Shopping for food

Everyone knows about the marvelous marchés in french villages but most tourists don’t venture into our local supermarchés. We have four supermarkets around our town but our local Leclerc is an attraction for all our friends who like to food shop. It is a combination of Woolworths, Big W, Dan Murphy’s, and Harvey Norman’s electrical section.

In one visit you can buy a computer, a fridge, outdoor furniture, all your tableware and kitchenware (including the stove), the paraphernalia for bottling your own wine or preparing your own preserves and jams, ammunition and fishing gear, clothing, and then, of course,  there’s the food and wine.

There are the usual supermarket aisles (two) full of pre-packaged and ‘industrial’ cheeses and then there is the gourmet cheese section.

Just too many choices

Decisions, decisions...

There are seven aisles of wine, spirits and beers, and then there is the wine cave for the better wines where you can have the chateau marked wooden box if you buy at least 6 bottles. Most of the wines are ‘local’. When asked  “why don’t you offer wines from other areas / new world ? “  , the answer is always  “why should we when we have so many good wines here “. Hard to argue with the logic.

Nooo Paul...

In the 'cave' with the upper class wines

In the charcuterie section there can be at least 20 different choices of foie gras – more at Christmas.

Graham does love his foie gras

Fresh fruit and vegetables come from all over Europe and the french territories in Africa and the Caribbean.

As we are about 2 hours from the Atlantic there is always fresh seafood and the water tank is always full of homards (lobster) and crab.

Naturally the bakery section is enormous and bread is baked 3 times each day and you can often buy 3 baguettes for €1.00.

And the desserts….. you can buy fresh eclairs packaged in half dozens with either coffee or chocolate filling ( or both if you prefer) , tartes aux pomme, jesuits and réligieuses , paris brest, petit choux sucre, pain au chocolate et croissant, layered slabs of crème patissiere and chocolate and anything else you can think of.

Our thanks to our friends Georgina and Paul for these wonderful pictures - I'm too embarrassed to be seen taking photos in my local supermarket. We have just had the pleasure of their company again here in France and we love their enthusiasm. 

This is the fabulous house warming gift from the very thoughtful Georgina and Paul bought from a local decorator shop. It will be the centre piece for many a dinner party. Thank you so much.

  It's Fêtes de grande-mère here on Sunday so "Bonne Fête" to you know who.

Merci beaucoup mes amis et à bientôt

Winter, winter, winter

Bushfires and record temperatures in Australia, flooding and gales in UK, snow storms in US…and winter in south west France is mild and a little damp. Sorry everyone. Hope you are coping OK where ever you may be.

There is a very large holly bush at the entrance to the old town in Ste Foy

We had been warned that winter here is very quiet. That’s an understatement. Many have gone back to UK to stay with family, or gone en vacance to sunnier spots. There are no marchés on Sundays to tempt us out. The only social occasions are bad English quiz nights. After trying one we have decided we are not that desperate.

Moss and funghi on our garden wall

A mossy stone seat in our garden

While the trees have lost all their leaves and the ground is a little soggy we have had only a couple of frosts  and just as many foggy days as sunny ones. Funghi  and mosses are everywhere. And we are told that these ‘puffballs’ of leaf in so many otherwise leafless trees are a parasite -  it’s mistletoe !

Seasonal decoration - mistletoe on otherwise naked trees

There aren’t any Sunday brocante markets until spring but there is always the rugby Top 14 and the Six Nations competition. And for those who are interested the Winter Olympics in Sochi are providing a few laughs over the  infrastructure issues. The brits have just won their first ever Olympic medal on snow - who’d have thought it !! Good luck to the aussie team. Well done Torah Bright !!!

The Dordogne is full but no threat to us so far.

There has been some flooding on the riverside at Bordeaux and on the Dropt river a little to the south of us but the Dordogne has remained  friendly.

There are, of course, compensations – a slab of foie gras and a glass or two of french champagne can always help one through the day. Not to mention the ability to stay in bed a little longer in the mornings. We do not usually get up until 9am at least unless there is some reason....like having someone come to read our water meter. It is still a little too damp to get out and prepare the garden for the coming spring....oh well it will all happen soon.

Bon weekend et à bientôt mes amis

More acquisitions

the square in Eymet is such a pretty carpark on non market days

Found a newly opened antique shop in Eymet, a medieval village about half an hour south of us. It’s owned by a New Zealander called Leann  and her french boyfriend, Guy. They also have a chambre d’hote called Maison No.20 in the village.

http://www.maison20.com/

I discovered Leann and her blog through another favourite blog so I called her the week she opened the shop to have a chat. She is lovely and charming and when we visited the shop last week we had a long conversation about living in France. We had been on the lookout for a tapestry for a large empty wall in our front salon and Leann had just the thing. What do you think ?

