Portes que J’Adore

Tucked away in a corner of Burgundy is a hilltop village with a single lane road that leads up, up, up the hill to a magnificent church.  As you climb the hill, you pass dozens of doors, each more interesting than the last.  At the bottom of the hill there is a large cluster of these white studded doors~

Little doors, big doors, matching doors, one for the car and one for the people~

The wonderful thing about photography in winter is that one is not distracted by foliage.  This door is surrounded by magnificent lavender bushes and vines or wisteria above; I’ll be back in summer to show you a prettier shot, but here of course the door is mis en valeur~

The colors are all uniform, and I may have to call the mairie to ask if it is regulated.  What is this elusive French blue?  Whatever it is, it works, with the stone and the moss, and it gives a beautiful continuity to the village, even in the dull winter light….

My favorite door was this one.  See the the detail on the door- arrows, geometry and diamonds, as well as the color….and the little enamel pitcher at right, and the basket vase at left?

If you are like me, after quickly taking in all of that your eye goes to the little chalkboard sign at the corner of the door:  “In case of absence (cell #) Please do not let the cats in at night.”

So casual and pretty…so French.  I’ll be back in the summer to wipe that leaf off the sign and re-photograph, as well as re-shoot the village in the full bloom of summer, which will be magnificent.

~~~

This post is another small tease for what is to come Friday….like this? You’ll love what I have to tell you Friday!! 

Right

It’s funny that since I have been back from France, I haven’t felt the urge to show you much of what I am doing here, which is is always plenty!  There are the markets, spring farm to tables, and lots of cooking.  I took some nice photos of the mounds of deep purple and white flowers I planted at the kitchen door, and yesterday I picked a basket full of photo-worthy Meyer’s lemons from the garden.  Winter in California is indeed wonderful. 

But no, it doesn’t seem quite right, and I haven’t been very inspired to talk about what I’m doing now, I’d rather talk about France.  I still enjoy going back to look at photos of, for example, what I had for breakfast most days: a small pot of fromage blanc from the Saturday market, with a few groseilles or red currants.  I actually bought these for the photo shoot, but I love their tartness with just a sprinkle of sugar.  Ah, even the basic grocery store sugar in France is wonderful, slightly more crystalized than what we get in the States and with a slight crunch to it~

I have also been intensively working on a certain project the last few weeks.  That work is continuing this week, and if all goes according to plan, on Friday I will finally be able to reveal it.  This project has been incubating for a long time, and now it finally feels right to launch it.  It’s another reason why my mind isn’t in California, it’s in France~

So I may be a little scarce this week, but look for the news on Friday.  And after that, I’ll be back with more of France.  Less California for now, more France.  That feels right.

Have a wonderful week~

Whose Favorites?

While I was photographing in Jean-Luc’s shop just a few weeks ago, a trio of women came in, looking for Christmas gifts. He offered a few suggestions, and subtly inquired as to the tastes of the recipients.  In typical French fashion, one of the women wryly yet humorously stated that she could absolutely not give a Christmas gift that she herself would not completely love, no matter for whom the gift was intended or what their tastes were. 

My Sis is turning 50, and so tonight we had a little intimate family dinner.  Coquilles Saint Jacques and a nice baguette to sop up all the sauce, which my parents had for New Year’s Eve and once a week since then, including last night for dinner, tasted just as good tonight.  I do believe this is the new family favorite.  Tender little salad from the Saturday market and swordfish, along with a celery root and potato gratinee…and of course a bottle of Perrier Jouet Champagne and two dozen perfect white roses wrapped in brown kraft paper and tied with satin ribbon, which went perfectly with the camellia-topped cake~

A four layer seven inch white layer cake I made very late last night with Italian-meringue-style buttercream was the perfect ending to the meal, here is the last slice as its height is ready to make it fall~

It was not until after the meal, at which every morsel was eaten, that I thought back to the Christmas shoppers in Beaune.  Oh wait, I think Sis’ favorite is Red Velvet cake.  Come to think of it, that’s the cake she often brings me on my birthday, though it’s not my favorite.  And she has never even had Coquilles Saint Jacques, but thankfully she though it was all divine, as her Francophile hubs nodded that it was A+.  White roses?  My taste. The Champagne?  My favorite marque as well, but it’s all in good taste, isn’t it?  Can you go wrong with the classics, no matter whose party it is?  She loved the meal, she loved the evening, so I’ll call it a success.

