18 March 2024

Windows at Brioude in Auvergne

One of the best gîte trips we've taken since moved to Saint-Aignan was a trip to the Auvergne in 2019 — five years ago. It was actually our third trip to the Auvergne region starting in 2009, and each time the gîtes were excellent and there was plenty to see all around the region. After those trips the pandemic began and our travels had to be curtailed.


One of the most amazing places we saw (and there were many) was the town of Brioude and its church, not far south of Clermont-Ferrand. According to the Michelin Green Guide for the Auvergne, the church there, le basilique Saint-Julien, is un chef-d'œuvre architectural that is a harmonieux mélange d'art roman et gothique, aux pierres polychrome, magnifié par des vitraux contemporains... Saint-Julien is the largest Romanesque church in all of the Auvergne region, with its population of approx. 1.5 million and area 26,000 km²(10,000 mi²). /Saint-Julien was built in the 12th century and is worth the trip.


The windows in this post were put in at Saint-Julien in 2008. They replaced clear glass windows and made the church much more colorful and impressive. It's a place I would love to go back to. It's a three-hour drive from Saint-Aignan.

17 March 2024

Cabillaud or morue... and “filet” or “fillet”?

The fish called "cod" in English is called cabillaud [kah-bee-YOH] in French. I remember it being considered as an inexpensive and not really high-quality fish back in the 1970s and '80s in Paris. Now it's held in much higher esteem and can be pretty expensive. Cabillaud is fresh cod, not the salt-cured version, which is called morue in France. Often, cabillaud is referred to as morue fraîche.


The latest (electronic) editions of the Larousse Gastronomique food and cooking encyclopedia describe cabillaud as having une chair délicate, blanche et feuilletée. (Chair means flesh, and feuilleté means flaky.) I think that, because cod is so flaky that it kind of falls apart when it is not handled gently and cooked very carefully. That might be why it was not considered a first-class fish in the past, at least among the Parisians I knew. It was not easy to cook at home and it was certainly not expensive.

I can't find any mention of cabillaud being a delicious fish in my 1967 edition of the Larousse Gastronomique. Other old cookbooks — for example, La Véritable Cuisine de Famille, written by a woman known as Tante Marie and published nearly 100 years ago  — gives at least half a dozen recipes for cooking salt cod, but only one or two for fresh cod. For centuries, I believe, cod was sold mostly in its salt-cured form in France because it needed to be salted down to survive the long voyage from the cod fishing grounds in the northwest Atlantic Ocean back to France. Nowadays it can be kept fresh under refrigeration.


These days, the cut of codfish that is held in highest esteem in France is le dos de cabillaud. (Dos means "back" or dorsal.) It's not just a boneless filet (or fillet) but it's the thickest and firmest par of the cod filet. (In North America, we tend to use the spelling "filet" instead of "fillet", which is more used in the British Iles. Both are pronounced [fil-AY], I think. Do you say "fill-it" of fish?)

Later editions of the Larousse Gastronomique explain that le dos de poisson correspond à l'ensemble des muscles de la partie dorsale des poissons à deux filets, situé au-dessus de l'arête centrale. Il est plus charnu et plus ferme que le ventre. (Une arête is a fish bone in French. Charnu is related to chair and means meaty or fleshy. Ventre means belly.) I haven't found any reference to dos de cabillaud in other French cookbooks I have. I have seen it described in English as "loin of cod", "cod back", or "loin filet/fillet of cod."

Walt and I bought and cooked a loin filet of cod a few days ago. We cooked it gently in melted butter and white wine and enjoyed it with capers, shrimp, steamed potatoes, and steamed cauliflower florets. Those are the photos above.

16 March 2024

Spiders?

Yesterday morning, my walk in the vineyard was damp but not chilly. We had had a little bit of rain overnight, and it was foggy when I went out. I saw that quite a few creatures had been busy. I assume these webs are the work of arachnids of some type, but I never see them, just their work.

