Anniversary Dinner

Last week we celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. We planned to go out to lunch at our favorite restaurant in Bergerac, but it was closed for the holidays. So we dined in on lobster and champagne.

When we brought the lobsters home we let Dante and Calypso check them out.

We are off to the US tomorrow for 2 weeks so no postings until the middle of January. Happy New Year!

Christmas Baking

We spent the weekend baking for the holidays. We made a stollen-like bread in which we used walnuts instead of almonds thereby giving it a different taste from stollen but still delicious. We made pizzelles, RXC's Aunt May's jelly roll cookies, rum balls, pecan crescents, and dried fruit blondies. We also made spiced nuts. Everything is so delicious I wonered why we don't make Christmas cookies all year round?

Is It Bigger Than a Bread Box?

Or in this case a bread basket. We use a handmade sweetgrass basket we bought in Charleston, SC for our bread basket on the table. Dante decided to try to fit into it. Next he tried and succeeded in fitting into the new bathroom sink.

Truffle Treat

We visited the market in Perigueux with our Thanksgiving visitors. That market is always lively, particularly as the holidays approach. There is a section reserved for all things duck and goose and a section devoted to truffles (the fungi not the chocolate). We purchased 2 small truffles for 15 euros and looked forward to a feast. Truffles are very fragrant so it is best to store them in something that will absord their scent such as eggs or rice. We planned on omlettes later in the week so we stored the truffles in a bowl of fresh farm eggs.

The first meal we cooked was a simple one: truffle shaved over tagliatelle with some olive oil and butter. Delicious!

Deck the Halls with Help

Our Parisian friend Celine came for a visit. We had 4 days of touring cities, museums, monuments, ate fancy lunches, and finally decided to buy and trim the Christman tree. It is probably too early to have a tree up in a warm home, but we had a fun time trimming it. As you can see Celine was not the only helper.

Thanksgiving for 15

We celebrated Thanksgiving like most other Americans last Thursday. We had ordered "un gros dinde" (a big turkey) way back in August in order for it to be ready at the end of November. We had friends come over from the DC area who brought fresh cranberries. Other friends from Brittany brought oysters raised just beyond their front door. Most other foods were local: potatoes, sweet potatoes, broccoli, leeks, apples, pears, salad, cheese, and of course the wine. We spent a long afternoon eating and talking in 3 languages: English, French, and Italian.

C'est Fini!

Well the index was sent to the publisher today so it is official. THE BOOK is finished. Here is the cover image. Tomorrow we go to Bordeaux for a celebratory lunch!

The Play's the Thing

Last weekend we attended a performance of Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap. It was put on by the local English music and drama society (M.A.D.S.) and took place in the town of Issigeac which is about a 45 minute drive for us. We had dinner at the house of friends before hand and then off to the theatre.

The performances were all sold out. There were 120 (mostly Brits) on the Thurday night when we went and 150 were going to squeeze in the hall on Friday and Saturday.

The Mousetrap is the longest running play in the workld and has been playing for 57 years in London. The hook at the end is that the director comes out on stage and asks the audience not to reveal the identity of the murderer as the ending has quite a twist.

A fun evening.

At Least Someone is Using the Studio

As I continue to answer the Publisher's numerous questions about the text and layout of THE BOOK and create the index, Isabelle is busy making yet another quilt. This top she whipped up in about 2 weeks and asked to use my big worktable to baste the top to the batting and backing. So much easier on the knees than her tile floor.

The Broccolli Garden

We have an amazing crop of broccoli. In the heat of September when it was still sunny, hot, and very dry we planted 12 tiny broccoli plants and 12 Brussels sprouts plants. Now with the cooler weather and daily rain we have broccoli heads the size of soccer balls. They are delicious and sweet having been touched by a light frost. Broccoli soup, pasta, salad, as a veggie with garlic, lemon, herbs, stir fried...................

Splish Splash I was Takin' a Bath

So the next evening the tablecloth is still fairly clean and they decided it was time to check it out again (see yesterday's post). This event does happen to coincide with our sitting down for dinner. No doubt Miss Calypso decided Dante wasn't up to her standard of cleanliness and that he needed some grooming. I caught the very end of the bath event in a video.

Butt á Butt

Our guys are inseparable. Last evening a clean tablecloth went on the table. Within 5 minutes they were butts together. Of course instead of getting them off the table, I got the camera. Dante soon moved around to face me, the ham!

Happy Alowine (Halloween)

The first French-English language group meeting of the year was chez nous this morning. Because how Americans celebrate Halloween is legenday among the French, we put on a Halloween do. There were pumpkin flavored cupcakes with cream cheese icing, coffin or tombstone shaped chocolate madelaines, caramel apples, and caramel popcorn. There was also mulled cider which was a bit hit. The morning discussion centered on the traditions, lore, and foods of Halloween. We even found a small pumpkin to carve in the market in Montpon. We are having our Indian Summer so it was a perfect morning for those who live in town to take a drive in the vines to our home. A good time was had by all.

