Life in France by Susan Veeser Klein

CONFINEMENT 2020

Keith was busy during the confinement period. He had small scraps of wood, and of course could not buy any new wood with everything closed. So he started to make items with the wood he had.

I cleaned and sorted, but although I feel some accomplishment, there is nothing to show for my effots( and besides, I see the dust bunnies have started again-already).

But here are photos of Keith's accomplishments.

A table Keith started 2 years ago and finished the first part of
confinment.....temporary resting place

Table from the side
On top is a set of trays- 2nd project and letter boxes-3rd and 4 project

Now upstairs - upstairs hall or mezzanine ....for those that have been here before, NO ugly flower paper on the wall
Keith spent time removing the paper and when confinment was over, bought paint and painted the walls..so nice and clean looking

Keith had bought the clock kit a few years back, now he used his time (pun intended ) to
make a clock

Closer look at one of 3 letter boxes

Closer look at trash or

Small stepping stool

For my robe in the bathroom...we had bought tiles on vacations, so always a question what to do with the tiles

A case for my photos...the large photos are 70cm wide, so this is 70.5...it is wonderful- thanks my love, I needed this

Now he is working in the bathroom. Wall paper is off and he is in the process of smoothing the walls.

Tile had been on the walls in the past, and we did a light sanding and hung the paper! Well the flaws showed. It is time to clean it up. Big job ahead, and it will be painted. No more paper in a steamy bathroom.

THE END

Saint Vincent Tournante 2020

This (without the grill) was the winning poster for 2020. The different aromas around
the head( fruits, flowers, forest mushrooms, ...), the vineyards..original done in layers of paper.

The 2020 Gevrey-Chambertin -

Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 January.

What is Saint Vincent Tournante?-wikipedia

"Saint-Vincent is the patron saint of winegrowers. Appearing in the Middle Ages with the "mutual aid societies" of each wine-growing village in Burgundy, the traditional manifestations of Saint-Vincent had declined in the early twentieth century with the secularization of society. There were only a few Burgundian villages that still organized +50).

On January 22, 1938, the brotherhood of the Tastevin knights relaunched the events related to Saint-Vincent and organized the first large-scale rotating Saint-Vincent in Chambolle-Musigny. There were only six Saint Vincent societies in the parade of 1938, but there were 53 in 1965.

This wine-growing festival was held in Gevrey-Chambertin for the first time in 1947, and since then, the feast of the patron saint of winemakers has been welcomed almost every twenty years."

This year it was again in Gevrey-Chambertin- Saint Vincent Tournante 2020 ...photos and info here at the english site: CLICK - For official website of Saint Vincent 2020

The village started preparations 3 years in advance. In 2018, volunteers started to work on the decorations- 2 years of working to make decorations for this event. Then people decorated their houses too.
There is a parade with the villages carrying their statue of Saint Vincent. There is food and wine and music for the 2 days, the 25th and 26th of January ( the actual feast day is the 21st of January).

Also there is a one large commissioned decoration for the village. This year, 2020 it was the on the side of the " city hall", or administrative building.

The side of the Mayors Office. This is permanent ,
made of stone. Both the copper work and stone
work are by habitants of the village.
I think it is a impressive work, and so appropriate.
It represents the 9 Grand Crus of Gevrey (each leaf with
the name of a Grand Cru)

Description of work and 9 Grand Cru location
Map of vineyards on the left

Four nieces came to celebrate this event with us. Here are some photos. Unfortunately I missed a couple of the large decorations..Did not find them the box of cigars or a few other ones and the then the fête was over.😥

PARADE (Défilé)

First the parade that started at 7:45 am, still twilight. All of the 50 some villages carried the Saint Vincent that represented their village. Many villages also have banners. Here are just a few photos. I do not have and will not put all of the villages here in the Blog. Just some photos to give you an example of the Défilé (parade)

