You’ll be pleased to learn that the pecan squares came out nicely, as did the cherry-chocolate brownies. One of the things I still miss from the States is pecan pie so I asked Mom to bring me some pecans and she obliged. I found a recipe on epicurious.com for pecan squares which I figured would sate my pie craving. They are shortbread underneath, covered with pecan in a sticky caramel sauce. They are really tasty but haven’t quite sated my urge so I guess I’ll use the other lb. she brought over and attempt a pie for some lucky visitor.
Speaking of which, we’ve recently had two booking but first, the rest of Mom’s visit. Monday night Will polished off the remaining chicken and Mom and I had pan-fried lamb with a cherry port sauce that called for nearly a cup of port. The lamb was cooked perfectly and the sauce, although not as good as the bbq sauce from the previous night, was also very tasty. On Tuesday, we went to Nontron in the morning since Mom had yet to see it and to pick up a few more supplies for that evening’s meal. Mom and I cooked together and I got to be sous-chef for a change. We served caprese salad to start (tomatoes, mozzarella and homegrown basil) and roasted chicken with Morrocan spices, herb-roasted carrots and cous-cous with raisins and almonds. The chicken was a new recipe, basically an easier version of our southerwestern spice rub with lemons and corriander in the cavity. It was all relatively easy to prepare, especially relative to how delicious it all turned out. We had the aforementioned brownies and pecan squares for dessert.
Our guests that evening were the neighbours, Lucien and Mauricette who brought along a bottle of champagne and raspberries from their garden. We’ve had them around for coffee and they were at the housewarming but this was our first time hosting dinner. When I told them my mom would be here and wanted to cook them dinner, they were reticent until I mentioned that she is nearly fluent in French so they accepted. We finally learned what he did for a living and let’s just say that we’re pleased we didn’t come out to him about our smoking since he used to be a gendarme, first in Paris and then Bordeaux. He is still a very “letter of the law” kind of guy according to Mauricette although I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t dob us in. Still, I don’t think he’ll be too understanding so we’ll have to do something about our growing crop. Anyway, they stayed until around 11 and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Will went to return their bowl yesterday and instead, came back with it full but this time, with cepes (porcini) that Lucien had just collected. I fried them up and used them in a frittata along with homegrown shallots and basil plus blue cheese.
We finally had a nice day on Wed with temps in the mid 20’s (70’s) and mostly sunny skies. Will had his driving theory class that afternoon so Mom and I nipped to Brantome where she bought some pressies for the grandkids and then we strolled around. We missed a few of the nice bits when she was here last year so we visited those and then headed back to St Pardoux where we collected Will. We returned there later that evening to dine at the Hotel de France, home of the nicest restaurant in town. It had been recommended by both the neighbours and the horse people so we had high expectations that were definitely met. I doubled down on fish and had salmon prepared three ways to start and monkfish in a light curry sauce and then poached pear with ice cream for dessert. Mom had a Perigourdine salad to start and the same as me for the other two. There wasn’t a suitable menu for Will so he planned to go a la cart until the waitress informed us of a daily special – salad with pork and turkey and roast potatoes for a main – tailor made for him. We had aperitifs and a nice bottle of red to accompany the meal which was served on the terrace. The other clientel were mostly Brits but other than that, it is a great spot.
I drove Mom to Limoges train station on Thursday, my first time actually going into the city. She and my dad stopped there for a night on their honeymoon and I now have in possesion the porcelin vase they purchased there at the time. We arrived a bit early to see a bit of the place and it’s not terribly impressive. It does have some grand churches and an old town but we didn’t have time to see it. So I don’t think we’ll be spending time there anytime soon. We took it easy the rest of the day and then I did a bit of work on Friday. We got some rain on Thurs as well as Fri pm / Sat am so the garden is looking a bit better. Everything except the potatoes which are yellowing and have black spots on the leaves. We got some fertilizer and gave everything a dose but so far, it hasn’t helped. We just harvested the first green beans and a few of the lettuces are finally ready to be picked.
