Christmas at the market

Market day always puts a spring in my step, and this morning was especially good as I wanted to see all the gorgeous Christmas foods they would have for sale. The mushroom stall was our first port of call, and we bought a kilo of mushrooms de Paris, some pleurottes - which are a gorgeous soft grey looking mushroom a bit like a cep - and two feuilletté, pastry pasties filled with mushrooms and Chaource cheese. I warmed these for our lunch when we got home.

We then visited the fish stall - amazing scallops, prawns of all sizes, lobster, langoustines, escargot, smoked salmon. All looking top quality. We plumped for some plump scallops.

I then got some vegetables before we headed home. A very Christmassy market visit.

In the afternoon I wanted to make some chutney, actually Brian made it whilst I made some creamed, curried cauliflower soup for dinner, which we will have with some fresh bread, spread with some sea salt butter - very naughty, but yummy. The chutney is pear and apple with saffron, it will go well with roast gammon, or a good strong cheese - maybe a Comté.

Quite a productive day.

Morning mist

We woke early this morning to take a trip into Troyes, as we left the house the mist was still hanging in the valley as the early morning sun was rising and just starting to pick out, in a golden splash, some of the higher vines.

We drove around Landreville and could see the sun illuminating the recently renovated church. It was so peaceful and calm - and yet you could feel the day starting - bright and full of the excitement of a day out. Confinement in France has been eased, and we can now venture out without a signed form, so we had planned to go to Troyes to collect our framed pictures, and have a wander around the city.

Troyes is steeped in history dating back to 600 BC, where they have found evidence of a Celtic settlement. During the Roman and Medieval times it expanded as a city, but in 1524 there was a massive fire destroying a lot of the city. So most of the houses that now crisscross the city date back to the 16th century. The old wooden houses that line the little alleyways and streets are all trying to be bigger than their neighbour, pushing to grab their piece of space. Nothing has really changed over hundreds of years. Some look top heavy and about to topple forwards. Some are crumbling from being weary from time and others are lovingly restored and standing proud displaying their architecture and wanting to tell their stories. We will go back to Troyes when we can wander the streets and drink coffee in the cafes and enjoy a relaxing lunch. For now we had fun just absorbing the Christmas flair.

Cadole

We were having a bit of an explore around some of the areas we had not ventured through, and came across this beautifully preserved cadole. We do have a smaller one in our village which you can see from our garden, it is on the opposite side of the valley, but this one looked particularly good in the low evening sun, on the edge of the vineyards.

A cadole is a small dry-stone building erected by the wine growers to protect themselves from the often harsh climates, whether it’s the roaring heat of the summer sun, or the icy cold of the winter frosts. They appear to like ancient structures, however they were built in the last century. They can accommodate up to six people. They were built from flat stones collected from the surrounding slopes and piled on top of each other in a conical shape. They would leave enough room at the top to create a hole for the smoke from a fire for the cold chilly days. It took around two tonnes of stones to build a single cadole.

The cadoles had been abandoned for many years, buried under the undergrowth, but they are now gradually being restored in the region, and a number of signposted footpaths take you past the hobbit-like shelters.

Bri-Wax

Brian cannot stop himself from doing a little job when he sees it. I’d moved a rug in one of the bedrooms which revealed some new reclaimed boards that had been fitted, and were in obvious need of some blending in. So out came the Briwax and after testing the corners to ensure he had the right finish he cut up an old tee shirt and got on with the job. First layering on the wax, allowing it to dry, then buffing it to ensure it was all soaked in. It needed a couple of coats to achieve the look he wanted. Good as old now….

A very french start

Not the healthiest of breakfasts, but an extremely good pain aux raisins, you can see the layers in the flaky pastry, and full of sweet plump raisins, accompanied by a perfect milky coffee - just yummy.

In the last few days we had received the final piece of information for our registration to live in France, so yesterday we sat down to complete the online form. The website is very clear in what’s required, and user friendly, so as we had gathered all the information together it didn’t take long to upload everything : proof of address, proof of finances, proof of health cover, and photo ID. We did Brian’s first and submitted it, then moved onto mine. Unfortunately the website went down so we couldn’t complete it, so kind of left us hanging on why it wasn’t working. Just one of those glitches, as first thing this morning it was up again and we were able to complete mine and submit it also. We have both been advised that they have been received and have been sent to our local Prefecture for processing. We have no idea how long this could take - maybe 6 weeks, maybe 6 months!

