Text 13719, 121 rader
Skriven 2007-04-03 23:16:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: france with sweetie 315
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It has been 6 years since we'd seen each other, and it was
hard to recognize Marlyse, who was a chubby adolescent back
then but who has grown into a cute young version of Philo,
her mother. Carol has cut her hair, and we both are a little
fatter, so the meeting was delayed by a few minutes while we
wondered whether we were us. Eventually we figured it out.

There are a lot of somewhat overpriced places near the
station, of which I picked the Relais de l'Auvergne. Not
a bad choice, but too much money for what we got.

Carol ordered the aligot, which wasn't nearly hot enough
and thus not nearly stretchy enough. I found it tasteless
(I'm not a Cantal cheese fan). It came with a saucisse de
Toulouse, rather porky but otherwise not interesting.

I got gesiers confits en salade, gray old duck gizzards
supplemented by pink new duck gizzards in a walnut-oil
vinaigrette over frisee lettuce: not bad. And then a
rather smelly andouillette made of at least three kinds
of tripe, the white honeycomb and two brown ones.

Marlyse had smoked salmon followed by her favorite food,
lasagne; she professed satisfaction.

Saint-Pourcain L'Ouvree 2004 was a light red wine, almost
a rose, not unpleasant but not at all notable.

After lunch we strolled through the Jardin des Plantes
until it was time to return to the station for our train.

0318 SNCF 3655 PAR BVE 1647 2106 2/83-84

It hadn't cost a huge amount more for first class, so we got
that. There's not much difference: seating 3 across instead
of 4, 220V at every seat (but this day it wasn't working at
our places), somewhat comfier upholstery, but no free food -
just the man with the cart hawking Cokes, ice cream, ugly
sandwiches, and the lot. There are oddities of seating, too,
that I don't recall from second class, including facing
pairs of seats with legroom for one only - something they
seem to have sold with alacrity to unrelated parties, with
the frequent result that one person kept his legs in the
aisle at all times. The journey was okay and we arrived more
or less on time.

Ian and Jacquie were there to meet us in the snow and
freezing rain and take us the 40 minutes eastward into
the Correze. The main order of the day then, after a
quick wash, was what they described as "a light supper."

Started with Don Cavala pale dry - a pleasant and typical
Sherry - for aperitif, followed by magrets au gros sel in
a white wine - honey - thyme sauce that Ian generously gave
me credit for (apparently we'd discussed the ideal sauce
for baked duck some time ago). With this went potatoes fried
in duck fat with cepes and a salad with Jacquie's stunning
walnut oil balsamic vinaigrette. For afters, a sticky toffee
pudding. With this meal, we had a Merlot from the Charentes,
Domaine Grollet Merlot 2004, quite attractive, not very
acid, but the notable thing was it was bag-in-box.

For afters we did a comparison between a private bottling,
Calvados Yvonne et David 1964 hors d'age, pretty nice, and
an oak-aged English apple brandy, Somerset Alchemy 15 years
old, which was oaky, appley, leathery, and stunning and blew
the other away.

We toddled off next door to sleep in Room 1, the usual.

=

Breakfast is cereal and milk at will (I didn't will) and
bread and very nice croissants with jams, many of which are
homemade. As we had been very tired the night before, it
was 11:30 when we had this, and soon it was time for lunch.

Bacon sandwiches were from a pig that Ian and Jacquie had
helped with the butchering of, and the bacon was very nice.
More of that box Merlot, and a cheese board made up of
slightly less rubbery and mild than usual Cantal, a decent
Morbier, and an old almost orange Saint-Nectaire.

Our afternoon outing was to la ferme Marty, a pig-growing
establishment from which Ian regularly purchases meat.
The proprietress asked if we wanted to visit the farm
itself, and the answer of course was of course. They are
happy pigs, 450 of them, coming out to say hi to us, some
being a bit overenthusiastic and bumping (big squeals) into
the electric fence. There was also a barn full of piglets
that amused us by rushing forward en curious masse and then
fleeing to the other end of the barn in terrified unison,
then repeating the cycle every thirty seconds until we left.

I bought some interesting stuff, including a few cans of
fritons (chicharrones) and some boudin made with apples.

Dinner back home started off with a foie gras mi-cuit,
rather salty and a little veiny (Ian got a big clump of
vein, I got a strand or two) with the excellent Monbazillac
Tirecul la Graviere 1996.

The main course was a pork roast with thyme sauce (pork
from that same sainted pig, thyme from the garden), with
which a Mercurey 1er cru 2000 (Tremeaux) went very nicely.
Sides were a little bitter for the wine but fine with the
meat - scorza nera (black salsify) marinated in lemon and
EVOO, and broccoli rabe.

For dessert we had Jacquie's tarte tatin, which Ian says
he'd put up against anyone's. It is in fact a very fine
tatin, started off with a painstaking caramelization of
the apples and then carefully put together. Harmonious.

A nice couple from Brittany joined us in the B&B; with
my schoolboy French from the '60s and Madame's schoolgirl
English from about then we got on okay. Carol, who is
learning French, contributed as well.
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