Sunday, April 7, 2013

Markets and Martha Stewart!

Early (for us) this morning...(Saturday, April 6th) we had a chilly walk in to our village where we checked out the small shop which has a depot de pain.
Here we discovered if we want fresh croissants and pain au raisin, my "Monsieur Honey" will have to be there no later than 8AM to ensure that we can enjoy these delicacies.
This shop has all your essential needs.
Although a bit apprehensive about my French language skills (11 months since the last time I spoke French)... I just dove in and explained to Madame that I knew a bit of French and away I went...having a conversation with the Madame shopkeeper was a great confidence booster and she said I did very well.



Saturday day is Market day in Gourdon, we had no plans of going as just yesterday we had done a major grocery shop at the larger supermarkets, Lidl and Carrefour.

We decided to make a quick run into Gourdon, visit the market for some extra vegetables for soup making, bread from our favourite boulangerie, and some wine from the Wine Merchant.

I suggested we get one of the Rotisserie Chickens for an easy dinner, but Msr. Honey said let's buy a " poulet Jaune" ...this is a farm raised chicken and cook it ourselves.

Monsieur Honey created a delicious homemade Vegetable and Toulouse Sausage soup for our lunch.

For dinner, I roasted the chicken with my variation of a Martha Stewart recipe..."Paprika Rubbed Chicken with Roasted Garlic" served with glazed carrots, buttery potatoes and a homemade sauce.

It was a wonderful finish to a great day!



Blogging Blues!

Bonjour mes amis.

I'm having some technical difficulties with uploading and inserting my photos into my posts.

I hope to have this resolved and figured out very soon.

We are alive and well in the Lot Valley.

À bientôt!

Friday, April 5, 2013

Surprise, Surprise!!

After a long day and night of travel  by car from home to Toronto, then  by  a  Boeing 777 to  Paris, an Airbus 320 from Paris to Toulouse ... we finally disembarked at Toulouse Airport and as we exited the automatic doors at the arrival area, we were pleasantly surprised to be greeted by our landlady.
She was waiting for her return flight to her other home in San Diego and there she would meet her new grandchildren.

Our final leg of travel from the Toulouse Airport to Degagnac was via our  rented Volkswagen  "Polo".
When we arrived at our home away from home for the next three months " Beaucaillou " ( name of the cottage), we were again surprised when we discovered a bottle of local red wine, a bar of artisan chocolate made of milk chocolate, caramel and sea salt along with a warm welcome letter from our landlady.

Stay tuned!