Back in the bedroom

There are a few floorboards in the Jeroboam that need some attention. So today Brian was looking at the extent of the work and preparing the area. There is quite a sizeable patch that needs attention, in actual fact there’s probably a couple of areas in the room that he will work on over the coming days. For now though he was getting the tools together he will need. Which included his new multi saw. This is like the one we saw the tiler use when they were fitting the worktops. He’d wanted a reason to buy one, and the floor is it.

And it just so happened that there was a particularly awkward screw that had lost its head protruding out of the joist. So out came the new Bosch multi saw which made light work of removing it.

Epiphany

6th January, or Epiphany, is the day the three wise men arrived bearing gifts for the baby Jesus, guided by the star of Bethlehem. In France they like to set up nativity scenes, and today they will place the three wise figures around the crib. As with any celebration there is something to eat, and the French people create or buy galette des rois - the Kings cake. As you would have seen on yesterday’s blog, it’s a flaky pastry case filled with almonds and they put a ‘fève’ inside. This used to be a bean, but is now a china figure of some sort. Whoever finds the bean in their slice gets to wear the king’s crown for the day. Just be careful not to break a tooth on the féve or worse still swallow it. Nowadays if children are going to get a piece of galette they will often use a piece of orange skin instead. Normally the youngest member at the table will chose who the slices are given to.

Galette des rois

Here’s a little recipe to try - this ‘pie’ is eaten around this time of year, I will share more on this tomorrow, but for now here is the recipe. It really is quite easy to make, especially if you buy the flaky pastry. You need 2 circles of flaky pastry about 9/10 inches across, 23 cm. which is about 1lb of pastry. Lay one on a baking sheet ready to put the filling on it. Always best to keep flaky pastry chilled, so pop it in the fridge whilst you make up the filling, which is:

a cup of ground almonds, 1/2 cup castor sugar, 4oz of butter (cut into chunks and left at room temperature), a couple of large eggs, a few drops of almond essence, and a couple of teaspoons of alcohol (rum or I think amaretto - but this is optional). If you use unsalted butter then add a pinch of salt. Mix all this together, then put onto the pastry circle you have already placed on the baking sheet. Brush the edges with egg and put the second circle over the top. Sealing all the way round by pressing. The top is then usually scored before brushing with egg and cooking in an oven at 180’c for 30 minutes until it’s golden brown.

Oh I forgot to mention, you need to hide a bean or piece of orange peel in it, I will explain the reason for this tomorrow.

WOW, thats a big one!

On our last walk we found some more fossils. It wasn’t as such that we were searching for them, but we were just scanning the rocks as we walked pass them. The first couple Brian found, and he described for me what they would have looked like, I did need a bit of imagination. These fossils were just lying on the edge of a field, that was covered in hundreds of rocks.

I headed off along the path and left Brian to take some pics. About another 12 feet further on I exclaimed, “Is this what they were like?”. I pointed to this rather wonderful specimen of what I now know is an Ammonite, measuring about 10cm across.

“WOW”, he replied, “That’s a big fossil for your first find”. He took some pictures of it in situ, and we agreed this was one to take home to clean up and keep. I straight away sent a pic to Brian’s brother, Alan, to ask if he could share what he knew about it, and this is what he said;

Ammonites are marine invertebrates that died out at the end of the Cretaceous period along with the non-avian dinosaurs, when an asteroid hit the earth killing 80+ % of all life. Ammonites are related to nautilus, squid, octopus etc. My one is Cretaceous. The Cretaceous - Tertiary extinction was around 66 million years ago. In the first photo you can see the chambers of the ammonite - those lines (suture lines) delineate the chambers as the ammonite grew. It’s living chamber is the largest one. The rest were pressurized and helped it move through the water layer.

Taking down the decorations

Don’t you just hate it when the Christmas decorations come down. No longer do you get to switch the twinkling lights on as you sit down for a crafty mince pie. The living room feels dark again and missing the splashes of reds and green of Christmas.

But then I sit down after they’ve all been packed away safely for another year, happy with my ‘just cleaned’ house, and think of longer days, more walks through the forests, along the rivers and around the vineyards. There’s a light fluttering of snow today, with temperatures hanging around zero during the day and -2°c at night. I’m looking forward to being wrapped up and walking in the chilled air.

