My name is Jo, and in 2020 I moved to France with my husband, Brian. From our move to France, to running our B&B, my blog, which you can read below, is a diary of ‘Our French Adventure’. I share short stories about the Champagne region, and its people, and the life we have embraced here.
Christmas eve morning
Christmas eve. We actually woke quite early for us, 7.10am, and we were already having tea in bed. “Shall we get up?” I asked. It will be good to get into Bar-sur-Seine early before it gets too busy”. I said that with great confidence, however although I knew the butchers was open ‘non-stop’ as they put it, And I was pretty certain the bakers would be open, I was not at all confident the market would be on.
As we drove there, I shared an observation with Brian. “Hun, you do realise we have seen no-one since leaving home , 10 minutes ago, I’m just not sure what may be open!”. Brian is surprisingly way more positive than me at times, and he was pretty sure it would be okay. As we approached the market I could see there were lots of parked cars. “That’s good” I exclaimed.
First we went to go and get the bread. It really was a good job, as the queue was about 20 people long, and as usual there was no urgency. Oh well, we were not in a hurry, just in need of coffee.
After about 40 minutes waiting at the bakers, watching many people coming out with sacks of baguettes, and boxes laden with bûches de Noël, we had bought our bread and pastries and Christmas treats. We then headed to the market. “How about some fish for dinner?” They had a delicious array of tasty shellfish, prawns, langoustines, lobster. But they also had some turbot, which we both love. So we bought a turbot, some of their best prawns and a box of scallops. With a few bits from the veg stall, and a bottle of locally made fruit juice, we were done.
Off we went to the café for some coffee and a chat about how we are going to cook our little haul of fish.
We were not done though. We then had to go and collect the meat we had ordered. We dropped the fish off at the car and trotted up to the butchers. The shop was empty so we were able to go in and spend some time chatting to the butcher. It’s good practicing our french on a very receptive participant, he is always cheerful and makes time to talk to us about what we are buying. We really did buy some fine looking produce, which I can’t wait for us to cook and try out some new recipes.
Home now to start Christmas proper.
All lit up
We’d decided we wanted to do a bit of last minute Christmas shopping for each other. So we headed into Troyes.
Hidden amongst the small cobbled streets are some beautiful little unique shops, selling all sorts of gorgeous gift ideas. We only needed a couple of hours on our own to get the stocking fillers we were after. We had arranged to meet at the café in the main square for a drink, which was now looking spectacularly Christmassy, as the sun had set and the Christmas lights had been switched on.
Before heading back to the car we had a little stroll together around the gorgeously lit streets of Troyes.
The Christmas spirit was well and truly present.
Movie day
We love our Christmas movie day. Part of the fun is choosing which movies we are going to watch and what goodies we are going to eat. The films need to be Christmas related, so either set at Christmas, have a part of the movie that features Christmas or maybe one we have always loved to watch at Christmas.
We started in the morning with a light hearted animated movie, ‘The Grinch’. I’d never seen it before, but the colourful nature of the film appealed to me. So when Brian suggested it and showed me the trailer I agreed it should go on the list. Here’s a little exert from the book, which is so beautifully written;
Then he slid down the chimney. A rather tight pinch.
But, if Santa could do it, then so could the Grinch.
He got stuck only once, for a moment or two.
Then he stuck his head out of the fireplace flue
Where the little Who stockings all hung in a row.
“These stockings,” he grinned, “are the first things to go!”
A favourite of mine, which I haven’t seen for years, is ‘Love Actually’. So this was up next, early afternoon, so a little piece of chocolate with a tiny little glass of cherry brandy, any more at this stage and I’d be needing a snooze. I was surprised that Brian thought this movie was a good choice, even more so that he actually really loved it.
I’d also suggested we should either watch ‘White Christmas’ or ‘it’s a Wonderful Life’ . We did purchase both of them as a package, but chose to watch White Christmas this year. I so love all the beautiful dresses, the glitz and the glamour, the dance routines and some amazing classic songs of the era. Some can be a bit cheesy, but hey, it’s Christmas. We were getting a bit peckish, following our nibbling all day, so I cooked us some merguez sausages, which we had as hotdogs - real movie food.
The last choice in our quadrilogy was ‘Scrooged’ with Bill Murray. Brian has watched this many, many times, I think for me it’s my third time. It’s still hilarious though, and a great choice to enjoy over a bottle of red burgundy, and a very tasty cheese selection of Tomme de Savoie, Roquefort, and a L’Affiné au Chablis, accompanied by some christmas chutney, dried apricots and cournichons.
