Bale that Water

Hay bales deployed in the roadside ditch on the Lachlan Way, central New South Wales. They are pegged in place with wooden stakes so during heavy rain the force of the stormwater is slowed without budging the bales. The idea is that the bales act as a silt filter, and it is probably a measure to ensure the road isn't undercut by erosion. In really heavy rain though, the water will simply go around, and the erosion is worse. These don't appear to have been installed according to the guidelines produced by the relevant local authority, Cowra Regional Council. My guess is that these have been illegally installed by the adjacent farmer, or intended as very temporary measures in an emergency that has passed and the hay bales forgotten. Hay bales for stormwater management are not considered best practice these days, as they are almost never set up properly, but of course, they are cheap and readily available.

************************************************* 

Au marché hier: Grey oyster mushrooms; a jar each of buckwheat (€6) and summer flower (€4.80) honey; a wedge each of Brie de Melun (€20.95/kg) and Roquefort (€29.95/kg) cheese; fresh potato gnocchi and a pannetone (€8.45); 200 g spinach (60c), a cauliflower (€2.50) and a celeriac (€2.49); a new Persian style carpet for the back of Célestine.

Superb Fairywren

The Superb Fairywren Malurus cyaneus is known to all Australians living in the relatively cooler and wetter parts of the eastern and southern states (and usually referred to as the Blue Wren). It is common in gardens and the bush, living in territorial family groups that raise young co-operatively. This one is the strikingly coloured male, still in his irridescent pulling gear in the early summer, who gives the species its vernacular name. The females and young are brown.

 They are insectivorous, hunting in grass and low bushes.

They are not related to European wrens, but are part of a uniquely Australasian family of birds. They are tiny, weighing about 10g, but with a 6cm tail. They are one of the winners in the increasing urbanisation of the east coast of Australia.

******************************************************

A la cuisine hier: Croissants aux amandes et chocolat. Just add some cocoa powder to two-thirds of the almond mixture and use that inside the croissants. Use the plain on the top so that the almond flakes stick.

********************************************************

Yesterday's Village Excitement: A semi-trailer broke down with his brakes locked on in front of the charcuterie in the Grande rue in Preuilly. The police had to redirect traffic for much of the morning.

The Christmas Caterpillar

In France, like so many countries with a Christian tradition, there is a cake which is particularly associated with Christmas. It's called a buche de Noël ('Christmas log') and the cake is a representation of the Yule log in sponge, ganache and buttercream. I decided to make one but, I'm somewhat embarrassed to report, I got a bit sidetracked, a bit carried away (and not in a good way). Instead of a log, we've ended up with a chenille de Noël. Tasteful and sophisticated it is not. But it is tasty and sugary and that's what really matters.

Eggs and sugar, beaten until thick and creamy.

Ingredients

For the Genoese sponge:
4 eggs
125 g castor sugar
75 g plain flour
Pinch salt

The sponge in the oven, nearly done.

For the orange cream filling:
150 g cream cheese
1 tbsp icing sugar
4 tbsp citrus flavoured syrup (I had some left over from another recipe). You could use a citrus flavoured liqueur instead.
2 tbsp preserved orange peel, chopped. You could substitute fine shreds of orange zest.

 The cake has been drizzled and the cream cheese beaten.

For the chocolate buttercream:
250 g butter, at room temperature
2½ cups icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
125 g very dark chocolate, melted

 Rolling the sponge.

Method
Sponge cake:

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C and line a shallow baking tray with baking paper.
2. Beat the eggs and sugar together for 10 minutes with the wire whisk attachment on a stand mixer (beat for longer if using electric hand held beaters or a 'manual' balloon whisk).
3. Sift flour and salt into a small bowl, then sift again into the egg and sugar mixture.
4. Fold the flour into the mixture by hand.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared baking tray and gently spread out evenly. It should be about 1.5 cm thick.
6. Bake for 10 - 15 minutes.
7. Carefully lift the sponge out of the tray by the paper lining and lay on a damp tea towel. Cover with a dry tea towel and leave until cool. Optional - once cool you can neaten it by cutting off the crispy edges (which are the cook's or the kid's treat).

Filling:

1. Beat together the cream cheese, icing sugar, orange peel and half the syrup.
2. Sprinkle the cake with the remaining syrup.
3. Spread the cream cheese mixture over the cake.
4. Carefully start peeling the cake from the paper and rolling it up. Once rolled put it on a serving platter.

