The Versatile Blogger Award

Last week writer Susie Kelly who blogs at No damn blog awarded me The Versatile Blogger Award, thank you Susie. I love popping into Susie’s blog as she has a great variety of musings on her life in France. She also always raises a smile in her many humorous books on a French travel theme, whether it is walking from La Rochelle to Geneva, driving around France in a campervan or cycling east from Versailles in the footsteps of Marie-Antoinette, Susie’s writing is always entertaining. To read my reviews on Susie's books please see Best Foot Forward, Travels With Tinkerbelle, The Valley of Heaven and Hell and Swallows and Robins.

The Versatile Blogger Award is a great way for bloggers to introduce and promote quality blogs that their followers might not otherwise discover. Here are four blogs I enjoy reading and would like to pass The Versatile Blogger Award onto.

First up is Andy Frazier’s Rantings from a French Farmhouse. Andy also writes humorous books about life in France, children’s books and some French travel guides, but it is his unique way of ranting on all that is wrong with the world that I find amusing. Not always politically correct, but makes me smile! You can see my reviews on two of Andy's books here.

Next is a new blog (less than a month old) written by my friend Pam who takes some beautiful pictures and shares them and snippets of her life in France on her blog PamelaJayne Photography.

The third blog is The Aliso Kitchen, written by Rachael who doesn’t live in France but loves to share her love of life and food. This is a busy blog, well worth a read as there is always lots going on, including Rachael’s personal Fat Kicking Year challenge, good luck Rachael.

My final selection is Mon Coeur est dans La Campagne, a blog I have only recently come across written by Delia. As my heart is also in the French countryside I enjoy reading about Delia’s life in Burgundy where she also has some top tips for those of you wanting to make the move to France.

In my little world blogging is a good thing, I enjoy putting my thoughts into words and there is no better feeling than when I get nice feedback from those who read them, thank you. I’m also a nosey person, so love to peek into the lives and minds of others who are happy to write about their life – Long live the BLOG and happy reading.

Fat Free Cherry Cake Recipe

Cherry harvest at www.frenchvillagediaries.com

Here is my most baked cake recipe; I like to indulge in a slice of cake every day, and making it without fat means I can do so without worrying about the consequences. I generally make it with cherries as in our orchard we have five huge old cherry trees as well as about the same again in younger trees. There are at least three different varieties with red and yellow fruits, all with a slightly different harvest time. In a good year we could pick, over a six-week period, hundreds of kilos of cherries. We can’t pick them all and we can’t use all that we do pick, but the birds and the neighbours help us out there. Our freezer comes into it’s own as a lot of the cherries are stoned using my fantastic Leifheit Preserving Cherrymat Cherry Pitter Machine, Plastic, White, frozen on trays and bagged up to be turned into Fat Free Cherry Cakes all year round. You could of course use any fruit of your choice, if we have them I also use halved plums or peaches and sliced apples, pears or quince, all are delicious.

Cherry stoning at www.frenchvillagediaries.com

Ingredients:

Enough cherries (or fruit) to fill the bottom of a lined flan tin

3 eggs at room temperature

65g sugar

110g plain flour

1 tbsp cornflour

1 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp natural yoghurt

50g ground almonds

a few drops of almond essence

Fat Free Cherry Cake www.frenchvillagediaries.com

Beat the eggs and sugar for at least five minutes until very frothy and pale. Gently fold in the yoghurt and almond essence, and then half the dry ingredients sieved, then the remainder. Try and lose as little of the air as possible. Pour the batter over the cherries and bake in a preheated oven (gas 4) for about 20 mins, or until the top is golden and springs back to the touch. Leave to cool and then turn out upside down onto a plate. This cake will dry our very quickly as there is no butter, however it never lasts too long in our house and we always serve it with a healthy dollop of natural yoghurt which helps to keep it moist and adds a touch of luxury.

Silent Sunday

It has been a mixed week here, Wednesday saw our first snowfall of the winter, Thursday was clear and bright, but more snow and ice on Friday followed by a very wet Saturday and another dusting of white this morning. Ed managed a long weekend as there was no school bus on Friday and Ade survived a week in Belfast where he could see petrol bombs and car fires from his office window, but despite the weather was only two hours delayed on his flight home. Today we are enjoying being back together. Here are a selection of pics from this week.

