Three Years Ago Today - Paris with CoCo and Beth

     Facebook reminded me this morning of where I was and what I was doing exactly three years ago today.  I was in Paris with CoCo and my good friend, Beth, who had come to spend time with me in my little cottage where I was living.  I had lots of things planned for us to do while she was with me, including a road trip to Paris!  CoCo came along, of course, and had a lovely time seeing The City of Light from her "designer" black bag.

In front of the Louvre with CoCo in her black bag

     I enjoyed many guests while I was living in the Gers.  Andy came for a week in January, the week after he went home my friends, Jay and Barb, came for a few days.  And then Beth came for close to 3 weeks.  I loved playing tour guide and never tired of seeing the same places multiple times!  In the course of 4 weeks CoCo and I went to Carcassonne three times - and ate cassoulet three times!

The walls of medieval Carcassonne

     While Beth was there we did a road trip north to Paris, stopping along the way in the Loire Valley to visit the chateau de Chenonceau.  We had a wonderful time in Paris - but then I always have a wonderful time in Paris!  I love that the French are so dog-friendly and CoCo was welcome in our hotels and all the restaurants where we ate.  She is such a good little traveler.

Even in the winter Chenonceau is beautiful

     I am looking forward to being in Paris again, this time by myself, and will be able to do a few things that I have not ever done previously.  I plan to do a full day excursion to the Chateau de Fontainbleau and to Vaux le Vicomte.  I have wanted to visit these chateaux for years!  The histories of both of these places are so fascinating.  I also plan to visit the arcaded (covered) shopping areas in the neighborhoods near the Louvre and the Palais Royale. They became popular in the late 1800s and still have that authentic Art Deco style.
     Of course, I will be visiting some favorite spots.  I have to go see for myself what Notre Dame looks like.  I am sure I will be in tears.  Near the cathedral is a cafe that has really good crèpes!  I also will go to Fragonard as I need some more perfume.  And since Fragonard is very near the Galeries Lafayettes department store I'm sure I will find myself there as well!  Both places are an easy walk from the Opera.
     Yes, I have been dreaming of and planning my upcoming trip and have not been doing as much cooking as I had planned to do.  However, I did try out the recipe for the puffed baked pancake.  Let's just say there is a very good reason as to why I did not take a photo of it to share!  Baking in high altitude is always a challenge and even though I did use high altitude flour it still did not rise.  Well, actually the sides rose quite nicely, but the middle was flat as a . . . well, a pancake!  It tasted fine though and I ate it with butter and berries.  But it was not photo worthy - except for a good laugh!
     I had bought the gruyère cheese to make the puffed gougère pancake, but having had very little luck with the sweet version I decided not to spoil the awesome cheese by experimenting with a recipe I did not think would turn out.  So I found the authentic gougère recipe in my French cookbook and made a recipe of those today.  I think I could have taken them out of the oven a little sooner, but they still have that buttery, cheesy puffy goodness!  And taste like "France!"

The buttery cheesy little puffs of yummy!

The insides should be puffy like this

     I do have a French gougère story and may have shared this in one of the blogs I wrote while living in France:  I had great plans for making lots of French dishes while I lived there.  And one of those was to make gougères.  The oven had other plans!  I have never before or since seen an oven with numbers 1 - 6 rather than degrees of temperature.  I googled what each number meant and thought I had found the correct equivalent of 375 degrees f which is what my recipe called for.
     I was so excited to have these lovely little puffs of goodness with my homemade potato leek soup (one of my most favorites!) on that cool fall evening.  They looked great coming out of the oven - but - they were completely raw inside.  How is that possible???  I tried to finish them in the little toaster oven that I had but then they were way too done on the outside.  I tried other recipes in the oven over the course of the next couple of weeks and it didn't seem to matter which number I set the oven to, everything turned out raw on the inside!  So I gave up using the oven, ordered a slow cooker from Amazon.fr and used the toaster oven more often.  I never did figure out how to use that darn oven!
     I will leave you for this week (sorry I missed last week!) and haven't a clue what I will write about next week, but I'm sure that something will show up "around the next bend."  Thank you for taking the time to read my blog.  It really does mean so much to me.  Merci!