I’m not a New Years resolution sort of person, but I do make new commitments to myself at this time of year, I think it’s just because you start to think of the months ahead - maybe that’s the same thing I hear you say - for me making a personal commitment is something you want to do, and therefore more likely to achieve it, as opposed to a new resolution. Anyway, the commitment is to find moments to take a walk and find more to see.

Prepping the bedroom

We were back filling and sanding again in the bedroom today. It really is not my favourite of jobs, but I do like to see the results of our efforts coming together - and I have to say Brian puts more into this stage than me. However I had managed to create this map of Africa! We will be sorting that out tomorrow. Brian has told me that we will need another trip to Weldom as we are already low on filler.

Blow away those cobwebs

We had not got up early this morning. It was a very slow start to the year as we had a pretty full New Year’s Eve, of which I have shared some pictures below, and we got to bed pretty late - well, for us we did. However the sun was shining and after we’d enjoyed a second cup of tea in bed we decided to get up and go for a walk to ‘blow away the cobwebs’. We chose to walk up the slope at the back of our house and out of the garden that way.

As it was now early afternoon, the sun was low in the sky and casting some beautiful, elegant, long shadows. There was not a sound to be heard as we strolled through the vineyards, the stillness making me smile, pleased to have found such a beautiful place to live.

I looked back and could see the solid little church peeping up out of the village. We can see the church from our bathroom window in the top floor, I don’t think I will ever tire of peering out and seeing it, especially at night when it is lit up. It is not lit every night but when there is a reason to illuminate it for all to see, it glows with purpose.

We walked up around the back of the vineyards to the arable land that plateaus above us. We walked around the edge of a field then dropped back down to the far end of the village through some forest. We were out for a couple of hours, just long enough to feel like we’d had a walk, and justify coming back to have a hot bath to warm up, before lighting the fire and tucking into a hearty bowl of pasta.

New Year’s Eve - Last night we enjoyed a late evening chatting to family and friends on FaceTime drinking some gorgeous wine - which had fond memories for us as it had been a gift a few years back on a trip to Gevry Chambertin with some friends - and enjoying a very tender and succulent fillet steak which Brian had topped with a thyme and mushroom duxelles before wrapping up in Black Forest ham then a flaky pastry case. I made a red wine jus to accompany it by frying off some shallots, garlic, thyme. Adding some red wine until it reduced by half then some beef stock, again reducing it by half, before straining it to serve. It was all really delicious.

An odd year

‘Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow’

The day started with a flurry of snow. The soft white flakes falling across the vines were both beautiful and calming in equal measure, gracefully ending what can only be described as ‘an odd year’.

We are going to enjoy this evening soaking up the warmth of the fire in the salon, popping a bottle of local bubbly and tucking into the beef Wellington that Brian has made. We’ve eaten well since we arrived in France, even without a kitchen for the first few months. One of the things we really wanted with our move to France was to enjoy the food, wine and dining culture, and although we haven’t been able to visit many restaurants, we have joined our many neighbours and friends for ‘apéro’. We have also been able to explore the different food markets and enjoy the seasonal produce and local specialities.

Like almost everyone, we had hoped we could spend New Year with friends as we so often had done before, but things are different this year. With all that has happened we have been reflecting on all the fantastic support we have been given by friends and family on our move to France. It was a big decision for us even before the staggering effects of a pandemic, and one that we were unable to share with anyone until it all finally went into motion with the sale of our cottage.

We knew it would be a challenging year for us when we decided in January that 2020 was when we would make a huge life change. We were going to sell our home of 21 years, leave our employment, completely rearrange our finances and move to another country, leaving behind all of our friends and families. It seemed a daunting prospect, but little did we know how challenging it might get. Everything else aside, just the thought now of having to engage a removal company during a pandemic with a looming completion deadline leaves me cold. But we found Bray’s, and they were an absolute Godsend. In fact, everything worked out well in the end.