Frosting:

1. Beat the butter with the wire whisk attachment of your stand mixer on medium-high for 5 minutes.
2. Reduce the speed to low and gradually add the icing sugar.
3. Increase the speed again and add the vanilla, then the chocolate. Beat for 2 minutes.
4. Spread all over the rolled log cake. (This is more frosting than you will need, so freeze the excess.)
5. Score the frosting decoratively with a fork, to imitate the bark on a log of wood. (Alternatively, score with a knife to make body segments and stud with orange peel for eyes and markings if you want a caterpillar.)

Don't laugh!

Yum

************************************************************************

A la cuisine hier: A salad that started off as Tabbouleh, but ended up being something more like an Israeli Chopped Salad, as I added more and more chopped veg to it.

******************************************************

Car News: The Scenic passed its emissions test and has now been issued with a new contrôle technique (roadworthy) sticker. Hurrah!

*******************************************************

At the Supermarket: 1 kg bags of sultanas! At La Roche Posay SuperU -- a reflection of how many Brits live in the area perhaps? They were €5.23 each and I bought two bags. I'll be interested to see if they become a regular item on the shelves. One of my minor frustrations with French supermarkets is the small size of packets of sultanas.

Botany of a Limestone Ridge

As promised back in the early summer, here are some more photos from a wonderful botany outing to a limestone ridge near Panzoult.

A wee plant of the rare and protected Annual Woundwort Stachys annua is surrounded by botanists before it can make a run for it.

 Crested Cow-wheat Melampyrium cristata, an uncommon plant, restricted to limestone grassland.

 Ground-pine Ajuga chamaepitys, rare and restricted to bare patches on dry limestone sites.

 Peach-leafed Bellflower Campanula persicifolia, rare and protected in the wild although widely planted in gardens.

 Violet Limadore Limadorus abortivum, a parasitic orchid.

 Wild Liquorice Astragalus glycyphycollos (also known as Milk-vetch), which tastes of liquorice.

 Yellow Woundwort Stachys recta, another lover of dry calcareous soil.

*************************************************************

My Birthday: Yesterday was my 54th birthday. Simon gave me a Sony e-reader and has been busy loading and organising hundreds of books on to it for me (and him) to read. I'm off to Australia in a month's time and will take it with me rather than raid Niall and Antoinette's library as originally planned. It will save a lot of weight and space. Any suggestions for books in French that I might like would be welcome.

Simon's parent's very kindly gave me some money which Simon used to take me to lunch. We went to Le Petit Tonneau in Montlouis sur Loire, where we had a very nice meal in a friendly atmosphere. All the staff, including the chef and the owner appear to be women. I managed to entertain our waitress by asking for a glass of Vouvray. On est à Montlouis alors...oops. I sheepishly changed my order and we all had a laugh. The salads on the buffet starter were so fresh they were nearly luminous the colours were so bright. I had steak with shallot sauce and chips made in-house. Simon had chicken. My steak, which was not an expensive cut, was done to perfection. It's always a good test of a restaurant to have steak, especially in France. It's one of those dishes that seems easy, but is often not up to par. Desserts were also maison, and I had chocolate pear tart, Simon had apple and raspberry crumble tart. Both were excellent.

French Kiwi Fruit

The other day our local orchardist, Ô petit verger, had locally grown kiwi fruit at the market. I always think of kiwi fruit as something a bit tropical and exotic, but in fact they grow perfectly happily outdoors in temperate climates, so long as they are in a spot that is protected from frost. In France kiwi fruit comes into season just as the choice of local fruit is well and truly limited to apples and pears, so it is a rather welcome addition to the fruit bowl.

**********************************************************

Loire Valley Nature: A new entry for Mute Swan Cygnus olor has been added. I was amazed to learn just recently that the closest relative of this most classic of swans is not any of the other Northern Hemisphere species (Whooper, Bewick, Trumpeter) but the Australian Black Swan Cygnus atratus.

*******************************************

At the Brico Store: Another thing I was amazed to learn just recently is that one of our local hardware stores sells hunting horns (€47.10, in case you are interested in popping in and purchasing). I have been frequenting the hardware store quite a lot the past week or so. You wouldn't believe the quantity of plaster our pantry renovation has taken.

Chestnuts in Syrup

Marrons glacés, or candied chestnuts, are a great seasonal treat here. But they are also very expensive, so I decided to try my hand at making them at home.