Pâté and Puppies

     I had a wonderful week filled with cooking and dogs!  Well, there was lots of snow, too, which made everything look quite magical.  I love the snow!  I grew up in Colorado Springs so I'm used to a Colorado winter.  If it's going to be cold, it may as well snow - that's my mantra :-) 
     The week began with dogs.  We had a rescue of 96 dogs who came in safely last Sunday.  We had intake for them on Monday and Wednesday.  The plan was to have the entire intake on Monday, but it started snowing pretty hard around 2 pm and since National Mill Dog Rescue is located about 25 miles east of Colorado Springs out in the country using dirt roads and smaller country highways to get there, our operations manager decided to call it quits after an hour and sent us all home.  So we finished up the rest of the dogs on Wednesday.
     This rescue was mostly small breed dogs - Yorkies, Maltese, Poodles - and most of them are really sweet.  Depending on the harshness and conditions of the breeders and breeding facilities we often have dogs who are super scared of humans and do not want anything to do with us for a few weeks until they realize they are safe and surrounded by love.  But most of these dogs want your attention.  They may not be too keen on being picked up, but most are happy to have your touch and their little tails go like crazy!  It's so rewarding to work with them.  I was out there again on Friday and Saturday helping with different things. Needless to say, we have a full house and there are lots of things that need to be done for these sweet little pups.
    But, I did find the time to do some cooking using recipes from my Gascon cookbook.  Then Andy came over today for lunch and was my guinea pig (he's used to that and usually enjoys it!)  As I mentioned last week I made recipes for the "apero" - that lovely French tradition of having aperitifs before dinner - or anytime for that matter!  On the menu was chicken pâté, green olive tapenade, "special" olives, crusty toasted French bread with butter and herbs, and Laughing Cow Cheese. 
     Also for lunch I made totally NOT French chicken tortilla soup and Italian cream cheese cookies for dessert.  Here are some photos of the aperitifs and cookies.

From L -R: Green olive tapenade, chicken pâté and cheese, "special" olives

Italian cream cheese cookies - yum!!

Roties Salées

     I liked the pâté much more than I thought I would and the tapenade much less.  This recipe called for green olives, but next time I make it I will use black olives as I prefer those.  The "special" olives are really easy to do: drain a jar of Greek olives and empty into a larger container with a sliced shallot, 2 halved garlic cloves, a pinch of red pepper flakes then cover all with olive oil.  The longer the flavors can "marry", the better.  I sliced a baguette on the diagonal, spread lightly with butter (the Gascon recipe called for duck fat), then sprinkled with sea salt and herbs.  Then place in a 425 degree oven for 10 minutes.
     I'm happy to share the recipes for the pâté and the super easy Italian cookies, just let me know and I'll send them to you.  In case you're wondering about the tortilla soup, I love this recipe.  It's Trisha Yearwood's recipe based on a soup that she had at a restaurant and decided to reproduce at home.  It's a creamy soup which I really prefer to any other tortilla soup I've ever had.  If you're interested in her recipe you can google it using her name followed by "chicken tortilla soup".  I promise you'll love it.
     I follow a number of blogs which are written by American or English expats now living the good life in France and they will often share recipes.  I am tempted by one I saw this past week.  February 2nd in the US is Groundhog Day, but in France is Candlemas or "Chandeleur" - the celebration of the presentation of baby Jesus to the temple.   But in wonderful French fashion there is food involved - in this case crèpes!  The blog I read had a recipe for a baked pancake, kind of like a souflé served with lemon and sugar or with berries.  But the recipe that caught my eye was for a savory puffed pancake with the flavor of Gougère.  Gougère are tiny puff pastries made with gruyère cheese which are served for an apero all over France.  They are wonderfully light and cheesy. 
     The idea of a skillet-sized gougère really appeals to me!  I mean, I love puff pastry, I love cheese, so what's not to like here!  I plan to try this recipe out this week. Or maybe both the sweet and the savory.  Afteral, life is always better with a little sweet and a little salty.
     And I leave you with photos of a bend in the road.  One should always be curious about what's around the next bend.  This is what feeds my adventurous spirit!  May your week be filled with unexpected joys!  Thank you for taking the time to read my blog post.  Merci!!

These goats weren't sure they wanted us to go around that next bend!

The cow was protecting her bend in the road

     

Gascony, Gastronomy, and Gallavanting - A New Year, A New Plan

Oh my!  It has been way too long since I wrote anything for my blog.  I have had such a difficult time since returning from France (3 years ago!) finding things to write about that were not the same thing every week.  I mean, how many times can I continue to write about my dogs and the zoo?!

I'm planning a trip to France for the month of April and so, of course, that inspires me.  So many thoughts are going through my mind as I prepare for this trip, part of which will be spent in the Southwest area where I lived.  And as I make my reservations for planes, trains and automobiles I am also making plans for what I want to eat!

So those thoughts and plans are the inspiration for the title of this blog and the proposed theme of any upcoming posts.  Let me explain.

