Our Kitchen

One of the people who called last time we were in Preuilly was M.Motté, who came to measure us up for a staircase. We arranged for him to visit a couple of days later with Virginie the kitchen expert.

This is sort of the kitchen we have decided on. You may have to squint a bit to get the full effect, but this is more or less it:

We have gone for the ultra high gloss, almost mirror finished red doors, with "black granite" resin tops. So far we have not received the devis, so, naturally, we can't be sure who will be doing our kitchen (or when).

We have also decided (I think) not to go with underfloor heating in the kitchen. Toasty toes is a lovely idea, but it means either taking up the existing floor (and who knows what horrors we could find under that!) or putting the heating and its associated insulation etc. on top of the existing floor and having a door into the laundry which is only about 5' (1.5 metres) high. As it is now, the kitchen floor is level and solid, but to install the underfloor heating we could have to remove a couple of layers of tiles and concrete. This could be a problem in a building which may have no foundations - a building as old as our house could well be built using one course of stone let into a trench as footings - and that's it.

All these "coulds" look like I'm worrying about something that might not be, but I am swiftly coming around to the "it's been like that for a long time, don't try change it" camp.

So that's kitchen planning just about sorted then!

Simon

Have you noticed our blog loading slower for you lately? Please let us know if you have. I suspect that the "followers" widget which Google recently redesigned is slowing thngs down - it had doubled the amount of guff your computer is having to work through when you read the blog. At the moment I am wondering if the followers panel is worth the effort - it's nice having your smiling faces sitting there, it helps remind me I am writing for people - but I am finding myself getting frustrated by the effort it requires to keep the widget looking as if it belongs.

The Blog Will Not Be Banned!

Phew!

But all the wine professionals with a web presence in France have had an anxious few days.

Since 1991 the French government has been progressively tightening up on regulations regarding the sale and promotion of alcohol and tobacco. This has been driven by the alarming statistics in France for things like diseases of the liver and deaths due to drink driving. The French lifestyle is famous for being behind the long and healthy lives of it's adherents – low rates of obesity and heart disease, despite all that meat and dairy food. What is less well known is that the incidence of liver disease is above average and the French do not always drink in moderation.


A lot of French people drink a lot, and they drink every day. But they don't binge drink, they take their wine with food, and they don't degenerate into out of control agression, so where's the problem you might wonder? The problem seems to be that the food masks the effect of the alcohol, so their livers are constantly dealing with too much, and eventually give up. There is not always a recognition that driving home after a good meal with wine is not advisable either. As to why there is not the associated violence, this is apparently because alcohol does not cause violent behaviour unless one is culturally primed to expect that alcohol begets violence. In France, alcohol is expected to lubricate lively social intercourse, creating an atmosphere of bonhomie, and this is exactly what it does (if you don't believe me, read Watching the English by psychologist Kate Fox).

So no wonder the government has been concerned and has felt obliged to do something. Some good things have come out of the progressive stages of la loi Evin as it is called. Smoking inside restaurants is banned. Advertising alcohol at sporting events and on television is banned.

But the latest round of legislation was bizarre to say the least. It threatened to ban free wine tasting (so you would have to pay to taste before you bought bottles at a vineyard or cellar for instance). It also threatened to ban any mention of wine on the web in France. Huh !! Was the government insane !! What is the single most famous thing about France? Why, if they weren't allowed to mention it on their websites, were all the regional tourist offices (funded by the government) sending out their envoys in a special 2009 campaign to the rest of the world to promote French wine and the wonderful holidays one can have visiting vineyards, learning about French wine and in the process, absorbing an important piece of French cultural heritage??

I first learned about the looming ban some months ago from Olivier Magny's blog, Stuff Parisians Like. He organises wine tastings and has a website to promote his business, so was naturally concerned, and thought the ban was mad. More recently, Jim Budd on Jim's Loire has been highlighting the issue and providing many good links to French wine professionals' websites. His website has pictures of a number of the protests that have been going on around the country (where road signs for Champagne, Bordeaux and the like have been covered and stamped 'Censored', and banners have gone up on wine retailers facades). Not only would websites and blogs focusing on wine potentially be banned, but any website or blog that mentioned wine, let alone promoted it might have been banned.

This sign could have become illegal -
the photo could have made our blog illegal!

Thankfully, once the legislation was actually voted on, it was amended for more sensible arrangements. Now anyone can write about wine on the web in France, with the exception of sites aimed at the young and sporting activities.

