The Loire Valley and especially Blois
Today it was Bread Day in Les Grouëts, the area in Blois where we live. Hubert, on the left, fired up his bread oven and baked loaves of bread and pizzas made by locals. And a good time was had by all ! Aujourd’hui c’était la fête du pain aux Grouëts le quartier de Blois …
Continue reading “Bakers for a Day – Boulangers pour la journée”
As a French blog, I feel rather challenged by a subject about food. In the end I decided to illustrate a recent tradition in French cuisine – the café gourmand, which is a coffee served at the end of the meal with a selection of mini-desserts according to the chef’s whim. From left to right, we …
So, after the chapel and Leonardo’s door, here is the château itself. It’s one of those buildings that has been changed considerably over the centuries. The plant and chicken festival in spring is incredibly popular, as is the heirloom tomato festival in autumn. We will go back on our bikes in July or August to …
Today is City Daily Photo Theme Day when daily photo bloggers across the globe post on the same theme. On 1st January, the theme is always “Photo of the Year”. I have three. The first is my readers’ choice, a coypu swimming across the Loire, and also illustrates the river which is the leitmotif of Loire Daily Photo …
A friend just gave us a little packet of homemade mendiants. Despite having lived in France for over 40 years, it’s the first time I’ve seen them, although I had heard the name. As you can see, they are chocolate disks with dried fruit and nuts on them. Of Provençal origin, the colour of the …
I was in the middle of Blois at afternoon tea time time. The cakes at Stéphane Buret’s Salon de Thé looked very temptant – but I resisted! Je me suis trouvée au cente ville de Blois à l’heure du thé aujourd’hui. Les gâteaux chez Stéphane Buret étaient bien tentants mais j’ai résisté …
This week, we made our Christmas foie gras with friends (7 of us) using a recipe where the foie gras is kept in salt for 17 hours and doesn’t require cooking. You can find the recipe here. Cette semaine, avec des amis (on était sept) on a fait notre foie gras de noël avec une recette …
Continue reading “Christmas preparations – Préparations de noël”
Eric Saguez, a former pastry cook at the Ritz and Meilleur Ouvrier de France, opened his patisserie in Blois in 1994. The one on the right is called Oasis but Jean Michel can’t remember the one on the left! The title of Meilleur Ouvrier de France, which roughly means “best tradesman in France”, is awarded …
We were driving towards Loches today when I saw this automatic baguette machine in Ferrière-sur-Beaulieu. I couldn’t believe my eyes! Twice a day, a local baker puts 50 fresh baguettes in the machine. Nous nous rendions à Loches aujourd’hui lorsque j’ai vu ce distributeur automatique de baguettes à Ferrière-sur-Beaulieu. Je n’arrivais pas à croire mes …
Continue reading “The Automatic Baguette Machine – Le distributeur automatique de baguette”
Half the pleasure of desserts in France is in the presentation. A financier is a traditional cake in France made with powdered almonds first made in the 17th century by an order of nuns called the Visitandines in Nancy in Lorraire. The oval-shaped cakes, called “Visitandines”, were made either to make up for the prohbition of meat …