Showing posts with label france. Show all posts
Showing posts with label france. Show all posts

17 February 2009

Perfect for those cold winter nights......


Coq au vin


This chicken in red wine dish traditionally uses older roosters because they contain a lot of connective tissue, which creates a richer broth when cooked and rooster blood to thicken the sauce at the end of cooking.
Serves 4.

INGREDIENTS
Coq au vin
2 tbsp olive oil
90 gm butter, coarsely chopped at room temperature
1.6 kg free-range chicken, jointed
150 gm piece of pancetta, cut into 1 cm pieces
12 small pickling onions
125 ml (½ cup) brandy, warmed
750 ml (3 cups) Beaujolais
500 ml (2 cups) chicken stock
3 parsley stalks
2 fresh bay leaves
2 sprigs of thyme
2 small heads garlic, halved lengthways
1 tbsp plain flour
200 gm mixed small mushrooms such as pine, Swiss brown and button, trimmed
¼ cup coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley

Mashed potato
1 kg desiree potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters
50 gm butter, coarsely chopped
125 ml (½ cup) pouring cream

1. Preheat oven to 160C. Heat oil and 20gm butter in a large casserole over medium-high heat, add chicken pieces and cook for 10 minutes, turning until golden, then transfer to a plate and keep warm. Add pancetta and onions and cook for 5 minutes or until golden, drain off excess fat. Return chicken to pan, pour over brandy and ignite with a long match. When flames are extinguished, add wine, stock, herbs and garlic and season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Bring to the boil, cover and place in oven for 1 hour or until chicken is tender and cooked through. Transfer chicken, onions and pancetta to a warm dish, cover with foil and keep warm.
2.Strain cooking liquid through a fine sieve, discarding herbs and garlic. Heat sauce in clean casserole over medium heat and simmer for 30 minutes or until reduced to 2 cups. Combine flour and 20gm butter into a paste, whisk into sauce and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until sauce has thickened and coats the back of a spoon.
3. Meanwhile, heat 50gm butter in a frying pan over medium heat, add mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes or until golden, season to taste and set aside.
4. For mashed potato, cook potatoes in boiling water for 15 minutes or until tender, drain and pass through a potato ricer into saucepan, add butter and cream, season to taste and stir to combine.
5. To serve, return chicken, pancetta, onions and mushrooms to sauce and cook for 5 minutes, turning to coat and warm through. Serve chicken and sauce scattered with parsley, with mashed potato on the side.



2 February 2009

Eymet - Key Events/Dates for 2009


Key events and dates for 2009 are as follows:


Nature festival Sunday, May 17th Information : 05.53.23.74.95

Fauna & Flora festival 5th edition From May 30th till June 7th 2008 In the south of Dordogne, in Bergerac Country, The towns of Eymet, Puyguilhem (Thénac), Sigoulès, Cunèges et Saussignac give a warm welcome to the Art Caravan. Artists from all corners of Aquitaine are coming to present their creations on plants and animals, through diverse techniques (paint, sculpture, photos, videos, sounds..)Full of poetry and very entertaining for the whole family and public of all ages.Opening hour : Every day from 2pm till 7pmInformation : 06 10 16 47 27

Randonnée en Fête Sunday, June 14thWalking trail 15 km. Departure in front of the Office of Tourism 9am. Free and for the whole family.Information : 05.53.23.74.95.

Night Markets Every tuesday from june 30th till September 2nd

More than 60 professional stalls.Food available on siteStarts 7pm, Place de la Bastide.Info : 05.53.23.74.95.

The "Afro-Latines" Festival 2009 Friday, july 4th and saturday, july 5th Information : 05.53.23.82.37More info

Medieval journey throught the Dropt Valley Friday, august 7th : Conference Saturday, august 8th : Walk with torchlight, 10pm in front of the Office of tourism. Sunday, august 9th : pageants, workshops, market, games, and banquet with show in the evening.Informations : 05.53.23.74.95http://www.medieval.dropt.org/

The "Other" Festival Saturday, august 22nd and sunday, august 23rdMusic, live entertaining, video, workshops for kidsFood available on site.In Fonroque, between, Eymet and Bergerac.

