It’s hard to believe that I haven’t added anything to this blog since January (and it’s now May). We left the Isle of Man in early February with an uneventful trip back to France. As usual, at the security post for the ferry in Douglas, we paid our “bribe” of one packet of Jelly Babies! (We always travel with a full car and the price not to have to offload everything is a packet of Jelly Babies – though I’m sure they would make us unload if they thought there were any problems! We must have innocent faces!)
After crossing the channel, instead of heading back down to the Paris area, we diverted through to Lille in northern France because M-D’s nephew is a dentist who practises there and M-D is undergoing an implant procedure at the moment. Naturally, it gave us a chance to see Christine (M-D’s sister), so we passed a pleasant evening there before heading south.
In fact, we made a return trip to Lille a couple of weeks later (again, mainly for dental reasons) but whilst there were invited to an “Evening of Couscous” with some of Christine’s friends (who we also know). I’m not a great couscous fan normally, but this one was quite exceptional and, along with the wines and conversation, made for a pleasant evening.
Things are quiet in France at this time of the year. Initially, the weather was unsettled but, by the beginning of April, the sun came out and we were able to get some walks in the forest. The Forest of Saint-Germain-en-Laye is a relic of a more ancient Forest which became a royal domain and hunting grounds of the Kings of France who resided at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye. Henry IV and Louis XIII of France often used the forest for fox hunting. It’s a forest of 35 km2 which lies in a meander of the River Seine and is composed of mainly oak and beech. It is now bordered by built up areas and divided by communication links but has the advantage of being just 300m from where we live! Within a couple of weeks, there will be little blue sky to see as the canopy fills in for the summer.
A couple of weeks ago, Marie-Danielle’s cousin, Nadia, came to see us from Bordeaux for a couple of days. During that time, we served her and her husband, Michel, Leg of Lamb in Deep Rich Gravy and also Monkfish Medallions a l’Orange. On the third day, we invited Nadia’s mother (M-D’s aunt) to join us for lunch. She lives on the outskirts of Versailles, so it’s just a 20 minute drive each way to get her. Also, M-D’s cousin, Jean-Louis, and his partner, France, joined us for lunch, so we were a table of seven.
After a long “appero” where everybody did a bit of catching up, we served Filet Mignon (Tenderloin-of-Pork) with Sage and Rosemary which seemed to disappear fairly quickly, so I guess everyone was happy with that. After some delightful French cheeses, Jean-Louis was voted the man to cut the cake which “Aunt Suzanne” had brought with her. A lovely raspberry gâteau with fresh cream… Mmmm!
So now we’re back to being just the two of us for a couple of weeks while we amalgamate all the stuff we’re taking back to the Island with us. Normally at this time of year we take the plane, but there is so much stuff that we need to load the car again! At least it means that, during the summer, M-D will be independent of me while we are on the island. My car is too big for her, so she’s not comfortable driving it, but her B Class Mercedes carries a lot of stuff and is easier for her to drive than my old “Elegance”.
Our summer is already fully booked! Just two days after arriving, my neice, Sally, and her lovely family are coming over. As soon as they leave, the Isle of Man TT races begin and we are doing “Homestay” like we did last September. Already, we are fully booked for the fortnight. After which, we get a whole two weeks to ourselves, then M-D’s former boss (when she worked in Belgium) is coming over, with his wife. After a few days sight-seeing on The Island, we are going to do a Scottish tour with them (and guess who’s driving!!!)
After they go back, we have just one week before Ian, my elder son, and his parner, Caroline, are coming to visit us… I’m looking forward to that one! But as soon as they leave, we have our two French granddaughters and a friend staying with us virtually for the whole month of August. And, as I type this, M-D is on the phone to someone who stayed with us for last year’s Isle of Man Festival of Motorcycling (used to be called the Manx Grand Prix) and who wants to “book us” again this year! And that would leave us just 4 days before we head back to France again in early September! Nothing like being retired, is there!
While here in France, we’ve (naturally) made a couple of little excursions across the road to our “local” (Happy Sushi) and in fact we plan going again this evening. I also confess to enjoying many of the splendid culinary delights that are on offer here, which we don’t find on The Island. Things like plump duck breasts (from the ducks that provide foie gras). It’s actually fun exploring the supermarket shelves. Did I really just say that?? – Sounds like it’s time to close this post!!
