Farmer Gwan

Sometime last week, I received a facebook message from my friend Laura asking if I wanted to accompany her to the Tours Farm Expo on the weekend. Ordinarily, this isn't the sort of thing that would appeal - probably full of children and competitions to see who had the biggest turnip. But after a quick look at the website, I realised that this is France and thus naturally there was a heavy emphasis on consuming the farm-fresh produce. So I messaged back "I don't want to look at the latest milking machines, but if we can spend all day eating and drinking and maybe pat a few cute animals, I'm in!"

Such was our enthusiasm for the eating and drinking portion of the expo, we actually almost missed the whole shebang. We entered through the "restaurant" portion and, since it was after 1pm, decided to get lunch first, a delicious feast of duck sausages and chips. We then wandered around the different stands in this area for aaages, becoming slightly perplexed by the fact that, although the website had promised dégustation, most of the stuff on offer you had to pay for. We did stop at a couple of wine stands that gave tastings, and a couple more where you could buy a glass for a euro or two, plus we tasted the odd bit of cheese and jam, but overall we were a bit confused and disappointed that we'd paid 7€ to get in and weren't getting our fair share of free stuff. Although, after buying one glass of wine from a vendor, Laura pointed out that she had the same large, plush erotic die (which she won at a fair) as he did, which seemingly prompted him to offer us another glass of bubbly on the house. I guess he thought it was a good move to liquor up the owner of a sexy die. There's no arguing with that logic.

Anyway, when we had finally exhausted the possibilities offered by the outside bit, we decided we'd take a quick look in the expo itself - only to find that here was where they were hiding all the free food (and the cute animals)! Slightly kicking ourselves for having spent so much time outside, we attacked the tastings with gusto. Amongst other things, I tasted saffron whipped cream and chocolate with truffles (the mushroom kind). On both occasions, Laura marvelled at the distinct saffrony/truffley taste, and I honestly couldn't taste anything out of the ordinary. I suppose that means that I don't have to worry about ever wanting to blow a lot of money buying saffron or truffles though! I also don't really like caviar or foie gras, so I'm a cheap date. Although, later on we had a lovely little broth with foie gras, capers and crème fraîche in it, and it was just divine. I'm guessing that was cooked foie gras, so maybe it's just the pâté version I don't like? Another highlight was finding a wine section, where you could buy a glass (to keep!) for one euro and then taste about a dozen wines. I was a little bit tipsy by the end of this...

Actually, one of the best things was that we got to chat to a lot of people, and they were all super nice. The French do have a certain reputation when it comes to customer service, which is often not undeserved, but whether it was because it was small producers trying to sell their own products, or that they were pleased to come across some French-speaking foreigners eager to learn about the regional cuisine, or that they were just nice people, everyone was really friendly. And almost every conversation consisted of them asking where we were from and then proceeding to talk to Laura about their friend/cousin/sister/daughter living in the United States, strangely enough. One old dude even told us at least three times that his son, a literature student in Indiana, had been quoted in the French press about the US election, bless. (Of course, he wasn't the only one.)

Finally, we had a quick look around at the animals - and yes, even managed to pat one or two. And I succeeding in staying entirely ignorant of developments in milking technology. All, in all, a good day.

I had chicken for dinner tonight. Hope it wasn't this fancy lady

I got a picture of exhausted mum and happy piglet babies just before someone who was either a dickhead, or the farmer, or the dickhead farmer started kicking the side of the cage and startled them all into getting up. I especially love the piglet right in the middle with his little snout sticking up, so cute!

This sheep's a master of camouflage

These turned my teeth blue! (These were not on offer at the farm expo, this is out on the town with my ladies on Saturday night.)

Mini-Cheesewatch: I went home from the expo with a goat's cheese camembert. I've never even heard of goat's cheese camembert before. It has that very strong, mouldy feet-like taste and oozy texture which is obviously not to everyone's liking, but it is quite nice really!

The land of wine and cheese

On Friday, my lovely kiwi friend Marion came to stay the night. She used to live in Tours, but her boyfriend had a last-minute move to Poitiers for his studies and she decided to go back to London to work, since it was too late for her to enrol at uni and she doesn't have the right to work here (and didn't want to spend another half a year hanging about doing nothing in the middle of France). Anyway, you can fly directly from London to Poitiers, I believe, but on this occasion she decided to take a detour via Tours to catch up.

