They Are With Us Still ...

CL took this picture in Cugnaux (near Toulouse), France, after our last dinner party on April14. Friends are looking at a photo album CL brought on the laptop computer. Jacqueline, CL's mother, died May 31, 2009, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA. These are the friends in France who knew her best. The people who met her at Palmier, France, teaching in the 1960s; the core of friends who've stayed in touch all these years. Jacqueline came to visit once or twice every year. These are the people who couldn't see her in the final days of her illness, the people who couldn't come to her funeral.

I'm looking tired and bored--It was getting late for me, and I'm looking at these pictures for the 100th time. It didn't hit me until I saw this picture what a gift those photos were to these people. They knew Jacqueline in a way I would never know her. They are gathered around the warm glow of the laptop to remember. It's Grace.

Albert said, "Jacqueline is still alive in Christian's photos." Here are some of the pictures he shared.

Aligot (Cheesy French Potatoes)

I know your thinking, "Well, that doesn't look very interesting."
Well, gentle reader, read on ...


Aligot is a classic dish in the Auvergne region of France. Basically, it's mashed potatoes imbued with a lot of cheese, and maybe even some garlic. I'd heard about this legendary dish through the years, and finally got to eat some on this trip. You can buy it pre-packaged like our friends did in La Canourgue.


It's easier to make if you have an Aligot spoon, like this one. You'll see why in a minute ...


You put the stuff in a pot, add some water, and heat, stirring all the while. You'll need some help, so enlist your family or friends. It's thick enough that someone needs to hold onto the pot.


Looking good ... It's getting there ... A little longer ...


When it's ready, you bring the whole pot to the table and serve your guests. The long streams of cheesy potato are part of the entertainment at this meal. These are truly action shots.




When you're ready to serve, someone holds out a plate near the cheesy-potato stream. Someone else is there with a pair of kitchen shears to literally cut a portion off of the spoon or ladle. If you aim it right, it will land on someone's plate.


If it's made right, it will leave your plate clean! It is tasty!


The ladle is free of it's burden!


In for another dollop!

How fast does the TGV go?

How fast does the TGV go? That's the high-speed train in France that can go up to 200 mph. We shot this brief video out the window on a trip between Paris and Lyon. It's a smooth and quiet ride. Puts Amtrak to shame!

Say "Fromage!" (That's "Cheese!")

"Un repas sans fromage comme un journée sans soleil." – French proverb
(Translation – Any meal without cheese is like a day without the sun.)

One of the things I enjoy most about our trips to France is the Cheese. Way back in 2000, on my first trip to France with CL, I decided that I wanted to try all 365 cheese in France. Since that early declaration, I've scaled back ...


An essential reference is the DK book, French Cheeses : The Visual Guide to more than 250 Cheeses from every region of France by Kazuko Masui and Tomoko Yamada. [As an aside, I have to chuckle every time I see the authors' names. My sister married a man from Japan who does not have such an appreciation for cheese.] If you don't want to purchase a copy, try your local public library. It's well worth a look with color photos and commentary.

On each trip to France, I take notes on the cheeses we eat, which ones we like, what year we had them, etc. I note all this in my copy of the French Cheeses book (above). After 10 years of tracking our cheese habits, we mostly stick to the same list of 40 (or so) cheeses. This is partially limited by the fact that we tend to visit the same areas each time (That's where the family and friends are, so that's where we go). We also know what we like now, and tend to want to have the "good ones" again while we can get them in country. Many cheeses are regional, so if you don't get to a particular region, you may not be able to get a particular cheese easily.

If you're not serious enough to get the book, try the Wikipedia listing of French Cheeses. It's not complete, but it's a good starting point.

[Add Photo of Cheese Market]
The cheese counters/aisles in French grocery stores are magnificent! You've never seen anything like it in the US. [By the way, they consider most of our American cheeses as "plastique" meaning tasteless and dead because they are always wrapped in plastic and not allowed to breathe. I'm trying to share some of the artisinal cheeses made in the US--and we have some good ones, too!]


After a typical French meal, a plate of cheese is presented (before dessert). Under ideal conditions, this plate is allowed to warm to room temperature as that brings out the flavors better. The cheeses are usually eaten with a good French bread (another staple). Some cheeses (like Roquefort) are so strong, they are best eaten with wine. (I don't consider myself a wine drinker, but even I can tell that Roquefort is tempered by a good red wine. Our French family and friends knew I was serious when I ate and enjoyed Roquefort, a serious blue cheese.

Here are some of the cheese plates we encountered on this trip.
Our favorites are starred ***.


