Louis de Grenelle and Chenonceau

I thought I would post pictures from yesterday and today, because I don't know when I'll have internet access again.

Bernard and I went to the Martin de Candre savonnerie yesterday (go here to see their website, which is in sometimes-amusing English). I was hoping to see the soap-making process, because they are one of the last true soapmakers in France - they make it from start to finish rather than buying a base and adding fragrance - but no one is allowed to watch because something they use (glycerin, maybe?) is dangerous. The store was lovely, though, and had a wonderful spicy smell.

After that we went to the Caves de Louis de Grenelle (go here for clearer pictures than I could take), which is the last family-owned producer of vins de fines bulles in the area (...something like that - our guide was speaking quickly and in French, so some of the details are kind of fuzzy). Here are my pictures, if you want to see them...they're very blurry because there was not much light and I really did not want to be the Annoying American Tourist on the tour who blinds people by taking pictures in the near-dark.

I know, it's almost worthless because you can't really make out anything...the rectangle-ish dark blobs along the sides of the tunnel are stacks of bottles. The wine is fermented that way without being touched for between 1 and 3 years, depending on the type of wine. The three year fermentation gives the wine very very fine bubbles and a very light taste, while the one year fermentation makes for a sparkling wine that tastes like an unsweet white wine with bubbles.

Bernard encouraged me to sit here and have my picture taken, which I guess kind of made me That Tourist, because the rest of the group just stood there and watched me. I don't care, though. This is the throne in a ceremonial wine storage room. None of that really makes sense to me - ceremonial? a throne?? - but apparently some group of vintners inducts new members there. Several bottles of each vintner's wine is stored in the room for posterity.

This was the view crossing the Loire to go home:


A great way to see all the highlights of the city!

And now, Chenonceau:

Having visited Chenonceau many times, Pascal knew things other tourists didn't. He and I were the only ones to take the path along this little river and down through the woods...it was beautiful and very quiet.

Gardens of Diane de Poitiers. If you don't know the story of Chenonceau (it's okay, I didn't either)...basically King Henri II gave it to his mistress Diane de Poitiers as a gift, but when he died his wife Catherine de Medici kicked her out. Diane de Poitiers had the bridge across the river constructed, and Catherine added the gallery above it. Pascal told me that the gallery was used as a hospital in the first World War and as a crossing point for the Resistance during the second World War. The side with the gardens (and north, I think, into France) was occupied by the Germans, and the other side was free. All other bridges having been destroyed to prevent crossing, Chenonceau was used as passage (mostly for escape, I think) to the free zone.

Garden of Catherine de Medici.

View of the chateau walking up from the main entrance (which we did not take) ...this is all there was before Diane built the bridge.

Chenonceau!!! I mean....wow. This is the first view I had of the chateau, after walking up the path less travelled (it has its benefits, ask Robert Frost). It is very striking. I have to say it's my favorite chateau in France, although I haven't visited Versailles yet. This one is just so unique, though. Plus the fact that it was designed by women makes it even cooler.

. . .

We had a lovely dinner tonight - fresh, HUGE oysters from La Rochelle (on the Atlantic coast of France) and some kind of eggplant-tomato-chicken dish that Pascal invented. When French people drink wine, they usually say "santé!" - which loosely translates as "to your health!" - but tonight they all toasted me and said nice things about me. It was very sweet. Jonathan also said that I have a home here and that I'm always welcome...what an amazing place to be able to claim as home! Hopefully I'll be able to come back in the fall with some friends!

Last days at the Moulin

Thursday - the day after tomorrow! - I'm taking the train down to Montpellier. I'm so excited! My last few days here have been pretty busy.... I've been helping Bernard deal with all the fresh vegetables (onions, eggplant, tomatoes, zucchini) from the garden...


which involves both preserving them and eating them at almost every meal. I helped him make ratatouille the other day. My job was to peel and de-seed the tomatoes:


Messy but satisfying.

We have eaten the ratatouille for several meals (which is okay because it is DELICIOUS), and the rest he sealed in jars for later in the year.

We also went blackberry picking the other day. Unfortunately, because it's been a dry year here, there weren't many ripe, juicy berries, but we found a bowl-full nonetheless.


I spent all day Sunday and Monday cleaning the mill....ugh. I'm not going to pretend I love doing it, especially when it's really hot outside. I do enjoy making the beds, although finding sheets to do it is a pain, because the beds are weird sizes and the sheets are too. But, once it's all finished it's very satisfyingly pretty.