We had a fun evening - caught up on the gossip while sipping cocktails and champagne at mine before hitting up three different bars along with Charlie. I got into another argument with a French guy. Sigh, seriously, even I'm getting tired of fighting with French men, why can't we just get along? Actually, I got into a minor disagreement with one who, in the middle of chatting up my friend, poked me on the breastbone to tell me that he could see the safety pin that was holding my dress together in the front (then stop looking down my dress maybe? I probably need a smaller safety pin, but that's neither here nor there), and then later I had a HUGE fight with an old man.

I'm not a crazy person though, it was totally justified. I was standing next to him at the bar, talking to my friends. He grabs my arse, and I barely even reacted, just like "don't touch me". And then I had my eye on him, so a little bit later out of the corner of my eye I see him going for it again, so I put my hand down next to my side and grabbed his wrist. And then what really made me absolutely furious was that he denied it! I almost literally caught him red-handed! He was all "how could you say that, I would never do such a thing", and I completely flipped my lid at him. If nothing else, I'm proud that my French skills have progressed to the point that I can shout "casse-toi, vieux connard" at a dirty old pervert in a bar at 4 in the morning. Quite cathartic.

I swear to god though, I know there are bad apples everywhere, but I've had it up to here with all these French men who think they're entitled to comment on what you're wearing or yell things at you or touch you. We're going out for Halloween next Wednesday, so I pinkie swear I'm taking this weekend off and staying in, watching the F1, maybe buying myself some winter boots. (I really really need them cos mine have holes in both the toes, but waiting to see what's left in the bank at the end of the month. I'm like a raggedy Victorian orphan, ha ha.)

Anyway, on to happier subjects, I got woken up on Sunday morning (grumble grumble) by a text inviting me out to a last-minute wine and cheese tasting tour (yay) with my friend Philippa and a visitor from Australia, Zach. Our first stop was a goat farm in Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine, where we sampled four varieties - fresh, semi-dry, dry and very dry - of the eponymous cheese. I love Sainte-Maure cheese, it's very yummy. I'd only had the fresh and semi-dry before, and the intensity of flavour of the other two was a big surprise! The very dry variety is almost spicy, it's so strong, and the flavour stays with you for quite some time! It's also very dry in texture, not at all soft and creamy. I liked all of them, but my favourite was probably the demi-sec, so I bought a roll of that (for about 2€ cheaper than it would be in a supermarket).

Sainte-Maure is pretty much a one-horse town as far as we could tell, so we went straight on to Chinon after the cheese farm. We stopped just outside Chinon at a winery offering dégustations. We were a bit confused about where to go once we got into the place, as there was basically a barn and an open door leading into what looked like someone's living room (with two very cute cats on the steps). While we were wondering, some people who were obviously friends of the family turned up and found the vintner for us. With hindsight, I think we must have delayed the start of Sunday lunch, because it was about 1 pm. Sorry!

He was very nice though, and ushered us into a barn for the most sophisticated wine-tasting you're ever likely to find. Philippa was driving, so I asked if there was a crachoir she could spit into. Much to our amusement, he said she could spit into the drain running behind the barrel! Think on that the next time you're around wine snobs... (PS she's much too refined to spit in a drain on a barn floor, she just had a sip of each.)

Small-scale wine-making. The barrel represents the "salon de dégustation"

We tasted a rosé and three reds, and very nice they all were as well. I love Chinon wines - I'm not a big red-wine drinker, but they are nice and light and not oaky or tannic, which I don't like at all. I suppose some sophisticated types might find them a bit lacking in body or flavour, but that doesn't bother me at all. And the rosés are of course lovely as well. I'm not sure the name of the actual vineyard, but I bought one red called Domaine du Grand Portail and one rosé called Clos de la Grille. But don't go looking for them in a supermarket near you - I was chatting to the vintner about where to buy them, and he doesn't sell to any wine shops or restaurants, even locally - they all get sold to individuals turning up and buying them, or at wine fairs etc. It is frustrating sometimes to find great wines and then you can't buy them anywhere even if you're only living 50 km away!

We continued on our merry way to Chinon, and stopped off first at the Couly-Dutheil wine tasting rooms. I was dying for the loo, but Philippa assured me that they had a bathroom I could use, since she'd been there with her parents the weekend before. However, the door was locked and the wine tasting lady earned my undying hatred by acted all shocked that I dared to ask about using the facilities and made us go across the street and up the hill to the chateau in the pouring rain to use theirs. She also made some kind of snobby remarks about people who "didn't know what they were doing" buying wines to store - apparently if you know what you're doing, you have to buy a case and drink one every year to see the evolution of the wine. (By undying hatred, I mean I vowed to seek revenge by tasting her wines without purchasing any. I've had Couly-Dutheil wines before and they are quite nice, but they started at about 8€ a bottle, so this wasn't a huge hardship.) I don't know if this post is reflecting very well on me - I'm really quite mild-mannered, I promise.

