Old Rocamadour photos, and...

...some ramblings about French fuel and bread nowadays

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Yesterday I did something that I'd been thinking of doing for nearly a week. I drove our old Peugeot over to our local SuperU supermarket and and filled the car's tank with diesel fuel. It was down to about a quarter full. The Citröen has about half a tank of diesel fuel in it, and I may go fill it up next week if I can.

And yes, the supermarket is where you go to fill your car's fuel tank if you live around here. There are no longer any service stations in the Saint-Aignan area. We used to have a couple, but they but they closed down years ago.

I had been watching reports of possible fuel shortages on the news for while. Prices have been going up too, to about double the price of diesel fuel a month or two ago. I decided the time had come for a fill-up. We can't really live here without a car to go shopping in, even though we have three local supermarkets, each one not more than a three-mile drive from our house. Walking to one of them would take some time, though, and it wouldn't be easy to bring a good supply of groceries back home on foot.

I didn't know what I'd find when I drove to the supermarket. Long lines of cars waiting to fuel up was one possible scenario. Another was pumps closed down because of shortages. There are a dozen or so pumps at the SuperU filling station (for high-test gasoline and regular gas, as well as diesel fuel). I've heard that diesel fuel is in especially low supply right now. Sure enough, at least one of the diesel pumps was not working. Payment is by credit or debit card.

However, I decided to drive over there at about 7 a.m. because I thought that might a time when other people were not out and about yet. In fact there wasn't a single car at the filling station when I got there. One other car drove in a few minutes after I got there. Leaving the gas station, I had a thought: What about bread? It would be good to lay in a supply so we wouldn't have to waste fuel every other day or so driving around to find an open boulangerie. The two bread bakeries remainiing in Saint-Aignan were not yet open at that early hour, so I drove to the village on the other side of the river. The boulangerie there was open.

We buy several baguettes at a time and keep them in the freezer at home to avoid having to drive to a boulangerie several times a week.They thaw well and are good, but they're not as good as fresh baguettes. When we came to live here 20 years ago, there were six boulangeries within two miles of our house. Nowadays, there's only one. All the others have shut down one by one over the years. I think most people buy their bread at the supermarket. Unless you live in a big city, well... la vie en France n'est plus ce qu'elle a été...

"Perched" villages

A "perched" village is one built at the top and/or down the sides of a steep hill or promontory. One of the most famous villages of this type in France is the one called Rocamadour, built on a site about an hour's drive on winding, narrow roads southeast of the Château Montfort, which posted about a few days ago.

Here's Rocamadour from afar.

Below is a closer view.

Better

It's raining again this morning, but not so hard. Tasha the Shelie seems to be over her appetit loss and general lethardy. All that is good news. I've got more photos from Dordogne, but I'm not ready to struggle with posting them yet. Later...

Gloom

It's pouring rain outside this morning. The dog is feeling sick, so she needed to go outdoors at 5ive a.m. She got soaked. I was able to dry her off some when she finally came back inside. She wouldn't eat anything. No pouch food, no bread, no kibble. No dog biscuits. The only thing she would eat was a small portion of her morning croissant that we share every day. She did drink a small amount of water. Then she went back outside and wandered around in the yard for a few more minutes. I'm not sure what the problem is. More later.

There are heavy rains in France, right now, to the south and west of us, with flooding and hail. Charming.

Tasha the collie slept for about five hours this morning. Then she suddenly woke up at around 10 o'clock and ate a small amount of food. She walked around in the house for almost an hour. She has now gone back downstairs, where we have the front and back doors open so that she can go outside when she needs or wants to.

Dordogne châteaux (3): Montfort

Here are a couple of shots of another château on the Loire less than half an hour's drive from Castelnau and Beynac. It's called the château de Monfort, and the first castle on this site was built starting in the 11th or 12th century... and torn down the the 13th. It was torn down and rebuilt st least three times during the Hundred Year's war between the English and the French in the 1300s and 1400s, if I can believe what I read. Here's a link to the Montfort web site, in English and with photos of many other châteaux.

Dordogne châteaux (2): Beynac

A mile or so north of the Château de Castelnaud and also on the Dordogne river, is the Château de Beynac, also built in the 12th century. The owners of Beynac and the owners of Castelnau were at war with each other for centuries, during the Hundred Years' War between England and France in the 1300s and 1400s.

Below is a close-up of the main tower at Beynac.

Dordogne châteaux ( 1): Castelnau

This was one of our first stops as we rode into the Dorgogne province 20 years ago. It's called Castelnau (meaning "New Castle"). A first castle was built on this site in the 12th century, but it was torn down a century later. Then, for several  centuries, Castelnau was often more of a construction site or ruin than it was a functioning château, from what I've read.

It was re-built a few more times over the centuries and has looked as it does now for more than century. In the first photo here, you can see how a village has grown up around the base of the castle.

Headed south

This is not a photo I took in the Loire Valley but in the Dordogne in southwestern France. I was there 20 years ago with Walt and our friend Sue, who lives in northern California. I think I might publish a few other pictures from that trip over the next few days.

Grape leaves and dandelion flowers...