If the authorities do not have any questions then we will be invited to the prefecture to finalise the formalities, which include completing our photo ID, and having our fingerprints taken. If not, they will come back to us by email for some additional information. Just need to sit tight.

The good thing is, because we have submitted our registration we will continue with all the same benefits as pre Brexit whilst it’s being reviewed. The latest for pre-Brexit applicants to submit their registration is June 2021, and this can be done via the electronic portal. The latest to be advised if they have been accepted, is October 2021. It means that if you move to France after 1st January 2021 you will need to apply via a different route. I’m just happy our application is now in the system.

Sugary delight

We had a great day in the kitchen yesterday, making some sugary delights for Christmas and New Year. First we tackled creating honeycomb, which I wanted for making honeycomb ice cream with - the type you don’t need an ice cream maker for. For the honeycomb you need to be brave. Everything you read online says do not stir the sugar, however I find that if you don’t the melted sugar, which is underneath the unmelted sugar, can burn easily. So I find some gentle stirring to incorporate the sugar grains into the hot melted sugar works just fine. You need to watch it until it’s going just golden, then take it off the heat and add the bicarbonate of soda in, quickly stirring in with a wooden spoon. Careful as the melted sugar is really hot, and when you add the bicarb it erupts like molten lava, puffing up in the pan. You need to work really quickly, and scrape it out onto a chilled baking sheet with baking parchment on it, this helps cool it quickly. It’s best to pop it in the freezer then, to stop it cooking and potentially burning.

200g of castor sugar, two teaspoons of bicarbonate of soda

Perfect. Once it’s made then comes the ice cream bit, which is really easy. Whip up 1pt of double cream into soft peaks, stir in a 300g tin of condensed milk, then stir in the broken up honeycomb - it’s all very sweet, so add to your taste. Then pop into a container and freeze. It really is gorgeous, especially with a little snifter of your favourite liqueur.

I also have a recipe for some German biscuits typically made at Christmas, however I don’t have any candied peel which I need for them, so Brian offered to make some. It was a bit fiddly, which Brian is thankfully fine with. It smelt gorgeous whilst he was cooking it and we now have some sticky sweet tasting candied orange peel. Exactly what I needed.

Market day

It’s less than two weeks now until Christmas, and there’s a few jobs that we’d like to get finished before then, but generally we are going to take some time to relax and enjoy the Christmas period.

This morning we headed into Bar-Sur-Seine to do some early Christmas food shopping. It was market day, and despite the drizzle we ventured out. The cheese stall was particularly inviting and I just couldn’t resist buying some Brie aux truffes, it really is quite a decadent cheese, very luxurious, so will be great for a little treat over the coming weeks. The fish stall was very nicely stocked, everything looking so fresh and well presented, all laid out on stacks of crushed ice, which invites you to buy it. Fish is obviously a bit of a talking point at the moment, so it will be interesting to see what the choice and price is like in the new year. I bought a couple of pieces of salmon, which are always very flavoursome, so I will cook them quite simply, maybe with a hollandaise sauce. They were also selling some gorgeous looking smoked salmon, it was a rich burnt orange colour with the sweet aromas of being freshly smoked - I will get some when we go back just before Christmas.

Lastly was the fruit and vegetable stall. Too early to buy this for Christmas, but I did get a beautiful looking cauliflower to make some soup and some satsumas to just nibble on.

Hubby fitting in…..

Rule of two

Today we thought we had better get our Christmas post sorted, so we parcelled up our gifts, finished writing our Christmas cards, and headed off to the post office. There was a large sign on the door stating only two people were allowed inside, so we waited patiently outside for the two customers inside to finish. Whilst waiting, a man walked straight in and laid his parcel on the counter, mumbled something and scurried out. Neither of us were sure as to what happened but were adamant no-one else was going to ‘push-in’. So when a rosie cheeked lady went to nudge by us and enter the post office to make it three people inside, I explained, in my best french and polite hand gestures, that only two people were allowed inside, and we were next. Remarkably she understood and got back in the queue which we had formed.