Oh, I just read on the internet that there is a bit of a family feud between the Couly-Dutheil and Pierre & Bertrand Couly winemakers. My sister and I visited P&B Couly back in 2010 and enjoyed the wines we had there very much, so with that and the snobbish salesperson, you can put me down on Team Pierre & Bertrand. The t-shirt to that effect is being designed as we speak.

View of Chinon castle from inside the Couly-Dutheil tasting room

We then intended to get some lunch, but it was about 3 pm on a Sunday by this stage, and everywhere had stopped serving :( Zach had to be back in Tours for about 5 to catch a train, so we just had a little wander around the pretty town centre (I think this was my 3rd or 4th trip, but it's still very pretty) and then headed back to Tours. We walked along the Vienne river to get back to the car, which is lined with trees that look nice but turned out to be full of spiders! Kept feeling strands of spiderweb on my face, or seeing them floating about, and then there was a spider in my hair!!!! Major freakout.

Moi in Chinon

The Vienne river, lined with scary spider-harbouring trees

But spiders aside, it was a pleasant trip! And I went home and made jacket potatoes stuffed with pesto and Sainte-Maure cheese - delicious!

Cheesewatch - Morbier

Herein the exciting return of the much-fêted occasional series: Cheesewatch! Actually, Mary Kay did request more Cheesewatches, amazingly enough! So when I realised, halfway through a packet of one of my favourite cheeses, Morbier, that I had never Cheesewatched it, I leapt to my camera to document this monumental occasion.

Morbier is a semi-soft cow's milk cheese, similar in texture to a Port Salut or Saint-Paulin. Visually, it differs by having a lighter yellow rind and of course by the line you can see running through the centre. I first encountered it last year, cut into small tasting cubes in the cheese section at Auchan, and mistook it for a blue cheese. In fact, that line through the middle is not mould, but a fine layer of ash. Traditionally, it was made with left-over milk from Comté production, so the farmers would put a layer of ash on top to preserve it, before coming back the next day and topping it off with more left-over milk.

I've always wondered whether or not the ash layer is edible. I usually cut it out because eating ash can't be good for you, right? However, the French Wikipedia article describes the ash layer as having a soft, fruity taste, so presumably you are supposed to eat it. Nowadays the ash is usually only decorative, as it is no longer made with in two stages with left-over milk. Another potential health hazard is that it's made with raw, unpasteurised milk - so depending on where you live, you might not be able to get your hands on this baby. I never actually noticed this until I took the picture of the packet above, but I doubt I'm going to keel over from eating the occasional bit of Morbier...

As for the taste, I was going to describe it as I ate, but I finished the last bit just before getting a phone call and before starting blogging, so I'm going to have to call upon my powers of recollection all the way back to an hour ago. Well I fell in love with my first bite at Auchan. It has a firm but creamy texture which responds well to my Patented Cheek Storage System (to those not in the know with this little piece of insanity, I like to squirrel a bit of cheese into my cheek for a couple of minutes until it goes a bit melty in my mouth, and then eat it. I don't know if that's good cheese-eating etiquette...) It starts off rich and creamy-tasting, but has quite a sharp bite to it in the after-taste, almost peppery - I definitely wouldn't say 'soft and fruity', but maybe I'm missing out on that by not eating the ash. Slightly nutty, but not as much as you'd get from a proper (non-plastic) Emmental or similar. I likes!

From Cheesewatch to NailPolishwatch - Mary Kay astonished me when I visited her in Paris by producing a bottle of Essie nail polish for me ("Ole Caliente" colour). She had got it in a gift box and I asked her to let us know what it was like after trying it, since I'd seen it in Monoprix and wanted to know if it was any good. Since she doesn't wear nail polish, she told me she'd give it to me if I was ever in Paris. I thought nothing more of it, but she remembered, so thoughtful!

Staying up late last night watching the Canadian Grand Prix presented me with the perfect opportunity to paint my nails (good race, well-deserved victory for Hamilton, but a slow first few laps before the first pit-stop phase left plenty of time to concentrate on my nails).