..it's the season. 

  

The Pépin soufflé

For our lunch yesterday, I made Jacques Pépin's mother's cheese soufflé. It's a fairly simple recipe which doesn't reuire separating the whites from the yolks of eggs and then whisking the whites until they are light and foamy. The most complicated part of the recipe is making a white sauce (une sauce béchamel) with butter, flour, and milk, cream or Half-and-Half. Pépin says this is the kind of soufflé his mother often made when he was growing up (in France, near Lyon).

Here is a link to several examples of such soufflés that I posted years ago, and a photo of a slice of yesterday's, which included a pre-cooked broccoli base.

I noticed yesterday when I went out for a walk with 'Tasha that we now have irises blooming inside our back gate.

Another April Vineyard View

A view of vineyard parcels and clouds at sunrise in April from our back gate.

The vineyard yesterday morning

I've been taking a few days off. The weather has finally warmed up and started letting the sun shine on us.

Ragoût de légumes

A carrot or or two, a courgette or two, a turnip or two), some celery stalks and leaves, a Belgian endive, some tomatoes, and some bell peppers — those are some of the vegetables that went into the ragoût or mijoté I made for lunch yesterday.

Cut the vegetables into fairly large pieces so that they will tenderize but won't disintegrate when they cook. Put them in a big pot or wok with some vegetable oil and some salt and pepper. Pour a cup or two of water over them, put a lid on the pot or wok and then and "sweat" them over medium heat until they are just starting to get tender (about 15 minutes).

Then add enough water to the pot or wok to barely cover the vegetables. Let the vegetables finish cooking. It will take 40 to 60 minutes. Add some herbs — dried thyme, bay leaves, and dried oregano).
 

Optionally, serve the stewed vegetables with grilled chicken breasts or sausages.

Village paths and streets

These are some of the streets and paths lead to our village center (called le bourg) which is on the left bank of the Cher river deep into the river valley. They start on the higher ground on the southern edge of the river valley, which is mostly fields and vineyards. Actually where we live is equidistant from the village center and the little town of Saint-Aignan. The village has a population of 1,200 and an area of 12 square miles.

Flowers in the drear

The word for today is moche. I like the word because it sounds like what it means.  It's the TéléMatin weatherman who started throw it around this morning, lamenting the fact that the whole country is having awful weather. The only thing I can think to do to dispel the gloom is post some pictures of colorful flowers.

Callie the collie on April 11, 2010

Here's Callie the collie in her element. If you walk out of our back gate and turm right, you go down a fairly steep hill. You then enter the woods and keep going downhill on a path that eventually leads to the village we live in, with its church, mairie, and a few shops and other businesses. The village center is about 1.5 miles from our back gate.

Callie the collie

This is a picture of our border collie, Callie. I took the picture in 2010, when when she was just three years old. She passed away in 2017 at the age of 10. We still miss her.

Les escargots comestibles

Comestible means "edible" — good to eat. Here are the two snails that are considered edible in France. The one above is the petit-gris, the little gray snail. They are plentiful here where we live. We don't eat the wild ones, but they are available in cans or frozen at the supermarkets. We do eat those, once or twice a year.

 

The gastropod below is the most highly esteemed variety. It's called l'escargot de Bourgogne or le gros blanc. It's two or three times as big as the petit-gris. Most would say that it's two or threew times as delicious too.

I've only ever seen one gros-blanc snail here in the Saint-Aignan area. It was out in the vineyard. I didn't disturb it because it's illegal in France to do so during the Burgundy snail's reproductive season, and I'm not sure when that is. If memory serves, I saw this snail two or three times over a three-year period, always in springtime. I've never seen it again.

L'escargot des bois...

...or l'escargot des haies. Both names are used in French. In England, it's called the grove snail. I haven't read anything that leads me to think that people eat them. Like me, maybe they just admire their shell's pretty colors.

We don't see a lot of these gastropods around here, but I did see one slowly crossing the road

 out near our front gate a few days ago.

Une blanquette pour Pâques

For our Easter dinner this year, we had a blanquette de veau. That's un ragoût (a stew) of veal with carrots and mushrooms. The liquid for the stew is veal broth that you make by simmering chunks of veal for two hours in water with a little white wine, the carrots, and some onions, bay leaves, thyme and salt and pepper. It's a tasty consommé (a clear broth) with which you make a white sauce using butter, flour, and cream

Below are three photos of the veal that I bought at the supermarket for my blanquette. I cut the meat into smaller pieces before I cooked it.

Bright colors...

...dreary April days.

Early spring bloomers

Here's another tree that blooms in early spring. It's out in our back yard. It was here when we arrived more than
20 years ago. It's a cherry tree, I believe, but it doesn't produce any fruit. It's just decorative.

I took these photos yesterday morning at sunrise when I was out walking around with Tasha.

Wandering around the hamlet with my camera

I'm having a lot of trouble with my eyes these days. I think it might be pollen allergies.'Tis the season. I'm also having a lot of trouble with Blogger this morning. Maybe the two are related. It's hard to read tiny print (Blogger uses plenty of that) when your vision is blurred.