Gascony is described in one of my guide books as "the beautiful, unspoilt and completely rural area of South West France, close to the Pyrenées Mountains and stretching between the cities of Bordeaux and Toulouse."  It is an area that has something for everyone!  You can surf on the Atlantic coast, ski in the mountains to the south and in a few hours enjoy northern Spain.  The Basques claim this area as do the Catalans.  There actually is a movement to restore the ancient kingdom of Catalonia.  One will find geographic signs posted in three languages - French, Spanish and Catalan (Gascon).

So much green!

Biarritz on a winter day

The majestic Pyrenées

I am so looking forward to visiting some of my favorite places - the gothic cathedrals, medieval abbeys and castles, Roman ruins, mountain vistas, local markets and restaurants.  And I can't wait to spend time with my lovely friends at Lassénat.  I hope to share stories of my experiences living and traveling in this region both before and after my trip in April.

Thursday morning market in Eauze

The interior of the Cathédrale St Pierre in Condom

My French family!

When you travel in France and Italy you will find that menus and meals vary according to regions and seasons.  The gastronomy of Gascony is different from other regions of France.  I have a cookbook that I will refer to as I write these blogs so that I can share with you the definition and uniqueness of the foods and cooking of this region.  "A Culinary Journey in Gascony" by Kate Hill, was published in 2004.  At that time, Ms Hill was living and entertaining on board her canal boat.

Yes, people do live on canal/barge boats all over France.  Along the Seine in Paris you will find a number of boats docked with dogs and bikes and tiny cars on top.  This was tiny living before that even became a movement!  Take your tiny house with you through the waterways of France!  As all of the major rivers in France are connected with each other by use of man made canals it is actually quite easy to navigate the entire country on the water.  You can thank Louis XIV for that!

In Ms Hill's book she introduces her readers to towns along the route between Bordeaux and Toulouse with recipes for every occasion.  I plan to use her book as an inspiration for my blog posts, interspersed, of course, with my own musings regarding traveling and eating the local cuisines.

What is the local cuisine, you ask?  The south of France is the home of ducks and geese, the fabulous foie gras, salt cured hams, slow-baked plums steeped in the local brandy called Armagnac.  Walnut orchards are everywhere and lots of meals enjoy recipes made with walnuts - cakes, tarts, there's even walnut wine which is wonderful! Everything grows in abundance in this region which boasts 325 days of sunshine every year.  Meals take on different flavors, colors, textures depending on which produce is in season.  The French are suspicious of fruits and vegetables that are not grown locally.

Herbs grow in abundance here and are plentiful any time of year.  On your daily walk anytime of the year you will find wild garlic, rosemary, thyme, sage, lavender, mushrooms - all of these can be added to any meal.  And this area is filled with vineyards!  Local wines are wonderful and inexpensive.  You drink them as well as cook with them.  There's a regional wine called "floc" which is only grown and only sold in Gascony (which I will also call the "Gers" from time to time).  Floc is made in red, white and rosé and all are quite wonderful, slightly sweet and fruity and will go with just about everything you are serving.

She begins her book with "Aperitifs".  This is such a lovely concept and one that I always take advantage of when I'm in France.  Aperitifs are the real first course of any French meal.  Aperitif drinks are aromatic, sometimes herbal, often sweet and always alcoholic.  My favorite is a "kir" - served in a flute with a splash of Crème de Cassis (black currant liqueur) in the bottom and filled with a white wine.  There is a Gascon version made with blackberry liqueur and red wine.  There's also a "Pousse Rapière" which is made with an orange-flavored Armagnac (see above) and white wine.  And don't forget about the fabulous walnut wine!

The aperitifs menus include dishes as simple as mixed olives or a fancier version of tapenade which I think I will make this weekend.  Stay tuned for the recipe and the results!  And I may have to make some "rôties salées" - A French version of Italian crostinis - to put the tapenade on.  Other recipes in her aperitif section which tempt me are "pâté de poulet" (chicken pâté) and "tarte de tomates" (tomato tart - however since tomatoes aren't in season right now this may have to wait til summer).

But, I think that gives me enough to start with, don't you?  This was your introduction to my plan for the year 2020.  So many of you have been asking me when and what I will be writing about next.  I really do appreciate your encouragement and compliments over the past four years.  I hope that I will not disappoint in this new year.  I will still "bore" you with stories of my three dogs, my adventures at National Mill Dog Rescue and my zoo visits.  As I write this, our rescue team is on the road returning from a long journey to bring about 90 dogs to freedom, so the next few days will be busy for all of us who work and volunteer out there.

One of the new mountain lion kittens at the zoo

Happy New Year from my home to yours!

Cheers to all as we begin this new year, new decade.  May it be a peace-filled and happy year.  I lift my glass of kir to you all! Salut et Santé !