Best Book

Flann O Brien’s ; The Third Policeman.
I originally read and enjoyed in 1968 when 19 years old.
I re-read and loved it this year.
A masterpiece.

Best Meal

While at the Terre Madre in Turin we went to La Betulla in S Bernardino Di Trana.
Our main course there, my undoubted culinary highlight of
the trip, was a pair of fried eggs on some thin mashed potato.
As soon as we were served these the Maitre grated a liberal
shaving of White Truffle on the eggs.

Totally Delicious

Best CD

Sanseverino’s Le Tango des Gens
Favourite track “ Mal o Mains”

Best Moment

When the notaire said “C’est Tout!” and we finally owned our own house in France.

Other Great Moments, in no particular order:

Meeting such terrific Foodies at the Terra Madre in Turin.

Euro-Toque Food awards, great winners and well presented by Rachel Allen.

The great pleasure of a young Waterford chef winning the Baileys Young Chef award, well done Peter Everett from Waterford Castle.

Revisiting the Alhambra in Granada with Sile and my best man;
Michael Healy.
Not just a building, a whole civilization.

To end on a slightly sour note.
Worst Book of the Year:

Without doubt; On Beauty by Zadie Smith.
Not one member of our book club could find a redeeming feature.

Just as 2005 was The Year of the Wedding
2006 was undoubtibly The Year of the New House in France.
I imagine that 2007 will also be obsessed with same house.
My prayer is that it doesn’t turn into a French version of
The Money Pit!

The two of us photographed last week
by brother in law Martin Lyes in front of
the new project.

Bonne Chance a Nous!

Just directly across the road from our front door in Thezan is the car park for the church.
At the front of this is a semi-circular flower bed full of Oleander which is going to look great in the summer.
Perched incongriously in the middle of these is our friend above.
Looking cheerfully mischievous rather than downright evil I think he will be easy enough to live with.
Presumably he started life as a Gargoyle perched high on the church but now, like all the wicked angels he has come back to earth.
He must be named of course.
Any suggestions?

On New Years Day we went for a stroll along the beach of La Tamarissiere which is at the mouth of the Herault River.
There was this curious tree trunk washed up on the slip.
As it was taken blazing sunshine I have taken the liberty to brown it up a bit to make it more sinister.
Rank amateur stuff I know.
But fun.

And this is the correct way to spell the name of our new village, accents all correctly in place.

We have just spent a week of glorious sunshine in the Languedoc close to our new house.
We havn’t plucked up the courage to live there yet but have been trying to bring that date closer.

We did manage to find the spot called “Le Pech”(the word pech is Languedocien for little hill) which we can see from our terrace.

We were anxious to get a view of the house as we are so closely encroached by other village houses that it is impossible to see the back from close by.

This is the village from the Pech

And using the miracles of modern technology this is our house, to the left of the shot of the whole village and in the centre of the close up.

This has given us several surprises.
The fact that the roof undulates gracefully should be perhaps cause for concern
but our main surprise is that there appears to be an extension on the roof which is the reason why the attic rooms are so high and bright.

The house seems both tattier and nicer than I expected.
It has certainly been neglected for several years, the garden is very overgrown
but was once obviously planted with great care, the tree could be, we think, an Indian Lilac. If it is we should have a marvellous display of blossoms in spring and early summer.
This is going to make it very hard to cut it down to make a pool!

Our extra cellar, which we discovered we owned only after purchase, is we think a stable or byre, not tall enough for housing horses but maybe suitable for oxen which would have been the beasts of burden commenly used here.

It is in rough condition inside so I will have to modify my sales discription to include; “in need of modernisation”.

As yet we have no real evidence of the age of the house, the 1923 date at the front was obviously when it was modernised, which is shortly after the date it became a presbytery, when the original presbytery became a school for girls.
The details of the features inside are very pleasing.
I am particularly taken by some of the doors, made for the days when the house was lived in by people of some taste.

The little features of hinges and hasps of doors shutters are the most beautiful shapes.

My feeling is that they are not all that uncommon in France.

And peeling back the carpet in one of the bedrooms has revealed some stunning ceramic tiles.

This years appeal reached a staggering $60,925.12

That is a cool $43,000 + up from last years $17,000.
Congratulations to all food bloggers everywhere
and especially to Pim.

December 28th

To Ann and to Eugene Mc Veigh
I wish you both a happy day
And may you live till ninety nine
Enjoying, every time you dine
The very best of food and wine

I must say a brief word on Ann
(I’ve known her since she first began)
I’ve fed her bottles, changed her nappy
Done everything to make her happy

I’ve taught her poems and how to dance
And made her wear those “Meemans Pants”
And holidayed with her in France
And still we two have kept our Peace
You couldn’t find a nicer niece.