Finally we were able to go in, and decided to go in together as one person - no one seemed to mind, which was a good job, as we soon discovered we had to complete two forms per parcel. Having to complete name of sender and recipients, addresses, phone numbers, contents, values, purpose for each one. This was going to take some time, and the office was not very big so as you can imagine we soon became a bit of a talking point, and the rule of two disappeared. We then had our cards to also mail. I think we were there for nearly an hour, so all-in-all a bit of an outing. For a number of reasons, I think we will be reviewing our approach next year.

A very french christmas

All the villages, certainly in our region - but I believe across France - all present their own style of Christmas displays, based on a different theme. They put a lot of thought and work into the decorations throughout the village, building all sorts of displays. They’re not just all kinds of Father Christmas’, but nativity scenes and carefully painted wooden animals or Disney characters or just characters! They also like to use lots of shiny papers to make bows and flowers which they hang on trees throughout the village, which seems to be instead of using lights, maybe to save power. However, we have seen lights in some of the larger villages, and definitely the towns and cities. They also decorate the numerous Christmas trees they put up around the village with shiny bows and rosettes.

It’s lovely to see the creativity, and how they all seem to think up different ideas. It’s all very different from the UK, and I quite like how striking but simple it all is.

Just jugs

I do love jugs, and over the years have collected some beautiful ones all different shapes and sizes. Yesterday Brian put the little cupboard, that I’d painted in the summer, up on the wall in the kitchen. It’s a great place to store and display a number of them. Although I cannot collect many more as there isn’t much room left.

Eat, drink, relax

Christmas movie day - it’s a day of doing nothing except sitting by the fire watching Christmas movies, eating easy food, drinking various drinks and enjoying having the tree up.

We are setting the scene with a Netflix original ‘Christmas Chronicles’ starring Kurt Russell. He makes a very good Santa Claus. Freshly made, hot sausage rolls, (HP sauce of cause) and a snifter of sour cherry liqueur.

So what else did we watch? There was a fourth one, a real chick flick, amazed Brian sat through it, but after the hotdog and chips , I don’t think he could move!

Oh christmas tree…

Christmas is my favourite time of year, I just love getting the tree, decorating the house….. actually did I say that a few days ago?

So today we went to buy our ‘sapin’. We were very pleasantly surprised on the cost of them, which was good as I wanted a really big one to go in the salon. The great thing is they also gave us a log to stand it in. That’s always a discussion point each year, as the bought ones never seem to stand up that well. The one they supplied worked really well, and they also said I could help myself to cut off branches for free - never known that before. Luckily the 8’ tree fitted in the car, just, but I don’t think she measured the skinny bit at the top, with no branches on it, as Brian did need to cut a bit off the top when we put it up in the salon.

The next thing was to find the decorations, which should be easy… or so I thought. I had put two boxes of Xmas decorations near where we stored the wood, thinking they’d be safe there, but not thinking ahead to the log delivery. When Brian went out to ready the area for the delivery we had he had moved the boxes to make room. When I asked where they had gone, he’d completely forgotten. Anyone who knows Brian well will know this is normal. Could we find them? “Don’t worry”’ he said, “We have some in the old wooden chest”. I do like Christmas, I think I’ve said, so have lots of decorations in different places. We found the chest, but… “Hmmmm, any idea where the key to the chest is?”

I obviously had no idea where the key to the chest was, finding anything at the moment is a challenge. So we went and had a cup of tea and some chocolate, and hoped that would sort it all out.

After tea, not to be deterred, Brian went back out to have another look. He soon returned with a grin, “I’ve found the boxes!”. Hoorah… for tea and chocolate.

Three stère

We had been running short of logs for the fire, so we reached out to a friend in the village next to ours to see if she knew anyone who had any. Her son very kindly offered to help us out. So we kicked this morning off unloading three stère of wood, in the clear beautiful crisp winter air. The low winter sun was shining and the sky was blue - what a great way to start the day.

