My unedited life in France

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Hunting in France

My hunting experience in pictures:

Getting ready to go out

on our way

looks like the dogs found something

My first shoot

that was sore!

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

How to choose a wine glass

Coming to live in

France

some people can feel a bit intimidated when it comes to choosing a wine for a dinner or even when choosing a glass for serving the chosen wine. Living in

France

, I discovered that wine is a very important part of everyday life and French culture.

If like me, when I just arrived here, you are wondering what type of glass you should present at your table for your chosen wine; I can give you a few hints to avoid a mayor faux pas.

Most wine connoisseurs agree that a wine glass should be made of crystal. The transparent crystal should be thin and without too much ornament in order to let the wine lover appreciate the contents of the glass in all its senses. In some parts of rural

France

you will see short Champagne-shaped glasses in porcelain; these are meant to be for coffee, NOT for wine. To be on the safe side, make sure your wine glasses are of transparent crystal.

A wine glass should have a stand for easy manipulation when wine tasting. I have seen wine glasses with no stands, I suggest you don’t try to be too avant-garde and avoid those glasses, at least when you are in

France

White wines are easier to accommodate to any shape of glass due to their qualities. Red wines can be more complicated depending on their body. In France different regions have created special wine glasses for their wines. The most popular are:

The wide “ballooned” wine glass for wines from the Bourgogne region, because the wine from Bourgogne should “roll” freely in the glass to be tasted at its best.
The smallish wine glass shaped as an egg, for wines from the Bordeaux region.
Very tall wine glasses come from the Alsace region.
Flutes are reserved for the Champagne region.

How to choose a wine glass

An advantage of knowing what type of glass goes with which wine is that if you are served a glass of wine without seeing the bottle, you can at least start locating the wine as being a Bourgogne or Bordeaux.

Remember that a wine glass should never be filled all the way up. The ideal is to fill it up a little bit more than half the way, that is, leaving a third of the glass empty to leave space for the wine to develop.

My selection of best wine gifts under $25 for wine lovers

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Argenton Sur Creuse In Pictures

St Sauveur’s church on the Place Carnot was built at the end of the 15^thCentury, admire its beautiful 50 m high gothic bell tower

The Hotel de Scevole was built during the 17^th and 18^th century.

La Bonne Dame

La Coursiere street leads to the top of the hill where the little chapel of the Bonne Dame stands.This is worth a visit as you can overlook the whole town from there.

The River Creuse on November

Musée de la Chemiserie et de l’Elégance masculine: Shirt and Elegance Museum

This little museum is located on what once was the first lingerie workshop in the area. The workshop opened in 1860 and soon developed to be one of the main sources of revenue in the area. My favourite part in the museum is the floor dedicated to the women who worked there as it is a testimony of the economical development of the town an also testimony of the way of life of the women in Argenton.

Place de la Republique

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Microwaved Steamed Ginger Pudding to warm up a cool afternoon

With autumn here we are having more and more cool afternoons. The sun still shining and during the hottest time of the day you can expect at the most 20°C, but once the sun starts to go down, the cold temperatures climb up and we can be as cold as 5°C already! A fun way to keep warm during these autumn days is to bake cakes and biscuits. Children love to get their hands in the kitchen to grate, mix and decorate their baked efforts.

Some of my favourite recipes to warm up during a cool afternoon are steam puddings, always delicious with a scoop of ice cream or with hot custard. The only thing that ever put me off from cooking a steam pudding was the length of time that it had to be steamed. However, not long ago, I found the solution to this when I found a recipe for steam puddings cooked in the microwave.

Microwaved Ginger Steamed Pudding

Did you know that you can cook a traditional steam pudding in a microwave? Yes, steam puddings can be cooked in a microwave in a fraction of the time. Instead of traditionally steaming your pudding for 1 and ½ hours, you can have your pudding microwaved and ready to serve in less than 5 minutes. Do you want to try? Here we go, you will need:

Ginger Photographed by: Frank C. Müller

225g Self raising flour

2 tea-spoons of ground ginger

25g steam ginger finely chopped

50g butter

50g caster sugar

2 tablespoons of honey

2 eggs

2 tablespoons of milk

A pinch of salt

Ginger jam (for the syrup)

Before you start, prepare all your materials and ingredients. Start by greasing a 1 litre pudding basin.

In a bowl mix the flour, salt and ground ginger. Add the butter and then all the other ingredients. Mix well. That is your pudding ready to steam.

Place the mixture in a basin; make sure you leave room for expansion and cover loosely to allow steam to escape. Microwave on full power for 4 minutes (in a 650w microwave) or 3 and a half minutes in a 800w microwave. Leave to cool.

For the ginger syrup put at least 3 Tablespoons of ginger jam in a bowl and heat it up until runny in the microwave. Pour the syrup over the steam pudding and enjoy!

If you don’t have ginger jam, you can always make a light syrup with sugar, water and a piece of ginger root or caramelized gingers.

November is time for:

Do not forget that November is the month to start preparing your Christmas puddings Remember that once cooked your Christmas pudding needs to be kept in a cool place, ideally a larder. Christmas puddings are often dried out on hooks for weeks prior to serving in order to enhance the flavour.