The brush was a bit larger than I'm used to, but it provided good, even coverage - I was able to mostly do my left hand with one go, as usual my right hand ended up a bit more butchered but still not too bad. Nice, smooth finish, I didn't go over the edges too much, at least on the left hand, and a pretty, bright colour. I thought it was very orange going on, and it looks it in the photo, but it's actually a bit more towards the red than it looks here (by the way, the pink bottle in the background of that photo is a different colour, currently rocking that on the toes). We'll see how well it lasts, but so far it's done a Grand Prix, bed, and half a day with no chips, which is practically a personal best performance from me! Thanks MK!

Cheesewatch - Etorki and Tomme Noire des Pyrenees

It's been ages since I did a cheesewatch - my very irregular reports on trying new cheese. Mostly because I often fail to try new cheeses. I came across Morbier recently and it's become a new favourite, but often I fall back on the tried and true or just don't buy cheeses for snacking unless I'm having people over or something. So I decided today that I would take advantage of being in France and try something new, and I selected Etorki because it was on sale and a Tomme Noire des Pyrenees just because it was reasonably cheap. By chance, they both come from around the same region.



The Etorki is a Basque sheep's milk cheese that looks much like a big Port Salut or Saint Paulin, with the same sort of rind plus semi-soft inside. It has a pleasant creamy texture and a good flavour without being especially strong. It actually reminds me of sort of a medium cheddar flavour, but with a completely different texture. Quite nice! However, because it is so creamy, a little goes a long way - you probably won't want to sit there eating the whole block (not altogether a bad thing!) It's not an AOC cheese, so you could theoretically make Etorki anywhere, although it's definitely marketed as a Basque cheese and my sample, at least, was produced in the region.

The Tomme, on the other hand, is a cow's milk cheese. I've had Tomme from the Nord-Pas-de-Calais before, when we toured a farm. As far as I remember (kind of traumatised by the video we watched featuring cow birth - or was it a sheep birth? We went to a cow and a sheep farm, so I forget) that was a very hard cheese. This one has a black rind (hence the name) and is softer than the Etorki, although still with approximately the same sort of texture. It has quite an unusual flavour, stronger and more distinctive than the Etorki with a bit of a sour cottage-cheese type aftertaste. I can imagine some people not liking it, but I do. I like cottage cheese too, for that matter (which they don't seem to sell in France? Fromage fouette is an addictive alternative though!) This one is AOC.

So there you go - two cheeses, two tasty new experiences!

Me at my most charming

I finally got 5 charms (a mix of presents and ones I bought on my travels) soldered on to my bracelet, so after not wearing it since before I left NZ, I can finally rock it again :) Will have to re-accustom myself to having a constant jingly accompaniment to my daily tasks. It's not cheap maintaining a charm bracelet, let me tell you! Cost 30 euros for this round of soldering, the bracelet itself cost about 50 euros, and then each charm usually runs about 10-15. I have 12 now, so that's over 200 euros it's worth now. But of course it's irreplaceable really.

Charm bracelet in situ:



For anyone who doesn't know, I try to buy a charm for each country I visit. I say try, because it can be surprisingly difficult. The idea is to get a charm that represents the country somehow, not just any tat I happened to buy there. I looked EVERYWHERE in the Czech Republic and came up empty, so no charm for there despite having spent about 3 months there, also couldn't find anything for Poland or Monaco. Can't remember why I don't have anything for Belgium, presumably couldn't find anything appropriate (what symbolises Belgium anyway - beer? frites?) I've also ended up with some that don't quite fit with the theme.



From left to right:

A gumboot, for New Zealand - a Christmas present from my brother.
A buzzy bee, also for NZ - leaving present from my last job in NZ. For non-New Zealanders, a buzzy bee is a wooden toy on wheels that's become something of a NZ icon. Prince William was famously photographed playing with one when he came to NZ as a toddler.
A kiwi - also NZ. This was one of the first charms I bought, before I left NZ in 2006. I don't mind having 3 for NZ since it's my home country after all.
The crowned heart is for Scotland. I visited Edinburgh in August 2006. It's the emblem of Mary, Queen of Scots. I wanted a thistle, that being more iconic for Scotland, but I couldn't find one. I'm happy with this though - no-one knows what it is, but it's pretty.
A J - this is for me (initial of my first name). Bought this before leaving NZ as well.
A harp - from my trip to Ireland in August 2006. This was the first charm I bought overseas. Again, I wanted a shamrock but the shop I went into had every single thing to do with Ireland - dancing shoes, pints of Guinness, you name it - but no shamrock. I'm pretty annoyed that it's on backwards. When I first got them soldered I thought they'd be smart enough to figure these things out, but these days I'm very specific.
A fleur de lys - for France, of course! I bought this the first time I lived here, in 2007. I'm really glad to have found a fleur de lys, I was determined not to get the Eiffel Tower. Yes, it is probably the most recognisable symbol of France, but it really rips my nightie when I say to people back home or whatever that I live(d) in France and they go "blah blah Paris blah". France is a huge country (well, by NZ standards) and I've lived in 4 different regions, none of which include Paris!
A book - this is the only one that opens, and there's a worm inside. Another present from my workmates. This doesn't fit with the theme, but represents my literature degree and being a librarian.
An icon - this is for Russia, where I lived from November to January 2006-2007. This is the only one that I don't think is real silver, considering I bought it at a market in Moscow. Have just noticed that it's bent, I suspect that might have suffered from the soldering going on next to it, not being silver and all. Doesn't really matter. It's on backwards, which is irritating because the sides are so different - the back has writing in Old Church Slavonic, the front is what appears to be the Virgin Mary holding some arrows, but I'm not 100% on that.
A lion - for England, my ancestral home and the other of my two nationalities. Bought this in 2007, but I've been to England a bunch of times. It's technically on backwards too, because the hallmark shows, but I suppose it's not a big deal...
The leaning tower of Pisa - Italy, obviously. I didn't go to Pisa, but I thought this was the most recognisable symbol for a charm bracelet, despite the fact that it doesn't really lean as such. I was in Italy for a couple of weeks in September last year.
One of Raphael's putti - for the Vatican City. Much as I like Raphael, I don't actually like the putti (as seen here), they're a bit sickly kitch really. That said, an appropriate symbol for the Vatican City (there wasn't much choice anyway), and not *that* cheesy in a tiny metallic format.



In other 'news', I finally remembered to take my camera on what is a practically daily excursion to the park, in order to take pictures of the cool terrace houses that line the street the park's on. Tours was apparently bombed quite a bit (by the Allies I think) in WWII, and so you have the old town, with medieval buildings, and some 19th century bits, like where I live, and then there's plenty of ugly post-war stuff as well, particularly as you go down towards the Loire. But (as I think I may have said already), around here was the chi-chi area in the 19th century, and while my house isn't quite as pretty as these, it's a pretty nice quartier.



Street of 19th C terrace houses



A cool wooden door



This church is a bit incongruous on this street. Not in love with it, but it's at least interesting, especially the bell tower.



Two houses I like.




The much-talked about Cheesewatch returns. Basically I made a Cheesewatch of this because it's called 'crottins de chèvre' which translates as 'goat droppings'. Mmm, tempting. Of course, that's got nothing on 'pets de nonne' - nun farts, which are a type of pastry I haven't tried. Will update if and when I do... Anyway, I don't often meet a goat's cheese I don't like, and the crottins were pretty good - salty and strong-flavoured, but with a much drier and firmer texture than something like feta.

Cheesewatch

As I may have mentioned before, I have vowed, since I am in the land of cheese, to try a different variety whenever I'm in the market for some cheese. Whether or not 'fun with cheese' makes for a particularly exciting blog entry, I don't know, but I'm going to occasionally report on cheeses of note anyway.

Now, I have been consuming and enjoying cheese, including French cheese, for quite some time without being moved to blog about it. But I was driven to the internet by my latest acquisition, a charmingly-named 'Petits Amis' Munster-Géromé cheese. Indeed, from the outside all is well with this cheese - it seems a perfect choice for frolicking with a mate or forcing children to carry heavy milk vats half their size:



But on further examination, I had to turn to the net for reassurance that I wasn't risking my health in eating this cheese, because it is a big ball of wrong.

The main problem isn't that it smells like damp socks, or its rather livid colour, or the fact that once you cut into the rind it has the inner consistency of brie that's been sitting out on a hot day, despite being fresh from the fridge. Rather, the problem is that it comes out of its refrigerated cocoon WET. Covered with a disgusting slimy coating. According to my mates at Wikipedia , this is normal and a result of its special manufacturing process, which involves ageing the cheese for 5 weeks in 'damp cellars', all the while bathing it regularly in brine. Which all makes for a delightfully slimy/sticky customer. If you have a weak stomach, I advise you to look away now and especially to not pay attention to the visible sticky run-off collected on the wrapper:



But as you can see, after reassurance from the interwebs that this is deliberate, I forged ahead and ate some (not all in one sitting in case you're wondering). And the verdict is... it packs a flavour punch, with predominate mould notes, but is actually not toooo bad if you can get over the "arrgh, a cheese made of toads!" thing. I think once is enough for me and this petit ami though!