15 March 2024

Primrose season at La Renaudière


Every year in late winter a lot of primroses come up in our yard. They are in flower right now. The woman we bought this house from 21 years ago said they weren't wild. She would buy little pots of them for their springtime flowers and when the season was over, she would just take them out of the pots and throw the root ball out into the yard. They started coming back every year. This year, we've had a lot of rain and not many warm days, so the bloom is not as spectacular as it sometimes is.

14 March 2024

March 2024 skies over the vineyard


Yesterday I went to the supermarket and spent 145 euros on groceries! We've been working on getting our two freezers emptied out, but now I guess we'll fill them up again. Yesterday's lunch is something I don't think I've ever made before: a stir fry of cauliflower florets, chicken, onion, and cashew nuts. It was delicious and seasoned with soy sauce, yakitori sauce, oyster sauce, and spicy-hot black soy bean paste (pâte de haricots soja pimentés), served with steamed rice — a winner!

Late yesterday afternoon, I took Tasha out for her walk and I didn't have to put a coat on. The high temperature was about 15ºC (about 60ºF). Today's high will be more like 66ºF (19ºC). It's very pleasant and sunny in the afternoon. I hope it doesn't turn hot too fast this year. I think the rains are coming back tomorrow.

13 March 2024

Just a few photos





Cloudy March skies, vines, big trees, and little Tasha





This beautiful parsley plant grew as a volunteer in the greenhouse. We've been using a lot of parsley in our cooking.





Ivy climbing up on a concrete block, sneaking up on a vineyard rock





I grew this rosemary plant from a cutting I took from the neighbors' plant last year.





The plum tree, our garden shed, a neighbor's house, our house, and a forsythia

12 March 2024

Back to the present

I did something yesterday afternoon that I haven't done in a long time. I took not only Natasha for a walk but also one of my old cameras. You've probably surmised that our weather hasn't been too conducive to taking pictures this month. We've been having a lot of rain. Look how happy my plum tree is about that. It grows on the northwest corner of our yard, and gets full afternoon sun (when there is any).

This is a tree that started out as two saplings. I planted them together back in 2010, I think it was, and they "conjoined" — they grew together into a single tree. I grew the two saplings by planting pits in pots. The pits came from plums that grow over in our Blois neighbors' yard. It's been a while since we've had a bloom as spectacular as this year's. Here's a link to a set of posts about the tree and its springtime blooms and fruit.


Yesterday I wrote about forecasts for another rainy week in the Saint-Aignan area. Well, the rains didn't come yesterday. The sky looked threatening, but no rain fell. And it was relatively warm outside. Tasha and I had a good walk, and so did my camera. The forecast for this morning is... rain. Pluie. Flotte.

11 March 2024

March daze days


Looking toward the east...


...and looking toward the west

Meanwhile, according to MétéoFrance, significant flooding may occur today on two rivers in areas where we have rented gîtes ruraux in past years: le Serein in Burgundy, and l'Allier in Auvergne. As I've said, we are expecting another rainy week here in Saint-Aignan too, but no flooding so far.

10 March 2024

Autour du vignoble en mars




It was March 2016 and I had just acquired a new camera. I took it out to see if it would take decent macro (close-up) photos. Spring was just beginning, and traces of winter were still visible. So far, that's how it is here right now. We're in for another chilly, wet week, according to the weather guy on Télématin.

09 March 2024

Distant memories of Paris

It's so easy to take things for granted. When we came to live here in the Loire Valley, I figured I'd go to Paris often, several times a year. And I did do that, from 2003 until 2019. For one thing, when I went home to North Carolina to see family and friends, I'd go spend the night before departure in Paris, to make sure I didn't miss my morning flight the next day. For another, I had a place to stay on summertime trips to Paris, and that was with Charles-Henry. Now I have none of that except memories.
The last time I went to Paris was in October 2019, and that was just for a few hours. I took the pictures I'm posting here. And the last time I went to North Carolina was in... October 2019 as well. I always enjoyed short trips to Paris, where I lived for five or six years, years ago. I'd wander the streets taking pictures and remembering my life there. Wandering through Paris alone eventually lost its charm. Maybe I'll go back one day, but sometimes I wonder.