So now I can legally tell you that the bottle of wine pictured in the top photo is a Côt made by one of Ken and Walt's neighbours, Jean-Noël Guerrier, and a gift to us from K&W at Christmas time. Although not a heavy wine, it is quite a rich purply red and tastes the way it looks, with blackcurrant and strong tea flavours. We had it with some of my home cured ham, but I think it would have been better with steak.

Susan

Our New Trailer

One of the things we have really needed for quite a long time is a trailer. We recognised this 2 years ago when my parents were in France, and they bought us half a towbar. This was useful, but the aim has always been to buy a trailer so we didn't need to drive to Chatellerault to hire one whenever we had stuff to take to the dechetterie.

We now own a trailer. It isn't a big trailer - 150cm x 100cm (5'x3'). It is this small so that we don't have to register or insure it - it is covered by the registration and insurance of the car. If it had a gross weight of 500kg we would have to get a Carte Gris and do the bureaucracy thing. This provided us with a slight problem.

Most small trailers you can buy in the UK are made in France. In France, they have compliance plates giving a gross weight of 499kg, but for some reason when they are imported into the UK they have a compliance plate for 500kg. We wanted to buy the trailer in the UK because it means I could; (a) speak the language (more or less) of the person selling the trailer, and (b) tow the trailer over to France with stuff in it. It also helps that trailers are cheaper in the UK than in France. After a whole week of research we eventually found someone who imports French trailers with French compliance plates.

So - we finally found a suitable trailer - and here it is!

As you can see, it is a tipper, so if I can remember how to reverse a trailer (it's been a long time since I was an expert on a boat ramp) emptying the trailer at the dechetterie should be a piece of cake. And when I am finished using the trailer, it can be stood on end out of the way.




Simon

Hatch, Match and Dispatch

Every year the town council produce "Les Echos de Preuilly", our Bulletin Municipal. It is stacked full of interesting stuff - a round up of last year's excitements, a calendar for this year's events, a list of tarifs for use of the town's facilities (including the cemetiere), and a list of the council's projets. All this provokes a lot of discussion around the bars in town.

One of the statistics we found particularly interesting:

In 2008 there were 34 deaths recorded in Preuilly-sur-Claise. 24 of the deceased lived in the Maison de Retraite (Retirement Home) at the time of their deaths. And since I've given you the 'despatched' figures, I might as well tell you that there were 4 marriages and 5 births in the the same period.

The average age in Preuilly-sur-Claise is over 6o, I believe, and aging. Presumably as a consequence, the local nursing home is getting a large extension built, and the crane is so huge you can see it from everywhere in town.

Susan

Glimpses 2

This may not be the most beautiful sight in Preuilly sur Claise, but for a lover of textures, it's pretty hard to beat.

Advice for Dog Walkers

This notice is posted on the gate of a private house in Preuilly. It made me smile, but I am also thinking seriously of copying it for our front courtyard. Unfortunately I suspect the Yorkie next door can't read and is not accompanied on his evacuative ventures.

The notice translates as:

Notice to Dog Walkers

Ladies and Gentlemen walking dogs, please have your animal do its business in the designated areas and not on the public footpath.

If unfortunately your animal does not apply the rules despite your suggestions, don't forget that 'Doggiette' bags for retrieving the material are available at the Council Offices, so you will have a clear conscience.

Dogs are our friends, but owners are solely responsible.

Signed: Households calling for a cleaner Preuilly.

Susan

Local Produce in the Supermarket

Look at all this luscious local food that we bought from the supermarket...

There are eggs from Charnizay, boudin blanc from Tours, butter from Verneuil, guinea fowl from Loué, milk from le Grand Pressigny, wine from the Touraine and Manon potatoes from the Loire Valley. Manon potatoes apparently make particularly good chips/frites/fries. They certainly made nice fried diced potato to go with grilled meat.

We've written about most of these before on the blog, so if you want to find out a bit more, click on the links or use the search facility on the blog (top left). To learn more about the wines of the Touraine, you could go to Jim's Loire blog.

From slightly further afield, there are oysters from Arcachon on the coast to the south-west of us and prunes from Agen, about 450km directly south of us. The prunes from this area are certified as having been produced in the Agen area and considered so much better than any other prunes that it is almost impossible to sell a prune in France now unless it can be labelled as coming from Agen.