This is the big suite...it's the entire second floor of the mill. (sorry some of the pictures are blurry...I don't like using the flash)

This is where Barbara Streisand slept when she came a few years ago. Cool huh?!


This is the bedroom on the third floor of the mill:

The little building that's across the front yard of the mill is also a room. It used to be a barn, so we call it la petite grange.



. . .

This afternoon, Bernard and I are going to visit the Caves de Louis de Grenelle, the Caves de Combier, and the savonnerie de Martin de Candre. Louis de Grenelle is a family-owned producer of vin petillant - it's champagne except they can't call it champagne. Combier makes triple sec and other liqueurs. Martin de Candre is one of the last soapmakers in Europe that do everything by hand the way it used to be done. We have some of there soap at the store where I work in Chapel Hill (Toots and Magoo), and I'm so excited to see how it's made! Pascal and I are going to Chenonceau tomorrow...it's the one chateau I really want to see in the Loire Valley. And then early Thursday morning I leave for Montpellier!

all nearness pauses,while a star can grow

This is the first line to another wonderful poem by E. E. Cummings. To be honest, no, I can't make sense of all of it, but there are several parts that are delightfully thought-provoking.

. . .

This week, Bernard was gone in Brittany visiting his family and Jon's friends from California and Germany came. I missed Bernard and our bike rides, but the friends were so much fun. They always invited me to go with them when they went out and about, so I finally got to visit more of the world beyond the Mill! We spent some time in Saumur wandering around... we wanted to find a wine tasting but it was too late, so instead we had coffee and shared several delicious little tarts. It was so fun! I can't tell you how I've missed fun female companionship (it was all women except one husband, who wasn't there that night). We also walked across the city a little bit and went up to the Chateau de Saumur.


The next evening we went to a wine tasting at Langlois-Chateau in Saumur. The red and white wines were okay, but the sparkling wine [it's the same thing as champagne, but they're not allowed to call it champagne because it's grown here rather than in the Champagne region of France] was excellent. I finally got to try the sparkling red wine that is made in this region...I thought it wouldn't be good, but I liked it. One of the women was very into California wines, and she taught me a lot about how to think about the way wine tastes. It's exciting, because I can finally verbalize (though not quite articulate yet) what wines taste like!

On Saturday, we went to the Chateau d'Ussé, which is known as being the chateau that inspired Charles Perrault to write the story of Sleeping Beauty. Here's a picture:


I have to be honest: unless I really care about the history or the era of a chateau (or abbey or n'importe quoi), I don't really need to go inside. Especially when it is ridiculously expensive, as was the case at Ussé. Plus I knew it would be very cheesy because of the whole Sleeping Beauty thing...I mean, the brochure has a cartoon Mean Witch floating out of the chateau. I'm sorry, but no thank you. Actually, before we arrived there, we stopped along the way and had a picnic next to the Loire.


We just stopped in a little village where there was a boucherie and boulangerie right next to each other and got lots of delicious things. Mostly people got croissant-like things with ham and cheese, or quiches, or pâté, but I wanted something a little more fresh and healthy, so I got some salade de riz à la niçoise.


Delicious!! There was tuna, red bellpeppers, olives, artichoke heart, and lots of other wonderful things. It was just what I wanted, and there were fresh baguettes, sausage balls, and flan to go along with it.

Farther down the road, right after we crossed over the Loire, there was a huge nuclear plant. Right next to the road! In one of my energy classes this spring, we learned about nuclear plants, and Sharron Harris in particular, which is surrounded by so much empty land and has many layers of security. I'm sure this one was secure too, but it was bizarre seeing it right next to the road. I tried to take pictures of it, but they never worked very well...

It's the best I could do. If you squint your eyes you can see the football stadium-like thing surrounding the huge towers....there were several of those! France generates almost 80% of its electricity from nuclear power (compared to the US at 20%). I still wonder what France does with all its nuclear waste.

Anyway, after we got to Ussé and took some pictures, Vicky, Christina, and I decided to find a wine tasting. Christina had been to one last year that was wonderful and wanted to find it again...turns out it was the Domaine Filliatreau, just outside Saumur.


Beautiful! The buildings are troglodyte caves. We found it 10 minutes before it closed but the guy was very nice and stayed late to do a tasting for us. All the wine was wonderful. After we finished there we drove to get groceries and go home. We were riding in Christina's BMW convertible and the sun was setting and I couldn't resist taking a picture....