Sis and family are heading to Africa for a safari this summer, and we spent much of the evening discussing their travel as I am really interested in their voyage.  I kept mum on my plans, which no one asked about but which I booked today…..Paris in the springtime, Easter, in fact.  Beaune in May/June and I’m thinking of Marrakech in the fall.  So many good things are in the works this year!  And for now, it’s still January, so Happy Birthday to my big Sis; She pronounced the meal and the evening perfect, and so it was~

Pipe et Pantoufles

The last Sunday in Beaune when I went to the “Sunday bakery,” I couldn’t help but climb up on my toes to take this photo through the window.  It’s the golden brioche loaf that I love, and that I use to make French Toast for the girls when they are with me in Beaune.  The bread itself is better than anything you’ll ever taste, but made into French toast and with fresh fruit and whipped cream, it’s positively divine~

I mentioned that neither R or I eat a lot of sweets.  Oh wait, I stand corrected.  I asked if he had given the apple tarte to Cedric.  Non, he ate the whole thing over two days after I left and reported it was positively delicious; I was shocked!  I made it with store-bought puff pastry and using the apples R had bought two weeks earlier that I wanted to use up….It’s a favorite dessert for me to instruct guests to make…still, I was glad R loved it, it was really last minute after I had seen the cakes in the window.

My girlfriends know the routine; when R and I are in Beaune, it’s the Pipe & Slippers tour.  Coffee in bed, sandwiches and foot massages on demand.  Yeah, well, it’s fine with me, and this is where we have our time together, mostly without any of my family intruding.  So for me, the Pipe and Slippers tour is kind of fun~

But the next time around, it’s going to be about the girls; whether R is there or not, the girls will outnumber the boys.  And that means that whenever I pass the Bouche window, I’m picking up whatever strikes my fancy.  One of each please….I so wanted to have a slice of one of these cakes…

It looked like a lot of cake for two, and I weighed the options….a beautiful cutting board from Jean-Luc that I will enjoy forever, or a cake that I will mostly eat by myself……the cutting board won out, but next time, I’m having it all….shopping and the cakes~

I am also arranging with Marie-Pierre to have this lovely pair of Porcelaine de Paris coupes in house on my next arrival, which I will use to serve the girls….pommes frites….with our mussels in white wine sauce in the pair of large soupieres….won’t that be wonderful, French fries in these~

The next trip is being planned for late March.  To say that I am itching to get back is an understatement.  More posts from France to come.  Just had to share the cakes with you today……

Band in a Box

It’s the New Year.  Time for a little music, non? 

R and I went to a Marche de Noel in Meursault, just south of Beaune.  You didn’t need a map to find it, you just needed to follow the music, for just outside the halle where the marche was held, there was a band in a box, an orchestrophone, including two accordions, drums, a xylophone, trumpets and a saxophone.  One of my videos showed the crowd of us all standing around watching, absolutely rapt; must look to see if I still have that video, but the whole thing was really fun~

Sorry, I uploaded these to youtube then deleted the originals; and I should have rotated them first, but you can listen…the light shines on each instrument as it plays.  I especially like the drum, which looks like it’s being played by a pair of drum sticks on mouse traps; do you think this is clever?

A little fun for the new year….thank goodness the French have until the end of the first week of January to offer best wishes for 2013, so it’s not too late~ Bonne Annee!~

Vite Passé

Two glorious weeks in France felt like a month.  One week home feels like four, as I arrive to deal with all I have to contend with on a daily basis.  I took Mom for her written driver’s test for her license renewal, and she failed it, not once, but twice the same day after she insisted she would pass the second time.  She has an extension through February, and we are now reviewing the driver handbook and talking about signs and rules as we drive; she only has one more chance to take the test, and she knows it’s important that she pass.

