Going Home -

tomorrow, for the whole month of December.

We'll miss the village but oh, it will be lovely to hug all the best beloveds  :)

Our friends...

They send care packages

We love you, Laura!

For my writing friends....

Let's mark this day down as the end of writing Part One. Ta-dah! New Novel, as it turns out, is going to be  literary *sigh* again, and All In Three Parts. Again. (Translation - lovely reviews, dismal sales.) But nil desperandum. My characters are settled, the plottage is plotted, the first 1/3 is of wordage is worded  and I do think - no, really I do - that this one is going to be ready by August. Just not sure which August...

I know - it's a boring post, if you're not a writer. For the rest of you, then -

here's a photo of a little hidden vineyard that I have decided will  henceforth be known as mine.


Because hey - why not? Or, if you'd prefer, I could do you a lovely shot of a mushroom.

 These are the local funghi. Edible, but owing to the colour and such, still vaguely alarming...

And just so it doesn't feel left out -

what with all the chat about New Book - 

a linky to Old Book.

Autumn II by Paul

Autumn by me

Windfall apples, picked with Joss. Delicious!

Autumn by Paul

la recette des grand-meres

We were given a present this week - a piece of dressed boar, straight from the woods (yes, it's hunting season); together with the family recipe that makes it perfect. This is a very old recipe - the Grangeons are the oldest family in the Village - and it's really quite special.

So with many thanks to Joss and especially to Mme Paule Grangeon, we present -

Recette du Civet de Sanglier de Mamette Paule

First: shoot your boar.  (Thank you, Denis and friends - l'équipe des chasseurs des alentours. Paul and I  can't be trusted with guns...)

Second: couper la viande en morceaux

Third: Make your marinade.

2 ognions coupés en morceaux
2 gousses d'ail écrassée

1 bouquet garni (laurier-thyme - the laurier is best from Joss's sister, Edmée)
sel-poivre

vinaigre (1 cuillère à soupe- home-made by Paule from the family's own red wine)
huile d'olive (2 cuillère à soupe)
vin rouge avec beaucoup de tanin - Cotes du Rhone, of course - que ça couvre la viande

mariner toute la nuit.

Sortir les morceaux de viande et les faire revenir sur tous les coté dand une poele, mettre la viande de coté.

Faire revenir la garniture dans la poele

Delayer un peu de farine et ajouter le vin petit à petit: la sauce ne doit pas etre épaisse

Puis mettre la viande dans le vin et faire cuire lentement sur le gaz ou au four - à petit feu.

Very lentement.   100 - 150 degrees. For about 7 hours.

There should be a photograph of the finished dish. There isn't, because we ate it the minute it was done. It was delicious, full of the flavour of woods and autumn. And very French.

Note that the recipe will also do for rabbit or hare. But - first catch your hare...

Warmest thanks to the family Grangeon. We will share the recipe (and meals to come) with people we love, when we're back in Australia - and raise a glass to you and to lovely Sablet.

Autumn Wind

Retirement, hah!

 He's been out with his camera again, shooting the vines -

- and the generations of families who have drawn the wine from the soil for six generations.

He's been shooting the fields as well -  because they're constantly changing, always beautiful -

and always bountiful                                      

- even as the year moves over to Winter.

New friends

So we were doing a bit more of this yesterday

and we met these guys

Adorable? 

Adorable.

On ne cueille pas les champignons

We went out for a quick walk and found all these mushrooms.

But I remembered Bruce's advice and asked Joss whether it would be safe to glean them for adding to omelettes and such.

She gave the matter some suitably French consideration and said probablement pas.

Which I thought was a pity. So I asked (for future reference) how one can tell which ones are edible and which ones are not, and she gave the matter some more suitably French consideration and said:

"Well, really if they're still here at 10:30 a.m., they're probably poisonous."

So there you have it.

Gleaning - and gifts from friends

 There’s a law in France (I have this from an excellent source) that says once Harvest is over, gleaners are within their rights to go carefully (carefully!) picking up what was missed. There are some prohibitions, of course - the land must be unfenced, the gleaning (le glanage if you pick it up from ground level, le grapillage if you pick it from trees or bushes or vines) must be done by hand - and all this can only be done during the hours of daylight. And, of course, it's good manners to ask - if there's someone around.

Joss - she took me gleaning, yesterday

We went out for a quick little walk - 

and came home hours later, talked-out and - 

- laden.

And do you see that bottle, next to the windfall apples? That was on the bonnet of Joss's car waiting for her - a gift from a friend who makes it himself. It's the most glorious orange liqueur - I wish you could taste it.

It has the taste of friendship. Friendship and oranges.

*sigh*

Heart you, France...