I happened to have a bag of frozen chestnuts in the freezer, so I didn't have to spend the time peeling the blighters. I used these instructions from Not Quite Nigella to glacé my marrons.

The results were not up to a professional standard. My marrons are a sort of dull brown, not the rich chestnut that proper bought ones are. If you cut mine open, it is clear that the syrup has not penetrated very far.

However, they taste good and are ideal for using in chocolate petits fours or in chestnut cream (coupe mont blanc). I've chosen to keep them in the remaining syrup so they don't dry out, and drain them a few at a time, just  prior to use. Once the chestnuts themselves are gone, the syrup, which has a strong chestnut and vanilla flavour, will be used on icecream or other desserts. Yum!

**********************************************************

A la cuisine hier: Braised Beef with Carrots. Well, everyone else is cooking it at the moment, and I had all the ingredients.

Crystalline and Cold

Early December has been a white world of hoar frost and dry cold. The temperature rose a bit on Friday afternoon though and we have lost our crystalline covering.

Our driveway at Friday lunchtime.

 Hoar frost on the moss on top of Ghiselaine's wall.

Like dry hot weather, dry cold is so much more pleasant than humid weather of any sort. This spell of cold has been particularly enjoyable as it has been brilliantly sunny with very little wind to go with it. Consequently real feel temperatures have been higher than actual and all that sun after long grey weeks was doubly welcome.

****************************************************

Loire Valley Nature: A new entry has been added for the Silver-washed Fritillary butterfly Argynnis paphia.
Photos have been added to the Speckled Wood butterfly Pararge aegeria entry.
Photos have been added to the Southern White Admiral butterfly Limenitis reducta entry.

Morongla Mechanics Institute

Morongla Creek is a hamlet on the Lachlan Valley Way in central New South Wales. The former Mechanics Institute building is clearly much valued and used as a community hall (like the salles des fêtes in French villages). The Wikipedia entry for Morongla gives you a good idea of the types of events it provides the venue for. The signs above the door highlight the CWA (Country Women's Association -- the equivalent of the WI in UK; and the Red Cross).

Mechanics Institutes sprang up in Australia in the 19th century, just as they did in Britain and North America, to meet the needs of working class artisans who wished to better themselves. They were essentially libraries focusing on vocational subjects. The buildings and reading material (inspirational and technical) were funded by local philanthropists, usually wealthy landowners or industrialists, who benefitted from gaining a pool of skilled local men with knowledge of the latest developments in machinery and industrial technology. Again, Wikipedia gives an excellent overview.

******************************************************

Christmas Donations: Yesterday one of our local volunteer firemen knocked on the door. He was collecting for their Christmas fundraising. I gave him a small donation and in return we get a calendar (to put with all the other useless calendars one receives at this time of year in France). He wrote my name on the receipt without asking me and said he remembers my name because it is the same as another family in the village. It has always struck me as an amazing coincidence that we managed to move somewhere that had local people with the same surname as me, even though my family is not French. The answer to this riddle probably lies in the Middle Ages, when German mercenaries fought for all the European kings and nobles. My surname is Old German in origin, and although my family emigrated from the west of England to Australia in the 19th century, I like to think I have a common ancestor from centuries ago with our local archaeologist and his family, who share my surname.

I have no problem giving the Sapeurs (firemen) a donation at this time of year. They are the lead emergency service in France and the Preuilly brigade is all volunteers. Even though the donation goes towards their Christmas party rather than any life saving activity, they well and truly deserve these contributions.

*************************************************************

Loire Valley Nature: A new entry for Scarce Swallowtail butterfly Iphiclides podalirius has been added.
A photo has been added to the Thick-headed Flies Conopidae entry.

********************************************************************

A la cuisine hier: Mulled wine, which I left on the wood stove all afternoon while we plastered the pantry and it dwindled away to about half a cup of wine and orange flavoured syrup. It made the house smell wonderful and was rather good actually, but sadly limited.

Turkey, tomato and mozzarella pizza, made with yesterday's leftovers and some of the creamy cauliflower sauce.

************************************************

Yesterday's Quiz: The results are now added to yesterday's post. Tim is the winner with 4 points.

It's a Sign!

A little weekend competition -- 3 questions relating to these signs, 2 points for each correct answer.