A perfect January harvest from the garden www.frenchvillagediaries.com

Looking forward to sowing these www.frenchvillagediaries.com

Mini in the snow www.frenchvillagediaries.com

Time for tea www.frenchvillagediaries.com

Snowy fields one day www.frenchvillagediaries.com

Sunshine and deer the next day www.frenchvillagediaries.com

Soup keeps us warm www.frenchvillagediaries.com

Raclette confession

Dear readers, my name is Jacqui, I am 41years old, a foodie and a Francophile, but I have a big confession. Until last week I was a raclette virgin! How? Especially when cheese is one of my naughty pleasures. It is a mystery and more so as I can think of few things more comforting on a winters evening than gooey, warm, melted cheese. The basics of a raclette meal are, I think, meats and vegetables you grill together at the table and serve with cooked potatoes and warm freshly melted cheese poured over the top. The cheese cooks in special miniature pans under the grill plate. Total yumminess on a plate and a very social meal experience too.

Having been inducted into the tasty treat at some friends we just had to get ourselves a raclette ‘unit’ of our own. We opted for a teeny, tiny small one as there are only three of us and the price was teeny, tiny too. We figured if it becomes one of those gadgets that sits in the kitchen gathering dust we haven’t wasted much money and if we LOVE it we can always upgrade.

The raclette grill came with a fantastic instruction manual that included some helpful hints I’d like to share with you:

‘Small pieces of meat and/or fish cook quicker than big pieces’

‘Never move the hotplate with hands when still hot: you could get burned’

‘Clean the pans in water and washing-up liquid. Rinse well and allow to dry’

Raclette meal www.frenchvillagediaries.com

Right I think I’ve got that, now on to a feast of unctuous, deliciousness. In an attempt to keep things as healthy as they can be, when the main part of the meal is melted cheese, we grilled mushrooms, peppers, onions and garlic as well as a selection of hams. But I would like your help in case I am missing something; do you Raclette and if so what do you cook on yours? Many thanks.

Book Review of Adieu La Vie by Peter Robert Scott

Adieu La Vie, by Peter Robert Scott is an historic novel set in a village in western France. The setting is the Marais Poitevin region, a reclaimed marshland area with a picturesque canal network that we know well. My main interest to begin with was the familiar location, but I soon found the information on the effect that the Second World War had in this area to be fascinating. Being in the west of France we are not in an area that was directly affected by the ‘battles’ of war, but that doesn’t mean the area was untouched by the troubles and it was interesting to learn more about the day to day life and Occupation in the war years.

The story does jump from present day (end of 1999) to the war years and back again quite a bit as the main character Bernard tries to piece together a mystery surrounding a murder. Thankfully there is a handy character list at the front of the book for reference while you settle into who is who. Bernard originally left the village in his youth, but is back to spend some time with his sister-in-law following his brother’s recent death. Marlène’s behaviour is out of character and her family are concerned, has she simply lost the plot since her husband’s death, or is there really a score to be settled after all these years? Many people have secrets from the Occupation when the Germans became a part of village life, some moved on but others were not able or allowed to forget. Bernard revisits places and a time he has long since left behind, but can he help Marlène?

For me, the fascination was in the history and I liked the pieces set in the war years the best, possibly as there was more life in the village then. The character of ‘old’ Bernard seemed a very difficult man to warm to, but there is a great tale of family love that spans the generations and a good bit of village politics and tittle-tattle too.

Adieu La Vie is available in paperback (£6.29) or kindle (£1.97) from Amazon and I would like to thank Peter for sending me a copy to read and review.

Potager Soup Recipe and Jerusalem Artichokes

We love to grow Jerusalem Artichokes for three main reasons, one they are an easy crop to grow and look after, two they tower above everything else with pretty flowers that are very much like a sunflower, and finally, you can leave them in the ground and harvest all through the winter. Once they get established they will come back year after year which is fantastic for a lazy gardener like me. Some people say they are very thuggish, but with our relaxed planting we love them. Despite their name they are not related to the globe artichoke, although the flavour is similar, and they don’t originate from Jerusalem either. Their Italian name is ‘girasole’ meaning ‘turning to the sun’, and it’s thought over time this has become Jerusalem.

www.frenchvillagediaries.com Jerusalem Artichokes

In terms of health, their main benefit is that our bodies don’t store their carbohydrates in the same way as those of other tubers like potatoes. This basically means they are not as readily converted into sugar in our bodies. However their one side effect is that they can lead to increased wind (hence the nickname fartichokes!)

