Wrapping Up Our Last Week in La Belle France.

May 27th - May 31st, 2019 

The last week of  “my birthday trip” in France! 

Monday ... I needed some “city life” as in some retail therapy but not really looking for anything or in need of anything. 

We headed to Carcassonne to a large shopping area on the outskirts. 

Here we found the largest as in massive Carrefour (grocery store) I’ve ever seen. 

It was inside an indoor shopping mall with many interesting shops. 

And of course this happened today ... Monsieur Honey got himself coiffed. 

I had hoped to get myself pampered with a cut however it looks like I’ll be waiting until I get home.

Normally, when we are in France each city, town, village has several coiffures.

Late last week I had asked Sylvie at the Vival where she gets her hair cut/ styled. 

She told me Montlaur does have a “coiffeurs à domicile” ... that does both men and women’s hair and she comes to you. 

Anyway time has slipped away ... so I’ll wait until I’m back home in Canada. 

Some pretty bling in the jewelry store window. 

The grocery store was massive with a great selection of goods! 

You’re sure to find a Rosé you like here ... so much selection.

The cuts of meat are so different to what we are use to / familiar with as the children of butchers. 

Both Monsieur Honey’s and my father were butchers in their day. 

These charts hanging in the meat department of the supermarket might be helpful and also make for interesting conversation with my brother who is a meat cutter (recently retired). 

Tuesday was an at home day ... we visited Jean Louis the butcher and we were in luck ... fresh made « Friands » were in the showcase. Delicious!

These are similar to meat pies. I’ve already searched for recipes, there are several varieties with different fillings. 

The ones we enjoyed were made with fine ground beef, mushrooms, parsley, herbs and a light gravy/sauce in puff pastry.  

We purchased a couple to have for our lunch today.

Wednesday ... date night at Bourdasso, if we are ever in the area again we will definitely add this to the must do list! 

See separate post “La Bourdasso Cucina Italiana” posted May 31, 2019

We shared lots of laughs about my birth “day” that turned into the birthday “month”of celebrations. 

It was an amazing night in a beautiful setting with great ambiance, Italian aperitifs, delicious creative food and wine shared with my best friend. 

Thursday ...was a holiday in France (Ascension Thursday). 

We  did a return trip to Narbonne. 

There was much more boat activity on the Canal today, and an outdoor market lined both sides of the Quai on the Canal de la Robine near Les Halles. The city was humming. And the sun shone brightly! 

Here some tourists walked on the 2000 plus years of history on the ancient Roman road ... “Via Domitia ”.

There was a large number of flower vendors today.

I hoped that I’d still be able to get plants for my gardens when I get home. 

Jokingly I was going to ask the truck driver to deliver some plants to my home. 

Friday -  our last day of our trip! Some packing and preparing for our departure tomorrow.

We did make a reservation for lunch at Le Moulin in Trèbes. 

I’ll be writing a separate post about our lunch on the canal.

The weather was absolutely glorious today and we enjoyed a later supper on the terrace. 

I’ll be back with a few more posts over the next few days.

Dining on the Canal du Midi

#moulindetrebes #canaldumidi #thegoodlifefrance #unescoworldheritagesite

Friday May 31st, 2019

Well it’s the end of May, the end of my birth “day” month and tomorrow we are heading back to “Home Sweet Home”.

I followed my usual morning routine checking the view from the bedroom window, it looked to be a promising day! The sky was blue and no clouds were visible over the rooftops and mountain.

Can you see the rays of sunshine and the swallows?

We did some packing and then headed off to Trèbes for a send off lunch on the canal at “Le Moulin”.

It was a glorious day with blue azure skies, bright sunshine and hot temperatures ... maybe “Mother Nature” & the “Weatherman” finally got it together. 

I was treated to another trip beneath the plane tree canopy. 

We arrived early in Trèbes in order that we could do a couple errands before lunch. 

Today we were lunching along the Canal du Midi. 

A bit of history from the Canal du Midi tourism site.

“The construction of the Canal du Midi is one of the major achievements of Louis XIV’s reign (17th Century).It is 240 kilometres long and links the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. This masterpiece of engineering, thanks to the genius of Pierre-Paul Riquet, is one of the prides of the Languedoc. The canal brought commercial prosperity to the region. Today, leisure cruises have taken over and the Canal du Midi has been a major tourist attraction since it was granted world heritage status by UNESCO.

