Châteaubriant Loire Valley France

Châteaubriand And Ruffigné

They say when we are born we have only two fears the fear of falling and the fear of being alone. Our parents, coupled with our environment (the people we associate with, our music and the literature we read), as we grow older, dictate what we fear.

A mix bag of fears come from people purchasing property and usually those fears are caused by one person, the Estate Agent.

My first experience with an Estate Agent's tour was in the 80's, Loire valley France - well technically the Brittany ferry terminal in Portsmouth.

I had purchased property in England, but this type of Estate agent is a different animal and in those days they weren't as infamous as they are today. The advertisement in the exchange and mart read: Property viewing trips £99 for a week, including travel and hotel.

Our escort, a middle age Englishman who wouldn't of look out of place selling second-hand motors from an east-end car sales forecourt, crammed us into his min-bus with five other people. I was starting to become cynical.

When we arrived in Chateaubriand we were introduced to his French business partner. The Frenchman was charming, helpful and believable.

Eventually we found the perfect property for us before we told the agent that night over dinner. He preceded to over sell the property and his final-what he thought was the closer...

He told us the reason the French owner was selling because he makes a modest living growing fresh produce, but has had enough of the constant raiding of said garden by the wild deer jump over the fence from the forest at night - in fact, they practically live on the property. I nearly chocked on my Chateauneuf du Pape and my significant other was in fits of laughter. The agent threw a hissy-fit, which was even funnier, he left the next day. We signed with the Frenchman, secured the property and drove back to Blighty.

A month later, we returned with our furniture and started our dream. Two days went by, and one night, we came back to pitch black. As I drove onto the land, we stopped and stared in horror, as we looked down the land towards the forest, there were eyes everywhere, high-beamed-stunned, they eventually disappeared into the forest. I don't know if the agent knew this for real, but it was true. The deer did practical live on the land - at night anyway.

Ruffigné

When I first arrived in Ruffigné the village was quiet. The first thing I noticed was the church missing its spire, which collapsed in 1916 and was never replaced.

The village had a boulangerie (bread shop) and a bar called Chez Ann. It seemed like most of the village were in the bar when we walked in. Their eyes focused on us followed by greetings. One man threw his lips on my partner’s cheeks four times; by the time we left the bar that day they lined up to kiss her. Several people were dressed in costumes. Woman in sack-back gowns with tall hair and men dressed as musketeers. As the day was The Fête de la Fédération – Bastille Day.

Outside, three Frenchmen urinated up the side of the building as the only toilet was reserved for females.

At the time the BBC had a program called Post Card. A fly on the wall situation where they gave a couple, who had just moved to France, a camera and told them to get on with it. He was refurbishing the house and she was an artist, both from London, and I felt a connection with this couple as I was doing the same and there they were sat in the corner of the bar apparently they lived down the road from me.

The property was so cheap in this region even the two young BBC produces brought farm houses. Prices started at two thousand pounds and you could buy a large place with land for under ten grand.

A French farmer wasted no time introducing himself as my neighbour and what did we have planned for the cider apples from the orchard. I replied ‘nothing’ he asked ‘what do we want for them’ and I jokingly said our grass cut all two and a half hectors.

The next day several people and tractors turned up to cut down the over grown grass and a huge cider apple harvester truck to harvest the apples – turned out they are worth a lot.

I did get a chance to sample the cider as the bar stops trading when the maire (Mayor) turns off the lights to the village and the doors are locked. The pumps turned off and several barrels of cider heaved onto the bar you just hand the landlord a couple of francs and help yourself. After a few of them my words “I’ll never use the outside toilet” went out the door.

My place in France.

My Favorite French Film

Châteaubriant

Steak For Two

 

  Ingredients

1 whole Beef tenderloin, 6 pounds, trimmed
3 tbls butter
8 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley
Salt and ground black pepper

Preheat the Oven gas mark 6 – 400F – 200c.

Season the meat with salt and ground black pepper covering the whole joint.

Melt the butter in a large frying pan, add the beef and sear for 3 minutes turning. Place in the oven and roast for 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let it rest for 5 minutes before slicing.

