Medieval Town - Medieval Feast

Issigeac is a beautiful town that retains much of it's medieval character. Period films are regularly made here and it also has a lively market on Sundays. Now that spring is here the region is particularly active with festivals and community meals. Issigeac hosted a medieval dinner with soup, blood saussage, foie gras, hams, and white beans using some "authentic" cooking techniques.

Mr. Bric Burns Again

Our local hardware superstore burned to the ground recently. Mr. Bricolage which is part of a national chain was the place we ran to for bolts, weathering stripping, batteries, etc. It was a corrogated metal building that housed great quanties of flammables. Whatever it was that set off the blaze, the place was destroyed completely.

Interestingly, this same Mr. Bric burned to the ground in 1999 during the big storms that came through Europe. This time around however, there were no violent storms to cause the fire. Within a week another local Mr. Bric burned down as well. One wonders about the coincidence of it all.

The rubble has sat like this for quite some time now and we await news that Mr. Bric will rise again.......or not. We hope so, it is spring and we need those bits that only Mr. Bric supplied so well.

Poisson D'Avril is Participatory

Yesterday was Poisson d'Avril or the French equilivant to April Fool's Day. Chocolate fish are produced, given, and shared among friends. This year was a real challange for the chocolate makers because this ritual fell smack in the middle of Holy Week. I guess a lot of people give up chocolate for Lent. While the shops were overflowing with chocolate eggs, chicks, baskets, and rabbits to be given on Easter Sunday there were few fish and not nearly as elaborate as last year. We bought a small dark (me) and a milk (rxc) chocolate fish at M. Chevailer and hidden inside were additional treats.

In our household almost all activities are participatory. Calypso loves the crackle of cellophane so she was drawn to the fish still in their lovely packaging. Dante soon decided he wanted the ribbon that tied the fish closed. However, only the humans actually got to eat the fish!