Starting at 12:00 and working "around the clock," these cheeses are :
Chaource *
St. Felicien du Dauphine
Roqurfort *
(Walnut cheese of unknown provenance)
Brique de Chevre du Forez
Comte * (center)




At a family reunion we were invited to attend, a large wheel of Brie de Meaux was presented on a straw mat. This one was made from un-pasturized milk. A second wheel of Brie was made from pasturized milk, which had a much milder taste.

Here's what it looks like "plated."

In France, salad comes at the end of a meal. In this case, it was presented along with the cheese. An elder in the family walked by with his plate, and he had such a big piece of this cheese, I thought it must have been a piece of white cake ... Nope! It was cheese!


In the evening, we had a cheese tart made with Maroilles cheese. This cheese is so strong that you can't eat it cold. It is tamed with heat, and so they serve it on a tart.


Starting at the the top (or 1:00, in this case) :
Gaperon *
Cantal *
Fourme D'Ambert
Chevre (a local goat cheese)
St. Nectaire
Bleu D'Auvergne



The Gaperon was a new cheese for us on this trip--and a most pleasant surprise! It is very flavorful, but fierce (even, severe) looking cheese. It's not for the faint-of-heart! Unfortunately, it is not a well-respected cheese as it is low-fat and made from the whey left over from another process. Gaperon has a garlic and cracked pepper flavor that kept me going back for more--until I could identify the flavors (The reference book was back in our room, so I couldn't check it at the table.)

What about the rind, you ask? Some of the moldy rinds are edible; some are not (For instance, some rinds might be too dry or hard to chew). Usually it's a personal preference as to whether or not you eat the rind. It is essential part of making many cheeses.


Starting at 1:00 :
Cantal
Roquefort (bleu)
Petitte Billi (fresh goat cheese) *
Brebis Pays Basque *

Other Cheeses this trip :

Perail (by Lou Perac) *
Camambert
Boursin *

There are many other favorites that we didn't get to try this year, but I'll stop here with my cheese reverie. Bon Apetit!

First Spring Blooms

Returned from our trip to see these beauties blooming in the yard. When we left, the stems were just peaking through the mulch. A welcome site on an otherwise cold, windy and sunny day.

Tarte aux Pommes (or Apple Tart, French-style)

While in France this trip, we visited our long-time family friends, Françoise and Albert Poyet at their house in the small village of La Canourgue. Here's a picture of their house to set the scene :


This house has been in Françoise' family for literally hundreds of years. There are painted portraits on the walls of her family members through the years ... some from before the French Revolution, some after.

How to make a Tarte aux Pommes (French Apple Tart)

Step 1 : Walk a block to the corner market to get supplies :
* Apples (3 or 4)
* Applesauce
* Frozen Butter Crust (puff pastry could also be used)
The person at the check-out register will know exactly what you will be going home to make, and will bid you "Bon Appetite!"


Step 2 : Lay out the crust in your favorite tart pan. Françiose left the baking parchment in the pan to make clean-up easier.


Step 3 : Spread applesauce on the bottom of the crust, so the tart doesn't get too dry. We bought some single-serving cups for this purpose.



Step 4 : Peel and slice the apples in 1/8 -1/4-inch wedges. Arrange in a pleasing pattern. My job was to peel and slice the apples, aside from recording the scene. ;-)

It really doesn't take as long as you might think to arrange the apples in this single layer, as opposed to just tossing them in like we do for American apple pie.


Step 5 : Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon as desired. (At this point, I think I've seen Martha Stewart add apricot jelly over the top to make a nice glaze.)


Step 6 : Bake at 425 degrees F for about 20 minutes.


Cut and enjoy! It can be eaten by hand (like a slice of pizza). The crust is strong enough to hold it together.


Bon Appetit!

Thank you for the cooking lesson, Françoise!

Please note : this is a family recipe handed down over the years. There are no precise measurements. You just do it until it's right ...

We are in France!

This is how I can tell -- a real bona-fide croissant, buttery and fresh! Pass the green plum preserves! Yum!

Actually, we were in France for the first 2 weeks of April. (We left the Paris airport just hours before it was closed due to the ash clouds from the erupting volcano in Iceland.) Since we did not have regular internet on the trip, I'll be posting things here for the next few weeks. Enjoy!

A little more explanation : The mother of my husband was French. So every other year (or so), we go to visit family and friends in France. Don't think of it as a once-in-a-lifetime dream vacation to France that we get to do again and again. It's more like a long way to go to see family. Lots of great food and company! Stay tuned ...