The kirsch is from Alsace, far to the north east of us on the German border. I would have liked to get a locally made kirsch, but when I went to the Maison de Pays in the Brenne I was told that their suppliers had stopped making it. There are sour cherries, of the sort one makes kirsch from, in many gardens, both private and public in the area, and a tradition of making kirsch in small scale home distilleries here, but the law has recently changed with regard to these types of operations. Up until a couple of years ago, certain families had a traditional, inherited right to make small quantities of eaux-de-vie. Now, only a few very old men continue to produce these special fruit brandies, and once they die or retire, the only eaux-de-vie available will be either illegal or industrial. It's a shame, and I am sorry to have come just too late to have tasted the local product.

Susan

Église Saint-Pierre, le Petit Pressigny

The Church in le Petit Pressigny is a bit of a gem.

Not only is its location quite pretty, but the building itself is interesting. It was started in the 12th Century (which is quite common around here) and altered almost continually until it was listed as a protected monument in 1926. There was some roofing work undertaken in 2008, the result of which is this very sharp looking mini tower over a staircase.

According to the official documents, the ceiling is a false barrel vault (fausse voûte en berceau) - this can be identified by the fact that although from outside it has a gable roof, inside the ceiling is a rounded vault

The bracing on the vault is interesting - highly decorated and colourful - and a bit of a surprise


Simon

A task finished

Welcome back to Simon's Wonderful World of Breaking Stuff!!

Eighteen months ago I started removing the expanded polystyrene backed plasterboard from the utilities room. I know when it was because I blogged about it at the time. The mess I made was obviously so traumatising for me* that I left the job half complete and got on with other stuff.

Because of the problems with our water supply, and not actually knowing where the pipes went, we decided to remove the remaining 2/3 of the sheeting and find them. This I proceeded to do with my customary caution (I didn't know where the pipes were, after all...) but was soon hacking and bashing like the all action hero I am. It soon became evident I had nothing to worry about plumbing wise as the pipes went across the ceiling (which will have to come down soon, oh joy).

Having Susan around really helps me
motivate for the jobs I am trying to avoid

We got confirmation that our utilities room window was once a door, which had been really badly blocked in and needed half a can of expanding squirty stuff to fill in the three inch square gaps (I jest not!). More excellent news is that the worlds hardest cement, which had been laid over the stonework I uncovered last time, wasn't present on most the walls we exposed this time. This cheered me up, as removing the cement was a job I wasn't looking forwards to.

Our laundry door/window. We flirted with the idea
of opening it up again, but it's below ground level

Of course, removing the panels created a huge amount of stuff we need to take to the tip. It's amazing how much rubbish you can take out of one very small room. This is a further impetus for us to buy a trailer (my parents bought us a towbar when they were in Preuilly in 2006, and we have hired trailers in the past, but it's quite expensive) which will enable us to take ALL our rubbish to the dechetterie in one go, and also to buy proper lengths of wood and new plasterboard, rolls of insulation and all the other big butch stuff we're going to need.

The upshot of this is that I was able to wipe one of the things off my "to do" list by the front door.

Simon

*Actually, it was cleaning up that was traumatising, but Susan was here to help this time :¬)

Betz le Chateau

Until a couple of Saturdays ago we had never been to Betz le Chateau, but as we had visited M.Lezeau mid afternoon and had a couple of hours to spare we thought we would go for a drive in the country.

We ended up in Betz, which is a small hilltop town with rather an interesting looking chateau on the outskirts, about which we know nothing. I took a photo of the chateau, but apparently didn't notice its most interesting aspect (I was driving at the time Susan saw it). Still - here is my photo:

I was most impressed, however, with the town's garage. I am not sure if these two are for spare parts or awaiting new owners, but for some reason the picture really appeals to me



Simon

Chimneys

A series of photos of chimneys in Preuilly-sur-Claise. Along with other things, chimneys are never far from my thoughts.

I like the first chimney - very elegant, if slightly impractical. Being lower than the top of the roof (and on the downwind side of the roof for prevailing winds), the smoke would tend to blow down it, kippering everyone inside.

The second chimney is also sort of elegant, and we could end up with a chimneypot like it. Our chimney will come out of the roof right by the eaves and will need to extend quite a height. This would be one way of doing it without adding too much extra weight.

The last specimen is a bit of a worry. Almost as much smoke emits from between the brickwork as it does the chimney. We don't want one like this.

