Montpoupon

On Wednesday, CHM and I took a drive west through several villages along the Cher River — Céré-la-Ronde, Francueil, Saint-Georges-sur-Cher, Chisseaux, Chissay — and on to the town of Montrichard. Along the way, we passed by the Château de Montpoupon and stopped to take a photo or two. This is about 10 miles from our house.

The weather here has been very warm — we would say hot, but people who live in other climates might disagree — since June started last weekend. Yesterday the temperature on the terrace, where we spent a good part of the day with CHM, friends Jean and Nick, and Callie, reached 28ºC (82ºF). Storms threaten, but continue to skirt by us to the south or north. Tant mieux, because our leaky roof couldn't handle any more rain.

 

I had to go to Blois for another doctor's appointment early yesterday morning, and I have to go back today. I won't go into details. CHM accompanied me yesterday, and this morning Walt will make the drive to Blois with us too. CHM will take the train back to Paris later today, and Walt and I will do some shopping in and around Blois before coming back to enjoy another warm afternoon on the terrace here at la Renaudière. There's no telling how many more we might have, or might not have. It's pretty nice right now.

Céleri rémoulade et saumon fumé en roulades

Here's the dish Walt, CHM, and I made on Monday to take to the bloggers' party hosted by Martine, J-L, and B over in Pouillé. It was celery root in a cream & mayonnaise sauce (requested by Martine), with smoked salmon and olives. Walt made roulades of the salmon by filling them with the céleri rémoulade (link to recipe).

The photo makes the celery root dish look like something out of the Larousse Gastronomique. Old-fashioned, in other words. But the whole thing was a treat for the eyes and the taste buds, if you like celery and salmon.

Au Relais d'Artémis

Here's a final post about the restaurant in Bracieux that we really enjoyed last Saturday, Au Relais d'Artémis. First, a view from the main dining room out into the garden: I really like the way the trees are pruned into umbrella (or is it mushroom?) shapes. And again, everything is very green.

The garden at the restaurant Au Relais d'Artémis in Bracieux, near Chambord

As for the food, here finally are a couple of photos of the main courses we ordered. I chose the veal, which was onglet de veau broutard. Evidently, a veau broutard is a calf that has begun to graze on grass — brouter means "to graze." The cut of meat that I had is called onglet, and it's categorized as offal (abats) even though it is red meat. I think it might be called "hanger" or "skirt" steak in English, and it's part of the animal's diaphragm. Whatever it is, it was tender and delicious cooked medium rare or rosé at the Relais d'Artémis.

Onglet de veau broutard

Walt and CHM both chose fish for their lunch. It was filet de sandre, beurre blanc — fillet of zander (pike-perch) with a butter sauce. Zander is a European river fish. The flesh is very white and tender, with few if any bones. Both W and CHM thought it was delicious. It was served with a risotto that CHM said was excellent — creamy and rich, flavored and colored with either saffron or turmeric (curcuma).

Fillet of zander with a golden risotto-style rice

Thanks to CHM for the photo

And I almost forgot the starter course. Since I started this series with desserts, I'll finish it with the entrée. We all three had the same one: Mille-feuille au saumon et asperges vertes. There was both cooked and cold-smoked salmon on the plate, with three asparagus spears per serving. It was also very good, and was a fine introduction to a very nice meal.

A mille-feuille is a multi-layered concoction made with crisp pastry and creamy fillings, usually sweet. It's called a "napoleon" in America. This was a savory version made with salmon.

Okay, lunch at the Relais d'Artémis is over and done with. I hope you enjoyed the upside-down menu. Maybe we should call it Déjeuner à la Tatin.

Interlude

The days are so busy and the time is so short. Today, I'm cooking (an American specialty, Brunswick Stew), filing my tax return (la déclaration d'impôts) for which the deadline is Friday, and trying to keep up with this blog.

Walt watching a train from Tours that's getting ready to pull out of the station

Today I planned to post a couple of photos of the main courses we had at lunch on Saturday in the restaurant in Bracieux, but I just realized that have only one decent shot. When CHM is up and moving in a few minutes, I'll see if he has any photos I might use and post them tomorrow.

The Blois train station's restaurant, not crowded at noon on a Saturday

Meanwhile, here are a few shots I took in the train station in Blois that same day.

An informational sign in the station

By the way, I haven't mentioned the nice party we were invited to Monday afternoon over in the neighboring village of Pouillé. Ladybird / Martine, visiting from Belgium,  and her friends J-L and B who have a house here, were the hosts. There were 15 of us, mostly local bloggers, and we enjoyed conversation and a great lunch al fresco in their garden for the whole afternoon.

Waiting for the crowd to arrive at lunchtime on a Saturday

It was an international crowd, with attendees from Belgium, Australia, Wales, England, Scotland, and the U.S. We got sunburned — can you believe that?