What can I say about Eugene
Who is a fan of Haute cuisine
Whom awful puns fill up with glee
And likes his food as much as me

Last summer while with us in France
He had his baptism of fire
But didn’t scowl or look askance
While listening to the drunken choir
Who spent a long time in the throes
Of murdering the songs from shows

In short (and now I’m feeling mellow)
Ann couldn’t find a nicer fellow

And so, while I am still dry-eyed
And bursting with avuncular pride
Let me proclaim it nation-wide
My blessing on the Groom and Bride.

(and thanks Petra for the original)

You know when you have a song which won’t leave your head?
My feeling is that to exorcise the song you have to sing it, or write a blog about it!

When I was about 18 or 19 I was passionate about Judy Collins, to some extent I still am but now the passion is more nostalgic.
She was a terrific chooser of songs, and it was from her I first heard Leonard Cohen, Jacques Brel, Sandy Denny, Incredible String Band and Joni Mitchel.
She was also a fine songwriter herself.
On one of her LPs was a song she wrote ; My Father.

This was written about a time in her youth when she had polio and it didn’t seem likely that she would ever dance.
It is one of her best songs and this is the one that has been singing in my head all morning.
This could be just the nostalgie de la vie that Christmas brings on or it could be the words, we are after all “going to live in France”.

Listen to it on youtube here
When I went looking for the words on the internet I discovered that an american artist has illustrated the words and made it into a childrens book.
That is one for my stocking!

My father always promised us
That we would live in France
We’d go boating on the Seine
And I would learn to dance

We lived in Ohio then
He worked in the mines
On his dreams like boats
We knew we would sail in time

All my sisters soon were gone
To Denver and Cheyenne
Marrying their grownup dreams
The lilacs and the man

I stayed behind the youngest still
Only danced alone
The colors of my father’s dreams
Faded without a sound

And I live in Paris now
My children dance and dream
Hearing the ways of a miner’s life
In words they’ve never seen

I sail my memories of home
Like boats across the Seine
And watch the Paris sun
As it sets in my father’s eyes again

We are the lucky ones this year and are having our three daughters plus the son in law for Christmas.
I do recognise that we’re not always going to manage to pull the long straw and that quite a few of my contempories will be looking at having Christmas dinner for two.
I can’t imagine turkey being a good idea for two, it could be Patricks day before the last of the bones got sucked, so, with this in mind, I humbly make a suggestion about the ideal bird for this occasion; a pheasant.
To make it a little more Christmassy I have adapted a restaurant recipe which I used to serve in Dwyers, the cranberries will add a good tartness to the sauce.
If you happen to have a bottle of Sloe Gin about some of this could be sloshed into the gravy as well.
The advantage of the pheasant is that it makes a perfect meal for two.
If you don’t like the flavour of pheasant I am sure it would work as well with Guinea Fowl or even a good free range, organic Chicken.

Pheasant Breast with Cranberry Gravy
(for two)

1 Pheasant
1 Med Onion
1 oz. Butter
1 glass red wine
1 Egg Whites
225g (8oz.)Streaky Rashers.

Sauce;
I Onion
1 tablespoon olive oil
I Glass red wine
1 tbs. Red Currant Jelly
175g (6 oz.) Cranberries

Skin the Pheasant and remove the breasts and legs from the carcass.
Remove the meat from the legs and put the leg bones with the carcass in a pot with a sliced unpeeled onion and a tablespoon of olive oil.
Put this pot on the heat and stir the onion and the carcass together on the heat until they brown.
Then cover with water and simmer for one hour.

In another pan slice the onion and sweat in the butter until soft.
Add the red wine to the pan and boil until the wine has all but evaporated.
Put the onion, the leg meat,110g (4 oz.) of the bacon (chopped)and the egg white into the goblet of a food processor and whizz.
Season this with a little salt and black pepper.
Open the breasts and divide the stuffing between them.
Stretch the remaining bacon and wrap the breasts well in these.

Strain the stock, add a glass of red wine to it and boil it hard until reduced to a rich full flavoured cup full.
Toss in the cranberries and when they pop add the redcurrant jelly.
Taste and season, it should be both sweet and sour.

Put the pheasant breasts to cook in a hot oven(Gas 6, 200C,400F) for 20 mts (the bacon should look crisp).
To serve, slice the breasts and dribble over the sauce.
This should go well with the usual sprouts and celery.

Last year this appeal by food bloggers got to just $17,000, this year it is $33,181.70 already and rising steadily.