I wanted a way to remember what we had done, and see what we had achieved so as not to forget all the detail and challenges that we otherwise take for granted in our everyday lives. One way of doing that was to write it down, but I’ve never been much of a diarist. Brian suggested adding a blog to our website and ‘Our French adventure’ was born.

Writing my blog was just going to be a way of capturing my thoughts and feelings along the way to look at later when things calmed down, but I think it’s done more than that for me. With the restrictions we have all faced, which have impacted everything in all our lives, it has helped me stay in touch in a way that maybe otherwise wouldn’t have been possible. Sharing what we are up to has had the unexpected effect of bringing us somehow closer to everyone on a daily basis. Your comments and support have been numerous and uplifting, and a pleasure to read and respond to. We hope they will continue into 2021.

So thank you all, and we are both looking forward to a year just as exciting as the last one…but with less germs!

Jo x

Day one - Chipping away

This morning we were both keen to get started with our next project, we had thought about leaving it until the new year, but it was a cold damp day outside so we were not feeling the need to go for a walk. So we set about setting up the room, covering the floor with some dust sheets and bringing in the tools we would need. We were going to start on the Jeroboam room, so called as it’s two rooms adjoined, a double and a twin, with an en-suite shower room. The connection here is a jeroboam holds 4 bottles of champagne, and our room is for 4 people.

There were some clear areas that needed addressing, so this is where I started. I chipped away the old filler around the radiator pipes and on the pipes, which unfortunately revealed a larger hole than we’d planned. Brian followed by wetting down the bare wall before applying the filler he had mixed up. We are now letting this dry before we work further on it.

This process we repeated around the room, chipping away at any weak areas, then filling in readiness to be rubbed down over coming weeks. It’s a slow but deliberate way of achieving a good finish.

Twice a day

We had to wake early this morning as Lilly needed to go to the local vet in Bar-Sur-Seine for a blood test. It was a bit of a shock to the system getting out of bed before 8am for a shower. Lilly suffers from an over-active thyroid, so she needs to be checked periodically to ensure her level of medicine is okay. When we arrived in France we needed to change her medicine as in the UK we were giving her a tablet once a day which was slow releasing, but in France they use a liquid which is fast acting and given twice a day. The change has not bothered her and her blood test came back as expected, so all is good. However she was feeling a little sorry for herself from having to give blood and the vet had put a blue bandage on her leg which was annoying her. This did not stay on there very long though, as she kept licking it until it fell off.

This afternoon we cleared out the Jeraboam room ready to start the decorating. We then ordered the paint as we have decided on the colour and tones and how we want the room to feel. We are able to collect the paint from a shop in Troyes, but not until the second week of January - but this gives us plenty of time to prepare the room. We were also thinking of adding some coving to the room to soften the edge, this is still up for consideration but currently we both think this would be the right choice - let’s wait and see.

Rather tasty

We have eaten very well over the Christmas period, and I’m not certain it’s stopped yet. Our chicken on Christmas Day, roasted with potatoes, parsnips, carrots and sprouts, with a bit of black pudding on the side was succulent and delicious. And since then we have enjoyed a tasty bowl of chicken and roast vegetable soup, and tonight we had a chicken and leek pie. On Christmas Eve we had scallops with a raisin, caper and olive dressing, which was delicious served with a rather nice Mersault from Olivier Leflaive, a winegrower based in Puligny Montrachet - who we love to visit whenever we are in that area.

Then on Boxing Day Brian cooked us some lamb cutlets, with a herb crust - they were so tender and very tasty. We had them with potato and celeriac dauphinois. We made a passion fruit parfait to have for dessert. I’ve never made one before, but would definitely do it again, it was not as difficult as I’d always imagined. It would be good to try some other flavours too - bergamot (I bought Brian some Bergamot syrup for Christmas), amaretto (my favourite liqueur) and maybe mint, I think the freshness would work well.

Tomorrow we will start on decorating the Jeroboam, I definitely need the exercise, and I am looking forward to getting started.

