Paris and Lucien and Georges!

A visit to Paris, no matter how quick, always gives me so much energy and really recharge my batteries as was the case last week when we did a very quick 'aller-retour'. The main reason was to see the Lucien Freud exhibition - for those of you planning to come to Paris in the next couple of months, this is an absolute MUST!

But then no visit to the Centre Pompidou goes without either just having a peep from the rooftop terrace with the most exquisite view of  Paris or, if you have a bit of time, lunching at this divine rooftop restaurant called:

GEORGES (Abstraction Surface)

We decided to spoil ourselves and for the starter had 

Foie Gras de Canard for 2 

followed by 
Saint-Jacques (Scallops) tradition Provençale for Olivier and 

Spicy Lobster Pasta for myself! 

Accompanied by  a delicious bottle of Viognier.

Bonheur complet!!

With a ray of sun, a splendid view of Paris rooftops, I shared a delectable moment with the very special man in my life!

 Now all is back to reality and we are steaming into our busy season, so my postings might become a bit more sparse! But please do not give up on me!

I shall try and share with you when I can!!

Incredible view from the terrace

 

Life is about sharing

Bisous

Lynn

GAPERON = Garlic Galore !!

My writer friend Marita, living in the south of France with her froggie husband Alain, wrote in one of her books 'Where the heart is' about Alain making Aïoli and adding even more garlic than what the recipe required.

(http://www.maritavandervyver.info/html/reviews/reviews_eng.html)

Well, on Saturday I had an outing with our local Auvergne 'Slowfood' group and we visited the last 'artisanal' producer of a very local cheese, Gaperon d'Auvergne. (there are of course industrial producers making this cheese with pasturised milk). Gaperon is made of unpasturised cow's milk, garlic and pepper! Alain would've loved this visit!!

Patricia Ribier and her partner peels more than 350 kilograms of garlic per year as this is one of the ingredients, along with pepper, going into this very delicious cheese. You must of course like garlic. The suble flavour when you bite into the Gaperon is a one off expercience!

To obtain this delightful cheese, they use a mix of milk - Beautiful gray-brown 'Brune des Alpes' cows and Black and White Holsteins. This makes for a creamy but not too creamy milk with a high protein content.


After the cream is skimmed off, Patricia puts huge ladles full in thin cotton bags where it is hung for a day or two. Then the subtle process of mixing the garlic an pepper into this creamy cheese. Her very private secret recipe. And then more hanging in a 'sauna' like room untill ready to go off to the markets or to various 'maitre fromager' who order this delicious cheese directly from Patricia

We were treated to Gaperon in various stages of finition and I must say, that it is a difficult choice. A toss-up between the very fresh mixture - almost a creamcheese with the garlic and pepper very present -or the Gaperon that has been stored for 4 months! A divine mixture of mature cheese with the garlic less present!

What heaven it is to live in France!! Do come over for a tasting!!

Life is about sharing
Bisous
Lynn

Easter and the art of sharing joy and sorrow..............

It is not often that we rent the house to a family as a whole, but it happened this easter. I was contacted months ago by a lovely lady wanting to organise a surprise for her mother's 70th Birthday.

As usual this means lots of hard work and organisation and last week I was running around like a mad hatter to finalise everything.

First the children and grandchildren arrived on the gray saturday afternoon and then we had to hide the cars etc as this was a surprise. The whole family (11) hid in the bathroom when the granparents arrived.

What joy on the faces!! Laughter and and........

Saturday night I did a big meal with bobotie and quails and cheese and and with lots of frills and fancies and Pascal from our local café made 2 divine cakes.

On Sunday night instead of the normal 'Easter Lamb' I made them a very perfumed Lamb Curry with Basmati rice and my chocolat/chesnut hearts decorated with porcupine quills. 

Always a winner.

Monday they all lunched at the local café and monday night the parent's friends arrived for another 2 days of fiesta!

But the thing that really made this weekend so intense is that it is the first time this family got together after a very big drama in which they lost 2 small girls in a fire at the grandparents home. As the father of the girls cannot face going back there, they reunited here. The wonderful thing is that this couple who lost their children, faced their pain, and now have a beautiful baby boy. Obviously the center of attraction for all around! 

Being so close to everyone, we totally shared in their pain and in their joy of getting together again. 

And of course wonderful things happens in the kitchen. The sharing of all their stories whilst I'm behind the pots cooking away!

So intense!

And that is what makes life so incredible. 

Sharing sorrow and joy.

Life is about sharing

I am so privileged to share this with you

Bisous

Lynn