Merry Christmas from the Barleys! 4 comments

Get yous own at http://www.elfyourself.com

Qui veut un bisou? 4 comments

There are reports of a mistletoe shortage in England [The Telegraph]. No such problems here as we are surrounded by it, clinging to the bare branches of the trees. When we first arrived we wondered what these “pom-pom” trees were, until we inspected closer and discovered the secret.

Nathalie delivered a large bundle for us this week, so now our doorway is adorned and there is now even more opportunity for random kisses as people come to the door

Our one-year anniversary: Food 2 comments

One-year anniversary

To say we lived in england, we very rarely used to each “english” food, preferring to opt for Italian, Chinese, Indian or Mexican wherever possible. So one would think that moving to France wouldn’t make a huge difference to our eating habits.

However, the south-east corner of the Vendée is not big on international cuisine, so our options are somewhat limited. There is a pizza van that comes to the village once a week, but we tried that and were not hugely impressed with the pizzas or the prices.

So, our chances of getting a nice take-away were slim and we had to find new things to try. Here, then, are some of the new culinary discoveries we have made over the last 12 months…

Mussles (“moules“) are our “fish and chips”. Moules et frites is a real favourite and we have cooked it for just about everyone who has visited us. It’s such a sociable meal with everyone diving into the mussels in a creamy sauce, mopped up with chunky bread. Washed down with a glass or two of white wine, it really is something special.

Like  a lot of people, Oysters were something we all vowed never to try. Too slimy and horrible. What’s the point, just swallowing them down? But one day, on the beach with big “foodies” Kevin and Sylvie, we were persuaded to give them a try. Just prised off a rock 5 minutes earlier, it was as fresh as it could get. Both Lisa and I tried one and our reaction was pretty much the same. Not bad, but not that exciting. Still, it was something new.

Raclette is a cheese that comes in rectangular slices, especially made to be melted over things like potatoes. We first encountered this with our “new-food-finders” the Dixies, and enjoyed it so much that we put a raclette cooker on our Christmas list!

Gherkins (“Cornichons“) have become a standard part of our cold meal of the day, making a fine accompaniement to the baguette, cheese and olives.

Salads in the UK were generally lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes and so on. Although we still like out fresh fruit and veg (espeically that bought from the market on a Saturday morning) in the main our salads are now tubs of carrot, celery, beetroot in various dressing, and taboulet. Convenient and tasty and they certainly take up less room in the fridge.

We had seen a whole selection of wide ceramic spoons in the shops and wondered what they were for. It was only after spending a very enjoyable evening at Nathalie and Thierry’s house that we realised they were for serving “aperitifs” – small portions of salads (as above) etc. delicately served on the large “spoons” and eaten with a much smaller one.

Joe surprised us all by coming home from school one day and declaring that he had eaten rabbit! And he liked it! Now, Joe has always struggled with the school dinners here as they are quite a lot different to those he used to have back in england, so we were totally stunned when he dropped this bombshell. The mere thought of eating rabbit would previously have induced much “Urgh!”ing and “Yuk”ing, so this just shows how far he has come in trying new things and adapting to the french way of eating.

I’m not going to mention the unmentionable “feast” that was inflicted on me (spleen anybody…?), but suffice it to say that we have all become a lot more adventurous and who knows what we’ll have added to our list of favourites by this time next year?