The gendarmes leading the parade

The Roi de Chambertin

costumes

St Vincent from Chablis
( Chablis is a very good wine when you choose a good vigneron)

Banner and St Vincent Morey-Saint-Denis

Banner Santeney-St Vincent behind

Garde Impériale

Confrerie des vignerons de Saint Geng-de-Vigny

Horn section...with a woman texting and blocking my photo!

horns

Puligny-Montrachet...elaborate St Vincent

Jully lès Buxy

VILLAGE DECORATIONS

I took some photo the week before...not many decorations were up at the time

Of course, # I LOVE GERVEY
Built from pallets-

Official banner on the wall of a business

And on another wall was a banner of
SAINT VINCENT -Gevrey

Side of a winemakers building-same as opening

Throughout the village they used the branches cut from the vines (serments) and decorated the fences.

Serments -flowers added on Thursday and Friday

HOUSE DECORATIONS

Here are a few house decorations taken Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The following are an example. many houses on the parade route and centre ville were decorated.

Our house- it is not on the main route, but I wanted
some decorations...Our new wall too!

And other houses

working on the decorations-Friday

A neighbor on streete...others did not decorate

My pottery instructor painted the two scenes

pottery as above

Note the little monk 🙏 Photo by Andrea Zittel

Over by the school - Photo by Keith K

Photo by Keith K

A friend decorated the top of their wall with
pottery she had made at our Thursday morning
pottery workshop ..so I made this collage of some of the work

VOLUNTEER COMMITTEE DECORATIONS

Then the volunteers who worked on decorations for 2 years-just people from the village like Keith.

I made paper flowers, Keith worked Wed nights on the carpentry projects among other things.

Round about on the Ave de la Gare

These were set up along the Ave de la Gare

Vanilla flower and pods

Saint Vincent symbol

A giant Bolet mushroom- photo Keith K

About 6 ft of chanterelle mushroom Photo Keith K

Wooden bunny rabbits in the church yard -photo by Keith K

Japan was the honored guest.
Scene on the Place de Marronnier

Volunteer welders on the committee

Then there were a few welders who made a few contributions! All made from the old metal bands on wine barrels

Flowers

Horn of Plenty-Fruits

Escargot is part of Burgundy !

and the deer- WOW

HAVING FUN

And me having fun around Gevrey with my nieces and friend Marie-Thérèse (MT). The four nieces all from the warmer climates, well at least 3- 2 Phoenix, 1 Hawaii, and one near Dallas

Katie

Katie and St Vincent

Selling café and croissants and singing

Spontaneous singing on the street (by Andrea Z)

Street in center village and Katie

The fromagerie had a kiosk ..just to the left
this is their publicity 😁

And food-tartiflette (see recipe below) -Potatoes, cheese and lardons
Was it good?

Michele, Katie, Karen and MT

MT and Katie

Karen and the old aunt
(hmm, bulky jacket and sweater hanging out..
Not high fashion!-oh well)

The nieces 😃

Tartiflette and Escargot and Vin Chaud
Andrea, Michele, Katie and Karen

Raclette

Katie, Karen , MT and Andrea

Michele, Katie, Karen,MT and Andrea

Sisters

The Gala

For those still hanging in there, on Saturday was the grand GALA. Two star Michelin chef from Dijon was head chef for the dinner. We dressed in our Gala best and went out for the evening.

With each course a different wine was presented. A trumpet would blow and the
servers would march out in line with the wine

And the wine was presented

Did we enjoy the wine?

Wonderful red of pinot noir

Keith was happy to taste the wine

Michele too.

The Gala entertainment ...

The Cadets de Bourgogne sang the old songs

More singing

I tried to record Les Cadets singing the Ban Bourgognon, but always too late! We sang it several times throughout the evening. But Karen recorded it (yeah)..a little harder to here, but great video of the group. If you want a version of the Cadets, see below.

What is it? Ban bourguignon is a popular melody which, although having no official status, is often presented as the "anthem" of Burgundy.