Cheeky Elves
I just love the effort the towns and villages put into producing their own unique Christmas decorations and scenery. We saw this amazing one in Châtillon the other day, which we did have a giggle about. My photo above looks very innocent, but Brian’s below shows a different side with a couple of cheeky elves - don’t you just love it.
Some of them just have so much care and work put into them, it’s so nice to see the communities coming together to produce such delightful little festive scenes.
I love this artic scene. I’m thinking we should do something like this for next year, maybe not on quite such a grand scale though. I just now need to convince Brian it’s a good idea, hopefully he won’t suggest just a squirrel - although it is cute!
These are the patisseries that we bought in Châtillon from Serge Barbier, they were absolutely delicious. Mine was a cassis mousse, which was full of fruit, Brian had a chocolate delice, which he loved. It’s good to know, that they do have a little tea room on the side of the patisserie which is quite unusual for France.
Garde champêtre
I have wanted to try this restaurant out for a while, so this week we booked to go. It’s called the Garde Champêtre and it’s in Gyé-sur-Seine, about a 15 minutes drive from us - the translation is country guard. Mr Droze was the last country guard in Gyé-sur-Seine, and was the man to go to if you needed something sorting out, a kind of community guardian. The building he lived in has now been converted into a beautiful modern restaurant.
Even though we were one of the first tables in there, the ambiance was really welcoming - Stripped back wooden bar area, beautiful old stone walls, subtle lighting, and a large fire, which is used for most of the roasting in the open plan kitchen, where we could see the chefs busying themselves for the evenings service. The music, mainly from the 80’s and 90’s, which I love, was setting a relaxed but lively mood. Just right.
The menu is not extensive - which I like - but the quality of the ingredients is excellent. A lot of the herbs and vegetables are produced in their potager which is beside the restaurant, so fresh organic vegetables are on hand. The meats are purchased locally as is the dairy. The bread, which is made over a few days to fully prove to get the best flavour from the local wheat, is crusty and very tasty.
It was a really enjoyable restaurant experience and we savoured a delicious meal. Each dish had a little twist to it, something to keep you excited for the next little discovery.
We will definitely be going back.
Winter wonderland
We were out early this morning to run a few errands in Châtillon-Sur-Seine.
It’s about a 35 minute drive through some beautiful villages and through some stunning vineyard scenery.
We had soon finished our jobs, and found ourselves in a deliciously inviting patisserie. We couldn’t stop ourselves, and were soon choosing two to take home. We will have them with coffee tomorrow.
Couple of swags
I wanted to make a couple of door swags this year - one for the front door and one for the gate. They are very natural looking and once you have gathered together everything you need, they are quite easy to do.
I really value the pleasure of being able to go for a forest walk, collect various pieces of foliage, then return home to make up your arrangements with what you have found. We had great fun in making our two swags, and I loved the results.
Forage for Foliage
It was lovely visiting Paris, enjoying the hustle and bustle of a city again. It was our first weekend away together since the start of the pandemic nearly two years ago. The really nice thing was that although it was a great few days away, we were both really happy to be back home now
We woke to a crisp bright morning. I wanted to go out and forage for some foliage to make a couple of swags, and finish decorating the house for Christmas. So following a hearty brunch, off we set.
We knew where we wanted to head for as we had found a variety of different firs in that area of the forest last year.
We were sure to clip the branches carefully so no harm would be done to the trees and they would be there for next year. This year we were also lucky to find some mistletoe low enough to reach.
Marché des puces
Whilst in Paris we also wanted to take a look at the flea markets in Saint Ouen. They are mainly open on Sunday and Monday, although this may differ for some areas of the market. I must admit we were both quite overwhelmed by the vast array of stalls and lock-ups that made up the various markets and alleyways. It wasn’t so much a flea market, more brocante, or in some cases high quality antique centre. In fact you could pretty much buy anything there.
It was fun though looking around the stalls and admiring the amazing furniture and artefacts that were for sale.
The marché Dauphine was more our style.
It was in here that we found some old hat boxes we had been looking for. We wanted them to go on top of the armoire we had bought. A lady selling old linens, haberdashery, lace, gloves and an array of hat boxes, soon had a selection from around the shop in front of us to chose from. A couple were quite damaged which we discounted, but we picked out two which we both liked. Brian does need to do a bit of renovation work on them though. I will share the before and after shots in a later blog.
Red beret
One of the little shops we discovered whilst in Paris only sold berets. As we peered through the window we could see that they had them in different styles, and materials and many different colours. Brian suggested we take a look inside. He knows I love a beret, and although I’m often just seen in my simple black one, I do have lots of different ones. However I do not have a red one.
They did have many different shades of red, but I chose a gorgeous pillar box red one. What I didn’t expect though, is that it would be fitted to the size of my head.