Our friends Jill and Bruno are, like us, a French-British couple only the other way round – Jill is British and Bruno is French. They live close to us on the Isle of Man and Bruno is a 
Bruno has the same “challenges” and one of the things he misses is that famously French sausage called andouillette. Andouillette is a coarse-grained sausage made with pork intestines (or chitterlings, as we know them in Britain) pepper, wine, onions, and seasonings. True andouillette is shaped like an oblong tube. If made with the small intestine, it is a plump sausage generally about 1″ (2.5cm) in diameter but often it is much larger and stronger in scent when the colon is used. The andouillette has a strong, distinctive odour related to its intestinal origins and component parts. In fact, it is this odour (and subsequent taste) that turns me off this “delicacy”. I have tried eating bits of them several times, but simply do not appreciate them as many in France do. We all have foods like that, which simply don’t “suit” us.
We didn’t do a starter course as such, we simply ‘extended the choices’ of the aperitif. In addition to the usual olives and nibbly biscuits, we provided some slightly more ‘substantial’ fare like quails eggs and toasts with 
And so to the pièce de résistance, the main course! I believe I’ve mentioned before on this blog that Jill is not vegetarian, but she won’t eat anything that had four legs when it was alive. She’s fine with poultry and fish so I did 
I have a niece called Rebecca who, a year or so ago, went to live in New Zealand with her new partner, Robin. Since then, we’ve all got to “know” Robin via Facebook, but none of us had actually met him. Rebecca decided to rectify this gap in our knowledge and she and Robin came to the Isle of Man to spend Christmas and New Year with her parents (my brother and his wife, Steve and Jeanette). And so, on Christmas day, we at last met Robin and discovered for ourselves what a really nice guy he is.
As a starter, we tried a little recipe of tuna-stuffed eggs which, I have to say, was rather uninspiring and it’s one we won’t be repeating.So, rushing past the bad news and onto the main course, we’d done one of our favourites, 
For Christmas, Marie-Danielle had bought me a case of Chateauneuf-du-Pape (both red and white) so, never being one to waste a good Christmas present, we enjoyed both the red and the white with this meal and it truly was a great Christmas gift (I even have a few bottles left!). Robin is a programmer and runs his own company, 
After a “Trou Normand” (calvados, served over sorbet) we moved on to the cheeseboard before actually celebrating the changing of the years and watching the London firworks on TV. After the last firwork had died out, we sat down to Orange Carpaccio with Gâteau Creusois which proved to be an excellent way to end a family New Year meal and welcome in another year of culinary delights!
The postscript to this pleasant evening was that, the following day, Robin and Rebecca braved the harsh Manx winter and took part in the New Year’s Day swim on Peel beach. Dressed as viking invaders, they did New Zealand proud! A couple of days later, they left the island and (going via England and Paris) they eventually found their way back to New Zealand with temperatures of 31ºC (91ºF)!
So, a couple of days before, armed with a a lump of wood and some parcel tape, I prepared the dining table for seven. This took a modicum of engineering skill since we don’t have a large dining room and the table was designed to only seat six! However, it seemed to work OK, because on 24th Marie-Danielle prepared a beautiful table for us while I was locked away in the kitchen!
Bruno was going to make it since he had been unwell for some days. However, he made a huge effort and spent the evening with a “cockerel hat” perched on his head (as opposed to Steve, who wore a “reindeer hat”) – yes, it was one of those nights! We are certainly blessed with some wonderful friends.
Along with quails eggs, olives, “appericubes” (baby cheese cubes from France), cocktail biscuits and a couple of bottles of chilled Cremant d’Alsace, we passed a pleasant half-hour awaiting the main event. Or should I say that “they” passed a pleasant half-hour awaiting the main event, since I was locked away in the kitchen having all sorts of fun on my own!
We decided to do a 
Upon Penny’s return, just before midnight, we all exchanged presents (I did warn you we were doing things French style!). After which, cheese was served, followed by M-D’s famous 
First of all, though, there was some other business to attend to! in early December we enjoyed a really pleasant evening with Penny and Sarah, friends from the Isle of Man who were visiting Paris. We ate at “Le Procope” in Paris. Founded in 1686 and now Paris’ oldest café, there’s a great atmosphere. The food is excellent and reasonably priced (for central Paris). I tried a Tête de Veau (veal’s head) which, for some reason, I’ve always avoided till now. Frankly, I shall carry on avoiding it! 
There was nothing wrong with the food or the way it had been prepared it’s just that some foods suit us and some don’t. Tête de Veau turned out to just not be my thing. The other three hit luckier than me with dishes that suited them and that they enjoyed. But I had the pleasure of the company of three charming ladies, so I’m not complaining! The evening was fun and it was great to meet friends in a different environment.
And talking of Penny and Sarah, we will have pleasure of their company on December 24th for our Christmas celebration. But more of that when it happens because first we celebrated an early Christmas with M-D’s family near Orléans in north-central France. As our childrens’ families mature, we see less of them than before and, to me, this is quite right. They have built their own lives and we are now only a small part of it. So, since Muriel, Vincent and ‘the girls’ were heading to Corsica for Christmas, we spent an evening with them and had an early festive celebration.