• Serves: 2

Ingredients

• 4 tbls white vinegar
• 4 tbls white wine
• 2 cloves of garlic crushed
• 15 peppercorns
• crushed
• 4 tbls finely chopped shallots
• 11/2 tbls chopped tarragon
• 11/2 tbls water
• 4 egg yolks
• 11/2 cup unsalted butter
• melted

Instructions

1. For the sauce
2. Combine the peppercorns, wine, vinegar, shallots, and tarragon in a saucepan and bring to the boil reducing for five minutes and strain.
3. Mix the liquid in a bowl with the egg yolks - the bowl should be in hot simmering water. Whisk until frothy adding the butter until the sauce thickens.
4. Season with salt and pepper

 Films set in France

Films set in France

It was because of films like this period adventure, I sat and watched on a Sunday afternoon, that started me thinking about France as a child and it is still a classic to this day. One of those films that could never be remade successfully because of the actors like Stewart Granger, Janet Leigh, Mel Ferrer and Eleanor Parker. - this film was directed by George Sidney and based on the book by Rafael Sabatini.

Streaking For Mother

Streaking For Mother - Amazon - Amazon UK

Chris Haslam’s EL SID

Another Great Read

It's not very often I have feelings of loss or nothing to look forward to after finishing a book, but my latest read had me totally gutted when I turned the last page and read, the end. El Sid by Chris Haslam, is the last book he wrote following the Alligator Strip and his first book, Twelve Step Fandango.

Chris Haslam works as a journalist in London and gained food for the mind through various experiences and some diverse jobs from around the world, including a ski guide and firearms instructor. You get a sense of his research skills when reading his books and feel as though he has been to the places he describes so vividly.

We start in present day, meeting Sidney Starman ?El Sid' at the penultimate episode in his life. He wants to spend his last time on this planet looking for gold and to find out what happened to a lost love. He entices the help of a couple of troubled likely lads who are more than likely to scupper everything they tried to do to reach the goal.

EL SID

This is a journey into the past, unravelling the truth by flitting back to 1937. When El Sid was a soldier with the foreign brigades in the Spanish civil war and was embarking on an unauthorised covert operation, led by a hard-ass American, named Cobb and a dodgy German killer called Kreuz. They travel across enemy lines to stop the execution of a Gypsy thief, who knows the whereabouts of a hundred boxes of stolen Spanish gold, a part shipment of a larger hoard on its way to Russia, naively for safe keeping.

The progression of their road trip and a combination of bad luck and listening to El Sid’s stories force Sid’s companions, Lenny and Nicholas, to become more and more sceptical along the way whilst facing their own inner demons and questioning their own worth. The journey starts across the bay of Biscay and Santander, Alhambra, Palencia and eventually on to their destination of Montalban, Teruel province in Aragón.

Numerous visits to Spain made sure the historical side is well researched and chilling to think of a world that existed like that, not so long ago and how cheap life was then.

As usual in Chris Haslam’s books, like twelve step fandango and the Alligator strip. The ending starts to collect momentum and finishes with several directional choices, with the author choosing a less than obvious route. 

Two ex-cons are promised a share in a hoard of stolen Spanish Gold, taken in the Spanish civil war. The brains behind the caper is Spanish Civil war veteran, Sidney Starman. Now on the last leg of his life, he wants to return to his past, pulled by the curiosity of a lost Love and the need to know, is the gold still there.

Reasons why I liked this book so much

El Sid

First the characters, you can look at an older person and think that what you see is what you get, in regards to their lives, judging them by how they are and look now and not really putting any thought into how they were. Even at my age, my daughter is astonished when I know the words to the latest hit song. She not realising it is a remix from my youth.

The author gives us chapters in present day, and then contrasts it with events that took place in 1937, the two subordinate characters, Lenny and Nick, treat old Stanley like a doddering old fool. Yet when we read what he was up to in the war, it’s amusing and shocking. We share the secretes that Sidney has been hiding and get a feel for what he is capable of, it also shows in contrast how much these ex-cons are loses. I have some more reasons, but I think they could spoil it for those that may read the book.

Towards the end you realise just how powerful and heart-breaking Sidney’s journey is. Remembering what had happened in the past and painfully thinking what if, as you shift uneasy on your seat, wondering where this is going.

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Twelve Step Fandango

Alligator Strip

Twelve Step Fandango introduces us to Martin Brock, a likable, yet amoral anti-hero and drug dealer living up a mountain in a forgotten pueblo with a wild and bitter, German Chica, whose unquenchable habit and deceit lands them on the wrong side of some scary French gangsters. This is a cringing, kick ass ride at break neck speeds.

