The cheese course

I set out three cheeses for the Thanksgiving meal. The tall one is called Petit Basque, from the southwest (Basque country), made from ewes' milk. The white one is called pont-l'évêque, from Normandy, made from cows' milk. The small one is called cantal, from the Auvergne region of the central mountains, also made from cows' milk.

Cheeses don't have to be whole and untouched to serve, even to guests. The wine is a local sauvignon (I took the photos before we ate), but we drank Beaujolais with the cheese course.

To add a little holiday flair, we ate "fresh" figs along with the cheese. These are figs from a local friend's tree, trimmed and frozen whole by me back in September. I let four of them thaw at room temperature and they tasted almost as if they were fresh off the tree.

Four frosty figs to eat with cheese. They still had some thawing to do when I took the picture.

We're now enjoying leftovers for a few days. We ate cold lamb, steamed potatoes, and broccoli with mayonnaise on Friday and Ken's planning to make a lamb curry for Sunday lunch. Over the next few days, we'll do something with the leftover beans.

Yum!

Our annual Thanksgiving meal was a success! The lamb was delicious. The butcher where we've been getting it for several years now is very good. He gets his beef, veal, and lamb from the Limousin region not far south of here. It's fascinating to watch him prepare a leg of lamb.

The lamb is cooked rare. Some of the pinkest parts will get cooked again as we eat the leftovers.

We painted the leg with olive oil and added ground pepper, allspice, dried thyme, and some hot red pepper flakes before roasting it for a little over an hour. Garlic and bay leaves helped flavor the juices. When the internal temperature reached 55ºC (about 130ºF), we took it out of the oven to rest for about fifteen minutes, covered.

Flageolets in front and green beans behind.

We served the lamb with flageolet beans. I read them described as white beans that haven't matured, so they're small and still green. We also had some green beans from our garden in the freezer, so we served those, too. After the main course, we ate a salad of Belgian endive and roasted beets with toasted walnuts, followed by a cheese course (petit basque, pont-l'évêque, and cantal) with figs. All was washed down with Beaujolais Nouveau. Dessert was, of course, pumpkin pie. We were both pretty full afterwards, but isn't that the point?

Jive turkey

It's Thanksgiving, that American holiday centered on roasted turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. But not here. The television news has had reports about the holiday, explaining it's origins and customs to French viewers. It's a curiosity. But they really get into the "Black Friday" thing. So much so, that we are, and have been for a few weeks, experiencing "Black November." In English, no less. It's all about selling stuff for Christmas. Duh.

Pumpkin pie cooling in the oven.

As is customary in our house, we will roast a leg of lamb. It's a tradition we started at least thirty years ago, perhaps more. And it has served us well since the move to France because whole turkeys are not generally available here until closer to Christmas. We'll pick out the poultry next month.

However, we do not dispense with all of the T-day traditions. I made a pumpkin pie on Wednesday. Last year we had a bumper crop of potimarrons, a pumpkin-like squash with a chestnutty pumpkin flavor. I roasted a lot of it and froze it. We've used it to make several batches of pumpkin-based enchilada sauce, pumpkin bread, and now pumpkin pie. I didn't grow any pumpkins this year, but I'm thinking that I will again next year.

California interlude

I'm out of photos. I haven't taken the camera outside in a while and I haven't taken many indoor photos, either. So here are some water lilies I saw at a winery in the Sierra foothills of California probably about seventeen years ago, before moving to France.

Almost like a painting by Monet.

I woke up to rain this morning. Again. Everything outside is a muddy mess. It's not cold, so there's no ice or frost. Or snow. But I can't take the dog down the hill on our walks because the path is like a tropical swamp and it's very slippery. Going out into the vineyard is ok as long as we stay on the road; the ground between the vines is too soft to walk on and stay dry, not to mention upright.

Tasha Tuesday

Here's a two-fer. I couldn't decide which photo to post, so you get two. Two-fer Tuesday? It was a rainy afternoon and Tasha was indoors. She sat inside the sliding glass doors and watched, as she does. She watches for cars, trucks, or people coming up the road. She also gets fascinated by the birds coming to feed from the suet balls I put up in the fall and winter. Lots of activity.

Tasha longs to go outside, but it's raining.

When a car or truck comes up the road, she can see it through the trees. She jumps up and runs downstairs to bark at it. When the birds are at the feeder, she just watches without barking.

At some point, some time, somebody's going to come up that road. I'll be waiting.

Sometimes Bert the cat comes in and sits beside her. It's a cute scene, both of them looking out the window together. I try to get a photo, but usually by the time I get the camera one of them has moved away. One day, I'll get lucky.

Take a hike

I mentioned yesterday that there was a randonnée (group hike) scheduled. Just as the sun began to rise, I noticed a couple of people walking by our back gate and out the vineyard road. As it got lighter outside, more and more people came through. It was over an hour later when I thought to take this picture from the loft window.

The construction trailers are still out back, and the road's a mess, but the view of the golden autumn leaves at sunrise is still striking.

Many of the hikers had small backpacks, I assume for snacks and water. Some of these hikes can go twenty kilometers (about 12 miles). I don't know how long this one was. A lot of the people wore red coats, I presume to make them visible to the hunters. And the hunters did arrive at 09h00 as usual, and many hikers were still making their way through the vineyards.

The western wall

Not the Western Wall. This is a close up of the west side of the cabane du vigneron (grape grower's shed) out in the vineyard. I noticed that someone crumpled up a piece of paper and pressed it into a crack in the wall. I'm guessing that the paper wrapped a pastry or a sandwich. Shoving it into the wall was better than just dropping it on the ground.

The western wall.

Today is Sunday, which is hunt day. And I see that there's une randonnée (an organized group hike) scheduled. I can tell because someone has marked out the route with chalk arrows on the ground and some small signs pointing the way at certain strategic turns. The town facilitates these walks several times a year and they often pass through our hamlet and out through the vineyards. I find it weird that hikers are willing to stroll through the vineyards where hunters are shooting at pheasants.