Well we made it back, but not without some travail. First we took a wrong turn on Genoa's very poorly signposted freeway & ended up downtown with, seemingly, no way back. Took a lot of wandering & navigating to get back on track. The good news was that we saw some interesting coast line.
A word of warning! The freeway from La Speza in Italy to Nice in France is an engineering marvel, a succession of bridges & tunnels, but its nearly 4 hours of very concentrated driving. We're used to European driving & believe me this route is tough!
We stayed near Le Muy & had an adequate room & excellent dinner. (I'll cover food in a separate post.) Next day the trip was plain sailing until we got near Nimes. There the autoroute to Montpillier just choked up. So, we got off & headed north west. Lovely countryside & good roads. By accident we ran into Le Tour de France near St, Hippolyte. Fouth year in a row that I've seen a stage. Stopped for lunch in Le Vigan. Great town & Saturday market, but a disasterous lunch.
Plain sailing the rest of the way home. Happy to be back in France; so celbrated by doing dinner last night for our dog sitters. Artichokes with thyme mayonnaise, Confit de canard with green beans (dressed with olive oil & lemon) and sauteed red & green peppers with spring onions HdeP & Garlic. Fresh melon for dessert. All washed down with a modest chardonnay from near Beziers.
Life is good! Even if the weather's a bit too hot.
Monday, July 17, 2006
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Who is that Mad dog?
I've been asked a number of times in the public forums of eGullet who my avatar is or what he is. I answered, but since it was off topic the posts were jerked. Only fair, but for those interested here is the story.
He is Rupert who is our 22 month old standard poodle puppy. All 38 kilos of him. He's a real delight and our third standard poodle.
The pictures were taken on a walk this spring just after we got our new camera. (a Nikon d50 so we can use our lenses) Roop was running around a meadow like a mad dog, just full of the joys of spring. Having a great time. I had a long lens on & just started snapping. Got some pretty good shots considering that Rupert was at full gallop. I like them anyway and decided to crop & use one as my avatar.
It's interesting that big standard poodles supposedly French are fairly rare here in France. Lots & lots of the small poodles, but not many standards. Rupert attracts a lot of attention when we take him to market with us. 'Quelle race est-il?' "Il est un caniche royal." 'Ah, tres, tres beaux chien. Est-il gentile? "Oh, oui il est tres gentile."
And so on. We meet a lot of nice people this way & its very good for our French.
Here's Rupert looking like the intelligent animal that he really is, not the mad puppy.
Roop is a real foodie at heart. Just about his favorite thing is walnuts. He like to find them when they drop from the tree, carefully crack the shell, then eat the meat. He also likes to pick blackberries & wild plums in season. When I'm cooking he's never far away, not begging which isn't allowed, but just around just in case. An opportunist is our Roop. He's as big a cheese lover as I am.
Some day I'll post a strory about Roops predecessor, Kuno. Kuno was absolutely unique, I've never met another dog with as much presence as Kuno. But, that's a different story and I've got to start getting ready for our Italy trip.
ciao for now.
He is Rupert who is our 22 month old standard poodle puppy. All 38 kilos of him. He's a real delight and our third standard poodle.
The pictures were taken on a walk this spring just after we got our new camera. (a Nikon d50 so we can use our lenses) Roop was running around a meadow like a mad dog, just full of the joys of spring. Having a great time. I had a long lens on & just started snapping. Got some pretty good shots considering that Rupert was at full gallop. I like them anyway and decided to crop & use one as my avatar.It's interesting that big standard poodles supposedly French are fairly rare here in France. Lots & lots of the small poodles, but not many standards. Rupert attracts a lot of attention when we take him to market with us. 'Quelle race est-il?' "Il est un caniche royal." 'Ah, tres, tres beaux chien. Est-il gentile? "Oh, oui il est tres gentile."
And so on. We meet a lot of nice people this way & its very good for our French.
Here's Rupert looking like the intelligent animal that he really is, not the mad puppy.
Roop is a real foodie at heart. Just about his favorite thing is walnuts. He like to find them when they drop from the tree, carefully crack the shell, then eat the meat. He also likes to pick blackberries & wild plums in season. When I'm cooking he's never far away, not begging which isn't allowed, but just around just in case. An opportunist is our Roop. He's as big a cheese lover as I am.Some day I'll post a strory about Roops predecessor, Kuno. Kuno was absolutely unique, I've never met another dog with as much presence as Kuno. But, that's a different story and I've got to start getting ready for our Italy trip.
ciao for now.
Monday, July 03, 2006
Previews & delays
The delays are that we're leaving for 10 days in Italy Thursday morning. Hope to come back with both new recipies and new ingredients. We'll be near Lucca where I'm told the best of all olive oils comes from. I'll try to find out.
The delays are that I've got a couple of new recipies to put up. I've done the pics, but won't have time to do the write up's before we leave. Watch this space for "Amusing Amusees" plus some other delights.
To keep you going here's some more cheese.
At front are 3 little cabecous. Raw goat's milk; they're made all over this area. These are nicely ripe, soft & fairly pungent.
To the right is a chunk of laguiole. Cows milk from the high areas of the Aveyron. They've been making this & its cousins, cantal & salers, since before the Romans came. Yummy.
On the left is a gaperon, also from the Aveyron. Myth says that if you drop your knife on the cheese from waist height & it stands up the gaperon is ripe. True? Who knows, but a good story anyway.
At the back is a lisseau de chateau. New to me & I have been unable to find out anything about it. Mt cheese guy at market was very busy so I didn'r get to ask about it. Tastes like a variety of blue de causses & probably is. Again very local.
They made a nice addition to our dinner of magret with tiny roasted potatoes, sauteed peppers & green beans & were followed by some superb melons.
Why do I every leave this blessed country? Just curious I guess.
The delays are that I've got a couple of new recipies to put up. I've done the pics, but won't have time to do the write up's before we leave. Watch this space for "Amusing Amusees" plus some other delights.
To keep you going here's some more cheese.
At front are 3 little cabecous. Raw goat's milk; they're made all over this area. These are nicely ripe, soft & fairly pungent.
To the right is a chunk of laguiole. Cows milk from the high areas of the Aveyron. They've been making this & its cousins, cantal & salers, since before the Romans came. Yummy.
On the left is a gaperon, also from the Aveyron. Myth says that if you drop your knife on the cheese from waist height & it stands up the gaperon is ripe. True? Who knows, but a good story anyway.
At the back is a lisseau de chateau. New to me & I have been unable to find out anything about it. Mt cheese guy at market was very busy so I didn'r get to ask about it. Tastes like a variety of blue de causses & probably is. Again very local.
They made a nice addition to our dinner of magret with tiny roasted potatoes, sauteed peppers & green beans & were followed by some superb melons.
Why do I every leave this blessed country? Just curious I guess.
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