Once I read it I had to get his next book Alligator Strip, about the same character, but this time starting in Marrakesh Morocco, the place he fled to at the end Of Twelve Step Fandango. He eventually ends up in Florida, dodging bullets, ex-husbands, tornadoes, and falling in love with a hot pole dancer, whilst working a scam with a gold coin dealer. Superb!

MEET THE AUTHOR

The Best Comfort Food

Delicious Tomato Soup - Comfort Food

There are many categories of comfort foods, and I prefer the one that describes comfort food as sentimental and nostalgic, evoking a positive feeling.

Certainly when I have my chosen flavour it reminds me of a time in my past that felt and seemed positive. There are a lot of recipes out there and variations; seems like everyone has their take on this popular soup.

My favourite recipes I have hunted down and tried because I was looking for a particular version that is as close as I could get to a leading brand. That brand holds a lot of memories...

Image Shearart 

 

Comfort Food and Nostalgia

Now and again when I was ten or eleven I used to walk home at lunch time to eat, as my mother had mentioned, she would also be home for lunch (a rare occasion), and there waiting for me was a bowl of cream of tomato soup. Okay I’m not going to lie and suggest my mother made it, she had an hour at best for lunch, and was a bus ride away from work.

No this was out of a tin, ‘Heinz’ and we didn’t have it often. I’m not sure if my mother added something, or if it was simply the memory of spending half hour with her that for some strange reason, at this time of the day, was different, less stressed, and almost cheerful, or the hot crusty cobs(bread rolls) she would layer on with butter like she didn’t care. That’s my earliest memory of comfort food, Ice cream, chocolate bars and sweats in general, notwithstanding.

 

Soup of my day

   

Tomato Soup

Ingredients

• 7 tablespoons olive oil.
• 1 clove of garlic.
• 3 large carrots peeled and diced.
• 1 large onion sliced.
• 3 28-ounce cans whole peeled Roma tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon dried basil crushed.
• 1 quart chicken broth
• 1 pint heavy cream
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over a medium heat adding the onion, garlic and carrot, cook until soft, add the basil and cook for five more minutes.
2. Stir in the broth and add the tomatoes, bring to the boil and then simmer for 20-35 minutes.
3. Add the saucepan contents to a blender and purée, and strain back into the saucepan.
4. Now over a low heat stir in the cream and heat it through to the desired temperature and season to taste with ground black pepper and salt.

 

Kitchen Shark collection from ShearArt ten different designs to choose from and four apron colours, great for BBQ get togethers and boat parties.

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Father's Day Gift to Raise a Smile

A Fun Gift For a Father

I wanted to do something for a father, and a friend of mine, he has a strong sense of family, four teenagers and a new born. He had bestowed on me the honour of godfather to his new son. Like a lot of parents, he would rather just give to his children, so even though this is his gift it is something he can share with his family.

My first idea was to make him an nostalgic number plate, he had shown me a picture of his first car, back in Venezuela when he was younger, he smiled, as if he remembered something deeply personal about it. I notice that you could see the license plate.

My idea was to either make him a license plate or have one made, so he could hang it in his shed or man cave. Just to be sure he would like it I asked his wife, first describing my first idea and then I mentioned his car, her face contorted at the mere mention, she took deep breaths and said he would love the first idea.

A Comical Family Tree It Is!

I have seen cartoon family trees before, but Cartoon Bill was the first to create funny family trees http://www.caricaturesamerica.com/funny-family-tree.html Cartoon Bill offers a Funny Family tree service and his work is superb. 

Caricatures

First I made a serious of sketches of the family members and added each individuals pet or hobby.

I’ve included his car from years ago.

I also included his brother on a massage table and his sister in-law pole dancing, both based on personal jokes.

His eldest son ensconced on the sofa with a bowl of chips clasping the remote control and his other sons engaged in their favorite sports.

His wife is in the shower and his daughter standing with her pet hamster.

Finally his baby son climbing after his teddy bear.

The only book you need to get started drawing caricatures

This was the first book I purchased when learning how to draw caricatures, the practice exercises are effective and if you follow them and keep doing them you will get there. you can also use this book to learn and improve your face drawing skills.

Comical Family Tree

Pastel on thick water colour paper

The Two Boys

Crazy Festival Spain

Haro Wine Festival - Batalla de Vino (Battle of Wine)

Haro in Northern Spain, is in the middle of the wine growing region of La Rioja, and home to the annual Haro Wine Festival and the Batalla del Vino. Where the locals all arm themselves with water pistols, and splash each other with tens of thousands of litres of wine, turning everything purple.