We still have not had our new chimney built. We are now considering having the fireplace rebuilt as well, so we can use an insert fire rather than a stand alone one. This will be safer, and probably more efficient. We posted a photo of our old chimney here. It's the top one (in case you need telling!)

All these photos were taken on the 3rd weekend in February. The sky really was that blue - no digital trickey involved!

Simon

In Preuilly this month

For all of you lucky enough to be in Preuilly sur Claise in March, this is what you can look forwards to:

Today (Sunday 1 March) – Loto – Comité des Fêtes
Bingo - top prize this time around is an ordinateur portable!!

Friday 6 – Concert Jazz Antoine Hervier
A Jazz Trio, there is more about the concert on the Preuilly website

Thursday 12 – Conférence sur l'alcoolisme – CLIC
CLIC (local information centers and coordinating services for the aged) They are aimed at retirees, the elderly and their families, and network with professionals in gerontology and home help. Established on a pilot basis in June 2000 , there are now over 500, in 96 departments.

Saturday 14 – Loto – Ecole Notre Dame
Ecole Nore Dame is the Roman Catholic school in Preuilly sur Claise

Ecole Notre Dame. This school was
bombed by the Germans in 1942.

Saturday 21 – Journées portes ouvertes – Ecole Notre Dame

Sunday 22 – Assembléi Générale – UNRPA
UNRPA is "Union Nationale des Retraités et des Personnes Agées" - The National Union of Retirees and Aged People.

Saturday 28 – Cinéma
The movie this month is (wait for it) Australia. Dubbed.

Saturday 28 – Diner dansant à Ligueuil – Jeunes Sapeurs Pompiers
The next generation of French folk heros let their hair down.

A propos of nothing, a gate in
Le Petit Pressigny

Simon

Le Repas au Safran

Last Saturday, as we have done for the previous couple of years on the third Saturday in February, we dined at l'Image, to partake of Jean-Michel's special Saffon Menu.


As usual, we had booked for earlier than the locals, so as no one else was in the restaurant, we had a drink at the bar and a chat with Christophe. We were introduced to the man who came in soon after us and we all stood around discussing politics, as is proper in France.

The man we were introduced to turned out to be Eric Morin, the photographer, who owns an old building just outside the town. We had heard of him (indeed, we own one of his books, The French Café, which features a picture of a priest paying his bill at l'Image) so it was very nice to meet him. He has done quite a bit of work for the UK magazine World of Interiors, and we have friends who have featured in this magazine, so that gave us another thread of conversation. The 'bon vivant, patron of the arts and author', Alistair McAlpine, as Wikipedia describes him, was another link. Eric described him as très sympa. Alistair McAlpine used to write a column for World of Interiors and at one time had an outstanding collection of Australian outback vernacular furniture. (Most British people will probably just remember him as the Treasurer of the Conservative Party in Margaret Thatcher's day.)

Somehow we got on to the subject of les truffes, and Eric asked if we knew the Truffle Market at Marigny-Marmande. He had bought 3 small truffles there this year, so we were able to compare notes. One of his truffles had been a success, but like us, he found that the other two had good aroma, but it didn't translate into taste. He didn't know why they were such poor quality this year. He also told us a story about a local truffle hunter who had a plantation just coming to the age where it was producing good quantities of fine truffles, but the land is part of the planned route for the new TGV rail line from Tours to Bordeaux, which would effectively disinherit the man's son as truffles are a very long term crop. Christophe reckons the Marigny-Marmande area harvested 20 tonnes of truffles last season. (Later I looked up the figures and according to one source, two seasons ago the harvest for Indre et Loire was 35 tonnes. There does seem to be some ambiguity about the size of the truffle harvest, but according to the same source, in 1900, without the aid of modern innoculation techniques, the natural harvest was 1000 tonnes!)

Jean-Michel emerged from the kitchen, as we weren't giving him anything to do, and joined in the chat (much discussion about the various activities of the new local Council, around the swimming pool improvements and new housing blocks available on the river there, as well as the upgrading of the street that leads to Jean-Michel's one day to be finished house).

Christophe teased Eric about his facial hair, which apparently has been re-sculpted every time they meet. Simon teased Jean-Michel about appearing in the Nouvelle Republique (talking about how the restaurant was going in the current economic climate and what his expections were for the coming year – he says in the season, half the customers in the restaurant are English, but they won't know until May if the English will be back this year). Eric teased Jean-Michel too and addressed him as Monsieur Safran.