In terms of cooking we peel and slice or dice and add them to casseroles cooked in the slow cooker or pan fry them with, for example shallots, onions, leeks or butternut squash and garlic. In larger pieces they roast well too and as my friend Sue suggests they give a lovely nutty flavour when mashed with potatos. I was also told that they juice well with ginger and parsley, so I gave it a go and very refreshing it was too, thanks Rhonwen. A very versatile winter root - in my opinion.

As we are in soup season here is my basic potager soup recipe. I regularly make this in big batches all year, in the summer I use our glut of courgettes and freeze the soup for the winter, in the autumn I use pumpkins and squash and in the winter leeks and Jerusalem Artichokes, but any vegetables will do.

www.frenchvillagediaries.com Courgette Soup

Potager Soup

Sauté an onion and 1 tsp of cumin seeds in some olive oil or butter, add 1 or 2 cloves of garlic and 1 tsp of mixed curry spices (my favourites are coriander, turmeric and cumin), then add the diced vegetables (however many you have), salt and pepper, and just cover either with chicken or vegetable stock and simmer until the vegetables are tender. For a really warming version add a sliced chilli and for more flavour from root vegetables or squash, roast them then add to sautéed onions and stock. My preference is to blend until smooth, but I will occasionally add a tin of cooked lentils or chickpeas after blending to give some texture, the variations are endless. If I am making in the summer I will freeze in portions to eat in the winter.  If you like, when serving, a dollop of crème fraiche can be added and I always like to top with grated cheese. Our winters can be very cold and the warmth of a soup for lunch plus the positive memories of warmer days and good harvests helps to keep my winter blues away.

www.frenchvillagediaries.com Potager Soup

This recipe is featured in FrenchEntrée's 100 French recipes to celebrate 100 issues of FrenchEntrée magazine.

Silent Sunday

Welcome to Silent Sunday and a few pictures from our week in our French Village.

Galette des Rois, I have baked a few of these this week http://www.frenchvillagediaries.com/2013/01/galette-des-rois-recipe.html

Mini's new trick

This weeks book review http://www.frenchvillagediaries.com/2013/01/grape-expectations-by-caro-feely-book.html

Mini's birthday walk

Apero time

Morning coffee, always a ritual chez nous

Willow blocking out time in my diary

It has been a good week for deer spotting

The fields are being ploughed and we have been digging the potager

FrenchEntree competition winner

http://pullmaneditions.com

Thanks to the team at FrenchEntrée I am now the proud owner of the above Pullman Editions limited edition Art Deco print. It really does pay to look out for social media competitions as all I had to do was post a Christmas themed picture to their Facebook or Twitter pages to enter, and on Christmas Eve I received an email letting me know I had won. Here is my entry of Père Noel taken in the beautiful Charentes village of Nanteuil en Vallée where we spent a lovely afternoon at a Christmas market. Père Noel seems to be in a rather relaxed mood enjoying his red wine, but I was more interested in the lovely vegetables he has stacked up, food for the reindeer perhaps, but they looked like they could become great soups or curries to me!

Cheers Père Noel www.frenchvillagediares.com

Today the print arrived safely in the post and it is every bit as gorgeous as I hoped, such sunny and cheery colours it will be brightening up the kitchen as soon as we have found a frame big enough (it is almost as tall as I am). It will remind me of summer even on the coldest, darkest winter days, which unfortunately we have forecast for this week.

They are a great source of information on all things French, so if you haven't already 'liked' FrenchEntrée on Facebook, or 'followed' them on Twitter you can find them here: http://www.facebook.com/FrenchEntree and here: https://twitter.com/FrenchEntree Don't forget to mention French Village Diaries sent you over, thanks.

Old dog, new trick

They say ‘you can’t teach an old dog new tricks’, but how old is old in doggy years? Today our dog Mini celebrates her 5^th birthday and in just the same way I have an ever increasing spattering of grey hairs on my head her chin is flecked in white, so is she now old?