As year end approached, I couldn’t help but feel like 2012 went by in a blink, faster even than the previous years, which I thought were already a blur.  I chatted a little with Jean-Luc about caring for my parents and how quickly the weeks pass.  His theory is that as we age, our memory banks fill up, and so time seems to accelerate.  He says that his gauge for how quickly the days go by is the sugar bowl.  Each morning, he has a bowl of strong coffee with three sugar cubes.  No one else is in the sugar jar but him, and each day it’s one-two-three lumps.  And suddenly, the rather large jar of sugar cubes is nearing empty.  Have the days gone by as fast as that?

I suppose they have.  Mom had another birthday yesterday, New Year’s eve.  I set the table for a buffet dinner, and agreed with my sister that we would begin our meal between 5 and 6pm, not too late for Mom & Dad~

If you look at the table and the menu, you will see that I am missing France.  A few pretty pink flowers for Mom, but mostly lots of ivy from the garden (so French, Cedric confirms) and pretty little mandarin oranges~

I had two of my nieces come over in the afternoon to help me cook, and with a little instruction, they produced some absolutely perfect sea salt caramel turtles~

These were a big hit; the caramel recipe we used is HERE; I chose it because it uses honey and not corn syrup.  Nicole was proud of her work~

I’m still dreaming of the Coquilles Saint Jacques in Beaune, so we made that too, using about five small bay scallops per shell instead of one large scallop; these were also popular~

Well, let’s say they were popular when the my sister and the rest of her family finally arrived, at 7pm.  Yes, tardy, so they got reheated gratineed shells.  We did tell them “not to rush” and the girls and I were still cooking, but I never understand how those hours get lost.  And as usual, I had lots of food, and ideas of stretching the evening into a four hour meal as the clam chowder, then scallops, then shrimp, mache salad and pommes Dauphinois and moules frites and finally dessert emerged from the kitchen.  But there was the usual frenzy of eating, and an hour later everyone was in the desserts and sampling the turtles, and then we watched the ball drop in New York and everyone was ready to go home or to a party.  What’s wrong with me, will I never learn?  

The girls were my best guests, sitting in the living room between courses and looking at my wedding cake book as we talked about Nicole’s wedding in 2014.  And clowning around with the glasses I got at the 99 Cent Store~

This morning is another day though, and for breakfast we had birthday cake (white cake imbibed with Kahlua and filled with crème Chantilly and cassis jam from Beaune), leftover cremant with scrambled eggs and the last of the potatoes, and then late morning, the chocolate fondue we had intended for the night before: blackberries, pineapple and strawberries dipped in chocolate and sprinkled with coconut; my parents were very happy to have eaten this~

And in the end, of course, that’s what it’s about for me…Dad loved all the food and ate when he wanted; Mom had a fantastic birthday and enjoyed the atmosphere and the company, no matter what time they showed up.  She was especially happy to watch her granddaughters at work in the kitchen.  For lunch today we are having moules frites and then for dinner a roast chicken with stuffing.  I’m puttering around with various plans and projects for 2013, and finishing off a few more blog posts from France.  This will be an exciting year, and I hope it does not zip by too fast!

Wishing everyone Bonne Année 2013~

Dimanche, Beaune

Sunday is one of my favorite days of the week in Beaune, principally because the kitchen is fully stocked with all the best from the Saturday market, and the cadence of the town is different from all the other days of the week.  It’s a day of rest, a day with family, a day to have a nice meal and go for a walk. This Sunday was my last of this trip, so it started early, hours before dawn.  I wanted to get rid of the rest of the cardboard piles, so I decided to take advantage of Jean-Luc’s chariot that was still sitting in the rez de chaussee.  Talk about rolling out the door; here I go in the wee hours~

That was easy; bumping over the cobblestones, I filled up the recycle dumpster yet again, and the piles were finally gone.  Around 8:30 it was time to get out for a walk and get breakfast.  At that hour, there are very few people out; except perhaps a few of the bonnes-soeurs, who are making their way to the Collégiale for 9:30 mass as they do like clockwork on Sundays~

I headed up the road to “the Sunday bakery,” since most of the others are closed and so on Sunday I buy there.  Today, a baguette, a pain au chocolat for R and a croissant pour moi~

If you live anywhere near the center of Beaune, you won’t be sleeping in late on Sunday, because the bells of the large church dedicated to Notre Dame (known locally as the collégiale as it’s one step below basillica) will tell you it’s time to get up and go to mass; the bells ring twice, at 9:30 and 11am, just before mass.  I stayed to listen to the bells then headed off to the 11am mass.  They ring for a full five minutes, but here’s a snippet~  

