La Forge

Bonjour!

As you can see I've been messing with the blog template.  I have no idea if I like it but I'll come back to it later when I feel ambitious again.

I've been at Carol's since Thursday, staying in the cottage on the property.  It's really wonderful having my own space, including, drumroll please, my own kitchen again!  Woohoo!

Bedroom/living room

Kitchen/dining room

Shower (which is awesome, by the way)

I even have an upstairs loft with an extra bed and a desk, which Carol advised I avoid if I drink any wine.  She wasn't exaggerating; I quickly found out the stairs are treacherous even when one is stone cold sober.

Anyway, I quite like my little house.  I even have my own fireplace which came in handy last night when I got chilly.

I had dinner with Carol and her husband Bruno the first night, where she prepared the following:

Aperitif of leeks with walnut balsamic vinaigrette

Duck (cooked in its own fat)

Mashed parsnips

Zucchini from the garden

The obligatory cheese course with fresh bread

Poached pears with creme fraiche.

Yep, I've died and gone to heaven.  And it's called France.

FYI, the French apparently never eat fewer than four courses per meal.  

Then yesterday I met Michele, who will be giving me a crash course in conversational French during my visit here.  First we walked a loop from La Forge (Carol's house) to the local village them back to La Forge, before loading up in Michele's car to head to her village.  After a quick stop at la garagiste to fix a minor car issue we went to Le Poissonerie, or the fish market.  One large bag of les moules (mussels) later, we headed over to Michele's house to prepare lunch with her and Veronique.  Mind you, we were only speaking in French the whole time.  I was surprised by how much I actually remembered/understood, but it's still intimidating, especially when you have multiple people asking you questions in French.  You try translating "yes I have a dog, he's a rat terrier named Dozer because he likes to bulldoze under the covers on my bed."

For lunch we had:

Squash soup blended with carrots, ginger, thyme, and mushrooms (and for those of you that know me well, yes I ate mushrooms, and it was tasty, because mushrooms are subtle when mixed with squash, carrots, ginger, and thyme)

Steamed mussels (by far the best I've ever had, so flavorful!)

Pasta with leeks, peppers, and Parmesan

The obligatory cheese course

More poached pears 

Coffee and chocolate

See what I mean about the whole multiple course thing?  Meals take hours, literally.  No complaints here!

Anyway, both Michele and Veronique are wonderful ladies, and I had a great day, even if by the end I was so mentally exhausted from translating in my head all day Carol gave me a break and let me speak English with her.

A quick run into another local village with Carol in the late afternoon then I was left to my own devices during the evening.  Seeing as how my food supplies included only butter, milk, jam, eggs, and bread, I taught myself how to poach eggs (I did it! And I didn't even screw it up!) and made myself toast and eggs for dinner.  Which was delicious and frankly all I needed after that lunch.  How the French eat like that every day and stay slender is beyond me.

After staying up far too late reading (again) I woke up tired this morning but decided it was best to get out of bed, shower, and make my way to the closest market for some cooking supplies.  $25 euros and a brisk 20ish minute walk later I was heading home with fresh bread, hamburger, cabbage, tomato sauce, a giant leek, garlic, Camembert cheese, eggs, inexpensive red wine, apples, rice, and dish soap.  It's cold and gloomy here so I have stuffed cabbage rolls in mind.  I almost got myself lost coming home (still have no idea what turn I missed) but I made it and I'm enjoying a day off from doing anything productive.  Unless you view cabbage rolls as productive.

Which I'd better get started if I want to eat at some point.

Au revoir!

~Swan