A wonderful day in Paris
Our plan was to walk back towards our hotel from Notre Dame. There were a few places we wanted to see along the route, the first being ‘La Samaritaine’.
The original building first became a store in 1870, and over the following years additional buildings around it were purchased and converted into retail space. By 1910 the store had grown, and Frantz Jourdain had been commissioned to redesign the new store, it was to have a steel roof with glass panels in the art nouveau style of the period.
In 1926 Henri Sauvage was commissed to design the tiered Art Deco design which is built overlooking the Seine. At this time, the revenue in the store had surpassed one billion francs.
In 2005 the building was ordered to be closed down, as it was deemed unfit by the prefecture police. The decision made, by its then 55% owners LVMH, was to explore renovating the building. By 2010 LVMH had acquired 100% of it, and with the survey of the works complete they pushed ahead with full renovation. Work started on restoring the glass and steel roof, painted frescos, the iconic sweeping staircase that spirals up the center of the building to the glass roof, and the spectacular ironworks throughout the building.
The store finally reopened in spring 2021, and is filled to the brim with designer brands. This is the first Christmas the store has been open for more than 15 years.
They have four Christmas characters that are bold and charismatic welcoming you into the store to explore its delights. It was wonderful to see such a beautiful building brought back to life and flourishing.
From there we strolled along past the Louvre, where we once again could glimpse the majestic sight of the Eiffel Tower. We didn’t go into the Louvre this time, but enjoyed watching the many people embracing the social media fad of seeming to hold up the glass pyramid by its tip. It’s bizarre watching everyone finding just the right spot for their particular photo.
We had planned to visit a chocolatier called Angelina, but the queue to get in was about 45 minutes long! So we decided to keep that treat for another day. Instead we wandered up to the beautifully decorated Place de Vendome, and admired the sunburst on the outside of the Louis Vuitton store.
Before long we had made it back to Montmartre where we stopped for a late lunch to give us some sustenance for the climb up the steps of the Sacre Couer. There’s a lot of steps, and there were a lot of people, but strolling around the side streets, stopping to listen to the buskers, peering in the little galleries and enjoying the artists square made for a pleasant end to our day, before returning to our hotel. We took a rest before dinner, which we enjoyed in a small pavement brasserie in the heart of Montmartre. Such a wonderful day in Paris.
Just getting started
It was a beautiful morning in Paris, a bit chilly but dry and a touch of blue sky.
We caught a cab from the hotel to Notre Dame. I had wanted to see the cathedral, and the work that was being done to it following the fire a few years back. We had a rather hair-raising cab ride through the streets of Paris to get there, and decided we needed a coffee to recover.
There is a huge commitment to restore Notre Dame to what it was and there is some major building work happening to her structure.
Near to the cathedral was a small Christmas market, it was a great place to start our day, with lots of lovely artisan stalls and gift ideas.
We then stumbled across a gorgeous little flower market, that was selling some beautiful Christmas trees, and a vast selection of Christmas flowers and arrangements. I could have spent hours in there just admiring the Parisian Christmas styling.
As we crossed the river, we had our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower.
Spectacular
The doors opened at 6.45pm. We were both keen to go in and settle into our seats and enjoy a glass of Champagne before dinner.
We were celebrating our twenty fifth wedding anniversary, so Brian had suggested we treat ourselves to VIP seats, which are situated up a flight of stairs at the back of the theatre, directly overlooking the middle of the theatre and stage, we had such an excellent view.
The waiters were very attentive, ensuring our glass of Laurent Perrier cuvée rosé Champagne was continuously topped up. We hadn’t eaten much all day, so we were ready for our dinner, which started with ‘frivolities’ - a little tray of sushi to get the taste buds going.
The dinner was absolutely delicious, full of flavour and flair - typical of the best French gastronomic tradition. Brian had chosen turbot, and I had chosen the pintade (guinea fowl) with lobster. My cheese course was a Brie ice-cream, amazing.
Whilst we were eating dinner, and enjoying watching the audience gather below us on the ground floor, two perfect cabaret singers keeping everyone entertained, from the stage where the likes of Edith Piaf, Frank Sinatra and Liza Minnelli had all performed. It was all very pleasant.
With dinner now finished, and a fresh bottle of Champagne brought to our table on ice, everything was set for the show to begin. We could hear Champagne corks popping all around the room. Then came the voice of the announcer, “Can everyone please take your seats and switch off your phones, and we now ask you to refrain from taking photos“ - the greatest cabaret show in Paris was about to start.