I headed back to the Isle of Man on my own towards the end of June because I had some work to do in our bedroom, so it was easier having the place to myself and not disrupting Marie-Danielle too. When we bought the house on the island, the builder who had renovated it had generally done a good job but, on a couple of things, he had taken shortcuts. One of these shortcuts was that there was water penetration on the top storey and damp was coming through the walls into our bedroom. The builder had tried to hide this by adding a couple of false stud walls with a 4″ (100mm) gap to the outside wall. Naturally, this was just a short-term cover-up and, In August last year (2013) we had scaffolding erected and roofers arrived to resolve the situation. So now it was time to rip out the false wall and let the original wall breathe.
While Christine was over, we did a few walks and a bit of casual sightseeing. The location in the photo on the left is in the south of the island and, on that day, we could clearly see Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland from that spot. It makes you realise how central The Isle of Man is in the British Isles and Ireland.
Then, in August, we housed a couple of French visitors for a week. Twice a year, the Isle of Man becomes home to bikers from all over the world. In June, they come for the Isle of Man TT and in August they come for the Isle of Man Festival of Motorcycling (used to be called The Manx Grand Prix). During thoise times, the population of the island doubles so, local people help out by offering rooms to bikers at a sensible price. It’s fun and it helps the island economy.
We got to meet and greet Mimie Champseix-Léonard and her husband, Serge. A real nice couple from Tarnac in the Limousin region of France. Though they seemed to enjoy exploring the various watering holes on the island, I think they were quite pleased when we asked them to have dinner with us on their final night before heading back to France!
By way of marking our return to France, we invited our friends and neighbours, Terry, Julie, Dominic and Kate to dinner last night. We kicked off in normal style with a glass or two of Kir, using a rather nice Chardonny that had travelled back with us in January. When we settled at the table, we started with 
After which, we resorted to one of our regular favourites, 
White wine with Crême de Cassis is known as “Kir” in France and is a popular apéritif drink named after Félix Kir (1876–1968), mayor of Dijon in Burgundy, who popularized the drink by offering it at receptions to visiting delegations. Besides treating his international guests well, he was also promoting two vital economic products of the region – blackcurrants and white wine.
The main course was the “salty” end of the recipe with 
Once the chicken has been treated with the Boursin, you build a complete casing for it using coarse salt, flour, rosemary, thyme, baies, peppercorns and egg whites. It ends up looking like a bomb, but part of the fun of this recipe (and, yes, food should be fun too!) is, prior to serving, showing your guests the cooked “bomb” and seeing if any of them can guess what’s inside. Then, of course, you take it back to the kitchen and remove the salt crust (which takes a certain amount of brute force and muscle!)
Once you have opened up the crust, you will find (every time without fail) a perfectly cooked golden brown bird, ready to be segmented and served in portions or, very simply, placed on a serving dish and carved at the table. We served ours with mini Brussels sprouts and new potatoes. No need for any sort of sauce or gravy, the moist chicken meat was more than enough – particularly when helped down with a couple of bottles of Domaine du Landetran, L’Ame des Schistes 2010 (well, come on, be fair, there were four of us!).
For the main course, we took an easy option (for us) and served 
After a selection of cheeses (with a little more St Emilion!), dessert was a Gâteau Creusois and a Carpaccio d’Oranges à la Cannelle (Orange slices with cinnamon). Together, a nice simple, refreshing and tasty way to finish the meal (particularly since it took a new bottle of Saint Emilion to help it go down!).
Meanwhile, a combination of storms and high tides has given The Island a real pounding with many of the sea walls damaged, some shops and homes flooded and everybody huddled indoors waiting for summer! Fortunately, the island is hilly, so we don’t get many places where water lays on the land for long periods such as they are experiencing in Somerset.
However, all’s well that ends well because Penny is coming round tomorrow night to help us finish the raclette ingredients that we had with Terry and Julie last week! We have just enough for three people, Steve’s away and Penny’s not on call, so it sounds like a good excuse to dig into the wine cellar and see what’s available – I love it when a plan comes together! Who cares about the weather?
Obviously, we didn’t buy a 50kg block of cheese, light a fire and start scraping it – we used a more modern way of serving raclette that involves an electric table-top grill with small pans, known as coupelles, in which to melt slices of cheese. When we do this, we bring the cheese to the table already cut and sliced, along with a plate of charcuterie like Grisons (which is what we used last night) or pastrami or salami or cooked ham (or whatever floats your boat) accompanied by a big dish of boiled or steamed potatoes and a bowl of cornichons (small gherkins).