Frolicking in the country ??

I thought it would look bigger but the ceilings are 3 metres

We had also been looking for dining chairs for the same room. After many months we couldn’t find exactly what we were looking for without spending a fortune,  but had seen some possibilities at a depot vente  (consignment warehouse) in Bergerac. Finally made a decision and bought this set of six chairs.  They are Louis XIV style reproductions and the tapestry covers are a little worn in parts so we will have them re-upholstered - when we can agree on a fabric.

Very traditional and very comfortable

Depot ventes are a common way of buying second hand furniture here. You can find just about any style and condition and the price can be very negotiable. When you find a good outlet it’s worth visiting regularly so you don’t miss out on something special.

At the same time we discovered a very pleasant restaurant in Eymet for lunch, Les Pieds Sur Terre, (in the name of research for our visitors, of course) so a village worth visiting.

So looking forward to spring


à bientôt mes amis
et bonne fête de saint valentin 

Things we’ve learned

About food…..

It is just as common to find a mediocre french restaurant as a mediocre Australian restaurant, but the French won’t overcharge you. Much of the menu is the same from one place to another. Having said that, there ARE good restaurants in France.(GR)

restaurant in St Emilion - careful stepping away form the table !

The ‘seasonality’ of french food doesn’t mean they don’t still overcook everything.

The French don’t understand beef. The fact that they cut their meat differently isn’t the problem, it’s that they don’t age their beef so it’s all tough.   They breed their chickens for large legs so there isn’t much meat on the rest of a french chicken and they can be stringy. This is probably why they eat so much pork, turkey and duck.

“Spicy” in french food is the equivalent of “very mild” in any other cuisine.

The ‘international’ section of any supermarket sells English and Chinese and maybe some Mexican and Indian foods, but very limited.  Asian restaurants are very frenchified, that is, bland and overcooked food.

Eating out can be very cheap if you aren’t too fussy. We have restaurants nearby where we can get a 4 course lunch, with bread and wine, for less than AUD20.00 each.

Yes, there are hundreds of cheeses, all of them good.

just enough bread for dinner

There is absolutely nothing as good as a fresh warm baguette.…..and french pastries  -  Mmmm.

About driving…..

It is said that the French are bad drivers. They are actually very polite but they also like to stop in the middle of the street to talk to each other. If a van stops to make a delivery in a narrow street everyone just waits patiently until they can move again. And no-one uses indicators despite it being in the road rules. Very polite but also very annoying!!

even the dogs know better

There are small cars and motorbikes on the road that can only travel up to 30km/hour and you don’t need a driver's licence to drive one.  Imagine what it’s like having one of these in front of you on a country road.

Of course you can park anywhere you like as the parking signs are only a suggestion and naturally you can double park if you are collecting your baguette from the boulangerie. 

what traffic light ??

 About shopping…..

Plan ahead - it is french law that shops don’t open on Sunday, except for supermarkets in the morning (big cities like Paris are exempt because of tourists) and most businesses, banks, post offices are closed on Monday. Everywhere closes for lunch between 12.00 and 2.00 but they are also all open until  7.00pm.

Shopping can be seasonal. You can search for something one week and not find it anywhere and a month later it is in all the shops. You just have to learn the annual shopping cycle.

French shops never carry any stock and are reluctant to order anything for you. Something will be on display and on sale but that will be the only one in the store and they won’t sell it to you because then there won’t be any on display ??????

If you want more than one of anything you’ll be lucky to find them in the one store.

The large stores and supermarkets are franchises and so they won’t order something from another store for you.

The sales in January are called “Le blanc” (white). Don’t know why.
We have since been informed that “Le Blanc” refers to household linen, ie sheets, towels etc. January is THE month when everyone buys their new household linen. So that's why there is so little available the rest of the year.  Why only in January ?????

French house paint is rubbish.

It is important that you always greet the staff and other shoppers with a polite 'bonjour' when you first enter the store and an 'au revoir' or 'bonne journée' when leaving otherwise you will be considered rude and may be ignored. 

About the language…..

What you learned in school is of little use in practice. Like English, the French abbreviate and use slang. Some speak clearly and some speak quickly. You just have to learn it. Not easy with our older heads.

We have learned that the English are more formal in their use of language but the French prefer that you just get to the point. It does make things easier. We are told that Australians are better at this.

It still doesn’t help when your hairdresser wants to chat (as they do) and she only speaks french and you only understand a quarter of what she is saying.

We have found that having to shop for all our household things and lots of hardware has helped improve our vocabulary, for example, la couette (quilt), un drap housse  ( fitted sheet) , sous-couche (undercoat) , un détecteur de montants (stud finder), un truc ( that thingummybob that does……, you know). All essential french.

And the most important things….

The French are always kind and welcoming.

We are really pleased that we came.

à bientôt mes amis