Vinegar Tasting

Sunday we went off to a nearby village where an artisanal vinegar producer was offering a "porte ouverte". I have mentioned these before but in the context of wine. This was the same sort of thing in which we toured the small plant where the vinegar is made while the owner explained how he bought grape concentrate from Spain to flavor the merlot, cabernet sauvignon, semillion, cabernet franc, sauvignon blanc vinegars he produced. We tasted tiny amounts of the vinegars sprayed on to a spoon and they were wonderful. The owner had hired a caterer to prepare scallops with a sauce created from his vinegar which were delicious too. I am a big fan of these "porte ouvertes" and will be on the look-out for more.

Our Fall Colors

We have had frost every morning for almost a week now. This is unusual. One neighbor was taken off guard and ended up harvesting frozen grapes because the weather turned cold so early and so quickly. But the results are that we have beautiful colors in the vines and it is still sunny and warm enough by midday to go out and enjoy them. Of course it is hunting season now so one must be aware and dress in day-glow orange or yellow to play it safe.

Ewe Made My Day

No one but KEG could/would come up with the best birthday present ever! My new scarf is sheepishly stylish, soft, and warm. She hand knit it from alpaca with the cutest sheep buttons for eyes. It's first outing was at lunch where the meal was fish. Tomorrow it goes to market.

I promised I would not post this until the complete tail was posted on www.thespinningmonkey.blogspot.com. Go check out close-up images and how it all began.

Merci mille fois!

They Come at Dawn

We are back in construction mode. Tiling the terraces and walkway was the last part of the work on the house that we contracted for. This work began on Monday. As with all of the other work we had done, the workers arrived early in the morning, worked hard, cleaned up at the end of each day, and returned the next morning.

Between 6 and 9 people worked each day.They have been arriving at 7:45 am when it is just getting light enough to see to lay tile. At this point much of the tile is down and it should be finished with one more day of work. Unfortunately, we must have gotten a bad batch of tiles because there was more breakage than normal, so they are out of tiles and cannot finish facing the steps until a new batch arrives.

Their work is excellent and the light color and clean lines and surface of the tiles really makes a difference.

Back from the USA

We are back from an 11 day trip to see friends and sail with them on the Bay and then on to see family and more friends in PA. We left in the middle of the harvest here in France and returned just at it's end.

We sailed from Rock Hall to St. Michaels the long way round on a day with good winds, up around 18-20 knots. The evening was spent in a nice restaurant celebrating our friends' birthday. The next day had some wind but from the wrong direction, so we had to motor. It was great to visit with P & J and be on the Bay again. It had been 4 years since we last visited St. Michaels.

There are few food items that I miss from the US but steamed Chesapeake blue crabs and sweet corn are at the top of the list. We had both this trip. The crabs at Waterman's in Rock Hall were perfect. Better than I remembered: large, steaming hot, and with nice spices. We drove through Lancaster county and there were Amish farms still selling sweet corn. Scored again.

Back home, the countryside is golden as the vines turn color and get ready to drop their leaves. It is a bit chilly in the morning and we lit our first fire in the fireplace last night.

The cats missed us terribly. We are down to 2 as Zabelle got another tumor in the head/eye and there was no solution for that. She had a good life of 19 years and 1 1/2 months and she was a wonderful companion. There is a void here now.

I have the bluelines for THE BOOK, and am reading through it yet again. It is supposed to go to print on the 18th of November. I am at the "Book Be Gone" stage.

Fete de Vendange

This morning more than 20 of us gathered to celebrate the harvest with our neighbors who have the winery across the street. Most years they invite friends who travel from across France to spend a morning harvesting grapes by hand and then eat, drink, sing, and play silly games the rest of the day and night.

Most years we harvest white grapes which are used to make their sparkling (methode champenoise) wine. By law a portion of the grapes used for that wine must be harvested by hand. However, this year we are harvesting red grapes, just to maintain the tradition.

This is how the day began.

Les Vendanges Begin

Today both of our neighbors began to harvest the grapes surrounding the house. This year's very dry and relatively warm summer results in the harvest occurring a full month earlier than last year which was very wet and not all that warm. These are the grapes that are in front of our living room.

Sorry the postings have been thin. I am having problems with my back and cannot use the computer very much but how could I pass up the first day of the vendange!

By Bread Alone

This morning we went to the weekly market in Montpon. It is a market with a different spirit from that of Ste. Foy-more of the Dordogne as it were. Our favorite boulangerie there was sporting a trophy and designation of "winner of the best bread in the Dordogne 2009" for its tourte. How could we resist? We bought a small-sized tourte. They bake the bread in a wood-fired oven for all to watch.

Mon Atelier

The Studio is finally together enough to post images. The loft space has worked out better than we ever imagined. Most of my yarns and fabrics have been unpacked. The loom is put together; the spinnings wheels too. Many of my needlework tools are in a shadowbox on the wall. The books are on shelves to be organized by subject during the winter months. For the first time ever, my textile life is together, organized, and accessible. What a great feeling!

So Relaxed Part 2

Ok, this was too cute to pass up especially since he went upstairs to my studio just after my post. He found Karen's quilt before I could get it up on the wall. At least he can't fall off my work table. Pictures of the studio will be my next post! It is organized enough to photograph.

So Relaxed

Dante is a cat completely without stressors. He relaxes in place, will fall asleep, and frequently falls off where he has taken up residence. This is Dante in the pre-falling off the dining room table position. Within the hour he will have fallen to the floor.