Food glorious food

I think everyone must be feeling sorry for me with Barbara being back in UK 'cause I've been out wining & dining a few times over the last couple of weeks. Last week G's daughter & son-in-law were over & I was invited to a barbecue last Sunday. The weather had been lovely for the previous few days but as is always the case when you plan a barbecue it always takes a turn for the worse. The rain held off but the temperature dropped dramatically and we ended up eating inside which was no great hardship and the food, prepared by G's son-in-law and cooked by S was excellent. I really must ask how he managed not to burn everything. I've been helping T out and we were asked to join one of his friends for lunch. A couple of ham salad sandwiches or similar is my usual diet so a typical French lunch came as a bit of a shock to the system. We started with one or two large Ricards, fresh radishes from their garden & saucisson, the first of several items that would do nothing for my cholesterol levels. The entrée was a tomato and egg salad with a olive oil and garlic dressing and was followed by roast chicken and potatoes sautéed in goose fat all washed down with a few glasses of vin rouge. I managed to avoid the cheese but felt it would have been bad form to refuse the home made apple pie. There was time for a quick coffee and after our two hour lunch it was time to return to work. Fortunately T and I were working at ground level but Jo, who's hospitality we'd just enjoyed, is a roofer and was heading back to work on the roof of a local church! Hopefully someone was watching out for him.

It wasn't only Jo who served up home grown produce. Many people in the area have a plot in their garden where they grow a few vegetables and have some ducks and chickens and the house we were working at was one of them. One morning when we arrived the owners of the house were up and about early and working hard in the garden preparing lunch and they weren't just picking potatoes. I don't know how many people they were entertaining but the 6 ducks they killed and set about plucking looked big enough to feed the whole of South West France. Anyway I'm sure they were delicious and no doubt washed down with a few glasses of wine. The days of drinking at lunchtime continue here in France and the thought of having just a glass of water or a soft drink are very much frowned on.

I was also lucky enough to be invited to Bruno's birthday celebrations last Sunday which meant that I haven't had to cook since. He'd organised a mini bus to take 18 of us to 'Auberge Beauville' in Espédaillac, a small village an hour away in the Lot. The food was typical cuisine familale et traditionnelle,and there was lots of it. Chicken noodle soup, omelette with wild mushrooms and shaved truffles, coq au vin or chicken with farce, roast lamb and potatoes sautéed in goose fat (again), a selection of cheeses and tarte tartin all of course served with lots and lots of local wine. By anybody standards that would have been enough food to keep you going for the rest of the week but I was also invited to the evening barbecue. I won't bore you with details of the evening's menu but needless to say the food was excellent and the wine flowed and flowed. I've really enjoyed the hospitality of all my hosts, including P & P who invited me in for supper last night, but I'm looking forward to a little of Barbara's home cooking next week.

It does seem to be all about eating and drinking on this weeks blog but I have managed to get several items crossed off my 'to-do' list. All the cut tiles are in place, holes have been filled in the oil and wood store walls, paint has been applied & carpets glued down. I've even found time to do a bit of cleaning & washing. Only problem is I think Barbara has taken the iron with her, well that's my excuse for creased shirts! I'm sure when she gets back on Sunday she'll be point out where it's kept.

Another flying visit

Has it really been two weeks since I last sat down and did a bit of blogging? Tempus fugit, as they say, especially when you've dashed back to the UK for a few days and knocked the odd wall down. When we were back in the UK at the beginning of the year we'd put an offer in on a house near Barbara's mum in Blackpool and had completed on it in late April. It needs a fair amount of work; a bathroom, a central heating system, a kitchen, new windows & doors, decorating (all sounds very familiar) and plastering. With Barbara and her mum heading back to the UK it seemed like an ideal opportunity to return with them and make a start on the next project. It turned out to be a flying visit but I did manage to demolish a wall in what will be the kitchen/dining room, strip the walls of paper that must have been there 30 years, organise the plumber and electrician (no we're not flying Stephané Regourd over), sort the doors & windows and order a kitchen from Wickes. With Barbara off 'country cousining' and everything done that could be done for now I booked my ferry and hotel and headed back to France on Thursday. This time the best laid plans of mice and Chris didn't quite work out. As I hit the road the gentleman Barbara was looking after was taken in to hospital, not sure that'll look too good on her references, and she was able to take a few days off and returned to Blackpool. Well at least the plastering will get done!

It was a pretty uneventful journey back apart from turning up at the wrong Premiere Classe hotel in Rouen. They really all do look the same, both inside and out, but fortunately the two hotels were only two kilometres apart and on this occasion I can't blame it on the satnav. If you put the wrong address in it's your own stupid fault! It always surprises me how many 'GB' plated cars you see as you travel up and down the autoroute. This time was no exception and despite the press coverage that says everyone's holidaying in the UK this year there were still plenty of Brits heading south and at both the hotels I visited there were several cars with GB plates on parked up for the night. Perhaps there are a few green shoots out there.

Meanwhile back in Lagarrigue the tiling had gone well and I'd finished putting all the full tiles in place before leaving for the UK. Now I'm back it's out with the tile cutter and adhesive and time to lay the last few cut tiles but as the temperature on the terrace at 8:15 this morning was 25°C I think it's going to mean a couple of early starts. Still there's plenty to do and I'm sure there'll be a few items on my to-do list that are in the shade. When the carpenter had been here fitting the staircase we'd asked him to prepare a devi for the fitting of a balcony off the living area and he'd dropped it in whilst we'd been away. For once the devi was near enough what we'd budgeted for so on Monday I'll be tracking him down and asking him to get started with it at soon as possible. I want to be sipping my G & T on it before the summer is over.