Advent day twelve, a special Christmas meal

Repas de Noel

Being a village councillor has a few benefits, like being allowed to take part in the Christmas meal offered by the municipality to all residents over seventy, despite only being 44. 

Menu

We dined like kings and queens on foie gras, fish terrine, roasted baby chicken, cheese and a three chocolate dessert. As you would expect wine flowed before, during and after the meal. Here are just a few photos to whet your appetite. 

Foie gras

Fish terrine

Roast chicken in champagne sauce

Cheese

Chocolate

Here are a few of my favourite Christmas themed books set in France.

Book review of Monet's Palate Cookbook by Aileen Bordman and Derek Fell

Welcome to day 11 of my #FrenchVillageBookworm advent calendar where today I am sharing a book that would make a perfect Christmas present for the special person in your life.

#FrenchVillageBookworm advent calendar day 11

My review today is for Monet's Palate Cookbook: The Artist and His Kitchen at Giverny by Aileen Bordman with photographs by Derek Fell. This book is an absolute delight and covers so many of my passions I’m not sure what I was more excited about. There is France, food, gardening, photography, colour and art, all packed into a beautiful hardback book that looks, feels and smells divine.

Aileen begins by setting the scene, explaining how important the kitchen garden at Giverny was to Monet. We all know about his garden, the water lilies and his art that was inspired by the beautiful retreat he created in Normandy, but I’ve now learned that he was also very passionate about growing and eating his own food, just like me. When his art took him away, his letters home always enquired about his kitchen garden and how it was coping without him. There is a detailed description of the fruits, vegetables and herbs that were grown as well as tips for setting up a small potager of your own, all illustrated with lovely photos by Derek Fell and featuring paintings from Monet.

 

Monet's Palate Cookbook, the vegetables

The second part of the book is a recipe section with a varied selection of appetizers, main courses, side dishes, desserts and cocktails, all inspired by the ingredients of a typical French potager that are clear and easy to follow. I was really in my element here, drooling over typically French and Norman dishes including Camembert Fritters with Apple and Raisin Chutney, Roast Pork with Cherry Sauce, French Green Beans with Walnut, Parsley and Orange Relish and Normandy French Apple Tart. There is even a cocktail called Impression Sunrise in the Garden, inspired Monet’s painting of the same name and containing honey, blood orange juice, mint leaves, crushed ice and sparkling water. I know that this book is going to get a lot of use in my kitchen.

 

Monet's Palate Cookbook, the art and photography

I have learned so much, I’ve got new ideas of what to plant in our potager next year and loads of new recipes to try, plus it has made me even more determined to make a visit to Giverny in the near future.

Many thanks to Aileen for generously mailing me the hardback version of this book to review.

Monet's Palate Cookbook: The Artist and His Kitchen at Giverny is available in hardback and ebook format, but I really do recommend treating yourself (or someone special as it is almost Christmas) to the hardback book that will look great on a coffee table or take pride of place in your kitchen.

Book review of The Hundred Foot Journey by Richard C Morais

Welcome to day ten of my #FrenchVillageBookworm advent calendar where every day between now and Christmas I am featuring a book set in France.

FrenchVillageBookworm Advent Calendar day 10

My review today is for The Hundred-Foot Journey by Richard C Morais, a lovely novel that is narrated by Hassan Haji as if it were his memoir. The book starts off in Mumbai, then moves to west London and following a European road trip, the extended Haji family decide rural France is where they will find the happiness they have been searching for since leaving Mumbai.

In the small French village of Lumière they open an Indian restaurant where talented cook Hassan is the chef. Things for the family don’t always go to plan, especially as the village is already home to a Michelin starred restaurant whose owner Madame Mallory is less than happy with their arrival and a war of the restaurants begins. However, Madame Mallory has underestimated both their ‘pick yourself up, dust yourself down and move on’ attitude, as well as Hassan’s natural talent in the kitchen. Could he achieve what she has only dreamed of, a second Michelin star?

The characters are colourful, there is plenty of humour and I really felt I was among the chaos that was his family. This book is packed full of family drama, trauma, discrimination, but also passion and determination. They have their lucky breaks, but hard work also plays its part in Hassan’s rise to fame in the elite French culinary world. This is real feel good book where the flavours of France and India come alive from the pages. Be prepared to feel hungry!

The Hundred-Foot Journey is available in paperback and ebook format and has also been made into a film, which although entertaining isn’t quite as good as the book. The paperback film tie-in edition is currently available as part of Amazon UK's 'Three paperbacks for £10' promotion.

Book review of French Kissing by Lynne Shelby

Welcome to day nine of my #FrenchVillageBookworm Advent Calendar where every day in December I am sharing a book set in France.