After having disappeared during the Second World War, it was taken up again during the Vineyard festivals, spread throughout Burgundy and took its current name of "Ban bourguignon".

It is sang to honor someone, or at times of festivals and fun.

If curious you can listen to Les Cadets sing it at another dinner, same group, different place and night, but the song is always the same. 😀 Click on the caption below and it should open in a new window, it is on YouTube.

The cadets on another night

Again, Japan was our honored guest. Let the drums roll..very short video

Monday 27th, birthday day (to Mozart too)

To end it all, Karen and I have the same birthday, the 27th of January . We had lunch at one of our (Keith and moi) favorite restaurants.

A wonderful weekend with family . Could not have asked for
a more perfect present.💖
1950 and 1966 were great years (not to mention lots of others)

And then a cake 🎂 too...

layer of cake, chocolate crunch and
a couple inches of french chocolat mouse
mmmmm

I was tired, but oh so content after a fun few days with family. Tuesday went to Lyon with Karen ( the 3 sisters had flights from Paris on Tuesday), and Karen flew out from Lyon very early Wed.
💖💖💕💕💖💖💖

RECIPES

As usual -recipes. I have a couple recipes this time.

One a repeat, Tartiflette as seen in a photo above.

TARTIFLETTE

This is an Savoy dish, hardy for the winter. Along with a green salad, dinner is ready.

The recipe has lardons. If you do not have lardons in the store, buy the thick bacon (not smoked) and cut into ¼ inch pieces or use ham(not exactly the same though). For the vegetarians, leave out the lardons.

Ingredients

• 2 lbs (1 kg ) potatoes

• 7 oz. (200 g) of lardons [note above on lardons]

• 7 oz. (200 g) chopped onions

• 1/2 cup creme fraiche

• 1 16 oz. (450 grams) Reblochon

• Garlic

• Salt

• Pepper

Preparation

1. Peel the potatoes, cut into cubes, rinse well, and dry in a clean cloth.

2. Heat oil in a pan, and sauté the onions

3. Then add the potatoes

4. Brown all sides of potato cubes, add the bacon (lardons) and finish cooking.

5. Meanwhile, scrape the crust from the Reblochon and cut it in two , then into slices.

6. Prepare a baking dish by rubbing the bottom and sides with garlic.

7. Preheat oven to 350 ° F (thermostat 6-7).

8. In the baking dish, put a layer of potatoes with bacon(lardons), and half of the Reblochon -layering like a lasagna.

9. Add the rest of the potatoes, and finish with the rest of the Reblochon (for the top crust) and bake for about 20 min ( monitor to prevent the cheese turning to grease).

Since everything is warm, it just needs some time in the oven to melt the cheese.

GOUGERES
A real Burgundian treat. Puff pastry with grated cheese mixed into the dough and baked. So good to eat warm from the oven

Ingredients

3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup water
6 TBS butter
3 eggs
1/2 cup grated Emmental or Gruyère cheese

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400° F (200° C)
sift together flour and salt
Bring water and butter to a boil in a small saucepan
Remove from heat and add dry ingredients
BEAT with a wooden spoon until well blended and mixture starts to pulling away from the sides of the pan..1 minute or 2
Return to low heat and mix constantly for 2 more minutes. Remove from heat
Beat eggs together in a small bowl. Gradually add eggs, one TBS at a time to the flour mixture. Beat each addition thoroughly. When done dough should be smooth and shiney
Add cheese and mix well
Place walnut size spoonfuls on greased baking sheet
Bake until golden brown, about 20-30 minutes...should puff up into balls
Serve warm

Life in France by Susan Veeser Klein

Friday, May 17, 2024

USA 2024

Friday, July 23, 2021

July 2021 plus Gevrey

Thursday, June 18, 2020

Monday, January 13, 2020

Saint Vincent Gevrey-Chambertinn 2020 by SueK