I tried to take a picture with Vicky, but it didn't turn out well.

That night, like every night, we had a very fun dinner. They are all such sweet people!

From right to left: me, Christina, Vicky, Vera, Sophie (Vera's daughter)

Dani, me, and Christina. (Christina managed to not quite smile in all the pictures!)

. . .

Some guests arrived this evening, and I think it's the beginning of another kind of crazy time...or at least fairly non-stop guests. At least I won't have a chance to be bored, although I never really am here.

. . .

Congratulations and best wishes to my cousin Dennis and his new wife Kate, who got married this past Saturday!!

"No compassion, please"

Pascal said this when he was showing us how to take a fish off the hook (we were fishing). The boys asked if we should feed the rest of the worms on the hook to the fish. It struck me as very funny.

. . .

This past week has not been very exciting...it was one of those where it's so peaceful that you just kind of float around doing things, not thinking too hard about them.

On Monday, Bernard and I made pâté. Turns out what I thought was pâté last weekend was actually filling for des tomates farcies (which means, surprise, "stuffed tomatoes"). Now, I have to admit: I have not loved most of the pâtés I've tried, but they are very, very French, so I keep giving them a chance. When I asked Bernard if he had a good pâté recipe, I was passing along the enthusiasm my mom shared in an email.....so he and I made pâté.

As far as I can tell, the general recipe for pâté is this:
1 part lean meat (we used rabbit)
1 part kind of fatty meat (pork)
1 part fatty meat - by "fatty meat," I mean fat that has little streaks of meat in it (we used pork throat, which I'm still a little unclear about)
shallots
seasoning (we used parsley, salt, and pepper)
We started with the rabbit, which was a whole entire rabbit (but yes, minus the fur and skin). As memorable as it was, I didn't take a picture because ...you know, it still had its eyeballs and organs. Whoa. Our task was to get all the meat off the bones, which is one thing when it's a steak, or maybe a ham, but this was the whole thing: tendons, veins, and all. Bernard cut it in half and asked which half I wanted: the back half or the head. The head was bloody with a little eye and a tongue sticking out. No thanks. So we did that and then did the pork. He got out a meat grinder and we ground the meat up along with the shallots and parsley.

Anyway, it ended up being pretty good. Not much of a rabbit taste, according to Bernard (who knows what rabbit tastes like), but tasty nonetheless, especially on fresh bread with little cornichons (mini-pickles).

Later Monday we went on an intense bike ride: 27 km = almost 17 miles. This is not only more than halfway from my house to UNC, but also impressive because two years ago I wasn't riding bikes, and hadn't for seven-ish years because of a biking accident when I was little. Three cheers for overcoming your fears!

One afternoon, Jon took the boys and me to visit the Chateau de Langeais. On the way there, we stopped at another chateau, this one in a little village called Gizeu.

And here's the Chateau de Langeais:
Apparently the prison (which is almost right next to the castle) ...
...was "one of the most important strategic sites of Henry II's [remember?! Eleanor's second husband!] military set up, the most dangerous Capetian rival," according to the sign. Cool!!

Friday evening we were invited to go on a boat ride/barbecue with one of Jon's friends, and Pascal asked me to make another tomato pie. When I went out into the garden to pick the basil, I found that there were lots of unpicked ripe raspberries!
So I picked them, and ate them all. Most of them I ate plain, but the last few I mixed with yogurt, because I have fond memories of eating that at my grandmother's house. (She has raspberry bushes in her back yard.) This tomato pie was easier to make (the other one involved guessing quantities of grams and blending the filling with a smoothie/juice maker), but harder to bake. It turned out okay..."I prefer it like a pizza rather than a tart!" says Pascal. He insisted I take this picture:
as proof that my tart was part of a very traditional French picnic. Here are more pictures from the boat ride and barbecue:
Sweet little village.

I'm on a boat.

At one point we saw a hot air balloon floating over the little village and then down over the Loire. Cool!

This was how we cooked all the meat, because they forgot the grill. It worked pretty well, and looked positively Iron Age, except that the skewers are steel.

The sky was pretty as we were coming back.

Today Bernard left for Brittany to visit his family for a week. I'm happy for him that he gets to go, but I'm sad that I'll be without my bike riding/pâté making buddy for a while. Some people are arriving on Tuesday and staying through the end of the week, but otherwise I have no idea what my week has in store. I was surprised to realize this morning that I have less than three weeks left here! I'm excited to go to Montpellier, though. It's all such an adventure.