Batten down the hatches

The wind was howling around the house as I sat and enjoyed my cup of tea in bed this morning. Looking at the weather forecast wind speeds will be reaching gale force 8 or 9 , so pretty blustery. It also looks like rain is due, so never a great combination. I think it’s batten down the hatches and enjoy the warmth and the comfort of the house whilst the year rolls out over the next few days. The anticipation of a new year starting , which will be our first full year, is exciting. With lots of positive change occurring across the globe it fills me with confidence that there is a shift to a stronger outlook for 2021. For us, our focus in January will be to decorate the three bedrooms on the first floor. Our aim to open as a ‘chambre d’hôte’ in late spring is still the plan, so getting the bedrooms ready for guests is a priority now. We also need to complete the work room and laundry room in the barn, and Brian will be putting back the cellar - so lots still to do, and can’t wait to get started.

Today we have been looking at one of the bedrooms - Jeroboam - and thinking about the decoration, we have lots of ideas to work through.

In pieces

A day of doing nothing but simply enjoying a jigsaw we were sent as a Christmas present. I can’t remember the last time I felt I could just sit and do a jigsaw, very relaxing to just switch off. It really has been a very lazy day, slow morning, long breakfast, made up the fire and now enjoying a cup of tea and a hot sausage roll, before we think about starting dinner.

Brian also decided the beard needed to go, as Santa had been there was no use for it anymore so it’s gone. Have to admit I was also thinking it was time to remove it. Here’s a before and after shot…

First Christmas

Joyeux Noel

I do love Christmas. I know it’s so different for all of us this year, but it’s such a beautiful time of year, you can feel the excitement and joy in the air. We nipped into Essoyes first thing to collect the meat we ordered, it was a little bit drizzly, but that was not going to deter the mood. There was a short queue outside, as only two people were allowed in at any one time. So we waited patiently outside, listening to the chatter, trying to understand what was being said. Once inside, even though I think we have enough food to feed us for a month at home, I still couldn’t resist choosing a few extra delicacies to try. We collected our order added on my additional choices then confirmed “C’est tout’.

I still have Brian’s presents to wrap, so after lunch I will do those before we sit down to enjoy a Christmas movie, I think the ‘holiday’ as it’s had lots of recommendations.

We wish you all a wonderful Christmas.

Une petite inondation

We were back in Troyes yesterday collecting our other framed picture. We took the opportunity of dropping into the covered market there, it’s a beautiful old building, and open every morning seven days a week. It was looking very festive.

Neither of us had got each other a present yet, so we split up and went shopping on our own. The old area of Troyes has lots of smaller unique shops, artisan in style. They are intertwined through the old narrow streets - selling local art, recycled objects, pottery, handmade chocolates, clothing - usually with a number of cafes sprawling onto the pavements, but these are all currently closed, with just the odd one selling takeaway coffee. We both had a successful shopping trip.

We couldn’t be too late in leaving Troyes as we needed to get back for a zoom call with some friends at 8pm, and curfew kicked in then as well. So we left just after 5pm. I did think this could be a bad idea and we’d get caught in lots of traffic, but it was all, remarkably, fine. We were home by about 6pm. We unpacked the car and Brian scurried upstairs to hide my presents from me. I went to the coat cupboard to hang up our coats and grab my slippers. As I put them on ‘squelch’ - I thought urghhh they are soaking wet - then I heard it ttchhhh…. ttcchhhh…. the sound of spraying water…. I called up the stairs “Hun we have a leak, no we have a flood!”. “What! Where!” “Under the stairs” I started to grab the coats and emptied the cupboard so we could see what was happening, Brian went outside and turned the water off. The gate bell rang, who was that, Brian disappeared into the cupboard to survey the situation. I went to see who was at the gate. Two pompiers (fireman) - timely I thought. They were collecting donations for a calendar they produce each year. I got my calendar, gave my donation and wished them happy Christmas. Although I’d have loved to have chatted with them, this was not the time.

I went back to see Brian, “what do you think?” “We need a plumber” . Seven in the evening, this is not going to be easy. I called Lee-Anne, she would know what to do…no answer. I called Christophe…no answer. I tried Lee-Anne again, “Bon soir”, “how are you both?” I didn’t want to just dive in about the flood, but I could see Brian thinking this isn’t the time to be chatting Jo! So I got to the point and shared with her what was happening, it just so happened she was with Christophe and they were also on their way back home from Troyes before curfew started. We tried to identify the issue over the phone but they were only 15 mins from us, so decided it was best to come and have a look.

