I am very pleased to announce the arrival of a new guest in Brousson….Tolone the bear. He was found in a vineyard, torn and battered and after careful suturing and a spin or two in the washing machine has been granted residency -
A lovely weekend to mark the end of Brousson’s season.
The last guests of our season came from Bermuda for a cooking and wine weekend. They arrived for a gastronomic dinner with matching wines taken under the stars. On Saturday morning after taking early tea in bed they were off for a run in the vines before breakfast; ready for Lodeve market.
They chose sardines, pork, chicken, with a myriad of fresh vegetables and after their lunch in Soleil Bleu (even managing a quick look at Voltat in Musee Fleury) were back keen to start their kitchen duties. As we are enjoying at the moment just the most beautiful Indian summer, we could prepare everything outside under the wisteria for shade.
For their aperitif they made a savoury fig and jambon cru cake, followed by fresh beetroot, brousse & smoked trout salad. We cooked pork with Agen prunes and chestnuts, in Chardonnay with herbs, serving with mashed celeriac potatoes. They learnt how to make spicy red cabbage (which freezes so well for Christmas) and ‘knocked-up’ a Tarte au Citron. Not to mention preparing a Roquefort and pear quiche and an artichoke, pepper & cheese puff for their picnic on Sunday! A rather ambitious programme, but they were star pupils.
On Sunday, I packed them off with their picnic so they could explore with Lits the area of Faugeres and what makes it so special, and of course to taste in the Cru de Faugeres! (A very friendly place to go for tasting and buying gorgeous foodie presents).
They were rather tired on their return, but in order to have dinner they had to don their aprons again and set to, as the menu was rather labour intensive!
Stuffed Sardines followed by Chicken Basquaise, roasting the peppers in order to skin them and making a tomato sauce from scratch. The courgette tian and poached peaches were a doddle compared to the cleaning, filleting and stuffing of the sardines. I have never laughed so much at the antics and comments of people who have never in their lives handled fish before!
I congratulate the three of them for their marvellous efforts, dedication and humour, a most perfect finish to my 2011 season, thankyou!
Musee Fleury in Lodeve
A must for anyone who can get to Lodeve before the 16th October 2011 is a visit to musee Fleury to view 180 fabulous paintings by Louis Valtat. Don’t be put off if you don’t know his work, his paintings are so vibrant and his use of bold colours cannot fail to uplift! Maybe take a breather in one of the deckchairs outside the museum, (shame they don’t serve coffee) or make the few steps to Soleil Blue, highly recommended for lunch or afternoon tea!
Remember the museum is closed on Monday.
Chapelle St Pierre De Brousson
Last Saturday we had a wonderful opportunity to view the inside of our 11th century chapel St Pierre De Brousson (I re-named the House after this when I moved here in 2002). It is normally locked but on this occasion a Catalan guitarist, Michel Charneau held a concert. We were treated to 2 hours of classical, jazz, bossa & folk and what a treat it was, he is a very talented musician. The interior gave a natural coolness combating the harsh heat still hanging over the Orb at 6pm, together with the wonderful calm of this simple place of worship lent itself to a memorable evening.
After the concert, 2 hastily erected trestle tables literally groaned with the very best charcuterie it is possible to eat; 3 different types of saucisson, boudin noir, fromage de tete, all hand made at Maison Aninat by Virginie & husband Michel and their team in Herepian. Many different breads and savoury pastries, and some wonderfully fresh, creamy, goats’ cheese – for those who don’t know, we now have a large herd of goats residing along the Chemin de Mirande with a fromagerie being constructed at the ronde point by Ecomarche. I have been eating their brousse (faiselle) for some weeks now, so versatile for cooking and salads, and of course simply just spread on a piece of bread! The second table served wines from Chateau Cassan, unfortunately rather mediocre and flat – perhaps mirroring the grumpy server!
Modern times
This week I had some sad news, my volaille butcher, selling chickens, guinea fowl, ducks, rabbit, quail, had closed down. All free range with a guaranteed lifespan of 130+ days for the chickens, even the rabbits had perfect eyesight not like the factory farmed specimens with their white blind eyes lying on Intermarche shelves. Although the price per kilo was less than the pap you buy in plastic from the supermarket not enough people supported this shop. All ‘specialist’ shops are suffering because the majority of shoppers want a one-stop-shop.
I am shocked how many buy their bread in the supermarket opposite rather than from the boulangerie, and I do mean an artisan shop rather than the popular chain of bread shops. We will lose these specialist shops and their expertise forever unless we consider our shopping habits. We should all be concerned about the provenance of our food for our general wellbeing. I fear there is a general malaise settling over the region.
Tour de France @ Pezenas
Sunday took a different direction; arriving early in Pezenas to find the best spot to watch the Tour de France bikers pass, and set up camp – a good 2 hours before any action was expected.
Sitting on a plastic fold-up chair at the roundabout armed with a printed handout from the Tourist Office giving timings the of the proposed action, I settled down to read all the English Sunday papers!
Surrounded by a very lively crowd, mainly Belgians drinking their beers and pastis, giving loud cheers every time a Skoda (official) support vehicle passed, I noticed, at my lower eye-level, most men had silky non-hairy well toned legs. I am reliably assured no self respecting biker would have hairy legs!
The promised ‘Caravan’ was made up of numerous mechanical floats in various guises, each throwing mementoes into the crowd. From sweets and cakes to noisy rattles and caps. A warm-up for the main event.
Allez! Allez! went up the cry, however, I cannot describe the contingent of riders, they went past too quickly! It was necessary to watch the finish on television just to see what we had missed. A great Sunday.
After such a long time…
It is more than a year since I wrote on my Brousson blog, and as I didn’t think anyone would read it I gave it no more thought when the House took up all my summer, leaving little time to sit and recount. When I started I thought of it as my ramblings and discounted any interest. However, I have been taken to task and so I am resuming my thoughts just incase anyone is remotely interested!
I am just back from visiting my family in London and although it pains me to say as a committed train traveller, Ryanair to Beziers is very convenient, ok my son lives 20 minutes from Luton! but the flight times are very civilized. Mind you one has to put up with a lot of discomfort, but it is very fast.
On Tuesday evening I knew we were in for a huge storm. (courtesy of BBC Countrywatch’s weather forecast!) I have never experienced a whole night of thunder and lightning, (still going at 06.30) it was so wild and a little frightening at times. I am sure the water table has been replenished many times and the vignerons will refer to this rainfall by date when speaking about their vintage.
It has cleared the air beautifully and whilst the temperature is climbing higher each day the view is clear. I went up onto the Causses this evening, and you can see ‘forever’! The floor is covered in yellow Helichrysum contrasting with the blue Eryngium. Quite stunning.
