une toute nouvelle année

Weather is absolutely fantastic a bit cooler with some rain this week but on the whole, bright and sunny, we are still able to walk off the Christmas x-mass!
I cannot believe that it has almost been a whole year in France, and we are still loving it.

Despite my first line, it is now the end of Jan, it has rained a lot, unusual i am told, our neighbours are telling us the rain here, must be like being in England !?

Aramis and his anti cloaking dog device!

Porthos in his transporter, transport me away from the dog device

Anyway we had a great Christmas, new year would have been good if Marc had been well unfortunately he had a re-occurring illness which stops him eating anything other than liquids, thankfully he is on the mend now. So we have been taking each day as it comes since then, some tennis, some Milou walks.

The kittens were all spayed and neutered on new years eve, so that meant we thought we ought to stay in with them and make sure they were ok. Quick recovery i am glad to report even for little Darcie.

come on Milou, i know you don't know which one of us is stuffed?

Milou has probably done all her growing unlike the three "house rugs" as Marc affectionately calls them, they are six months now and Milou heading for ten months. Sometimes they all drive us crazy...but i think in the long run worth it.

Milou being Milou enjoying the smells of the river Save, wondering where she can find a spare kitten to annoy

christmas our new family in france

I have lost this post in the ether twice..so please forgive me if it is a little short.

some people including myself have (very inconveniently ) a birthday next to Christmas as if the Christmas period was not enough. So anyway we will start with mine on the twenty second of December, actually it started on the twenty-first in my favourite spa and market town as requested.

very pretty church

on Saturday we had grand plans of a tapas in the undercover market with friends and then cooling off in my my favourite spa. Best laid plans, our friends could sadly not make it and Marc luckily had a plan b up his sleeve, Chez Lulu on the Col de Palomier, we have heard it is pretty good and then a mountain walk with Milou. Great to be up in the mountains and on a very beautiful day but the restaurant was shut. 

It was worth the trip up there just to see a shepherd and his patou and a hard working collie take a very big flock of sheep further up the mountainside. marc had plan c also...

one of my favourite towns, bagnere de bigorre

We went into bagneres, way to late for tapas in the market, but there was another restaurant that marc had always wanted to try. It was fantastic! Simple ingredients the food was really tasty, a twenty euro

set menu with wine on top ....but the food was amazing, presentation and the taste was sublime.

The veloute of cucumber and celery with a fish mousse was brilliant and even the addition of potatoes and brussels did not put me off the main course! They had not infiltrated the sauce and the sauce was packed with flavour as was the stuffed chicken leg. This was followed by a three tier dessert, a palette cleanser and coffee...

fantastique!!!

On the day itself Marc cooked me snails and a french rack of lamb, also thoroughly tasty from my very own chef.

col de palomiers 

Then follows a little sample of our own for Christmas eve and Christmas day...we have kept the pintarde (guinea fowl) for new year..that did not happen either, but that's a different story

scallops with lemon butter

Darcy and Portly (as he is now known) ginger mouseminster!!

porthos pretty on pink

three of my gorgeous family...

Some Christmas eve faire, we bought too much at Christmas like we always do and have now simplified our meals for Christmas and new year and shared it over the three days, rather than one.

The tree was down twice polystyrene baubles all over the bed in very tiny fragments, Milou and the rest of the contents all over the floor, so the lights and tinsel then went up in the spare room, or our tv room.

Happy New Year and a big thanks to my followers, i hope you will continue to follow the mad, but very good lives of our household in the Hautes Pyrenees, and wishing you all a healthy and prosperous new year for 2014

, 

dix neuf, onze, un mille neuf cent quatre vingt onze

our wedding day 19/11/1991

and now are anniversary in France

What follows next is Mark and Paula enjoying one of the the things they do best....creating good food and wining and dining. Starting with getting up at five am? in the morning to make bread together. Turned out to be a little over done again but we'll keep practising, Milou liked it.

double fougasse with anchovy, olive and rosemary

scrambled eggs for brekkie

rustic table settings

Spanish version of pastis

verrine of salmon eggs homemade pesto and quinoa

We created the menu together, cooked it together and ate it together. Lots of little dishes throughout the day. The above is from a lovely french recipe book full of verrines, which is just really a starter in a glass, the homemade pesto was rocket, basil, almond pieces and parmesan. Topped with salmon eggs on a tasty bed of quinoa. 

fois gras on honey bread with p's homemade tomato jam

snails in rich tomato ham and chorizo sauce....

....at the table

verrine of layered boudin noir and apple puree topped with a scallop

This was my favourite, which is just layers of black pudding and apple puree topped with a lovely

seared scallop. This is definitely party food and looks quite pretty and maybe a bit different when served in a glass?