After some investigation the outcome was not good. One of the valves on the main water supply unit had completely broken. Christophe tried to isolate it, but it needed to be replaced. So after he had made it safe, there was nothing more could be done until the morning. They took some photos to show the gendarmes if they got stopped, as they would not be home by the time the 8pm curfew kicked in.

Quentin would come first thing in the morning to replace it. They had a replacement one in stock so no delay in having to get the part.

For now though we would not have any running water overnight. No time to dwell on that, we had a zoom call to get on to.

It was literally 7.58pm as Brian shut the gate and I opened up the laptop to do our zoom call.

It was great to see how everyone had brought the festive spirit, and we enjoyed two hours of laughs, chatter and merriment.

Friends new and old make such a difference.

Winter solstice

The winter solstice is the shortest day for daylight hours, so from now until the summer solstice the days will get longer. Our pagan ancestors believed evergreen plants and trees to be sacred as they were full of life whilst other plants fell dormant and almost dead for winter. They believed that the evergreens brought hope and promise of better times. So the tradition of bringing them into our homes began then.

I love using evergreens to decorate the house at this time of year, whether it’s fir, laurel, ivy, holly, mistletoe, rosemary - they all look good and work well, and some will also provide wonderful perfumes of forests or fresh herbs. So I like to encourage hope whilst filling the house with the gorgeous scent of life.

Notre Dame des vignes

We had heard about the lady of the vines, so thought we would go and find her. She was built in 1864 by the union of the winegrowers and situated at the top of a hill overlooking the Seine valley. She is 23 meters high and is seen holding a bunch of grapes in one hand and reaching to the sky in the other. She is asking for the protection of the vines from the weather. The weather is so important for the winegrowers I can see why they would try anything to protect their valuable vines and grapes.

It was a bit of a grey day, so she was not looking that resplendent, however she is a rather delicate looking ‘dame’ at the top of the pillar, and the view over the valley is worth the trip.

Near Neuville-sur-Seine, look for the sign ‘Notre Dame des Vignes’

The local butcher

Brian captured this amazing sunset earlier in the week. We saw it as we drove back from ordering our meat from the butchers in Essoyes. We had heard good reports about ‘le boucherie’ and I wanted to see if it was a good place to order our Christmas meat, just to make sure we could get what we wanted.

I was very pleasantly surprised. They have a varied array of cuts which all looked to be of a very high quality. They also offer a good stocked charcuterie, and some delicious looking pies and tarts, which we are yet to try. I have noticed that a lot of the butchers in France also offer ‘traiteur’ - catering services. So you can order ready prepared dishes, that have been prepared by a local chef or by the butcher themselves. It could be a plate of various canapés/nibbles or a complete dinner ideal for entertaining or as a no fuss dinner for one. This is available all year round as a plat du jour, and they charge around 7-10 euros per person - but at Christmas, and other holidays, they do that little bit more.

I love being able to use a local butcher who understands his products, and has pride in what he sells, and one who gets to know you and what you like. I’m going to enjoy buying our meat from him.

That’s sealed it

We have not been able to use the kitchen worktops since they were put in a couple of weeks ago unless we covered them, as we needed to wait for the stone to dry out properly. They use water when cutting the stone and it absorbs a lot in the process. Today was the day we were finally able to treat them. It had been a bit of a stressful couple of weeks as we were being so careful not to stain or mark the stone before we got the sealer on it, and also we were not quite certain what product to use. However, on our trip to Troyes last week we managed to identify something that we believed would work.

The directions were to brush it on until it started to resist and if there was any pooling then to wipe that off with a lint free cloth. I actually think we’d been delaying doing it for a couple of days, as we were both thinking what if it’s not the right product, or it just doesn’t look right - all a bit scary. Anyway, we bit the bullet today, and it’s worked brilliantly. We will leave it for another 24 hours to dry off properly before we start to use it properly, I cannot wait.

It started really blotchy, and was quite worrying, but we had to be bold and keep going.