Jean-Michel asked Eric if he had seen our blog and when Eric said he hadn't, J-M fetched a printout of my post about cooking his carp recipe! He had auto-translated it into French so he could read it and told us he was particularly interested to learn about the traditions surrounding the fish in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Eventually we moved into the restaurant, after a party of 11 had settled themselves in to lively and very noisy multi-generational French family discussion. In the end, this group, us and another group of 9 who arrived not long before we left, were the only tables occupied, but Christophe told us that they had done 80 covers at lunchtime, and were turning people away, so they were happy. Also, after service finished they were all on two weeks holiday.

Every year Jean-Michel dreams up creative things to do with saffron for all 3 courses, and this year the menu was:

Monkfish and scallops in aspic with sweet spices, dressed with lemon and saffron vinaigrette
*****
Veal breast in orange sauce with Espelette pepper and Preuilly saffron strands served with buttered tagliatelle
*****
Banana mousse with Bourbon vanilla icecream and 'red-gold' custard

While we are in the restaurant we have a chance to chat a little with Martine if she is not too busy. Luckily, between main and dessert she had time to talk and told us how pleased they were with their new staircase in the house she and Jean-Michel have just built. Because the space the staircase was to go into was unusually wide and not standard, several local artisans said they could not even quote to do the job, because they could not just crunch the numbers through their computer programme. Finally, she and J-M found a menuisier from Tournon who quoted in the old-fashioned way and has done an excellent job of the finished staircase. Martine told us how much they had paid and it compared favourably with the one quote we have for our staircase so far. Needless to say, we will be hot-footing it over to Tournon in the near future to visit M. Brunet.

Susan

A lovely pair of knockers

As if I didn't already have enough to think about, the matter of door furniture raised its ugly head the other day as we were walking down the street.

We saw this cute little beast on a doorway near Jill and John's house, and were quite taken by it.

There is an alternate model to be considered, however. It's a bit weird, but for some reason I like the "dead lady's hand holding an apple" knocker.

We will need a knocker, but which one?? Cute or weird?? I think I know which way this one is likely to go...

Simon

Simon works on the bathroom floor

After much deliberation and taking of advice, it was time to start on the new floor for the bathroom.

With our minute hire car (a Seat Ibiza) we went to Bricomarche to buy a 4 metre length of wood. Having chosen what we were after, I was handed a saw to cut it to length so, hopefully, it would fit in the car. I don't do sawing, especially not in public. I have never got the hang of "dad sawing" - you know: a few fast strokes, and then a few slow strokes, finishing off with a few fast ones and your huge log is neatly sawn (nicely explained 4 minutes into this Eddie Izzard video - with swearing). I do mangling. This time, however, I was pleasingly competent, and managed not to embarrass myself. We also bought some expanding bolt things (highly technical here...) and managed to fit it all in the car. Just.

Getting the stuff home and up the ladder - along with all the tools I would need - was interesting, but not difficult.

First move was to chip all the render off the walls so I was bolting the wood directly to the brick. For this the render chipping off pick that Susan's father bought for me last year was used - and it works really well!

Chipping away render - the story of my life

I measured and checked levels, measured some more , made a decision, then cut my wood. Happily, I proved fairly competent using my own saw in my own house, which was nice. I think the first decision I made was not completely correct, but it shouldn't be a real problem. I decided not to take the wood right up to the side walls because the brickwork had been all chased away for pipework, etc.

I drilled the holes in the wood, got my piece of wood absolutely level and then drilled holes in the bricks through the holes in the wood. The expanding bolts didn't work quite as well as I had hoped, as the bricks I was bolting the wood into are really brittle and have split. It didn't help that the first holes I drilled lined up with the mortar pointing rather than brick, either....

I think the solution (next time I am working on it) will be to drill completely through the wall and use stainless steel threaded rods and a bracing plate. Or maybe just big bolts (18mm bolts, 20 cm long) through a metal plate on the outside wall and into the wood.

Anyway - I have started, and done what I think is probably the most technically challenging part: reaching across what amounts to a void to bolt a lump of wood onto a wall, and getting it level.

Next step - floor!!

Simon

Hôtel de l'Esperance

There is an Hotel de l'Esperance in many towns. Ours is run by the formidable Jeanine and has a loyal following of regulars. When we were having our roof replaced Stanik and Janik ate there every day.