Sunday in most of France is dedicated to family, food and rest.  Many people will join family and friends for a nice meal in the afternoon, which will take at least a few hours and possibly most of the day.  And like all good guests, they will bring a boxed cake or dessert or something nice from one of the local patisseries, and it’s common to see people dashing about the center of Beaune with patisserie boxes in hand, especially from my favorite, Bouche.  The town slowly comes alive, as everyone is out walking, often with their dogs, and parents are out with their children~ 

Now that mass was over but it wasn’t quite time to have our big meal of the day, I decided to get some work done.  Our second “big” project of the trip was to clean up the chauffage or heating room.  This is where we store tools, the garden hose for the terrace and extra tiles and bits of wallpaper.  OK, it’s kind of a junk room.  But it’s also where I have a small laundry drying rack, and I hate stumbling in here in the dark.  This is the “before”….now you can see why this room drives me crazy~

Certain things got tossed, the hose was coiled up on a 6’ tall coat rack pole that only had two poignees left on it, and the non-working stainless steel sink was moved out onto the terrace.  I cleaned up and then arranged the wine crates that came from the cave on one wall; all the old tiles and various bits of stuff fit neatly into the little cubbies now.  And I can reach the laundry rack.  Much better~

R was very impressed with my work, and then announced that he was getting very hungry.  Time for lunch!  I started the moules and then was ready to put the frites allumettes on. But opening the freezer, I found….sweaters?  Oh yeah, the other project today was to moth-ball all of R’s winter sweaters, and he went ahead and put them all in the freezer for me.  Out….that’s for later this afternoon~

Moules Frites is one of my favorite meals in Beaune, one because it’s rather light and delicious, but also because I serve it in my large porcelaine blanche soupiere, with a large and pretty silver ladle.  Some of the moules you’ll find are from Spain, but the smaller, better ones are called bouchot and come from Normandy, right by Mont Saint Michel.  They were so good, of course we ate the entire pot~

and don’t forget the frites, dusted with French sea salt; love~

For dessert we are having apple tarte in puff pastry, which I made early in the morning~

and after lunch, just to be sure that R does not die of hunger after I leave, I put a large cocotte of boeuf Bourguignon in the oven and set up a large jar of homemade sauerkraut made with a Savoy cabbage from the market~

There was also more clean up to do from the shoot and from the week in general; the greens and mossy logs I had put in the fireplace were thrown out the back window and landed onto the terrace for disposal later; the bucket of water from soaking R’s feet was thrown out the front window onto the cobblestones after assuring the street was empty.  And I repotted my flowers from the shoot in Jean-Luc’s silver cups, these will go to Jean-Luc’s shop when he and Cedric pick up all the shoot elements on Monday,  A lot of work, dispatched quickly~

It’s traditional, after Sunday lunch, for everyone to go for a walk, in a group of two or a group of twenty.  After the little cleanup, we did the same, heading to Parc Bouzaises, joining the rest of town who was out for a stroll. 

What R did not know is that part of the reason I wanted to go to the Parc is that we had to walk past Marie-Pierre’s antique shop, which happily was open.  Hehe….you will see more of her shop later; but it’s LADEN with all sorts of antiques, but her specialty is tabletop: linens, silver, porcelain, flatware, glasses and crystal galore.  After reviewing my photos, I have to contact her to have her set aside a small pile of merchandise for me, but on Sunday I managed to get R to buy me a beautiful 19thC porcelaine blanche soupiere to go with my collection.  It’s less ornate than my favorite, but slightly larger.  When we have guests in the spring, we will now two soupieres on the table full of moules frites, and that will be a pretty sight~

After the shopping detour, we did make it to the Parc, saw the ducks and sheep again, and let our food settle a bit.  Coming back to Beaune, the town was absolutely packed, as it is in summer, with shoppers making their rounds in the nice shops in the center of town and everyone out for a stroll given the mild weather.  The kids filled up on cotton candy as they waited in the long line for the carrousel~

After a little snack for dinner and a bottle of Chabolle Musigny, we headed out again in the dark to see the Christmas lights.  Will show you those next~