February 2015

How have I survived this long? How have a managed to cook for a family of 6 hungry people and not have had this dish in my repertoire? I have been 'convaincue' , conquered, by this potato  extravaganza. Truffade!
We went to the Annual Bonne Année Repas, the lunch for the New Year, in our local village hall. It is obvious that Bournazel is a big village, and a busy one, as it has a new large, purpose-built  Salle de Fête. It can easily sit hundreds of people which is a good thing as there were hundreds there. The meal was excellent, with a starter, main course, fromages and a dessert. After the meal the men proudly came round with their quince and pear liqueurs and coffee. If you weren't already reeling from the flowing Gaillac wine (the very quaffable Chateau de Montels), after a glass of that you would certainly be on the floor. I ended up on the dance floor instead. I do love a country dance! And a sing song! Génial!
But the 'Truffade' was a revelation! This must be France's best kept secret! I am not a big potato-lover but this left me in ecstasy! 
Potatoes cooked with garlic, bacon, and a mountain of cheese. What is there not to like?
I almost ran home to look it up online, except I was too full of potatoes to run very far...

So here it goes: 

1 kg potatoes
500g cheese (tomme, or cantal)
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoons duck fat, or olive oil
2 onions, chopped
100g lardons
salt and pepper
a deep frying pan with a lid

Fry the lardons. Fry the onions. Slice the potatoes (not too thin) and gently fry them in the pan with the fat, lardons, onions and the garlic. When the potatoes start to colour, put the lid on and cook gently until the potatoes are cooked. Season. Chop the cheese up into cubes and stir them through the potatoes until melted. Serve with a fresh green salad. Bon appetite! Eat and swoon!

The following week we were back! No truffade in sight sadly, but we did have our first experience with the game of LOTO (Bingo). We sat next to Monsieur Grumpy who was very helpful and grumpy as he explained the rules. It took me a while to get my head round French numbers as usual. I mean, quatre-vingt-dix-neuf, soixante-onze, quatre-vingt-deux? I have to do a lot of mental arithmetic before I get to the number! For 2 hours we watched as vegetable baskets, boxes of chocolates, kilos of sausages, legs of venison, dead chickens, live ducks and  bottles of wine were won. We prayed for a real live chicken prize, but unfortunately we left with nothing. C'est la vie!

What a full month! The temperature dropped, the sun came out and we enjoyed some beautiful walks around Cordes under bright blue winter skies. Then things got even better and it snowed. The school buses were cancelled and we could get out together and enjoy the beautiful 
countryside around us. C'est belle la vie! 

Happy New Year!

My new year's resolution (the first one I have had in many years) is obviously: write a blog! I have never been a blogger, never tweeted or twittered so this is an exciting cyber space adventure for yours truly.

We spent New Year's Eve 'en famille'. We went a bit native and had rabbit stew for dinner in a cassoulet sauce with toulouse sausages, and generous helpings of sautéed cabbage, all washed down by a Gaillac red (our new favourite 'Rotier'). We were happy bunnies, excuse the pun. We managed to finish a big Almond Pear Tart with lashings of cream and rolled in front of the TV to watch our family favourite 'Singing in the Rain',  with much singing and hilarity from the audience. Just before midnight we trooped outside for the family tradition of setting off the world's worst fireworks. And they were impressively bad: small, pathetic and completely unreliable. The expression 'the only way is up' did not apply to these  rockets as they whizzed dangerously low over our heads and nose dived onto the car-park below. The timing was perfect and the last rocket went off, and UP, with a screeching whistle and a bang, on the stroke of midnight. A toast with a glass of bubbly, Nuit Blanche from La Combelle, ended our lovely evening. Good times!

January started with a heavy frost, foggy mornings and sunny afternoons. Still recovering from that slouchy coach potato  feeling of Christmas overindulgence, our family set off on some spectacular dog walks. We walked through woodlands, fields, and vineyards and usually ended up at the local café in Cordes for a chocolat chaud. It does not have to be 30C to enjoy this beautiful country! Happy days!