The anticipation for me was immense, it’s a show I’d always wanted to see, the history and glamour of it so very alluring. I love all types of dance, and we were now about to see the famous Doriss girls of the Moulin Rouge. The Moulin Rouge was established in 1889 and was the result of an audacious bet. There are now 60 artists who perform in the legendary show twice every evening.
The curtain drew back and the stage, which now stretched across the width of the room, was full of gorgeous dancing and singing women and men in silver costumes covered in rhinestones and sequins. It drew you in immediately. I can only say that if you have ever wanted to see the Moulin Rouge you must go. The show was absolutely spectacular, full of surprises throughout, and rather a lot of feathers. The singing was spot on, the costumes (what there was of them) were exquisite, the acrobatic acts had you on the edge of your seat, and the Cancan, one of the worlds most iconic dances, brought a tear to my eye. The women in their red white and blue frilly dresses, performing their high kicks and flicks and shouting out their shrill screeches of pure joy, were mesmerising. It was all just perfect.
Arrived in Paris
We have driven into Paris for a short Christmas break. The roads have been pretty clear right up until the outskirts, and I have to say although they are busy we have kept moving.
We are both looking forward to the show tonight which we had booked to see nearly two years ago now. Tomorrow we will just wander, seeing where we end up, enjoying the Parisian cafés and soaking up that Christmas feeling.
For now though we need to get parked, check into our hotel, then pop out to gather our bearings. We are staying in the Montmartre district, not far from the Sacre Couer, a beautiful old church that sits up on high overlooking Paris.
Christmas Chutney
I do enjoy having chutney with a cheese board, and I know we will be having a very tasty cheese board or two over Christmas, so I thought it would be good to make a Christmas chutney to accompany them.
It’s really a basic chutney recipe with added Christmas spices to make it more seasonal. I had some apples I could use, and a quince, and I thought I’d add some prunes too. I then added some cloves, star anise, a cinnamon stick and some freshly grated ginger. I had a bit of muscovado sugar, so used that to give it a rich taste and delicious dark colour. It has turned out rather tasty.
What you looking at?
When we came home from collecting the tree, we drove past a little farm, that had two darling goats in its courtyard. A tiny little white Billy goat and a black nanny goat.
The Billy, we do not know how, had found his way up above the window, confidently balancing on a stone protruding from the wall. He had such a gorgeous sweet face, inquisitively looking at us, as if to say, ‘what are you looking at? Have you never seen a goat stood on the side of a wall before?’.
His sweet little pink nose and curly fringe, were in complete contrast to the two sharp horns pointing out intently from the top of his head, that would give you a nasty butt if he so desired. His little goatee beard made him look like he was the cool kid in the paddock.
It’s beginning to look a lot like christmas
I just love having a real Christmas tree at home. The trip out to choose the one you want to take home, trying to fit it in the car, then deciding on just the right way for it to stand. We had bought a log sawn in half, with a hole drilled into it for a stand. It really is the best tree stand we’ve ever had. It lays flat on the floor, and then the tree trunk just slots into the hole. Brian used a few little bits of wood wedged into the hole just to ensure it was straight.
Before long we were winding the lights round and deciding which decorations to hang up.
We like to go with lots of little delicate white lights, then plenty of colour from hanging lots of different baubles and tree decorations, I’m always pleased with how gorgeous it looks when we’ve finished. It always makes me smile.
Over the years we have collected Xmas decorations from all over the world on our travels, just little reminders of wonderful holidays. We have some from India, Nepal, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, the Alsace and some very special homemade ones which our friend gave us one year.
Saffron
We’d bought some financiers - choco au safran - at the marché de Noël earlier this week, and have been enjoying them with morning coffee. They really are full of saffron flavour, quite savoury, which I like as they are not too sweet.
This afternoon Brian managed to capture a flock of starlings resting in the trees at the back of our house. I know some may find starlings quite noisy, but I love the fact that we have so much wildlife around us, it’s great to see.
When these got spooked by something, they all just took off together. It looks like all the leaves suddenly flying away, such a wonderful sight.
Tree diversification
This morning, although we were not expecting any parcels to be delivered, we heard the familiar beep from the posties horn. It was all very exciting when Brian brought in our first couple of Christmas cards and a small brown parcel. “I think we need to go and get the tree”, I exclaimed. I’m not sure if I believed I was about to get an influx of Christmas presents that needed a tree to go under, or just that this year I wanted to enjoy the tree for just that little bit longer.
We’d picked up a card for someone selling trees in a boulangerie the other day, and realised it was the same place that we’d been to last year. It’s a champagne producer in Polisot, who has obviously diversified. His trees are great quality, and we paid just 31 euros for a 250 cm tree. I also picked up some loose cut off branches for free.