Because we were only in Preuilly for a few days, and were focusing of renovation work (for once!) we decided it was probably easier to lunch with the other workers and went to l'Esperance.

The remains of lunch – a typical table at
l'Esperance by 14.00h on a weekday

Turns out our neighbour Sylvie was making her debut there as a waitress. Pierre-Yves, her husband was in there too, lunching with a couple of other men. This gave us the opportunity to let them know we didn't have any water in the house (again) and admit that we had gone over to their place the night before and helped ourselves from their laundry while they were out.

As the only 'Anglos' in the place, we provided the theme for the lunchtime conversation throughout. I overheard various discussions of who does and does not speak English, and which of the expats in the community, both British and American, speak extremely good French. When sometimes I didn't hear what Sylvie had said, or didn't quite understand, someone (a complete stranger) from one of the other tables took it upon himself to chip in with a translation. Of course these diners find non-fluent French speakers a reliable source of entertainment, but it is also perfectly normal in these situations for inter-table conversations to be held, and certainly all present greet everyone else in the room on arrival.

Jeanine and Sylvie at the bar, whilst a
couple of regulars prop up their side

The food was the usual no choice menu (except between viande or poisson for the main course). It was all tasty and very French. A bottle of red wine was already sitting on the table, opened, to indicate that it is a refilled bottle of house wine. Sylvie delivered a carafe of tap water and a basket of baguette slices. First course was a sort of bean and vegetable pate served with tuna stuffed hard-boiled eggs all garnished with the sieved yokes of the eggs. Sylvie described it as lègere, although I'm not sure I consider anything with an egg and a half and a generous serving of vegetable pate as 'light'.

We remembered to lay our cutlery back down on the table once we had finished, as it is normal in these sorts of restaurants for diners to eat their entrée and main with the same knife and fork. We chose fish for the main, and it came as a piece of white fish, rolled and poached and served with rice and a white wine and tomato sauce. Sylvie warned us 'Attention ! Les arêtes !' ('Watch out! Fishbones!').

Then there was a selection of three cheeses – a camembert, individually wrapped Kiri and Ste Maure de Touraine. This is served on a plate that is moved from table to table as people are ready for the cheese course. Dessert was semoule (semolina),which Sylvie recommended as very good, and indeed it was. The serving was small, as one just needs a couple of mouthfuls of sweetness to finish off the meal. All this is included in the prix fixe of 11€. We had coffee too, which is another couple of euros.

At the end of the meal we caused more entertainment, as I tried to pay by bank card, which Jeanine does not take. I only had 10€ on me, so I said would have to go to the bank and return to pay. Jeanine did not seem in the least put out by this, just amused.

If you're looking for an every day French experience, l'Esperance is the sort of restaurant / bar you need to visit. If you feel like practicing your French, there is always someone willing to chat - you may get teased, but if you reciprocate it is appreciated; and if you're wanting a quiet (often brightly coloured) drink, there is always a quiet corner.

Susan

Après le deluge, Pascal

Bonjour Pascal ! Aujourd'hui vous êtes la vedette du blog !

You wouldn't see that in a National Trust property.

We've just had our annual winter crise d'eau. Last winter our non-functioning boiler sprang a leak and flooded the house and street unbeknownst to us until we returned to find the water had been turned off in the street by the garde champêtre. This year,with the unusually cold weather, our aged and apparently fragile plumbing pipes burst in quite a few places.

Reporting our urgence to the local plumbing firm, Bertucelli, produced Pascal last year, and again this year, to set us to rights. This time he has disconnected all the old pipes and installed a single tap where the water enters the house (eau de ville).

Pascal is a nice man and a very competant plumber. Fixing our plumbing is always a bit of a challenge for him, as it is old enough not be in any current standard size. He spends quite a bit of time rummaging in his van through a considerable collection of bits that might come in handy sometime.

Connecting the new tap involved brazing all the pipe joins. This is something that involves him getting out his little orange gas bottle and lighting his blowtorch. 'Hot work', as this is known, is completely banned in National Trust properties, because of the risk of setting fire to buildings. It was banned after the devastating fire at Uppark in 1989 was started accidentally by lead soldering on the roof. The massive conservation and restoration project this triggered was taken so seriously that the then Head of Conservation was issued with the very first 'transportable telephone' in the National Trust.

Happy in his work!