#FrenchVillageBookworm advent calendar day 9

My book today is French Kissing by Lynne Shelby, a novel with a beautiful cover and a delicious French twist. Anna has been writing real letters to her French penfriend Alexandre for fifteen years, since they met on their school exchange. He was a weedy, geeky guy who over the years she has shared many things with, but they haven’t met up since school. As soon as I read the penfriend concept of this book in the synopsis I knew this was a book for me. I have fond memories of writing to my French penfriends and I’m sure I’ve even got the letters stashed away in a box somewhere.

When Alex writes with news he has been offered work in London, Anna invites him to stay with her until he is settled. It doesn’t take a genius to work out that life is about to get tricky for Anna. Alex is now tall, gorgeous and single, her boyfriend Nick isn’t happy and her friends are hanging around her flat like bees around a honey pot. Alex’s presence certainly gives Anna lots to think about and that is before he invites her to Paris for a photography exhibition.

However, as in all good chick-lit it takes more than a handsome Frenchman to make a plot. There are twists, circumstances, disappointments, surprises, tears and frustrations. I loved it all and the warm squishy glow it left me with too. Thanks Lynne.

French Kissing is available in paperback and ebook format and links to Amazon can be found below. The ebook is currently on promotion at only 99p.

Book review of A Long Way from Paris by EC Murray

Welcome to day eight of my #FrenchVillageBookworm Advent Calendar, where every day between now and Christmas I will be sharing a different book with you. 

#FrenchVillageBookworm Advent calendar day 8

Today it is a review for A Long Way from Paris by EC Murray, a memoir about Elizabeth’s six months spent working as a goat herd in the Languedoc region of France in the early 1980’s.

This is a well-written memoir that conveys the physical and emotional journey for twenty six year old Elizabeth who had not really planned on moving to France, but following a break up set off alone with little idea where she would end up. From the beginning it certainly became a life changing adventure for her and I have to admit my heart was in my mouth when reading about parts of her journey to the South of France. An introduction from a distant cousin led her to a family living on a remote goat farm who were looking for help with their herd.

Living the simple life of the farmers, she conveys the hardships of a bitter winter spent on the high ground of an isolated farm, looking after the animals and a family. There is sadness and loss and emotions that are not easy to hide, but she also describes the peace that can be found in carrying out the simple things in life and in filling your days with hard work and fresh air. She describes the countryside and the members of her French family very well and she really put her finger on the fuzzy bubble of incomprehension you feel when you don’t understand the conversations that are going on around you.

This is different from many memoirs as it isn’t a light-hearted look at time spent in France, but it is an enjoyable and intense emotional read.

A Long Way from Paris is available in ebook and paperback format and links to Amazon can be found below.

Book review of Meet Me in Paris by Juliette Sobanet

Welcome to day seven of my #FrenchVillageBookworm Advent Calendar where I’m featuring a different book every day until Christmas.

I have been a big fan of romance author Juliette Sobanet for many years. Her first self-published novel was the first ebook I ever read, squinting at the tiny text on Ade’s iphone on car journeys that I wished could have been longer. I have followed her career, swooned my way through many of her novels and novellas, where the men know just how to treat a lady and the France they are set in is full of chocolate, patisseries and cobble streets paved with love. This book however is very different and my excitement about getting my hands on a new book from her was equally matched with apprehension at discovering the inner secrets of Danielle, the real person behind the romance author Juliette. The fact there is no real Juliette was a shock at first, but as a social media follower I knew this before reading this book.

Day seven #FrenchVillageBookworm Advent Calendar

Meet Me in Paris: A Memoir is the true tale of a hopeless romantic addicted to writing, travel and France who found herself in a marriage where she had to be someone she wasn’t for everyday life to tick over nicely, despite loving a husband who also loved her. One day she spread her wings, took off to experience freedom and to find the passion she could only write about, divorcing her husband and having an affair that gave her great highs but deep lows too. She is a good example of the torment of the creative mind who needed to flee what she feared was slowly killing her inner soul, but the price of freedom was high. It was not an easy journey, there were some very dark days for her when loneliness and depression zapped her of her energy and threatened her life. There were times when I felt very sad, times when I felt she was selfish and times I wished she would just stop making the wrong decisions and get on a plane to France, which she does numerous times throughout the book.

Ultimately this book is a journey of discovery and recovery, where Paris and Lyon try their best to soothe her troubled mind and help her move forward to a happier place. She just needs to work out where to find this happiness; is it in France, in her marriage, in the arms of her lover or is there something else? Her writing certainly became very important in her healing process and this led to an emotionally charged memoir that contains some strong language and scenes of a sexual nature.

At the end of the book I found myself wondering how I felt. Danielle has slightly deflated my dream of the typical life I expected a romance novelist like Juliette Sobanet to be living, but I can’t help but feel privileged she has shared her real life with her readers. Characters in a novel have ups and downs before finding their happily ever afters, real life is a different story altogether. She will always be Juliette to me and I can’t wait for her to feel ready to write another chocolate filled romance set in France.

