A nice Sunday lunch in the garden

Sunset at La Renaudière, 18 August 2004
Click the picture to enlarge it

This morning I was looking back at pictures I took in 2006, 2005, and 2004 at around this same time of year. A lot of the pictures show loads of luscious red tomatoes on our plants out in the vegetable garden. That is slightly depressing, since our garden looks so sad this year. But I found this colorful picture of a 2004 sunset and decideded to post it today. I didn't start this blog until October 2005, so I have other pictures from earlier times I might decide to post here too.

Today our neighbors Annick and Jean-Michel invited us over to lunch. The other two guests were two women who are both 80 or older (I believe; I know one is 80 because we went to her 80th birthday dinner in July). We were able to sit outside all afternoon, and the weather was very pleasant. We were sitting in the shade of a couple of big trees, and I was comfortable in a short-sleeved shirt. So summer is not a complete bust after all. Yesterday was nice and sunny.

One of the most interesting things about the afternoon (besides Annick's delicious food) was the way the woman named Jeanine, who is a Saint-Aignan native as far as I know, speaks French. She rolls her Rs, as you roll the Rs when you speak Italian or Spanish. Usually the French R is pronounced in the back of the throat, but Jeanine trills her Rs on her tongue. This wasn't the first time I'd heard this way of speaking French around here, but it was the first time I'd had a chance to spend some much time with a person who speaks this way. I think it's a country accent.

Jeanine was very good with Callie. Yes, they invited us AND said we should bring the dog because we would be spending the afternoon outside in the garden. Jeanine, who used to have a border collie herself (it died a couple of years ago at age 15), said it is important to give dogs like Callie a chance to be around groups of people so they can learn how to behave correctly. She was firm with Callie, telling her non, non, non ! when Callie tried to jump up on her lap. Once we started eating, Callie wandered off and explored the yard for a while, then came back and slept quietly under the table.

Both Jeanine and Josette, who are good friends and about the same age, are sharp as a tack, witty, talkative, and energetic. We talked about local characters, mushroom caves, George Sand, dogs, and grape-growing. It was a lot of fun to spend the afternoon with them, as well as to be able to sit outside and enjoy nice weather for a change.

Annick's lunch started with a series of tapas-type small plates (in French, des amuse-gueule or amuse-bouche) served in those Chinese-style soup spoons with a flat bottom. One was a spoonful of guacomole (which is quite exotic here) with a couple of little slices of tomato on top. Another was chopped shrimp salad in a tasty mayonnaise sauce with a little red shrimp on top. A third was a kind of egg salad (I think that's what it was). There might have been a fourth tapas plate, but I can't remember... Then she had little fish and vegetable pâtés (terrines) served on the same plate with an herbed tomato salad as a first course.

The main course was a dish of green beans from the garden, along with a ratatouille-type vegetable mix and a lightly curried sauté of guinea-fowl breast cut into bite-size pieces and cooked with raisins and pine nuts. There was a cheese course following that, and dessert was a vanilla-flavored creme (pudding) served over sliced ripe pears with a crispy crêpe as a garnish.

Jean-Michel gave us champagne as an apéritif and then opened a bottle of 2004 Alsace Riesling, to go with the tapas and first courses. Then he followed with a bottle of the local Gamay to go with the main course and the cheese. The Gamay was made by one of our favorite local producteurs, Jean-Christophe Mandard, who lives and grows his grapes in Mareuil-sur-Cher just three or four miles west of Saint-Aignan.

Sorry, I didn't take my camera with me. Sometimes you have to resist that temptation and just concentrate on enjoying the conversation of the people you're having lunch with. Oh, and the food too.