Pierre-Paul Riquet

Born in Béziers in 1609, Pierre-Paul Riquet made his fortune as a salt tax inspector. He was thus able to acquire the Domaine de Bonrepas, near Toulouse, where he carried out numerous experiments to find a solution to the problem of supplying water to the canal at its summit at the Seuil de Narouze.

Having convinced Louis XIV and his minister, Colbert, of the commercial benefits of his project, Pierre-Paul Riquet embarked on his great enterprise which was to take 14 years. Riquet’s strong personality and perseverance enabled him to overcome all the obstacles encountered during the canal’s construction. Sadly, Riquet died penniless on 1st October 1680 without having completed his masterpiece, which was inaugurated soon after his death in 1681.”

Le Moulin de Trèbes is owned/operated by the Chef Pascal and his wife Sophie, both very friendly and personable. 

We were seated at one of the tables nearest the canal on the terrace ... from here we could watch all the activity thru the locks. 

Today’s menu was interesting and delicious.

Salmon tartare with a shiitake mushroom /coriander confit and brightened by the citrus smear from the aromatic “yuzu” ... a variety of lemon.

Mouthwatering delicious and beautifully presented.

Roast pork a top a bed of eggplant/ zucchini with roasted potatoes and a Parmesan/ olive oil sauce. 

Yummy.

And the finishing touch to this wonderful meal ...

A pineapple (thinly sliced) salad with coconut and brown sugar crumble! 

I will be making this one at home. 

Light and just enough sweetness. 

It was a perfect lunch date to celebrate our last day in France.

Thank you Pascal, Sophie and Anais for the delectable food and superb service.

The boats being lowered in the lock ... the water draining.

 I’m thirsty ... said this puppy! 

Tomorrow it’s hurry up and wait day on our way to “Home Sweet Home!”

A Week in our French Life

Week of May 20th -May 26th 

We are on our second last week of our French stay. 

This week the weather was once again mixed. 

Monday we did a village walk; we stopped to smell some beautiful roses! 

Tuesday our road trip took us to Limoux. 

“The Venus out of the Water surrounded by four children riding dolphins” fountain in the Place de la République.

One of the children riding the dolphin ... isn’t he cute? 

Now look at that Wisteria ... can only imagine what it looks like in full flower.

Wednesday to Trèbes for a grocery shop and then some lunch. We first went to Le Moulin however it was full and there wasn’t a table available. We made a reservation for tomorrow. 

We chose the Trattoria Napoli on the Quai, the food and setting were excellent. 

The phylo pastry wrapped goat cheese & honey that look like egg rolls were so yummy. 

I’m going to have to try to make these.

It was a warmer (24C) sunny day and we had a great table to enjoy our meal and watch the activity in the canal.

Everything has a red tinge because of the red umbrellas! 

I said to Monsieur Honey “Let’s do this sometime” ... rent a houseboat and travel on the Canal.

I don’t think he was too interested.

Thursday back to Trèbes for lunch at “Le Moulin de Trèbes” situated at the locks on the Canal du Midi.

Has the weather finally broken? Let’s hope so! Looking out the window this morning it was clear and sunny! 

The menu and our lunch.

We enjoyed our lunch immensely (très bon!) so much so, we’ve decided to go here again on our last full day in France.

As the sun was shining and temperatures were finally warmer, we watched the activity in the locks where three boats were passing through, one of which was sporting a Canadian flag. We chatted and found out that these three couples were from B.C. The boat they rented had 3-bedrooms, 3-bathrooms ... sounds perfect.

Friday and Saturday we were experiencing some dreary weather (dark, cloudy skies and rain)  ... we spent those days at home in the village. 

Sunday we headed to Lagrasse where there was a vide-grenier, school festival with lots of activités for the children.

Our highlight of the day was our lunch at Le 1900 ...

All in all a fairly full week! 

You can’t do anything about the weather and just have to make the most of it. 

Oh and let’s not forget it was Mother’s Day in France ... every lady guest at Le 1900 was given a beautiful rose!