Meet Me in Paris: A Memoir is available in ebook and paperback format and links to Amazon can be found below.

To read my reviews of her novels click on the links below, to read the guest post she wrote for me about her novel Midnight Train to Paris click here and for my France et Moi interview with Juliette click here.

Sleeping With Paris

Kissed in Paris

Dancing with Paris

Honeymoon in Paris

Advent Day Six

Welcome to Day Six of my #FrenchVillageBookworm Advent Calendar.

Yesterday was a day of action for charity that found us on the bikes from dawn until dusk, but where delicious food was on hand almost nonstop to keep our energy levels topped up. It was the annual Chef Boutonne Cyclothon, a 60 km cycle tour of the canton raising money for Téléthon, the fundraising event that takes place throughout France on the first weekend in December, to support families with children with muscular dystrophy. Every village we passed through welcomed us like kings and offered a selection of sweet treats from biscuits to brioche, cake to coffee, sandwiches to satsumas, mulled wine and more.

Defrosting my fingers with mulled wine

It was a freezing cold start and despite many layers of clothes I was painfully cold, however this glass of mulled wine at the first stop (8.44am) soon warmed me up and gets my vote for the best mulled wine of the day.

The biggest brioche I've ever seen

The best brioche of the day had to go to this giant that despite the size was the lightest brioche I have ever eaten.

Our village welcomes the cyclothon

The best hot chocolate of the day had to be the afternoon stop in our village, not only because it was the first hot chocolate of the day, and there is only so much mulled wine you can drink without falling off your bike, but also because it was a proper, rich and milky hot chocolate that gave me the energy needed to get back on my bike rather than give up and walk home.

Homemade cakes for hungry cyclists

The best cake selection goes to the last village we stopped in where there were at least six different homemade cakes perfectly presented in bite-sized portions, and yes I did sample them all.

Tired but happy after 60km

It was a challenge, but it was also an incredibly fun day out and we were rewarded with the most spectacular sunset at the end of the day.

Today for my French Village Bookworm advent countdown I am featuring the books of local Poitou-Charentes author Susie Kelly who is no stranger to tackling tough physical challenges, like walking alone from La Rochelle in the west of France to Lake Geneva in the east, or cycling from Versailles in the west of Paris, through Paris and on to the east following in the footsteps of Marie Antoinette. Susie’s adventures are well written, entertaining, as she encourages to laugh at her misfortunes and informative as she shares her knowledge of the France she travels through. Susie has also written a series of cookbooks influenced from her well travelled life, that are ideal for those of us who like simple, easy meals. The ebook version of The Lazy Cook book two is currently FREE on Amazon.

Links to my reviews of her books can be found below and you can read my France et Moi interview here.

Best Foot Forward

Travels With Tinkerbelle

The Valley of Heaven and Hell

Swallows and Robins

The Lazy Cook

Advent Day Five

Welcome to Day Five of my #FrenchVillageBookworm Advent Calendar. It is the weekend and my post today is a little different. The only thing I missed last December with my A to Z of French Foods Advent posts was writing about daily life in the village. This year, every weekend I will spotlight some special books and tie them in with what is going on with real village life.

#FrenchVillageBookworm Advent Calendar Day Five

Today I am featuring a series of books set in a small mountain community in the Pyrenees, The Fogas Chronicles by Julia Stagg. I’ve enjoyed all of these books and I think the main reason is because Julia has perfectly portrayed the life in a small, rural French commune that is inhabited by some real characters. There is village politics, the inevitable bickering that occurs when everyone knows everyone else’s business, but there is also community spirit and the teamwork that is required to make a village a special place to live. Fogas felt so real I could imagine living there myself.

If you haven’t yet experienced life in Fogas you can read my reviews below and you can read my France et Moi interview with Julia here.

L’Auberge

The Parisian’s Return

The French Postmistress

A Fête to Remember

A Christmas Wedding
Last Chance in the Pyrenees

French Village Christmas Elves

In my small French village, this week has been Christmas decoration week. Our community has come together over the last three weeks, volunteering time and resources to make some very special, bespoke decorations. Ideas were discussed, money was found, materials were bought, designs were perfected and production began. While some cut, drilled, sanded and glued, others painted, wrapped and decorated. This week the finished project was unveiled to the villagers who were amused to see clumps of Christmas trees popping up all over the village. I’m proud to have been part of the team and very pleased with what we have all achieved.

French Village bespoke Christmas trees

Last year many people thought it was a shame the village didn’t look very festive. This year, and hopefully for many years to come, we have our own, very special community decorations. I can imagine the residents of Fogas doing a similar thing.

Sapins de Noel

A French Village at Christmas

Christmas in France

This post has been linked to All About France run by Lou Messugo Click on the link to read more posts all about France.