1. What town was I in when I photographed these signs?
2. Where was I standing?
3. How is Canowindra pronounced?

*********************************************************

A la cuisine hier: Slow-roasted tomatoes, turkey legs and potatoes. The slow-roasted tomatoes are a winter staple for us. I buy 2 kg of cheap tasteless tomatoes and transform them by cutting them into quarters, tossing in a little olive oil, salt, pepper, herbs and sugar, then laying them cut sides up on a baking sheet and cooking in the oven at 150°C for 3 hours.

I had a litre of raw milk from Monday that wasn't going to last any longer so I made custard (5 egg yolks, 2 tsp maize starch and 5 tbsp sugar). The milk was brought to the boil with a vanilla pod and left to infuse, then the vanilla removed, everything else mixed together and gently heated and stirred until it thickened. Easy peasy and no need for the powdered stuff unless you are vegan.

Bergamot Prunes, soaked overnight in Earl Grey tea sweetened with brown sugar. Strain the liquid off, add the zest and juice of an orange, a couple of bay leaves, a cinnamon stick and a vanilla pod. Bring it to the boil for a minute or two, then pour back over the prunes. Leave for a month to let the flavours smooth out before eating the prunes.

Pizza dough, ready for tonight's dinner.

************************************************************

Quiz Results: Tim used StreetView to work out I was standing in a carpark between a rose garden and the Tourist Office in Cowra so he gets 4 points. Anon gets 2 points for knowing how to pronounce Kah-noun-dra.

Touraine Bloggers Office Christmas Party

Earlier this year Simon suggested that it might be a nice idea to get all the Touraine bloggers we could find together for a Christmas party. We contacted everyone we knew of and suggested a couple of restaurants that would hopefully be central and suit everyone's tastes.

The group gathers at the table (clockwise from left -- Tim, Pauline, Simon, Kath, Jean Michel, Rosemary, Roger).

The big challenge was finding a date. The Touraine bloggers are almost all expats and many of them head off to other countries for the winter holiday period to visit family. Many of them don't even live in the Touraine at all, but are devoted to the area nonetheless.

Rosemary and Roger.

Finally we settled on Wednesday 11 December and the Hôtel de la Gare in Montrichard. This is a restaurant we use often with clients and they do a traditional lunchtime meal that is completely unpretentious and totally good value. The starter is a buffet of cured meats, fish and salads, all made in house except for some of the charcuterie, which comes from a local artisan. There is a choice of three mains, and on the day we were offered roast veal, roast leg of lamb or cod, all with seasonal vegetables such as braised endive and flageolets (dried green beans) plus fried diced potato. Then a cheese and dessert trolley is wheeled up to the table for everyone to serve themselves. Desserts are the popular old-fashioned type -- crême caramel, chocolate mousse, îles flottantes, fruit salad and so on. The hotel has just changed hands, so when we return in the new year the new owners will be installed. We hope they can provide the same welcoming and authentic experience that Mireille and Bernard, Sébastien and Severine have always offered our clients.

Jean Michel patiently works his way through about a dozen layers of wrapping to get to his present.

Four blogging couples were able to make it to the lunch -- Tim and Pauline, who write Aigronne Valley Wildlife and De la Bonne Bouffe; Kath and Roger, who write Our French Adventure; and Jean Michel and Rosemary, who write Aussie in France and Blois Daily Photo; plus us of course. We had organised a Secret Santa so that gifts were exchanged, sometimes between people who hadn't previously met. If you haven't encountered a Secret Santa before, everyone receives a name randomly and they must buy or make a present for that person. There is generally a low spending limit so everyone gets a present but no one feels pressured into spending more than they can afford.

Our lovely haul.

Personally, we were super impressed by how much effort everyone put into getting just the right present for their random receiver. We were thrilled with the gifts we got -- Roger made a recycled metal rooster for Simon and Kath made a bee hotel for me. Tim also very kindly gave me an illuminated loupe as a thank you gift.

Everyone got on famously and I think there might be one next year, organised by Leon (Melbourne - Our Home on the Bay).

********************************************************

A la cuisine hier: Cabbage leaves stuffed with a homemade lentil, rolled oats and roots veggie burger mix. It worked quite well, braised in chicken stock and served with homemade tomato sauce.

The LavBox

Long time readers may recall our enthusiastic interest in the drive through laundromat at the supermarket at Azay le Rideau. Well, I am thrilled to announce that we have an even more sophisticated facility even closer to home now.

Meet the LavBox at SuperU just outside la Roche Posay!