Spain is not short of crazy festivals, but what seems silly to some, is part of the culture and traditional to others.

Of course, there are those that staunchly support this festival just for the wine - owe but for the wine. 

 

La Rioja Wine

I remember first hearing about Rioja in a Chinese restaurant in Nottingham England. A friend at the time was having a surprise anniversary bash for his wife, and I had drove up from London and sat at a large round table, set for five couples, three of which were already there.

We had something in common, all trying to avoid sounding pretentious, admitting that we all liked French wine, and decided to order a couple of bottles of Chateau Lafite Rothschild. The absent seats were filled by a couple who made an entrance, fresh in from Tenerife, suntans and blinged out.

A forty-something fella, accompanied by a rather younger provocatively dressed twenty-something blond – we tried to ignore the cliché, but the first thing they did was spin the centerpiece, grab one of the bottles (we had opened to breath), and splash it into their glasses, without a breath downed the wine and declared, to the rest of the table “it aint quite a Rioja but it will have to do”

Now there is Rioja and there’s Rioja – I later discovered.

 

Haro Wine Festival

Researching for this Lens, I asked my significant other if she had heard of any crazy weird or strange holidays festivals that was going down in June, she replied “yes euro 2012 football/Soccer” – So no then.

My neighbour on the other hand, couldn’t wait to tell me about his home town of Haro in the Rioja wine region. He jumps up, and goes next door, and reappears, grinning shinny eyed, clutching two bottles of wine he had made himself, declaring this is the wine he used to throw about in the Batalla de Vino (Battle of Wine) I remember most of what he said..

Fiesta del Vino de Haro the 29th of June is penned in on all the calendars of this town, celebrating San Pedro and as usual in a Spanish fiesta it has parades and a battle.

The village parades up to the small chapel with the statue of San Felices led by the mayor on horseback, after placing the city’s flag at the top of the rock, the battle commences all the way back to the Town’s Bullring.

There are windmills, but no Don Quixote, as arms spin around throwing buckets of vino on each other, and some stories are best left unmentioned. When the levels of testosterone and home brew splash about, especially when a quaff of suppressed rivalry rears its head.

This all sounds a bit silly, but watching my neighbour tell his stories with passion and a nostalgic tear, coupled with the fact that I have been to a lot of Spanish fiestas, I would suggest it’s worth a visit.

 

 Cheers!

 

The wine's not just for throwing!

 

 Photo with permission from http://www.wine-fight.com/the-history/

 

Time to dry off

This is a file from Wikimedia Commons

 

 

Tiger Nuts

What Are Tiger Nuts?

Tiger nuts, are small tubers, and not as the name suggest nuts, first used over 4000 years ago, and goes by many names: yellow nutgrass, earth almond, rush nut, edible rush and Zulu nut. In Spain it is called a Chufa.

There are many uses for the Tiger Nut, and one of them is the popular Mediterranean coastal drink Horchata (vegetable milk), which is well known and sold all over Spain, originating in Alboraya Valencia - Horchata is a refreshing sweet drink, that has a texture and flavour similar to coconut, and is usually accompanied by churros or fartons (spongy sweet bread-stick).

Tiger nuts are high in fibre and energy: natural sugars, fats, starch and proteins they also are rich in soluble oleic acid and glucose. Tiger nuts contain minerals such as, potassium and phosphorus and vitamins C and E.

Tiger Nuts are popular as fishing bait, and also the oil from the tiger nut is extracted for industrial use, cosmetics and flour for consumption.

Image Source

Horchata de chufa

250g dried tiger nuts
1 litre water
120g sugar
 

Step 1

Tiger nut milk

Place the Tiger nuts into a bowl and re

hydrate by soaking them for twenty four hours in the refrigerator this will also plump them out.

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Step 2

Drain and add 750ml of water and blend until pureed for about 2 minutes.

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Step 3

Drain off the tiger nuts using in a fine sieve or squeeze through a cheese cloth, extracting all the liquid from the Tiger nuts.

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Step 4

To the milky liquid add the sugar and the rest of the water, stair until dissolved.

The rest of the water can be in ice cubes if this is going to be drank immediately or water and placed in the fridge.

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Horchata

The finished product

 

 Optional: Lemon or cinnamon can be added.

 

Tiger Nuts Contain

 

 

 

 

Tiger Nuts