Pascal, who doesn't have to worry about such foolishness, casually set up his work on a plastic crate, resting on a large shifting spanner. He was delighted when we asked if we could photograph him, going to the extent of calling us in slightly later when he thought there was another photo opportunity. He also corrected my French when I told him when he would be appearing on the blog, making me 'repeat after him'. Pascal is one of those generous people who can do this sort of thing without making me feel patronised or a complete linguistic failure.

So for the time being, we only have one tap and the toilet has to be flushed using a bucket. This is "the one step back" - the two steps forward is still to come: we have just seen Pascal's colleague, Monsieur G. to discuss our full plumbing and heating requirements and he has gone off to produce a devis (estimate) for the work.

Susan

Aprés moi, le deluge

(Pardon de Pascal, qu'est en expectation d'être dans le blog aujourd'hui. Il y a un problème avec le téléchargement les photos, donc il faut d'attendez quelques jours, svp.)

We arrived in Preuilly at 4.30 after flying in to Tours and picking up a Seat Ibiza at the airport.

Our first stop was Leroy Merlin in Chambray le Tours. This was to check out our selection of items for the bathroom to see if they live up to the pictures. Amazingly, they weren't disappointing. I think the shower screen and shower unit will make a good pair, and even on the small 80cm quarter round base we should have room to swing a cat (albeit a small one). They also had an interesting selection of kitchen sinks, which is just another of the 30 billion or so decisions we have to make in the next couple of months.

From there, we drove to Preuilly, stopping in Veigné to buy a baguette for lunch. The church in Veigné is really attractive, with a stone spire - think of a pointed stone wall and you'll get the idea. It must be said that although as we left London we agreed the weather was dismal, in the Southern Loire it was a beautiful early spring afternoon - not bad for late winter.

We called in to the plumber's to see if they had received our email, which they had - and they had replied - but as usual with email from orange.fr email accounts, we didn't get it. Just as well we called in, because they had written us in for a visit at 11.00am on Friday.

We then drove to the house. Great news, everthing appears to have survived the big freeze. No puddle of wine on the floor from where bottles froze and exploded, and nothing had fallen over while we were away.

Then I turned on the water.

Oh my goodness...

Although we had turned off the water and run all the water left in the pipes through the tap when we left after Christmas, I hadn't drained the system down at the stopcock. To be perfectly honest, until a couple of weeks ago I hadn't even heard about draining the water down. I now know why it's a good idea. When I turned on the water a spray shot across the kitchen - the copper pipe had split where it crosses the kitchen wall.

So we got in the car and went back to the plumbers (via the menuiserie, who we learned we were expecting at 6.00pm on Friday). Unfortunately the plumber was busy - probably fixing the pipes of other English people who had just arrived back in town. As it was an urgence they said they would be here as soon as they could to fix the leak.

We then went off to Yzeures supermarche to provision ourselves. On the way we stopped in at Gamme Vert and picked up a roll of plumber's fixing stuff tape to do an emergency fix.

When we got home, I taped up the split and turned the water on. We could hear water running, but none was coming through the tap. I turned the water off again and realised the water was trickling out of the base of the wall. Until that moment, I had assumed the wall by the door was stone, but it was only plasterboard (actually until that moment, I hadn't really looked at it.) I grabbed a hammer, did some "finessing" of the plasterboard and found a pipe running up the wall. With a split in it.

I taped up that split, turned on the water. We could hear water running, but none was coming out the tap. There did appear, however, to be water running under the sink. We opened the cupboard under the sink (something we have resisted doing before) and saw that the pipe was split there.

I taped up that split, turned the water on. We could hear water running, but none was coming out of the tap. There was a lot of noise, however, coming from the toilet. I opened the toilet door and saw the pipe was split leading to the tap for the washing machine.

I taped up that split, turned the water on. We could hear water running, but none was coming out the tap. So I turned the water off again and we agreed that until the plumber arrived on Friday we would survive on wine.

Methinks that plumbing may be one of our first jobs.

Simon

Le Carroir au Loup

OK, so it's not the most dramatic looking place we've ever featured on the blog, but the name Carroir au Loup (just north of Preuilly on the road to le Petit Pressigny) is interesting. Carroir is an old local word for crossroads, and loup is French for 'wolf'. What happened here for it to be called 'The Crossroad of the Wolf'?