Brilliant or what, eh?!!
*******************************************************

Loire Valley Nature: A new entry for Red Longhorn Beetle Stictoleptura rubra has been added.
Photos have been added to the Chafers Scarabaeidae entry.
A new entry for Black and Yellow Longhorn Beetle Rutpela maculata has been added.

The Demarcation Line in Reignac sur Indre

Simon came across this photo and wondered were it was. He couldn't immediately place it, but by a process of elimination, using the distances shown on the sign post as clues, he worked out which were the possible roads. One day, barrelling along the D943 he realised we were passing a very likely contender. Once at home it was on to StreetView to compare the images, and sure enough, this house is the same in both photos.

Curiously, it looks both older and more gentrified in the modern view. It is situated on the intersection at the lieu dit mysteriously known as Café Brûlé (='burnt coffee'). The photo shows the only check point along the World War II Demarcation Line in the commune of Reignac sur Indre, so the only place you could cross from one zone to the other in the area in the days when France was divided between Occupied and 'Free' (Vichy).

You still have to take care as you cross at this point, as the speed limit drops to 70 kmph and there is a speed camera (....ahem....as some of us know to our cost).

Photo courtesy of StreetView.

******************************************************** 

A la cuisine hier: Orangettes (chocolate dipped candied orange peel).

Egg Fried Rice, like this, but with carrots, celery, sweet corn and mushrooms, and no 5 spice.

**********************************************************

Loire Valley Nature: Photos have been added to the Oaks Quercus spp entry.
A new entry has been added for Perforated Saint John's Wort Hypericum perforatum.
A new entry has been added for Red Admiral butterfly Vanessa atalanta.

L'Oie de Touraine

The Touraine Goose is one of the historic products of this region, like the Géline. In the past it was abundant in the Touraine, grown for its meat and the trade in feathers and down for making mattresses and pillows.

The Touraine Goose has similar origins to the other white geese breeds from central France, but had nearly disappeared in recent times. Thanks to the determination of an enthusiast from the Loches area, it has been rediscovered and relaunched in 1990.

A Touraine gander, waiting for an opportunity to peck his neighbour.

It is associated with a number of traditional feasts:

The Grape Harvest Goose (l'Oie des vendanges) -- thanks to its rapid growth rate and relatively small size the Touraine Goose is ready to be roasted by the end of the grape harvest.

St Michael's Day (l'Oie de la St Michel) to St Martin's Day Goose -- in the medieval calendar geese are generally slaughtered between St Michael's Day (29 September) and St Martin's Day (11 November). From the 16th century, the goose would be prepared à la anglaise (roasted with sage and onion stuffing) on St Michael's Day, to acknowledge the victory of the English over the Spanish Armada.

Alternatively, you could fatten the goose for a bit longer and have it for St Nicolas's Day (6 December,  when gifts were given to children). Nowadays, this tradition has morphed into the Christmas festivities, and the goose has been supplanted by the turkey.

*************************************************************

Loire Valley Nature: Photos of a larva have been added to the Crane Fly Tipulidae entry (warning: the gross out factor is fairly high --these are not attractive creatures).
Photos of a Little Egret Egretta garzetta have been added to the Herons and Bitterns Ardeidae page.
A photo has been added to the Marmalade Hover Fly Episyrphus balteatus entry.
Photos have been added to the Meadow Brown butterfly Maniola jurtina entry.
Photos have been added to the Medlar Mespilus germanica entry.
A new entry has been added for Wild Oregano Origanum vulgare.

**********************************************************

A la cuisine hier: Cream of Tomato and Celeriac Soup, using tinned tomatoes like this, but less spices, and celeriac and milk instead of carrots and cream.

*******************************************************

Update: chm was the winner of yesterday's quiz and the results are added to that post.

A Dauphin

A dauphin, in this context, is a spout for a downpipe. 

This one is one of a pair, on the birthplace of one of the few Europeans to see Angkor Wat before the 20th century and whose collection and documentation of Khmer art established the importance of the site in the eyes of Western art historians.

I will award:

• 1 point for each of the other meanings for dauphin that you can think of.
• 1 point for the name of the explorer/artist/curator.
• 2 points for the name of the town where his house is situated (+ a bonus point if you can tell me exactly where).

*************************************************************

A la cuisine hier: Smoked Fish Paste, a simple way to get your quota of oily fish.

