Do you ever find yourself smiling at some of the things you pass by during your day?
I love those moments and have started to record them with my camera. I can’t help it. Everything in France seems so exotic to me, being a ‘non-Frenchie’!
Here’s some pics to share with you, but be warned! There’s a few of them, so I hope you don’t get bored!!
(& check out the brilliant photo of her!)
Still there? Hope you made it!
Thought you were going to see a cheeky image of naughty bits??
Sorry, no, it’s Summer and this is often what our table looks like the morning after…
Glasses are cleared but the bottles are waiting to be packed and emptied at the village recycling bin (and how the old mesdames and messieurs of the village, seated on their bench, must love counting how many wines that Aussie girl manages to consume).
It’s now past the middle of August and I can’t believe how quickly Lilas’ school holidays have passed, how many interesting people have stayed or called by, and how much wine and food we’ve consumed. It seems like a non-stop degustation here sometimes, with the Beroccas coming out first thing in the morning, but things will certainly slow down now that ‘les vendanges’ (harvest time) are approaching and Benji prepares the cellars for receiving grapes. Soon he’ll be working a seven-day week and mostly absent from our daily timetable. It’s an intense time until all grapes have been picked and are safe in the tanks or going through the press, so it’s good to make the most of it with family and friends time in this heat.
The bottles photographed above are the empties from an evening with some of the ‘Naked’ crew. Joe from Naked and is family came to visit, one warm and windy night and an informal tasting turned into a bottle fest (with Lilas and the kids meanwhile transforming the living room into a Playmobil playground) with everyone trying the whites and reds from Benji’s range together with local cheeses, bread and mountain lamb (big merci to our friends Vincent and Isabelle who were staying that week and gave us a huge help in the kitchen – the bbq’d lamb was a treat!). It’s always great to meet new people around a table of wine, glass in hand and every Naked tasting we’ve had has been full of laughs with interesting people from all parts.
You’re probably wondering what on earth Naked is. It’s a company in the UK called Naked Wines and Benji makes and sells wine with them. It’s been just over a year since the collaboration started and we’ve met so many great people – customers and other winemakers – and had lots of fun tasting the range over dinners, lunches and informal evenings like this one. I know it sounds like a plug – and it is! But seriuosly, all puns aside, it is an energetic company run by young people with enthusiasm and a love for wine, and fuelled by a community of customers – people buying and tasting wine from anywhere in the world and then sharing their experiences online. Benji’s range has done well and we’ve learnt a lot from the forums and the feedback people have offered. Thanks to everyone, Rowan, Joe, Amy, Sam, Fran, Simon, Frankie, Kevin, everyone, for the ride so far!
We’ve just come home from watching the Bastille Day fireworks over the local lake and it was beautful. There’s something about fireworks, as I looked around at all the people sitting near us, everyone had a smile on their face.
But the other highlight had to be when Benji flicked on the tele this morning to watch the ‘defile’ – the annual Bastille Day parade of French forces along the Champs-Elysees before the French president.
Those boys of the Brigade de Sapeurs-Pompiers de Paris (the Parisian fire service) put on quite a show…
Thought you’d like a peek inside one of these things.
My husband thinks I should give guided tours of them as I know where ALL of them are. They’re not quite as picture-perfect as you’d imagine from the outside but they do the job. But at 30 centimes a pop they could be cleaner! It was a huge shock to arrive in France and find out I had to pay for these visits. If I had a penny for every…
I asked Benji what the ‘WC’ stood for and he replied ‘wateerrrr closette’. Oh right. So the French have stolen from us for once.
The outside looks slightly similar to this – the image on the cover of my old French textbook from school, “Un Deux Trois 1”.
Didn’t know I was going to live the dream.
Le Jardin de Valerie
Back towards Pierre and Laetitia, on the same side is Valerie’s ‘garden’…
‘Le Jardin de Valerie’ is the one of the most enticing stands… Her tables are lined with beautiful baskets laden with luminous green salads, rocket, mini broccolis, mini cabbages, shiny yellow ‘courgettes’/ zucchinis, celeriac, the best potatoes I’ve eaten in a long time and an enticing array of home-made ‘gelees’ and confitures (jams). The jelly made of muscat is a beautiful accompaniment to a chunk of aged ‘brebis’/ sheep’s milk (where are you Vincent?!?… your Brebis de Napoleon was the one of the best cheeses we’ve ever had. You are missed at the markets!).
It’s not officially ‘organic’ produce, but Valerie’s principles are the same – cultivation with full respect for the environment, minimal water use and ‘lutte biologique’/ biological pest control. Compared to a lot of other fruit and vegetable producers you see at the markets, it’s by no means a big stand but in this scale, I’m reminded that all these beautiful vegetables are the product of one woman’s dedication and energy. Having visited Valerie’s ‘potagers’ (vegetable gardens) during an open day late last Summer, I was in awe at seeing the size of the whole thing, knowing that she maintained all of it herself (5 acres), and how much land you need to work to provide for a market stall, let alone your own weekly provisions! For her it’s a 7 day a week job from early morning till dark, but judging by her face she couldn’t be happier.
It’s been nearly two years since Valerie quit her job at the local paper and became a full-time grower and her enthusiasm for her produce is infectious. While I’m glancing over all the varieties of vegetables she’s always ready to share ideas for dishes she’s cooked at home with the same produce. She grows around 40-50 different varities of vegetables, including many ancient varities that you don’t see anymore in the supermarkets. I love buying her baby cabbages and the tiny heads of ‘mini’ broccolis and it’s the first time I’ve ever cooked with vegies like this. The flavours are so sweet and concentrated.
Her plans are ever expanding, she’s very excited about the large orchard recently planted of organic fruit trees which will help contribute to her jellies and jams.
I love shopping at the markets. I’m not able to find absolutely everything to stock the cupboards like I can in the supermarket, but its rewarding to get to know producers like Valerie, Pierre, Jacques and Laetitia and chat about how and why they do what they do.
These people usually have huge smiles on their faces – no matter how cold or hot or early in the morning – and you can see their satisfaction from selling their produce direct to the consumer. It’s also great exchanging recipe ideas and even just talking about the weather. Something we do a lot of around here!
The Vigneron's Wife 