Saturday, November 22, 2008

November

Happy Thanksgiving

November 2008

This month has been interesting. I'll start with the 23rd of November and then I'll go back to the 1st of November. Sunday the 23rd we celebrated Thanksgiving. I was able to buy an 11 pound turkey (they do not grow huge turkeys here like they do in the USA). Whole turkeys are part of a Christmas tradition here,so at this time of year it is best to order a turkey 2 weeks to 10 days a head of time. I was very happy with the turkey that I bought (he is on the table in the photo). He still had a few feathers on him, but that is not a big problem. We had all the traditional food along with our turkey; mashed potatoes, squash au gratin, stuffing, wild rice, gravy, cranberries.... I even made sweet potato pie (I can get sweet potatoes, but pumpkin is not easy to find)and pecan pie. We spent from noon to 6pm - there is no football to watch, so dinner lasts longer. We had a very nice afternoon with friends, where it was warm inside although there were snow flakes in the air outside.

Now back to the beginning, November 1st. There was a birthday party for Christophe in Clemencey [Christophe runs the Ecurie des Combes Rouges (horse stables). I have mentioned the stables before; it is where Marie Therese keeps her horse Ohtar]. We were invited, but Keith was still on his trip. So I went. It started at noon on Saturday. The diner was served in the “Club House”. The club house is a room under the main house and it is used as an office/get together room. It also has a table, a couch and a wood stove. The clubhouse was decorated for the birthday dinner and his mother was preparing the food for diner. We all were greeted with glass of Cremant de Bourgogne (sparkling wine) and snacks: gougeres, knacks, chips, ... and chinese snack mix!?

Probably about 1:30 everyone sat down for the diner. We started with terrine (homemade- I would like the recipe). Two very large casserole (or terrine) dishes were brought out. I always eat terrine with mustard and cornichons (small pickles). I was told I was becoming very french indeed. Oh, it was very good. With this we had a white wine, aligote.

Then some salad, after which there was Pot au Feu (or pot roast). A very decorated, very large terrine held the vegetables (carrots, potatoes, and leeks). I have never seen one this large. It was the size of a roasting pan, but it was ceramic. There were two large bowls of meat which were passed around family style. With the pot-au-feu, we had red wine, a bourgogne pinot noir.

For the cheese course, we had fromage blanc.

Then dessert, those who kept horses at the stables had brought desserts, so we had a choice of around 6 different desserts. Cake, chocolate cake (very dense and very chocolaty), pastry filled with cream, and beignets.... What can I say, we were all full. Someone put on the music and some of us did the twist and rock and roll. Exercise was needed at this point. In this small room, there were 20 some people, and about 5 dogs. It was a great time.

I did not stay late, I wanted to drive at a reasonable time. Since I had stopped drinking early, I did not want to stay and start up again. The drive home from Clemencey is on small country roads (and I do mean small, not like american roads). So I left at about 6pm, having spent a delightful afternoon with friends.

November 4th with the election is an historical point in US history. The news people (I have CNN here) were stating this is one of the moments that people will say “I remember exactly where I was when I heard the news”. And so it goes. I must say that the french people are happy with the outcome. It was a big topic here just before the elections, and everyone would ask me what I thought would happen. Our paper the Bien Public from Dijon, which only reports local news, had 3 days running with the first half of the front page dedicated to the US elections. Monday had a half page photo of Obama with “WILL THEY DARE?”, on Tuesday a half front page with both of the candidates and on Wed of course the results. The TV news was similarly occupied by the elections. On Sunday night, the major french station TF1, canceled the news that runs 8pm to 8:40pm and had an US election special report. My friend from London said the British news too was all about the american elections. She had never seen so much reporting for the USA elections.

Moving on to other topics. Keith finished his trip on November 7th. This trip was from St Legere north to Dijon. However due to the rain the first week and the flooding of the Saone river, they only got as far as Chalon-sur-Saone. All navigation further north was closed. They were to go up to St.-Jean-de-Losne (pronounced as St Jon de Loan-ya) on the Saone river and then back onto the Burgundy canal up to Dijon. So things were quickly re-arranged and all went well. The travelers were very happy with the trip. With buses rerouted, all the day trips continued as planned, although the journey from one place to another was slightly altered.

This was the last trip for the boat Abercrombie. The company OATS is closing down the Burgundy canal tour. With the dollar down (as it was this last year) and the ratio of staff to clients, I guess the profit margin was not good enough.

