Happy hour is on the agenda … what about some homemade salmon paté? We are still in Southern France, in Carcassonne … Also in France there is a happy hour & sometimes we enjoy a leisurely happy hour in front of our current home, sitting in the spring sun & having a glass of wine. I found this easy approach to salmon paté years ago, worked then with the ingredients available at the moment in…
About mid of March when returning to Southern France from a short trip to Germany we made a stopover in Lyon. We had a whole Sunday for discovering Lyon resp. a small part of it. We stayed in a hotel near the main station, Lyon-Perrache, which is located on the peninsula between La Saône and Le Rhône. We didn’t walk southbound towards La Confluence, a modern and stylish quarter (as I read …), where La…
We are still in Southern France in the region of Carcassonne … Saissac means – first of all – Le Château de Saissac resp. the medieval fortifications i. e. the ruins of it. (You may walk the site – unfortunately we went on a weekday when it was closed. So we’ll come back soon.) The ruins are surrounded by a village as ancient as the site – and furthermore there are some sorts of more…
We made a day trip to Narbonne. (To be honest: we made 2 day trips to Narbonne during the last weeks … there’s quite a lot to see & to visit or just to relax at the Canale de la Robine.) The main landmarks are the unfinished cathedral Saint-Just et Saint-Pasteur and the adjoining Palace of the Archbishop. From the channel you’ll only get a view of the towers. Another very interesting landmark is the…
We are in Southern France, living for 4 months in a small house in Carcassonne. As I told you already: the kitchen is small & the kitchen equipment is limited. So cooking is somewhat of a challenge … However, what fits is Shakshuka. … & you may prepare it for breakfast as well as for dinner! (We almost never have lunch here, but of course it’s also a delicious simple lunch!) Some years ago I…
We made a trip to Saint-Hilaire, a former abbey near Carcassonne, managed by Benedictines. The earliest documentary evidence dates back to 825 – so we are again in the era of Charlemagne. Today there are no more monks or nuns – the buildings including the chapel, however, are restored and may be visited. Inside there is a beautiful fountain where a bunch of pigeons enjoy their bath in the sun. Coming now to the real…
Le Lac (the lake) and Le Boudin (black pudding): where is the connection?There isn’t any. On a rather cold day in February we went to Lac de Montagnès in Southern France in La Montagne Noir, the most southern part of the Massif Central. The sky was blue, the sun was brilliant, only the temperature was rather low. We were at about 600-800 m & some snow had survived here and there – not only on…
Lagrasse, a village and home to about 600 people, isn’t far from Carcassonne. It’s rated one of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France (the most beautiful villages of France). So my better half & I decided to make a trip to Lagrasse. It was a cold, but beautiful day beginning of February with a dazzling blue sky and a dazzlingly bright sun. There is the medieval village Lagrasse and there is the Abbey Sainte-Marie de…
What reminds me of Vienna these days?We are in Southern France – and for about 2 weeks (end of January & beginning of February) it was really cold: one evening it started even snowing & all was soon covered in a nice white snow layer. Even in the morning there was this specific quietness that only snow provides … However, some hours later almost all was gone, at least where we live in Carcassonne. The…
Avocados are very popular w/ us. I think we are no exception. Especially since we are in Southern France we like to create some avocado mess & indulge w/ fresh baguette for our dinner. Afterwards we may have some cheese … for the finish. As I already told you there is only a tiny kitchen in our home so preparing excessive meals for lunch or dinner, requiring cooking & frying & preparing a sauce &…
Our 1st month in Carcassonne is done: it’s time to give an overview of Carcassonne & our life so far i. e. how we manage to adapt to life in the Mediterranean area – in general & in winter. Yes – it’s winter. To be honest I hadn’t expected temperatures around 0° C … from what I had read so far resp. what climate tables presented. Well: we had pullovers & coats & whatever is…
I wrote about this tomato tart some years ago … & in the meantime I made a lot of tarts similar to this very 1st approach. So now I like to re-write the recipe based on my experiences so far. Additionally … at the moment I like quick & dirty (aka easy!) dishes for my life in Southern France. One of my experiences is – at the moment – that a small kitchen w/ a…
On our way to SouthernFrance we made a stop-over in Dijon. For a day we stayed in Dijon and started in the morning with strolling around the city. Dijon is famous for its extraordinary mustard – although (as I learnt) the mustard is no longer produced in Dijon. It’s the result of an unfortunate court decision – decades ago – that stated that there is only one way to create Dijon mustard, but it’s not…
Nous sommes arrivées. We have arrived. In Carcassonne, Languedoc, Southern France. What happened?End of last year I announced that we are moving – mainly in order to explain the discontinuity of new posts. After all we planned & prepared 2 moves. We lived in a rented house for about 20 years – and decided to leave. Can you imagine … how much stuff accumulates during more than 2 decades? Quite a lot. We made many…
Over the years I created several posts about ham … Now we are approaching Xmas season – so I thought that some sort of roundup might be quite a good idea, because a delicious big chunk of ham is appropriate for any winter get-together if before Xmas, during Xmas or after Xmas. In general the process to create a ham dinner is always the same – so I’ll present 2 different results … one is…