"Le Pays des Bastides" celebrates its 10 years From monday, september 14th to sunday, september 27thPhotographies exhibition and many events. Information : 05.53.23.74.95.

European Heritage Days Saturday, september 19th and Sunday, september 20thInformation : 05.53.23.74.95.



For more information on events please refer to the calandar on the eymetguide:

http://www.ledropt.com/whatson2_09_feb.html then select the month that you are interested in.

19 January 2009

Castillonnes 750th Anniversaire


Re bonjour,

I have just realised that I have not yet told you about the events that are taking place this year as part of the celebrations for Castillonnes 750th! anniversary.

Key dates and events are as follows:

Sat 4 Apr Comice agricole
Sat 4 Apr Communal meal poule au pot
Sat 4 Apr Launch of commemorative envelopes/stamps
Sat 4 Apr - Mon 13 Apr (Easter Mon) Stamp/seashell exhibition
Sun 12 Apr Brocante

Fri 19 Jun - Sat 27 Jun Art exhibition (school/college art projects on 750th
Fri 19 Jun - Sat 27 Jun History exhibition (of the bastide)

Sun 2 Aug - Bodega (all night party)
Tues 18 Aug - Sun 30 Aug History exhibition and old photographic display of the bastide
Sat 29 Aug - Medieval day with open air meal in market square
Fri 28 Aug - Sun 30 Aug Twinning weekend
Sat 29 Aug Inauguration of new entrance to Mairie

21/22 Sep - History/photo exhibition again to allow children to visit from schools but open to public
We are especially looking forward to the medieval day as there is a reduced fee for the banquet if you wear a costume and I am sure that the locals are already planning their costume atire, so the pressure is on to find a good costume :-)
Amicalement,
Leeann

8 January 2009

Rejuvenated for 2009.....

Bonjour,

I have just returned from having the most wonderful facial at our local beauty salon in Castillonnes. Michelle is "tres gentil" and gives the most wonderfully relaxing facial, 2 hours for 39 euros is pretty good value in my book. She is going to provide me with a treatment listing so that I can include this in the Maison de Poitiers Chambre information pack.

Her salon is literally a 2 minute walk from Maison de Poitiers and she loves the opportunity to practise her English should you feel inclined to converse in English!

She only uses Mary Cohr products which are completely natural products are are derrived from plant extracts.

It is still cold here and we have more snow forecast for Saturday.........................

Amicalement,

Leeann

6 January 2009

Snow photos!

Here is a album containing the photos that I took this morning, note the temp on the pharmacy clock -3.5!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28371250@N03/sets/72157612185668359/show/
L x

It is snowing here!


Hello,

We awoke to find eveything here blanketed in snow, the village looks amazing! I have posted a photo so that you can see for yourself! I will also create an album so that you can see some more snow!

A bientot

Leeann

3 January 2009

Bonjour

Today it is blue sky and a little chilly here. I love the blue sky but are willing it to be warmer as we watched a programme about an english couple relocating to Australia and it made me a little homesick.


Yes I am a kiwi but I have spent many years working in Sydney and as a result have an Australian passport which I adore as the photo in it is a lot nicer than my Kiwi one :-)


For those of you that do not know me I am a "40 something" kiwi who has spent the last 15 years of my life travelling and working around the world. I have lived in Dubai, London, Sydney, Mumbai and Istanbul and have travelled extensively as a result of working for large corporate companies.

Not quite 2 years ago I discovered France and spent the first year setting up a boutique style B&B "Maison de Poitiers" in a tranquil 13th century village called Castillonnes which is not far from Bergerac airport.

The next project has commenced which is luxury holiday apartments (maison no. 20) in a lively 13th century village called Eymet which is not far from here.

We have created a website for the apartments, http://www.maison20.com/

A couple of the rooms have already appeared on the top 100 rooms on mydeco.com which was a nice suprise.

I had better get back to work.

Bonne Annee

Leeann