Daisy's Best Boiled Fruit Cake, the very apogee of mid-20th century Australian farmhouse baking. Those of you who know and appreciate this magnificent cake should form an orderly queue by our back door around 4.30 pm of any afternoon in the next 10 days or so. Cake and coffee will be dispensed (this is a serious invitation, by the way). This year's version of The Cake is low on nuts (just a bit of powdered almond) and high on orange coloured fruit (dried apricots and candied orange peel). Thanks to the munificence of our friends Megan and Bryan, who visited back in the summer, The Cake contains proper little chunks of stem ginger and syrup this year too.

***********************************************

Loire Valley Nature: A new entry has been added for Hummingbird Hawk Moth Macroglossum stellatarum.
A new entry has been added for Water Primrose Ludwigia spp.
Photos have been added to the Knapweed Fritillary butterfly Melitaea phoebe entry.
A photo has been added to the Ladybirds Coccinellidae entry.

*********************************************

Weather News: It is now cold enough for the grass in our driveway to stay frosty all day and for there to be permanent ice on the water butts in the orchard. The payoff is bright sunny days because there is no cloud blanket.

******************************************************

UPDATE: chm has been awarded 6 points for getting almost everything I was after plus telling me something I didn't know. Surprisingly, no one pointed out that dauphin means 'dolphin'.

An Australian Icon

Allow me to introduce you to the Holden EH Premier, the top of the range in Australia from 1963 to 1965. This one was photographed outside the tourist office in Cowra, New South Wales in December 2012.

The EH was a step up in quality and technology, incorporating new styling and a new motor, known as the 'Red' motor, that was more powerful, economical and smoother than its predecessor, the 'Grey' motor. Exhaustively tested prior to release, the EH proved to be one of the most reliable and easy to maintain Holdens of all. It was essentially a clever reworking of the already popular EJ model, which was Holden's answer to the Ford Falcon. My sister's first car was an EJ, known as the Blue Beautron amongst family and friends, and by that time nearly 20 years old.

*********************************************************

Loire Valley Nature: Photos have been added to the Eurasian Honey Bee Apis mellifera entry.
A new entry has been added for European Hornet Vespa crabro.
A new entry has been added for House Mouse Mus musculus.

Revive to Survive

The distance between my sister's house and our parent's house is about 1100km. In late November 2012 we drove from Canberra, where my sister lives, to my parents place near Toowoomba, spent a week with them and drove back again. It is possible to do the journey in a single day. Both Simon and I have done it in the past, when we were young and invincible. We considered doing the return journey in a single day this time, but my sister and brother-in-law told us they thought it was extremely dangerous, so we opted to overnight half way on both journeys.

Driver fatigue is a big problem in Australia. Around 20% of fatal road accidents in Australia involve driver fatigue. Distances are great and people get white line fever and forget to stop, or they are on a tight schedule and focus on meeting it. Doing the trip over two days meant we could stop frequently, go to the toilet, have a drink or a meal, a walk around, a bit of shopping, take some photos -- all getting the body and brain moving and refreshed for the next few hundred kilometres.

In Australia, one of the problems until very recently was that there wasn't anywhere nice to stop if you were travelling inland, except in the towns. There are rarely service stations between the towns and you often can't pull off the side of inland roads because they are built on flood levees with big drops either side and no hard shoulder. In France there is an extensive network of aires (laybys) usually with a picnic table, shade and often a toilet. Australia has been relatively slow to develop pleasant places to stop like this, although they are much more numerous than when we left 15 years ago. The problem of driver fatigue has been recognised for longer though, and there are several famous 'driver reviver' stations, manned by volunteers who dole out cups of tea and a friendly chat to those who stop.

In both France and Australia driver fatigue amongst long distance truck drivers is the greatest concern. Drivers are educated, hours of work are regulated, but it is a complex subject and simplistic regulation of continuous work hours does not take into account the age of the driver, whether they are driving at night, whether they ate on their last break, and how much and many other subtle factors. It's fertile ground for ongoing research!

*******************************************************

Chapel News: Another meeting with another architect yesterday. Now we have to make a decision which one we want to work with and who will fit in best with the project team. This will not be an easy decision, as only Bernard has met all three prospective architects. I've met two, Gérard has met two and the Dominiques have met one each. Apparently there is some 'politics' that need to be delicately dealt with in terms of the choice we make too. Bernard has looked at all our photos and given us a list of what is required and for whom (grant giving bodies with different focuses and our fundraising flyer). Some need pretty, evoquative pictures, others require technical images of architectural features and problems.