There are dozens of places in France that reference wolves. Here in the Touraine, Poitou and Berry we have Pette Loup ('Beware Wolf'); several Chanteloup eg near Amboise; Bois de Chanteloup, between Mézières-en-Brenne and Chatillon-sur-Indre; Saint-Loup-sur-Cher; la Robe de Loup ('the Wolf Coat / Skin') near Ingrandes in Vienne; l'Alleu des Bois and l'Alleu des Champs, south of Oyré ('leu' is the old spelling for 'loup'); la Pont de la Leu at Chalonnes-sur-Loire. Pouring over any reasonably detailed map will reveal many more 'wolf places'.

In the middle ages there were specialist wolf hunters, who set up camps in the woods (chanteloup) and constructed shelters made of branches known as culs-de-loup ('wolf arses'). Chanteloup is presumably one of those neat French word plays, conveniently meaning both 'wolf works site' and 'singing wolf'. The wolf hunters were fur traders and often themselves wore clothes made of wolf pelts.

It's the wolluf! At the Espace Animalier
de la Haute Touche near Azay le Ferron

In the summer of 1695 there was an rash of wolf attacks in the Touraine, with a number of people being recorded as having been 'eaten by wolves', and the priest at Fondettes wrote that wolves had killed or wounded many children in his own and neighbouring parishes. By 1900 there were only 500 wolves left in the whole of France. The last wolf in Indre et Loire was shot at Ferrière Larçon in 1908, and the last of the original wild population of wolves in France was killed in 1939.

I have written more on wolves over on Loire Valley Nature.

Susan

Cooking Rabbit – la Cuisson du Lapin

Rabbit is a very popular meat in France, and rabbits for meat are raised both commercially and in ordinary backyards. Wild rabbit is also available during the winter hunting season if you know someone with a hunting licence.

Rabbit hutches in an abandoned farmyard

Rabbit meat is not cheap. I was lucky enough to pick up two cuisses (thighs) reduced to half price recently in the supermarket. The label told me that the rabbit was born and raised in France, and the thighs weighed 464g in total, originally priced at €7.48, reduced to €3.80. The label further informed me that the rabbit was guaranteed to have only been fed vegetable and mineral material. The brand name it was being sold under was Le Volailler (The Poultry Merchant). Rabbit is typically sold on poultry stalls in the markets, but you can often get it from the butcher or game merchant as well.

I decided to serve it using my version of a French recipe, Lapin moutarde à la crème. Since I don't think mustard actually goes terribly well with anything except fish, I did my usual trick of substituting cumin, so here is my recipe below, based on a recipe in Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Meat:

Lapin cumin à la crème

Ingredients:

2 rabbit thighs
100g cured meat eg half a saucisson, cut into quarters lengthways and then into chunks
1 tablespoon oil
1 small onion, peeled, cut in half and thickly sliced
1 carrot, cut into chunks
2 celery stalks, cut into chunks
1 bay leaf
A sprig of thyme
1.5 cups cider
½ teaspoon of Ken's gélée de pommes
Salt
Ducros 5 Baies pepper blend
2 tablespoons crème fraîche
¾ teaspoon cumin

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 120°C.
   


2. Heat the oil in a heavy based frying pan.


3. Gently fry the saucisson until it is lightly browned and the fat runs.


4. Transfer the saucisson to a casserole.


5. Next, brown the rabbit and transfer it to the casserole.


6. Then sweat the onion in the frying pan, but do not let it colour.


7. Transfer the onion to the casserole when it is soft and translucent.


8. Put the carrot, celery, bay leaf and thyme in the casserole.


9. Make sure everything is fairly tightly packed in the casserole, then add the apple jelly, salt and a few grinds of pepper.


10. Pour over the cider.


11. Cover the casserole and put in the oven for 1.5 hours. Turn the rabbit over at half time.


12. Remove from the oven and take out the rabbit pieces, vegetable chunks and saucisson. Put them aside to keep warm.


13. Strain the broth and boil it hard to reduce to about half a cup of liquid.


14. Whisk in the crème fraîche and cumin.


15. Serve the rabbit accompanied by the chunks of meat and vegetable from the casserole, and some mashed or steamed potato. Generously spoon the sauce over the rabbit.

Serves 2

I would rate this dish in my current top 20 favourite main courses. The sauce is piquante, savoury and delicious, the rabbit tender and moist, the vegetables retain their vibrant colours. Simon, who is not a fan of white meat, (nor of rabbit in particular, for more socio-cultural reasons) was less impressed.

Susan