Whilst we unloaded, we chatted in french and English, helping each other out to try and improve our language skills. I also learnt what a ‘stère’ is. It’s how they measure firewood in France. A stère de bois is one cubic metre of wood cut into 50cm logs.

The wood store is now looking healthy again, and we can relax into those cold winter evenings, and roaring log fires.

Un petit problème

Exciting day today, our worktops are finished and have been collected by Michel Derlica, the tiler, who will be fitting them. The guys are here who are going to help lift them into place and plumb in the sink. I know Brian is a bit anxious, as there really was no wriggle room in the measurements, so we are all keen to see the accuracy of the cutting. We found out this morning that one of the splash backs was broken yesterday when the company was packing them, so they are now prioritising cutting a new one and will deliver it later this morning.

I’m keeping out of the way in the salon, I can hear the chatter of requests and instructions whilst they work in harmony, getting what is a very tough job completed. It is tough, not only because the stone is fragile if manipulated wrongly, as demonstrated by the stone masons themselves – even they get it wrong sometimes – but it is extremely heavy, and the room for error is non existent. There is definitely a lot of puffing, and exclamations from everyone.

“Un petit problème”, hmmm not a phrase I like to hear when I know the job is super challenging. I decide maybe Brian needs some support so I tentatively approach the kitchen. The ‘petit problème’ is the door on the left of the sink unit will not open, and the unit itself is sitting too far forward under the stone. So how do they get the door to open, and how do they move the unit further back, we know the stone sink cannot be cut. With three very capable artisans with practical minds, Brian’s intervention and the nod from me, they decide to cut the top left corner off the door (a necessary sacrifice that Brian will sort out later) which enables it to open, then they can slice a piece off the inside carcass of the unit and slide it back. There are always going to be problems when you are using old cabinets and new materials together, but the results are worth it.

Brian can now breathe again. The whole thing fitted with no room for movement at all. To have achieved this is amazing, and it’s looking absolutely brilliant. Then we remember, ‘Where’s the missing piece?’. I put a call into Lee-Anne, and ask if there’s any idea when the missing splashback should arrive. He left at 11.30. It is now noon. We could see Michel had nearly completed the work, and so didn’t want him to leave without being able to finish. So, to keep him engaged, we are practicing our french on him, which I think he is enjoying. Hoorah, a knock at the door and the missing splash back arrives.

About 30 minutes later and the job is finished. We say cheerio to Michel and go back in to admire the work.

The key

It’s a bit of a murky day today, cold grey and drizzly. But we are off out to Troyes to collect a second key for our car. When we bought it they only gave us one key. All the years of owning a company car, or having a car through a finance company, the dealerships had always been so specific about handing back two keys, so I felt they should have had two to give us. They appeared not to, so they have ordered us a second one and it’s now getting programmed.

Whilst in Troyes we thought we would take the opportunity to drop a couple of prints off at the framers to be framed. One was the painting by Kero, that I had shown previously. We thought a very natural modern frame would suit this with a dark navy border, which worked really well with the beautiful blues of the sea and sky. The second one was an old vintage 1940’s ‘American Pin Up’ print we had bought by EARL MORAN – ‘A beauty in her swimsuit’. It has a dusky pink background, so Brian chose a deep maroon border, which I think looks superb, with a dark mahogany frame which has a touch of marquetry in it.

Can’t wait to go and collect them when they are finished. Below are the pics we took whilst choosing the right combinations.

Pellets are go

Gosh what a day. Quentin has been here today to remove the old oil boiler and connect in the new pellet boiler. It really didn’t take him long to disconnect and start the dismantling process. The house was starting to get quite cold with no heating, so I suggested to Brian that we should do some cooking and test out the mincemeat we had made, and also the sausage meat I’d bought to make some sausage rolls. So we started the day in the kitchen doing some baking.

By early afternoon the heating was reconnected and Quentin had some help to move the old boiler and oil tank out of my now ‘laundry room’ ready to take away. The pair of them then worked their way meticulously around the house testing each radiator ensuring it was getting up to heat. The difference in the temperature in the house is immense, and we are loving having the extra heat, although must not go mad!