Things are progressing on the work front. We saw our estate agent friend Karen today and left her with a stack of Sites for Homes leaflets. We plan to drive around a few villages and put them in letter boxes of anyone selling their place. We also tried Google keyword ads since we had some free credit and it has driven up our page impressions although no inquiries have come of it. I reviewed the HTML version of the new pages with Alan who gave me feedback so I can now carry on and start building. I also started looking into joining sites like odesk.com and guru.com which pair up employers with contractors, usually for short term projects. The pay doesn’t look great but the idea is that you build up a portfolio and get rated and this allows you to charge more. So some people are earning a decent wage but most of them aren’t. It’s a bit bigbrother-ish in terms of how they keep track of your hours but this also means that you’re guaranteed payment. If any of you readers have experience with these sites or know anyone who has, I’d appreciate it if you would get in touch with feedback.
Besides having the neighbours over for dinner, we also spent some time with them last night at the equestrian centre’s annual fete. During the day, the kids put on various shows and then they serve a big evening meal. It’s by invite only, mainly just for members but select few neighbours are also invited and we made the cut. We arrived around 7 and were joined by Brian, the English guy who lives in the hamlet whose wife is still back in the UK until August. They had a small keg of beer to which we helped ourselves and mingled a bit with the punters. The couple who run it are Guillaume and Geni and he is in a band comprising a few guitars, bass, drums and three or four female singers. As we arrived, they were belting out “I Love Rock n Roll” and throughout the night, did an ecclectic mix of French and English songs including “Highway to Hell” by AC/DC and “Zombie” by the Cranberries. The meal was a mechoui which is spit-roasted sheep and it was served with all sorts of salads and quiches that people had brought along. We switched from beer to wine for the meal and were pleased with Lucien brought out a bottle of ’03 Bordeaux which was superb. One of the lifeguards from my pool in Nontron was there and he was falling down drunk by the night’s end. We were a bit better off although it’s been a long time since I’ve had a night on the beer and it really didn’t agree with me. The only other notable thing was that despite being the 19th of June, we were dressed in jumpers and jackets since it wasn’t much more than 8 degrees although at least the rain was gone by then.
Today we drove to Villbois where we had lunch with Barry and his boyfriend Simon who is here from England for the week. Barry is the one who recently sold the license to his restaurant so he’s now looking for something to do. Simon works in IT for the NHS back in Stoke and he comes down for a week every month or so. It was really great to have a homemade meal prepared by a real live chef and he didn’t disappoint. We started with a salad of smoked duck breast, served with croutons and rosemary, followed by chicken slow-cooked in a pot served with roast potatoes and green bean parcels wrapped in bacon. Dessert was a store bought cake made of cream and pears and was followed by coffee and cognac. So that, in addition to the pastis and a couple bottles of St Emillion made for a very enjoyable meal with really good company.
Earlier I mentioned visitors who will first be Cyril, a friend from London who is between jobs and then Ludwig and his boyfriend who are stopping with us en route from Madrid to Paris. Cyril arrives on the 27th for a couple of nights and is leaving behind his wife and three kids. It will be really great to spend some time with him. Ludwig and bf are coming the following week and I’m not yet sure for how long. He rented a room in Iain’s place next door to us in London and was the one who introduced us to the Devon Rex breed of cat. He’s Australian, about 6’3″ and has appetites to match his stature so we’ll be stocking up on whatever we can before he arrives. His bf is Spanish and we’ve not yet met him but hopefully, he has a calming influence on Lud.
I will close with more tales of the cherry. I think I just picked the final bowl in preparation for dinner tomorrow night when we’re hosting Brian from down the road. We’ve gathered all the ones you can reach from the ground that aren’t rotting as many of them are. I can now appreciate the phrase “cherry-picking” when it comes to the arguing tactic as well as why those machines that they use for filming or fixing telephone poles are called “cherry pickers”. Finally, while we were out today, the horse people dropped by some stuff including a clafouti (cherry upside down cake) that must have been left over from last night. As Aunt Mimi surmised, the reason that the French close their gates while away is to prevent the neighbours from leaving unwanted produce on their doorstep. Note to self: start closing the gate during cherry season.