****************************************************

A la cuisine hier: A cheaty 'risotto', with cooked rice and leftover vegetable purée sauce. It was delicious, topped with a little chopped parsley and some grated parmesan cheese.

***********************************************

Loire Valley Nature: A new entry for Finches Fringillidae has been added.
Photos have been added to the Green Frog Group Pelophylax spp entry.
Photos have been added to the Grizzled Skipper butterfly Pyrgus malvae entry.

Bee Orchids - a photo series

This year, in late spring, early summer, the Bee Orchids Ophrys apifera were particularly abundant and beautiful. I thought you might like a reminder. They may be one of the most common wild orchids in the area, even growing in people's gardens, but they never fail to make me stop for a moment to admire their lovely flowers. These were all photographed in our orchard, where we have about 200 of them growing in the grass.

For more about Bee Orchids, go to the page about them on Loire Valley Nature.

************************************************************

A la cuisine hier: Paupiettes de lapin from the rabbito at the market. Paupiettes are escalopes of meat wrapped around a sausage mince stuffing and tied into a neat round bundle. They are usually cooked by braising, which is what I did.

Paneforte -- a sticky mixture of chocolate, nuts, candied peel and warm spices -- what's not to like? I used my own home grown nuts and home made candied peel. Note that there is no fat in this recipe other than in the small amount of chocolate and that which occurs naturally in the nuts. Clearly this is healthy diet food... I added substantial quantities of ginger and 5 pepper mix for extra zingy warmth.

*************************************************

Orchard News: Some creature (a badger I assume) has dug a hole next to our little apricot tree. By the debris scattered about I suspect it was after some sort of underground fungus, but it might have been beetle larvae or something else entirely. I think I will fill in the hole with some nice home made compost.

Christmas Decorations at Chenonceau

The servants' dining hall.

Chenonceau has outdone itself this year with the abundance of its Christmas decorations in every room. I was alerted to this fact in late November when Madame Ré, elderly and redoubtable owner of the chateau of Montrésor, took me aside and asked me if I thought she ought to put up a Christmas tree. She had heard that Chenonceau had put one in every room this year.

Sure enough, in the period between my visits with clients Chenonceau had indeed put one or even two decorated trees and even more decorative displays in virtually every room. The floral arrangements at the chateau are always a treat, and this year for the festive season they've gone all out for white and sparkly.

Staff putting up this year's main Christmas tree, in the Long Gallery on 28 November.

My apologies for the quality of the photos above. It does not do the display in the servants' dining hall justice in particular. One of my rules for guiding is that if you are taking good photos while you have clients with you, you are not focusing on the clients properly, so these are just quick snapshots.

Last year Chenonceau hung large balls of white orchids from the ceiling all down the length of the gallery. I took a photo, but you've never seen it as it is on my phone and I am unable to download it. If you want to see what it looked like, Stuart has posted his photo on Amboise Daily Photo.

***********************************************************

A la cuisine hier: Pumpkin Soup, made from the day before's leftovers of pumpkin purée and vegetable stock.

Hasselback potatoes, thanks to Jean reminding me of the recipe, with Toulouse sausages.

Rhubarb and custard, with rhubarb from Gaynor's garden that I froze in the summer.

****************************************************

Chapel News: Yesterday I attended a meeting with other members of the SAP and an architect. Again, an overall positive agreement at the end of the meeting. The architect impressed us with his understanding of the building's problems and clarified a few technical details of the period and how they are now causing problems. This is mainly to do with the construction of the gables and roof, which is causing the building to continue to lean and twist even though metal ties were put in place years ago. He is going to produce a report, ranking the repairs necessary in terms of  urgency and try and give us some ideas of the cost of each stage. During the course of the meeting it emerged that a grant of €1000 from the Communauté de Communes will not be forthcoming. I suspect this is partly our own fault, as the SAP was given a grant for another purpose, but we asked if we could use it instead on the chapel. Very often grant giving bodies are simply unable to switch funds like this, no matter how practical an arrangement it seems.

*********************************************

Car News: I took the Scenic for its CT (roadworthy test) yesterday and it failed. Cars have to be independently tested every 2 years here, and older cars almost always fail the first visit. The Scenic's downfall was a surprise to me. The silencer part of the exhaust has a hole in it, which I hadn't noticed. It meant the mechanic couldn't test the car's emissions. I'll have to make an appointment with our regular mechanic to get the exhaust fixed and then go back to the CT garage for what is known as a contre visite, which does not cost anything. I have 2 months to get it sorted out.

