A good week for lunch

On Wednesday Graham took me to La Tour des Vents at Monbazillac for lunch for my birthday. I had read about this restaurant some time ago and thought it was the perfect spot for a summer lunch. We weren’t  disappointed. We were given a table on the terrace under roof, on a hillside surrounded by vines, and with a view across the Dordogne valley to Bergerac. The sun was warm, the sky a brilliant blue and a pleasant breeze kept us comfortable as we watched birds of prey soaring over the valley. We ordered the Menu Decouverte – 10 courses altogether. As Graham was driving we limited ourselves to just one bottle of Bergerac rosé, not easy for Graham as you all know. For those who are interested the menu follows the blog.

Graham had mentioned when he made the booking that it was my birthday, so, when one of the desserts arrived, a strawberry macaron, it came with a candle (thankfully this is not the place for singing “happy birthday”). Then one of the waitresses brought out a camera and took our photo and two minutes later returned with a print for us. It was very sweet and thoughtful and carried off as discreetly as you can do this sort of thing in a full restaurant. The food was great, the service excellent and the ambience perfect. It was the best afternoon and I hope we can repeat it with visiting friends sometime. Would love to make this our “local” as it’s only a 20 minute drive from home, but perhaps Michelin starred restaurants should be kept for special.

As we were not comfortable whipping out a camera here you can see the restaurant on the website. 

http://www.tourdesvents.com/

church at St Meard de Gurcon

old lavoir ( wash house) now home to waterlilies

ancient market hall

a cool spot for a drink beside the church

We had another lunch out on Sunday afternoon near St Meard de Gurcon.

The background – we had met Kate at our favourite café. We are friends with the dutch owner, Kees, who speaks perfect english, so when we were sitting around the café one day and Kate, an anglais, walked in with an Australian friend Kees made a comment along the lines of “not another Australian!”. We had to have a coffee together and share stories.

Kate lives here in the countryside not far from us and has become our friend. She invited us to lunch at her lovely house and introduced us to three of her friends – two anglais and one french. Kate is a great cook so we had a wonderful lunch sitting on the terrace and talking about, food, restaurants, life in France, etc.

She very kindly allowed us to take a few pictures of her garden.

view from the back garden

guest accommodation

the pool with a view

ready for lunch

Kerrie and Kate

Every Thursday evening for the last few weeks we have had a Marché des Producteurs in the square overlooking the river in Ste Foy. The local mairie puts out trestle tables and chairs and local producers set up stalls to provide dinner. Everything from foie gras, steak, mussels, duck and chicken, all served with frites, of course. There’s also ice cream, crepes, patisseries and wine and beer. Lots of tourists with their children and dogs, and lots of noise. And to entertain everyone a jazz band. As the sun doesn’t set until around 9.30 it’s a pleasant way to spend a summer evening.

Finally we have an electrician (english) who is here working on our lights. We found him on the internet, and it turns out that we know his wife from our French class. Small world and even smaller here.

The painter starts on Wednesday! He is going to paint virtually everything (and strip that french wallpaper) so we are going to have to live with him for a few weeks. We are looking forward to then being able to hang our pictures that we brought from Australia and a few new watercolours that we have bought here at markets.

We have had some interesting days discovering the wonders (and shortcomings) of French hardware stores (BRICOs). They have a few large chains similar to Bunning’s, but many gaps in what they offer. French plumbing and electricals are archaic. You can buy ultra-modern light fittings but the method used for wiring into the house is from the 1950s (if you’re lucky). So you can’t just buy a simple ceiling light and plug it into the batten as there’s no batten, just wires poking out of the ceiling. Hence the need for an electrician. The general opinion is that this is their way of keeping their “artisans” in work. On the other hand, the BRICOs offer a picture framing service, so I plan to try them out on this.

The herb garden is coming along and very useful, and I’ve been making Mirabelle jam using the fruit from our tree. As we don’t eat much jam this and the fig jam will last us until next summer, I’m sure. The potager is our next outdoor project.

We have been to a few more vide grenier and brocante markets, but it appears that prices go up when the tourists arrive, so we aren’t buying much until they all go home. The Saturday market at Ste Foy has been unpleasantly crowded so we only go if we need something specific, like organic eggs, and to have a coffee at our favourite café, then we dash across the bridge and home. We must learn to get up earlier on Saturdays and go when the locals do.

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The menu from our lunch at La Tour des Vents for those who are into this. Our english translation is in red.

La Tour des Vents

Amusée Buche

Mousseuse chou-fleur, pain grille aux des crevettes

Cauliflower foam with prawn toast

Langoustines rôties, poivrons confits, pain toasté jambon pata negra,

coulis de tomates estragon relevé à l'harissa, crème glacée langoustine

Langoustines with preserved roasted peppers , pata negra ham toasted bread,

tomato sauce with tarragon harissa,  lobster ice cream

Foie gras de canard poêlé, mangue-fruit de la passion-origan,

feuille à feuille de pain d'épices et mangue, réduction de Bergerac au cassis

Seared duck foie gras with mango,passionfruit and oregano,

Millefeuille of gingerbread and mango, blackcurrant reduction Bergerac

Merlu de ligne rôti sur une terrine de légumes, jus au pistou

Line of Hake on a bowl of roasted vegetables, pesto jus

Ris de veau à l’ancienne cuits en cocotte, pain aillé et fèvettes

Sweetbreads en cocotte with garlic bread and fava beans

Pigeonneau de Marie Le Guen en crapaudine, sauce salmis au Porto, 
la cuisse braisée, saladine à l’huile de noisette

Squab Marie Le Guen spatchcock, sauce Porto, 
braised thigh, Saladin in hazelnut oil

Macaron moelleux, fine marmelade de fraise,

glace verveine et coulis basilica

Soft macaron, fine strawberry jam,

verbena ice cream and basil sauce

En transparence crémeux de café, coulis de caramel,

mousseuse armagnac, cacahuètes caramélisées

Transparent creamy coffee, caramel sauce,

frothy armagnac, caramelized peanuts

Cafe and petit fours

A bientôt et bon appétit mes amis