My Very Own Pop Up Restaurant.

It is surprisingly easy to break the habits of a lifetime.

Let me explain.

As the mother of two, I have put in around 26 years service in the capacity of chief cook and bottle washer in the family home.
However, as the nest has been vacated some 18 months ago, I find I have lost the discipline and desire to cook or prepare the obligatory “three square meals a day”.
I am oft here alone when my OH is working in London, and all too often a bowl of cereal or a few slices of toast replaces a decent meal.
Time spent at the stove lessens over time, so cooking a meal for two or more people then becomes an unwelcome chore.

Enter the Pop-Up Restaurant concept.

I marvel at these enterprising souls who create a restaurant in the heart of their homes using all available space and gadgetry to maximise the numbers they can accommodate. Clever stuff I hear you say.

Well, if they can do it, so can I.

To emulate this model of ingenuity, I have garnered the following:

1. An additional medium sized box freezer.
2. A range of bistro style plates with a selection of smaller bowls that will fit on and allow a space for salad garnish or similar.
3. A well stocked larder and fridge, plus existing freezer for raw meat, fish, basic supplies like home-made pastry, home frozen fruit and veg, plus any other not to be missed bargains from the supermarket
4. Ample inspiration and ideas to rustle up meals that can be made ahead in part or in full to be served at a later date.

I then spend quieter time midweek preparing meals in larger than required volume, batch them up in an attractive, ready to serve bowl (oven and microwave proof) and pop them in the freezer until needed.

Then, when I am in that nowhere to run place where I have to put something decent on the table au dernier moment, I dash out to the summer kitchen, have a quick rifle through the freezer, select my dishes and get them heated through.
In the meantime, I prepare some sides, as they are affectionately known as in bistro circles – flat breads. potatoes,vegetables. salad, relishes, pasta, rice or whatever, and then, at the last moment assemble them on the plates to be served to the assembled hoard.

Eh, voila!
The result is very attractive and tasty food that has been lovingly prepared well before it is required.
Result? Happy eaters, and a less stressed me.
I can thoroughly recommend it as an efficient and work-smart alternative to preparing every morsel of food moments before they are needed at table.

What Weather!

Having just returned from a wonderful lunch at Le Logis de Pompois, I am feeling very satisfied all round.
In fact, life couldn’t get much better.
I do have one small complaint though – why, oh why is the weather so bad?
It is the 6th April today, and the temperature is hovering around the 5 degree mark – hardly what one might call the seasonal norm you might say.
Sadly, complaints of this nature have no destinaire as they say in France – no-one to whom you can vent your spleen and have a good old moan.
After all, there is nothing like getting it out there, all that pent-up anger and frustration when yet another grey day dawns.
All we have to fall back on is the good old British sense of optimism when it comes to bad weather:
Tomorrow is another day, and there is always the possibility that the sun will shine and the rain will stop.
I guess I’ll just have to settle with that, and toss another log onto the fire.

Can I Have A Pound Of Sausages Please?

As I child, I was often sent to the butchers to get something for tea, and sausages were a family favourite.
It was a relatively simple task: It involved a 5 minute walk to the shops, waiting patiently in a queue of ladies who had more than the evening meal on their minds, holding up the proceedings with endless gossip and chatter. Once at the counter, the entire process was dispensed with the minimum of fuss, and I would return home with my purchase tucked under my arm.
How times have changed.

I scarcely could have imagined the day when I could use an electronic device to order in some sausages from the comfort of my home, to be delivered at a time convenient to my requirements.
Even in the depths of rural France, we are but moments away from a delivery to door service, and currently enjoy the convenience of ordering on-line followed by a drive by at an appointed time where your shopping, attentively chosen and carefully wrapped is packed into the boot for you to speed away without even leaving the comfort of your car.
It sounds that it couldn’t get any better, but it can, it really can.
Take today for instance.

The day started in a very dubious fashion. It was cold and dank and there seemed little or no prospect of any sunlight.
However the sun decided to make a late morning appearance and things started to look up – a great day for shopping I hear you say.
Indeed it was, and I set off towards the Champdeniers to see Peter and Jenny Sebborn at their small holding near Pamplie.
You see, I was off on a shopping trip , but I wasn’t going near a lap top or a supermarket. I was off to pick up my order of sausages that Jenny had ready for me.
My nephew Raphie came along for the ride on the promise of being able to feed the lambs.

The directions were impeccable and we arrived at the Sebborns in good time.
Jenny showed us around the small holding where a surprisingly large array of animals were basking in the sunshine.
We met Peggy and her two piglets and Stinkerbell, along with her paramour Nelson.
I decided not to feel guilty about my sausage order as they were kept in the most idyllic surroundings and were clearly very content.
There were guinea fowl, ducks, geese, chickens and of course the baby lambs.
Armed with warm bottles of milk, we went along to the feeding shed and were instantly surrounded by them, vying for pole position for the milk. The larger gals were rounded up and fed afterwards, after they were ushered in by Raphie who was taking his husbandry duties very seriously.

Jenny and Peter said that their meat is so popular that it is often sold before it is “fully grown” , and after seeing their place, I can understand why. I also have a sneaking suspicion that I will be returning soon for a top up order.

So, nipping out for a pound of sausages has now taken on a totally new meaning. Its the type of shopping habit more of us should get into.
Now I am just left with the dilemma of choosing which flavour to try first: Honey roast, chilli and garlic, or good old fashioned plain pork bangers.
After all, on-line shopping can take a lot of the pleasure out of sourcing good quality ingredients. Free range sausages locally sourced, are as good as it gets.

Le Cliché du Jour.

The bread in our area is generally wonderful – so many boulangeries are using wood fired ovens now.
My favourite cooked this way has to be “Le Sesarin” A sourdough baguette sporting two sets of “rabbit ears” at each end – designed for one thing only: Snapping off to eat on the way back home…..

Le Cliché du Jour

The disused moulin at Massais on the Argenton River……
Proving, that no matter how sad the weather, there is always something beautiful to see…..

Calling All Crafters!

I decided to try out the quick post option on my WordPress Blog. No doubt it will all end in tears,but here goes….

http://www.survivefrance.com/profiles/blogs/what-is-a-craft-1?xg_source=activity

Here’s hoping the link works!

Sunday Wine Tasting – Domaine Filliatreau.

There are many things about France that I love.
One of these is wine tasting.
I grew up amidst the stricture of drinking habits of the 70′s and 80′s.
Unless you knew every château name in Bordeaux, you were considered beneath contempt by every off license in the land. Not so in France.
The entire experience is a pleasurable one from start to finish.
Everyone is welcomed, regardless of their knowledge of this noble drink.
A tariff is always on display to spare blushes when asking to taste certain bottles, and you are gently guided through your choices with as little or as much explanation as you ask for.
Some vigneronsconduct the tastings themselves, which makes the experience all the more special. They will offer a fiche techniquegiving the minutiae of how each wine is produced for the real aficionado to file along with the cellar book and tasting notes.
Our mission today at Domaine Filliatreau was to buy some half bottles of Saumur Champigny, so my OH can imbibe when I am not in the mood, which these days, is most of the time.
We bought 12 such bottles of 2006 vintage, ready to drink, and fine to lay down for another 3 years for 40 euros.
Even though we knew in advance what we wanted, we tasted a good half-dozen other excellent bottles they had on offer.
There was no sales pitch and no pressure to buy. There were thanks and smiles in abundance.
Suffice to say we will visit again……and again.