A Thing That Goes Bong

I was just going to call this post 'Bong', but as someone who spent their early twenties in a household full of surfers, I figured that might get me some unwanted attention. Anyway, it's on the roof of the gatehouse section of the chateau of Fougères sur Bièvre. It is connected to a clock and does indeed go 'bong' every quarter of an hour. The flaming hearts and arrows finial is fairly snazzy too.

**********************************************************

A la cuisine hier: Pasta with puréed vegetable 'Alfredo' sauce. The recipe comes from Pinch of Yum, and is their most visited page. I'm always ambivalent about recipes like this, which trick something 'virtuous' up to be a pseudo-sin. It smacks of eating TVP bacon if you are vegetarian. The 'Alfredo' sauce picks up on a cauliflower meme that is currently doing the rounds of the low cal recipe circuit, where cauliflower is used to replace a fat or a carb, simply on the basis that both ingredients are white. I'm dubious about cauliflower rice, but thought that if I didn't restrict the veg to just cauliflower, the thinned flavourful purée as sauce idea had merit. My version had pumpkin and spinach in addition to the cauliflower. I imagine just about any root vegetable would work well too. It is indeed quite tasty, but don't expect not to notice the cauliflower (ahem...one way or another...). Lindsay, the blog author, has the grace to acknowledge that there is no getting around the fact that the sauce contains cauliflower in a later post about the sauce.

If you've never encountered Pinch of Yum before, it is an interesting blog. Not so much for the recipes, which are good, but not anything you might not get on a dozen other food blogs. What makes this blog stand out for me is their total openness about how they've monetized the blog, right down to declaring their monthly itemised income to the world. There are also some very useful tips on photographing food, and no doubt other intriguing snippets I have yet to discover.

La Géline Noire

The word 'géline' comes from 'galina', the Latin for 'hen'. In the mid-19th century people referred to the 'old black hen of Touraine' or more commonly the 'Touraine black' when speaking about a large black chook widely raised in the area. Up to the 1870s the 'Touraine black' (la noire de Touraine) was seen all over the southern Touraine and in part of Berry. The breed made the markets of Ste Maure, Montbazon and Loches famous, with more than 60 000 chickens and a huge number of eggs sold each year.

 Géline de Touraine chicks in a brooder.

In the 1900s the farmyards of France came to be largely populated by foreign fowl. One man, Jean Baptiste Martin, saw the situation at the beginning of the 20th century and determined to save the 'Touraine black' by giving it a proper name. He decided on la Géline de Touraine and started the Club avicole de Touraine, which brought together farmers, breeders and amateur chook fanciers. The Club was founded on 12 August 1909, under the auspices of the Bourgueil Agricultural Show. The first AGM was held in Tours on 23 October 1909 and a breed standard established for the first time. This standard was officially recognised at a national level on 12 November 1913.

 A Géline de Touraine hen.

Nevertheless, during the years 1945 to 1970 the breed practically disappeared, under pressure from Anglo-Saxon breeds. 1985 marks the return of the Géline, thanks to several breeders from the Loches area, who found it hanging on in one or two farmyards and recuperated some eggs. In 1987 they hatched 200 Géline chicks and from that time the breed was relaunched. In 1997 the Union des Amateurs de la Géline de Touraine (UAGT) was created with the aim of promoting, developing and preserving the breed, as well as the Touraine goose and the Touraine grey rabbit.

 A Géline de Touraine rooster.

All the photos in this post were taken at the centenary celebration show in Loches for the Géline de Touraine, put on by the UAGT.

The Preuilly Danse Macabre

Regular readers will know that we are involved in a campaign to save some very rare wall paintings in a late medieval/early renaissance chapel of ease in Preuilly where we live. Our friend Bernard is working on grant applications and a flyer to publicise our fundraising efforts. Simon has been assisting him by supplying the photos. I thought you might like to see the paintings on the east, north and south walls in full, from photos Simon has stitched together.

 The east gable end, behind the altar, with the Orchestra of the Dead on the left and the beginning of the Dance of the Women on the right.

 The Dance of the Men on the north wall.

The Dance of the Women, on the south wall.

No Bins

The Australian National Botanic Gardens in Canberra is a No Bins Garden. The sign is self-explanatory.