a friend coming at the end of the month but apart from that, we’re visitor free for the foreseeable. Ok, back to work now.