Baby face www.frenchvillagediaries.com

New Trick www.frenchvillagediaries.com

Using good old Google I found myself on the Pedigree Dog Age Calculator page and at five years old Mini is 40 in human years and is considered an adult – next year at six, she will be 47 and considered a senior! I guess just like me she is middle aged rather than old, which also explains how over Christmas we were able to teach her a new trick. Clever Mini will now sit and give her paw, although somewhat hesitantly and only for food, it is still a real breakthrough for a dog who doesn’t normally like her paws touched. She still enjoys a good sprint across the fields following the scents of deer, hare, heron and grouse and at any opportunity will charge down the garden chasing and retrieving her ball/shoe/non-squeaking squeaky toy. 

Catch! www.frenchvillagediaries.com

Chewing is still one of her favourite things and over the years she has eaten her way through a number of things including my feather duster, a couple of chair legs and Grandpa’s artisan made saucisson (over Christmas). She loves to travel with us, has her own safe space in the car and we don’t hear a sound from her, even for the twelve hour drive to the UK.

We certainly hope there will be plenty of life in the old dog yet! Happy Birthday Mini you have given us many smiles.

Sorry Mum! www.frenchvillagediaries.com

Walkies! www.frenchvillagediaries.com

Grape Expectations by Caro Feely book review

Image from www.hautgarrigue.com

If I said ‘Chateau Haut Garrigue’, I bet the first thing that comes to mind is French wine? How often have we all sat down of an evening on holiday, looking out over the beautiful French countryside, drinking a bottle of fruity, spicy French wine and wondered how lovely it would be to live in France, have a view like this everyday and maybe make our own wine? Grape Expectations: A Family's Vineyard Adventure in France is the book that tells the story of Caro, Sean and their two young daughters who do just that.

Caro writes honestly about their experiences moving from Ireland to the Bergerac region of France to run an organic vineyard, and her passion and enthusiasm shine through. Living and making a living in France is no holiday and running an organic vineyard is about as far removed from a holiday as you can get. Nothing can quite prepare you for the bureaucracy of setting up a business in France (been there done that), so hats off to the Feely’s for attempting it with the added regulations involved in organic wine production. There were times when their future seemed uncertain, but what came across in the book is that they always gave it a bloody good go. Following your dreams can sometimes feel like a nightmare and there are always dark moments. For Sean and Caro these included a couple of nasty accidents that happened to Sean, you could say lots of blood, sweat and tears go into every bottle! The fact that they have been accepted into the local community and more importantly by the local vignerons, many of whose families have been making wine for generations, is a testament to their hard work and passion for organic wine making.

Image from www.hautgarrigue.com

I’m in awe she found the time to write the book and feel very privileged to have been let into their life in France. Time must have been so pressured with two very young daughters to settle into a new life, the day to day running of the vineyard and developing the wine tourism side of the business. She seems to be good at multi tasking as they have just won the prestigious ‘Best of Wine Tourism 2013’ Gold award for sustainable tourism. Caro’s writing style is excellent and her descriptions of the wine flavours brought the words to life so I’m sure the vineyard courses she runs will be delivered in a very engaging way. For details of these wine tours/holidays see www.frenchwineadventures.com

What would have been perfect would be to have a selection of Bergerac wines to hand while reading – a red Merlot, a white Sauvignon and the sweet Saussignac dessert wine. More information on their wines can be found at www.hautgarrigue.com

With our thoughts turning to our next French road trip I’m tempted to plan a visit to them, taste some of their fine wine and hopefully learn a little more about the wines too. I must also get my hands on some of their local cheese she talks about, made by Nuns and flavoured with walnut liqueur – I’ve heard it goes well with their sweet dessert wine.

This book is perfect French escapism for cold winter days, is published by Summersdale and is available through internet booksellers, all good bookshops or direct from the publishers. A link to Amazon.co.uk is included here.

You can read my reviews of Caro’s memoirs here:

Grape Expectations

Saving Our Skins

Vineyard Confessions (previously known as Glass Half Full)

My France et Moi interview

Amazon purchase links for Caro’s memoirs can be found here:

Grape Expectations

Saving Our Skins

Vineyard Confessions 

Cultivating Change

Saving Sophia  

Galette des Rois recipe

Galette des Rois

It has been a bit of a strange week for my kitchen. Firstly, it has had a major clear out and tidy – the like of which it isn’t used to at all, and secondly I had not baked anything (except a homemade pizza) since before Christmas. Yesterday my equilibrium was restored and I tackled a baking first – a Galette des Rois.