Photograph by DO'Neil.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Hailstone storm in October and a recipe for carrot cake

It was a glorious sunny October day, we had just planted our winter lettuces when without warning “cataplun” a loud thunder and hailstone galore everywhere. It was unbelievable how soon the weather changed from our late Indian summer to a winter storm.

We had to come in because of the ferocity of the storm, but we took advantage to warm ourselves up making a delicious carrot and cinnamon cake with the freshly collected carrots from the garden. This is a great recipe easy to make and fantastic to get your little ones to eat their carrots. My little ones love making this cake and usually the cake disappears as soon as it arrives to the table!

Carrot and cinnamon cake

For the cake you will need:

225g of self raising flour
1 tablespoon of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of nutmeg
150gr dark sugar
150gr carrots
2 medium eggs
150ml sunflower oil
3 tablespoons of milk

For the glazing you will need:

50g butter
2 tablespoons of orange juice
½ orange rind grated
225g icing sugar

To make the cake, place the flour, cinnamon and nutmeg in a bowl and mix. Add the sugar and finely grated carrots. Add the eggs, then the oil and milk. Mix well until evenly blended. You can do this with a mixer or with a wooden spoon.

Place the mixture in a greased tin and bake in a previously heated oven. Cook for 40 minutes at gas mark 4.

To prepare the frosting, melt the butter with the orange juice and orange rind. Add the icing sugar and mix well until you have a smooth paste.

Once your carrot cake has completely cooled down, swirl the frosting over the cake and that’s it, ready to eat!

Just in case you were wondering about our lettuces… they did survive the hailstone storm.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Fun things to do with Children at Royan

Fun things to do with Children at Royan

Royan is one of my favourite places in the French Atlantic coast. Every time I can, I pack up a few things, get my little ones ready and we go there for a few days. It is a great place to visit with children as there is always something for them to do. Even when it is cloudy or rainy we can just have an afternoon at the cinema or visit a museum or exposition.

However, during sunny summer and spring days, we like to go to the Jardins du Monde, a beautiful park not far from the town centre with lots to offer to curious children and adults.

Visit the Jardins du Monde

The Jardins du Monde is a beautiful park where you will find:

A dwarf goat’s farm: My little ones loved this, I couldn’t get them away from caressing and playing with the dwarf goats.

An Orchids tropical greenhouse, the Japanese gardens, the English garden, etc. Enjoy the 18 acres of exotic gardens!

A water spring esplanade with fountains spouting randomly, ideal to refresh your little ones during a hot day.

A pedal go cart track

A live butterfly hot house where exotic butterflies flutter among the visitors.

The Bouncy village: a fun area with giant slides, bouncy castles, trampolines and adventure tracks to amuse children and parents alike.

Do not miss the bamboo maze.

For older children there are remote controlled boats and electric boats trips through the marshes and the park waters.

At night time, when you leave your little ones at home or the hotel you can come back to the Jardins du Monde and enjoy the party at the Butterfly bar, an open bar in the heart of the Jardins du Monde park, open every night during July and August and during the weekends on May and June.

For more things to do in Royan you can check my Family holidays in France article on HubPages.

Friday, October 21, 2011

Growing raspberries

Raspberries are very easy to grow as they are tolerant to most types of soil. You can grow raspberries on open ground or in garden pots. Once you have planted your first raspberries there is very little to do but to water them. I usually just let mine thrive for themselves in the garden during autumn and winter and start pruning them in January. I have never applied any fertiliser to my raspberry orchard, it looks like just keeping the old branches and mulch of rotted leaves on the surface of the soil surrounding the bush is enough to keep them going. Once the warmer weather starts showing I just water my raspberry plants when necessary –which is not very often.

Once the fruit starts to show, that is when your work starts and you need to start watering regularly to slowly see your fruit swelling. Raspberries are very thirsty, so make sure that you keep them well watered.

Raspberries are best left to ripen on the tree. Only harvest your fruits when they are ready to eat. Pick individual berries carefully, preferably leaving the white “plug” on the plant -only if the fruit is ready it will detach easily from the white plug. Eat them on the same day or keep them in the fridge for eating the day after. Raspberries start to deteriorate very quickly once they are harvested.

Easy Raspberry Recipe: Crowdie

This is an easy and delicious traditional mixture of oatmeal, raspberries and cream which I learnt to make from my Scottish period.

It only takes about 10 minutes to make and even less to eat!

You will need:

50g. medium oatmeal
300ml whipping cream
25g icing sugar
4 tablespoons of good whisky
225g fresh raspberries

To prepare this delicious and easy to make raspberry dessert start lightly toasting the oatmeal under the grill. Make sure it gets a golden colour and it doesn’t burn. Once the oatmeal is toasted put aside to cool down.

In a deep bowl, whip the cream until is firm and then add the icing sugar and whisky. With a spoon slowly mix in the cream most of the raspberries and the oatmeal.

To serve place in individual glasses and decorate with the remaining raspberries.