02 January 2017

Snow? No — fog.

When you look at the photo below, which I took from an upstairs window yesterday morning, you might think it had snowed. It had not. You can see that when you look at the ground in our back yard and, especially, the green trimmed top of our laurel hedge. The little white truck parked next to the maison de vigneron belongs to a man named Roland who lives in the village and was out hunting yesterday afternoon.

January 1, 2017 — just before noon in the Renaudière vineyard outside Saint-Aignan-sur-Cher

The frosty vineyard and woods are all white because it's been foggy for three or four days, with temperatures below freezing for much of that time. Until yesterday afternoon, that is. Around 3 p.m. a little westerly breeze came up and all the frost started melting. By the time I went out with the dog at 4:30, the white was nearly all gone and water was dripping out of all the trees around the edge of the vineyard. The weather report on Télématin says there's snow, changing over to freezing rain, north of the Loire Valley, including in Normandy and the Paris area, this morning.

Cuisses de canard confites, slow-cooked and packed by the Jean Larnaudie company in Figeac (southwestern France)

Meanwhile, yesterday I mentioned the confit de canard we would be having for lunch with our New Year's Day black-eyed peas. It came out of a large tin (6 inches in diameter and 3½ inches tall). I thought the four duck leg-and-thigh pieces were beautiful, and then they were delicious at lunchtime. Earlier, I had opened the can and warmed it up in the oven for a few minutes so that I could get the duck pieces out unbroken.

14 comments:

  1. Unbelievable what you can get in a tin in France! Haute cuisine at your fingertips.

    Incredible frozen scenery. Beautiful in the photo. You certainly need good heating in the house!! How are your plants doing in the 'sun room's?

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    1. So far so good with the plants in the greenhouse. If I leave the utility room door open, the temperature stays relatively toasty in the greenhouse, at 5 or 6ºC, and the utility room doesn't get too cold either.

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    2. Your house has so many good features and your utility room is one of them. It is a perfect place for dog cleanup after walks, food cellar, storage, etc.
      Your New Year's duck looks yummy.

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  2. amazing that u can get duck in a can that's any good.......

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    1. I guess I can understand your skepticism about the tinned confit de canard. I assume you've never tried it, so you think it must be like industrially canned products in the U.S. Mostly people in France buy confit in cans or packed sous-vide, in other words vacuum-packed in shrink-wrap plastic — the same way they buy foie gras. It's good. Shrink-wrap, tins, or jars...

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  3. It looks like you are living in a winter wonderland! We are starting out the New Year in overcast rainy weather. I didn't catch the news yesterday, so I don't know when the sun is going to shine again.

    I will take your word on those canned duck legs being delicious! :) I do remember keeping a few cans of canned Swanson's chicken in my desk at work to have for lunch in a pinch. It wasn't too bad.

    I ate black-eyed peas yesterday too. I do not ever remember not eating them on New Year's Day! I hope they bring us a lot of luck this year! Happy New Year!

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    1. Canned tuna, canned sardines, canned beans — all can be good, as is canned duck, pâté, or foie gras. I've almost always had black-eyes on Jan. 1, too, especially when living in the U.S. In France, you can't always count on finding them when you want them. Thank goodness for imports from Portugal.

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  4. How very beautiful and atmospheric.
    If I wrote a mystery, that would be the cover of the book. :)

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    1. The trees, not the chicken lol

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    2. I'm trying to think up a detective mystery with the word chicken or duck in it. There's a good French police/crime movie called Adieu Poulet — poulet being a slang word for cop.

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    3. LOL !! or Poulet aux prunes ...

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  5. Hope you'll escape the freezing rain in your parts. That first picture looks very frosty...and beautiful.

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  6. Hi Ken. I Have been to many different topographical areas in the US during the winter and have never seen the frozen fog. The conditions at the time may not have been right, IDK.
    It is like being inside a fairy tale, a true winter wonderland.

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