So long Strebel, hello Froling

This evening we are sitting down in our wonderful warm and toasty house, enjoying a sausage roll or two and a very nice glass of red.

Christmas Cards

It was a very chilly day today the temperature had dropped down to ~1°c.

We needed to pop out briefly to do some shopping, a quick trip to the Intermarche and back home for coffee. I then spent the day writing our Christmas cards, which was rather enjoyable this year, it was just really nice to have time to write them. Brian made sure we had suitable music to set the scene and took some time to try and finish off some painting he had started.

We needed to be careful on our oil usage for the heating today, as tomorrow the oil boiler is swapped over to the new pellet boiler, so we have been running the oil down and are now running on air! The gauge says zero, but it’s still just ticking over. I’m not sure it will last the night though.

Cliff hanger

Yesterday’s walk took us along a cliff of fossilferous material, to me it appeared brick like in its nature, but Brian applied the little bit he had learnt from reading and his brother – from when they used to go fossil hunting together – to understand what we could see.

He said that we would probably find a fossil between the strata, where it looks darker and more like sandstone, so we walked on a bit further where the darker material met the rising path. We then had a little root around in the rocks, not damaging any, but soon found signs that fossils may be found there. Apparently the area we live in was underwater tens of millions of years ago, during the Cretaceous period, and what Brian found was what looked like a sea creature.

One thing we are sure it’s not – although it was one of Brian’s thoughts – is a Trilobite. Apparently they were long extinct by the Cretaceous period, by at least 150 million years. It is probably more likely some marine mollusk or something similar. Now, I know this may seem like I know what I’m talking about, but I don’t. I reached out to Alan, Brian’s brother, for some help. Our family palaeontologist put me straight on what it wasn’t and what it could be. For now we are still unsure as to what it was …..

Day 29

Saturday 28th November, day 29 of confinement. The rules are starting to ease from today, and if the average number of daily cases remains below 5,000 then the rules will be eased further from 15th December. As from today all shops can now open with strict controls on the number of people inside. And we can now exercise for up to 3 hours outside, including travel time, however we do still need to complete our permit, and not allowed to travel between regions.

From 15th December we will come out of confinement and move back into a curfew phase – curfew starts at 9pm through to 7am. This will remain in place as long as the targets are met. Inter-regional travel will also be allowed again and foreign travel will be permitted subject to the destination countries rules.

The sun came out to celebrate, with a gorgeous blue sky and not a cloud in sight. We popped our walking boots in the car and drove round to the aerodrome at Celles-sur-Ource to discover a new walk.

The views were amazing

It was a gorgeous day

Wreath making

I love the build up to Christmas, and really enjoy getting involved and making the house look inviting and Christmassy. It will be a very strange one this year…for all of us. I really enjoy having people over – planning the dinners, trying new drinks, buying or making table gifts, decorating the house, lighting up the garden, and not to forget laying the table. It is all a pleasure to me. But this year it will just not happen like before, I need to make it happen in other ways, different, but fun and full of the Christmas spirit.
Today we removed the cloth from our dining table and gathered together everything we needed to make our first Christmas wreaths; some secateurs, wire, frame for the wreathes, moss, foliage, fir, champagne corks, ribbon, scissors. We already had one frame made from twigs, which I’d bought but never before used. Brian was going to make a second frame out of some wire we had found in the barn, so whilst he did that I started wrapping the moss.

I was pleasantly surprised at how easy the moss formed to make the basis of the wreath. We soon had two bases ready to start to add the foliage and berries. I’d also gone into the garden earlier to cut more ivy and laurel to use. It was great just being able to do that. Next step was to attach the foliage, which you do by wrapping the wire around the wreath, weaving in and out of the leaves so as to allow them to display freely, whilst varying the textures, colours and variety of the foliage and whatever you choose to use.

It was such a relaxing and enjoyable activity, and we appreciate having the time to be creative. It is so valuable, and really does help feed the soul. It’s also a nice way to show the village that we’re supporting the Christmas decorative feel this year.

A really good day.