Name Frontrunners and Problems Posting Comments

Hey guys!

Some people have mentioned on my facebook page that they were having problems posting a comment here. If you have been having a problem, you can also go to my facebook and post your name pick there. 

Here's the link:

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=602228462&ref=profile

So far the names that are standing out for us are PotPie, Dolly, and Biscuits. (2 from Beth and 1 from Eugene). So you if want a breakfast of eggs served to you in bed while staying in a French Castle, you'd better get busy!

Name that Chicken and win a prize!

Ok guys we need your help,

We ordered our first 2 chickens today and we will be ordering 2 more later on this week for a total of 4. We were originally going to get 3 but after all of our research we wanted more!

Anyway, I know that we already asked you to help us name them but we forgot to mention at the time that we were only getting girls so we thought we'd throw it out there one more time before our ladies arrive. They arrive on Feb 26 by the way and they will be 6 weeks old. The ones that we ordered today were both Sussex hens and one is white with a black neck and the other is all black (we have yet to settle on what the other breeds will be). The picture above is of a white Sussex so you get an idea of what it looks like. 

Mark and I have decided that since we are getting 4 chickens, he will name one,I will name one, my grandmother will name one and we will let you guys-yes you- name the other one. Please add any girl names that you can think of as a comment to this post. There is no limit on how many names you can suggest.

The PRIZE:

If we pick your chicken name we will make you breakfast in bed (eggs of course) when you come to visit us here in France!

The deadline for name suggestions is Feb 25, so start thinking now!

French Speaking Chickens

     So, it has been awhile since we last posted.  Our days lately have been determined by weather.  The three factors are rain, cold, and sun.  If it's raining we usually go to the market.  If it's cold we go outside as little as possible and if the sun is out we try to get everything done we can outside.  

We have been keeping ourselves busy lately. Our biggest project right now is the construction of the chicken coop... No wait, learning french.  We have an English chap who comes to the chateau once a week to give us french lessons.  He is very eccentric with a lot of ailments due to the fact that he is in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Derek, our instructor, walks with a cane because last week he was confronted by a car when he drove his scooter to quickly around a turn and ended up in a ditch.  We also have to coordinate his arrival so he doesn't come through the front gate when our two dogs Coco and Sienna are running about the castle grounds.  You see Derek had a run in with his drug and gun peddling neighbor's Rottweiler a couple months back and goes into a bit of a tense stiffening state when he hears a dog bark.  Outside of his quirks, which we find fascinating, Barbara and I like him.  

Our other project these days, when the weather permits us, is the chicken coop.  We have the frame completed and we are hoping to order our new family members on Tuesday.   We found out that at the local farmers co-op  you can order a specific age and breed of chicken in a catalog and receive them in 3-5 days... Brilliant.  We are hoping to be the proud parents of three, maybe four beautiful eleven week old hens.  That will bring our animal count up to Ten, but who's counting?

 

We finally have some flowers blooming here!

Wonderful Sunny Day at the Market

So first thing this morning my Grandma called to make sure that we knew there was a farmers market in Brantome today....we did not. It took us only a few minutes to get ready and we practically ran to the car. All throughout the town square in the glowing sunshine of the midday there were dozens of stalls selling everything from dried fruits and nuts, vegetables, kitchen utensils and knives, every kind of meat and fish you could think of, local honey, flowers, artisan cheeses and handmade bags! It was wonderful, this was the France I was waiting for! The only thing missing was an old man playing the accordion. 

We walked along the tiny streets looking at all of the stalls and sampling what we could and we came away with some really exciting stuff! We got chorizo, wild boar and bison sausages and a beautiful aged cow's milk cheese from the farmer herself. We also got some homemade jams including a melon jam, which I had never even heard of but couldn't resist. We had just gone to the grocery the other day but next week I am going back to get some of the fish and vegetables. 

Oh but my favorite find of the day was the spice stall!  To catch you up...For the past week we have been stuck inside due to the rain so as a way to occupy my time I have been baking and cooking. The only problem is that you can't just go to a large Whole Foods here and pick up all of your ingredients at once. You have to go to several stores and to top it off they don't have all of the ingredients that I have needed. Cream for example has eluded me completely, I just can't find it anywhere! Seriously! We have also tried to find vanilla beans and chili flakes among other spices and couldn't! So when we came up to the spice stall and I spotted a large jar of vanilla beans I had to have some! She had everything we had been looking for plus some other specialty spice mixes that smelled too good to pass up. I have no doubt that we were her best customers of the day.

Now that we had everything we needed from the market we went into a few of the local shops to check them out. We went into one store that was basically a local artist co-op with wonderful handmade statues, jewelry and clothing. The owner, Sonia, was from Paris and spoke perfect English so we stayed and chatted for a while. She was lovely and told us about the local vet as well as some other needed information and gave us her number in case we ever needed anything... I think we just met our first new friend! Of course I didn't leave her shop empty handed either, I bought a pair of knitted gloves and a new scarf. 

Anyway after leaving her shop we decided it was time for lunch. Speaking of things eluding us, we have been trying to go to the Pizza Cave since we got here. It's just one of those places in Brantome that you have to go to ( I mentioned it in an earlier post ). Anyway, we have been 4 times on different days and at different times of the day and every time they were closed. They had no hours posted so we had no way of knowing when there were open. Today we tried again and as luck would have it they were open and it was definitely worth the wait!  When anybody comes to visit us we now know what to recommend....I won't tell you anymore about it,  I think you will just have to wait to until you visit to find out how good this place is! Who's coming??

Bon Appetite

Barbara and I went to the town of Brantome the other night and experienced why french cuisine is coveted by so many foodies around the world.  Our pallets experienced the true fundamental essence of flavor that I can only describe as strong and pure.  There were a couple of highlights in our four course dinner.  The first was in our first course when I had the foie gras and Barbara had this amazing lightly foamed lobster bisque.  It was light but creamy with a comforting lobster flavor that reminded me of the Maine lobster I would get growing up in Connecticut.  The second was the Choucroute du Poisson.  A trio of fish with sauerkraut that consisted of monk, salmon, and cod.  Choucroute that I have had in the past has traditionally been with different types of pork, from sausages to bacon, to shoulder.  I was curious to see if fish could hold up to the kraut.  It did on every level and let me explain how these genius chefs at this restaurant did it.  One simple ingredient... Butter.  There was another accent to the beurre blanc sauce that was on the fish and kraut and that was a lobster stock blended in it.  Amazing... that's all I have to say about that.  Dessert, dessert, dessert, six creme brulee of saffron, rose, vanilla, coffee, chocolate, and Thyme is up for this blog.... Mark

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