As stated above,the month started with rain. There were floods on the Saone and the Loire in the Burgundy region. Rain at this time of year is not unusual however, although this was excessive. It was chilly too. One morning when I opened the shutters (volets), it smelled like a winter day; that cold fresh snow smell. All we had though was some frost that morning.

After the first week, the weather improved again. The temperature returned to about 55-60 F during the day and about 45-50 at night. I do like this gentler climate we have here in Gevrey, I noticed that in Minnesota it is already snowing. That said, with all those years in Minnesota, it is difficult to see Christmas decorations out everywhere when it is still warm. My mind does not comprehend that Christmas is approaching when the weather is more like September or October. [update nov 22- today we had some white flakes in the sky. So we are going to get winter a little early. Major snow east of france].

Went mushroom hunting again. I love to walk around here in the countryside. This time we did not go into the woods, but walked in the scrub areas on top of the hills. Here in the scrub area, holly grows all over. In the long wet grasses one can find a mushroom called mousserons d’autome. We found a large bag full that day. But the scenery was more important to me. It was a fairly clear day, with some haze on the horizon towards the Saone valley. We could see the Jura mountains, and they looked closer than usual. Marie Therese said that when the mountains looked magnified like that, it means rain is coming. And sure enough it rained the next day. We were on the plateau above Chambolle. I took a photo of the cliffs of Chambolle while we were there.

Fall is slowly giving way to winter. Many trees have lost their leaves. Some are hanging on tightly to those golden leaves. All the vines are bare too. With fall comes the clipping of the vines and burning of these clipped branches. So along with misty rain, and fog there is smoke from the vineyards. To us now, the smoke and the smell are part of our winters here.

It is also time to change the flowers. I think I have mentioned the Ville Fleurir (flowering city) here in France. They take great pride in the flower displays. Now the August / September flowers have been removed and the planters filled with mums or pansies. The mums are so colorful and vibrant.

The weekend, November 14th,15th, and 16th was the annual fete in Beaune. On this weekend is the big auction de Hospice de Beaune. It is the bell weather for the price of this years wine harvest. The auction is on Sunday. > However, Beaune turns out a big celebration. There are booths all through out the center of Beaune selling almost anything you can imagine. Many are dedicated to food; cheese, sausage, terrines, bread, cookies, chocolate ... Others are selling crafts such as pottery or paintings or hand made cloths or knits or loomed wool or .... There are bands (we saw 3) walking up and down the streets to entertain, and one big recital in the main hall. There is also a wine tasting, but it cost 24 euros, so did not go there.

Instead we went and bought a glass of wine.

There was also a cork-pulling contest. There are 10 bottles filled with water and then corked. The first contestant to pull out the 10 corks is the winner. Ah, guess who decided to enter this contest? Oh no, not me, but Marie Therese did. She came in 3rd unfortunately, but still won a bottle of wine. All in a days fun.

On Monday the 17th, we went down to the Domaine Jean Claude Breliere in Rully (some of you have been there). It was a sunny day and it is about 40 minutes from here. Anna Breliere was talking about the miracle of wine. How you start in the spring and tend the vines and worry all season for good weather, then pick the grapes and then make wine. She was talking with such passion about their lives, and of wine making. Jean Claude wants to move towards a more “biologique” approach, using fewer insecticides. It is not an easy transition to make, but one has to start sometime. As we talked we also tasted their wines (the 2007 whites and 2006 reds). We spent a delightful 2 hours with them.

Keith is out for a bike ride, and on nice days, I still try to ride my bike to the Super U for groceries.

My Thursdays are busy with pottery in the morning and photo club in the evening. I do enjoy my hobbies. However I worked on the wheel the other day for about 2 ½ hours and my arms have a few sore muscles. I was having trouble centering the clay and it takes a lot of strength to bring it all into the center. I guess the old saying, “no pain , no gain”.

That is the closing for this month (I am not going to mention the horrible market situation)!!!!

Recipe of the month

DIJON Vinaigrette: (8 servings)

NOTE: All ingredients must be a room temperature Make vinaigrette immediately before serving.

Ingredients:

  • 2 Tbsp. Mustard
  • 1/4 tsp Salt
  • 1/4 - 1/2 c. Oil (I use olive oil)
  • 1 Tbsp. Vinegar

Preparation:

Add the oil in small quantities to the mustard/salt, stirring constantly (5-10 min) Stir, stir, stir……. Add oil, add oil, add oil……. Mixture will begin to thicken, "plump-up”, and that is when you are finished. Now add vinaigre just till the point where the consistency becomes more fluid.

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