Milou and i preparing for a cinematic evening,
with ben stiller and along came Polly

rustic cheeses from my man in Castelnau market

aramis checking that nothing has been left in the sink

Chutney Paula's

 

We have had an abundance of figs this year, well i say we, our friends have, it's been a good year.

I have a freezer full of fig compote for early morning breakfasts, fresh figs frozen halves, and spiced fig chutney. I have also tried unsuccessfully to oven dry some.

For the fig compote (another french cookery book, titled Provence) you simply leave the chopped figs, roughly 1kg of figs with 120ml of water to macerate with some sugar, they suggest 750g of sugar ( i always use less than suggested, a third as the figs are naturally sweet) thin slices of 1 lemon and  1 orange, leave for twenty four hours. Cook the next day slowly for an hour and freeze. Mike and Judy not only gave us a lot of figs but a very easy idea for using them later on. Clean and half the figs put them on a tray cut side up in the freezer for a few hours, then when frozen bag them in groups of eight halves and put back in the freezer. These are then great to throw in tagines, casseroles and stews, good with chicken, duck or any fowl?

Then there was my spiced fig chutney, the book was given to me by dad one Christmas, incidentally he just happens to be staying with us this week. The chutney is lovely and because there is some pumpkin in it also you can use the rest for pumpkin soup, perfect autumnal fare.

SPICED FIG CHUTNEY,  SUD DE FRANCE the language and cooking of the Languedoc, Caroline Conran

or chutney a la figue, good with cold or cooked meat, again game or anything feathered!

2 tbsp olive oil, 1 onion chopped, half tsp cayenne pepper, half tsp ground turmeric, 1 tsp ground coriander, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, half tsp ground cumin, 500g of figs, 350g pumpkin flesh cut into small cubes, 250g brown sugar, 250ml white wine vinegar, 1 red chili whole, salt.

heat the olive oil gently in a stainless steel pan and soften the onions for ten minutes, but don't let them brown. Add the spices and mix in, cook for two or three minutes then add the fig and pumpkin cubes, stir thoroughly with spices and onions. 

Add brown sugar, vinegar and your whole chili. Season and allow to heat gently for an hour. the liquid should evaporate. When you have a nice thick mix, transfer to sterilised jars and keep for a month in a cool place before opening. 

To sterilise a jar wash thoroughly in soapy water and then transfer to oven for 30 minutes at 160C, let it cool in the oven and then it's ready for use.

I was worried about dad and our young and rather over zealous youngsters, but they seemed to get along just fine.  

butter would not melt in my mouth, ginger (s)tinker 2 and ginger stinker 1 in the background

when i grow up i am going to be a proper little madam, ok mummy says i already am?!

a day in the mountains

mountain dog???

st betrand de comminges

st bert is one of our favourite haunts, dad has been here a few times also

dad and darcie

dad, me and the belcher de Pyrenees...Milou

Bow wow WOW

it started with a kiss!!! Milou and Alfie

sizing up at Argeles Gazost and celebration of the Pyrenees shepherds

This happened a few weeks back, but it was such good fun and gave us such an insight to our pup it is worth recording. This was a celebration of the Berger de Pyrenees, ie sheepdogs on both the french and the Spanish side. There are quite a few breeds and all shapes and sizes, but here are the two we know and love. 

The Pyrenees shown here would be bred and bought up actually amongst the sheep, making it highly protective of it's flock, in the mountains where the sheep, goats are often kept in the summer, there are still wolves and even the occasional bear, these dogs are the guardian of the flock. The smaller dogs ie the Labrit (ie Milou) and other breeds like her would be the herding dogs and are valuable support and backup to the Patou as they are known. Doing all the leg work and keeping the flock together. They are an ancient breed hailing back from medieval times.

more on our little labrit

gorgeous and bored

one of five show rings, lots of competitors have camped for the weekend

Milou big woos .....overcome by it all

beautiful settings

some labrit's showing off their paces

a sturdy fella

and missus

they say that some owners look like their dogs,  over the next few shots I'll let you decide......

some interested onlookers, may recognise best of breed in the foreground

shagpile two

i fancy the one in the pink for best in show

a labrit in action

all the fun of the fair

As well as the show rings, there was food and wine tents and craft stalls, and other entertainments and demonstrations, plenty to look at if your attention on the dogs was short lived.

beau day and beau settings

sheepish?

more sheepish?

this little fella was working hard, and they both took the sheep right through the crowds
without blinking an eye

majestic

big love,  Aramis and Darcie