Our collection of feves

As if we haven’t already eaten enough over the Christmas period the French have a special cake to mark twelfth night called Galette des Rois. Hidden in the cake is a small ‘feve’, a porcelain figure (often depicting nativity characters, although film and Disney characters are also common). Traditionally it falls to the youngest member of the family to decide who gets which slice of cake and the finder of the figure then wears the golden crown. The school dessert around the 6^th January is usually galette des rois and the tradition seems to be the finder of the ‘feve’ has to provide another galette for the lunch table for tomorrow, and so it goes on until the shops have exhausted their supply of galettes (which have been available since before Christmas). I am unsure of the roots of this tradition, and I may be a bit cynical here, but I feel sure it has stemmed from the retailers! It is also common to be invited by any groups or organisations that you are a member of to partake in a slice of galette and a glass of cider, as a gesture of friendship. This year I decided to make my own and it was delicious and so much easier than I expected, I don’t know why I haven’t tried it before. Here is the recipe if you fancy giving it a go.

2 equal circles of puff pastry (pâte feuilletée). In France we are lucky to be able to get this handily cut into perfect circles. This is a bit of a cheat, but I do make my own short crust pastry, honest.

Place one circle on a baking tray (I used my 33cm/13” pizza tray) lined with greaseproof paper.

For the frangipani filling:

80g caster sugar

100g softened butter

3 large eggs beaten (I used our duck eggs)

140g ground almonds

Cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, the butter will need to be softened for this. Gradually beat in the egg and then mix in the ground almonds.

Place this mix in the centre of the pastry, leaving a 2cm gap at the edge, hide your ‘feve’ and cover with the second circle of pastry. I brushed the edge of the base with some beaten egg to help bind the edges and then made sure there was a good seal between the top and bottom layers. Gently score a crisscross pattern on the top and then brush with beaten egg.

Bake at Gas 6 (200) for about 30 mins until risen and golden. Serve warm or cold, it is delicious either way.

This post has been linked to Lou Messugo's #AllAboutFrance click here for more posts.

Silent Sunday

Welcome to the first Sunday of 2013, my first Silent Sunday post (less words, more pictures), and my Mum's birthday too. Here are a selection of photos from our week.

This week has been Project Kitchen and here is the new look tidy and organised kitchen - long may it last

Clearing out unearths old treasures!

 

The Basingstoke Canal, Surrey - a regular dog walk spot for us when in UK

January views when dog walking in France

A Truckle of Cheddar from UK

I love my food and it loves me too!

 

Willow was happy to have us home and snuggle

While we were away our ducks started laying again

There is no stopping them all, goose, ducks and chickens

Project Kitchen

The kitchen is the heart of the home, but ours is also a ‘multi-use’ space. As well as housing the stairs it is also home to the back and front doors. This means it is a well-used room, but it is always full of ‘stuff’. We come in, plonk down our bags, kick off our shoes, take off our coats and there it all stays. The post generally makes it no further than the table or worktop where piles have been known to mutate into Mega-piles that have come to scare me and could easily bury me alive.

Two years ago we designed and Ade built a custom made table that has been fantastic. It is not a small kitchen by any means, we have 17 cupboards and 6 drawers, but the stairs mean a normal width table wouldn’t fit. Our slim line, bar height table is perfect and we are so pleased with it.

This week has been project ‘kitchen’ week. Every cupboard has been emptied, cleaned, contents sorted and re-stacked. Numerous sacks of rubbish have been thrown out, the dining room is full of stuff to be sold at a vide grenier and there are ‘items-in-transit’ dotted around the house waiting to find new homes (including a box containing a pile of ‘stuff’). At the beginning of the week Ade was all for a trip to Bordeaux to buy some clever storage solutions from Ikea. Despite the thrill I get from a trip to Bordeaux I was convinced storage wasn’t our problem, organisation was and I was right! It is now looking great and I feel fantastic – a tidy kitchen has given me a clear mind and the motivation to move on and tackle the rest of the house. Who knows we may even get to grips with the dodgy plaster issues and hideous 1970’s brown and orange wallpaper on the kitchen/stairs wall. Watch this space.