Sunday, October 30, 2011

October 2011


Gevrey

It is a cloudy grey day here in Gevrey. Just had a little mist fall around lunch time. Last night was the time to turn the clocks back one hour. It will take a day or so to change my internal clock. I can easily go through the house and put all of our clocks to the right time, but it takes a little more to change my head.

Not a lot to say this month, but plenty busy. I took photos, so more of the story in photos than words.
Entrance to the spring
My History/Heritage club ( Histoire et Patrimoine) picked another spring (source) to clean this year. It is located in the Combe Lavaux which is nowt a nature reserve. So we had to wait for the right time to go in and tramp around, so we would not kill certain plants that bloom in the summer. Two of the employees that work for the Reserve came with us. The entrance was totally overgrown with vines.  Actually there are two entrances. The first path was overgrown also. Then you arrive at a circular clearing, that is full of water in the summer. Since it had been dry during the month of September, it had grass and was muddy.
We were told to start at the first entrance and clear a path 2 meters wide. There were about 12 of us, plus the two young men in charge of our group. When this was cleared, we started on the path to the spring.
We worked steady for about 3 hours. Hacking away, cutting, and hauling all of the debris out to the truck.
The spring path
After we finished clearing it out ( we started at 9am) we went over to the hunters cabin for our lunch (picnic). Everyone brought food and something extra to share. So in good french style we started with some Crémant and apertifs ( I made a "cake"-french apertif with ham and olives and cheese)...and there were gougeres and other snacks. Then we sat down to lunch with our sandwiches and all  of the salads that had been prepared and were passed around, and of course...wine. Then on to the cheese plate with bread and a nice Gevrey-Chambertin rouge, and then followed by many, many desserts ( apple tart, chocolate tart, chocolate cake, caramel chocolate tart, and some healthy clementines too)!!! A typical french picnic.



The muddy clearing




I returned home at 4 in the afternoon. I was tired, full to the brim, and very content. It was a fun day, even though it started to rain during lunch, we were nice and dry and having a good time.

Everyone working
Finally see the spring

Here it is DRY as a bone
One Sunday morning Dijon was having a different marché (market). It was to be produce directly from the farm. I decided to go in and see what they had to offer. I probably have mentioned that Dijon is under construction for the new tramway (to be finished the end of 2012). Below is a photo of the main road from the train station into Dijon. What a mess. Impossible to drive in Dijon, and not that easy to walk!!
all torn up for the new tram- train station at the end of the road
The market was OK, but small. Lots and lots of cheese, but we had some cheese at home. I was looking for fruits and vegetables, and unfortunately they did not have any.  But I walked around and took some photos as usual . I like horses. The horses in the photo are horses from the Auxois (oh swah- burgundian "x" is pronounced more like an "s"). Look at the size of those feet!!





Mosaic on the Post Office building 
I have always liked the post office building, and on this day I had my little camera with the zoom. I took a photo of the mosaic. Isn't he interesting. Remember the coq (rooster) is the symbol of France.

Art Nouveau
And next to the post office is a Art Deco or Art Nouveau building I have always liked. It is interesting to walk around on a Sunday morning because there is hardly anyone around. 

Again back to my club, we had a meeting about some changes that are going to be made on the Place de Chateau. So I snapped a couple of photos. Gorgeous fall day and I wanted to take advantage of the color and light.
chateau
Church in Gevrey
I am trying to get a photo of the interior of the church in Fixin, but it has been locked. So I took this photo of the church and it's bell tower. Note the great tiled roof in real Burgundian style.
St Martin in Fixin
That same Sunday I went to a recital in Magny lès Villers with Marie Thérèse. A woman from the area has studied opera and was putting on this recital...a debut of sorts. She has a strong voice, and maybe not ready for the Met yet, but surprisingly good. I was not sure what to expect, but ended up very pleased. She sang some of the opera favorites too. Small petite woman with a strong voice. The recital was in the small church of the village.
Panel at the front of the church
This last Sunday Keith thought we should go to Flavigny (where Chocolat was filmed). They were having a flea market and more. It was a spectacular day, so why not! Hmm, one reason, the crowds. Lots of other people had the same idea as us. The road leading into the village has no turnoffs. Traffic came almost to a stand still about 3 km from the village. No other choice but to sit and slowly move along at a snails pace. Some people pulled over and walked. They kept about even with our car and even gained a little. Parking was in a field outside of the village. We walked in only to find that the village was full of visitors...not much of a surprise after seeing the field full of cars...oh well. I took a few photos, and then we left for a nice drive through the countryside and home (Flavigny is about 1 hour from Gevrey).
Color of the village

some entertainment
looking at Flavigny from a distance
And what has Keith been up too. His has been restoring an old bicycle. He believes it is about 100 years old.
He took it out for a short ride the other day, now that it has wheels. However, this old bike has no brakes!!
Great job...isn't it. Looks spiffy




Happy Halloween



Recipe of the Month

I am going to cheat a little here. Since I mentioned preparing “cake”, I am going to repeat my recipe for cake. It is sooo..oo good though. Although I love to put lots and lots of things into my cake, it does make it hard to cut into slices. If I want to have nice slices, I cut back on all the added goodies ( i.e olives, peppers, ham…). You have to leave enough batter around to have clean cut slices. So pack it up and deal with it, or cut back by almost half.

INGREDIENTS
• 4 eggs
• 1 2/3 cups plain white flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 3/4 cup cream or crème fraîche
• 1 1/2 cups pitted green olives or pitted black olives (chopped or whole)
• 1 1/2 cups gruyère or emmental cheese, grated, cubed or combination ( i.e.: 1 cup grated and 1 cup cut in cubes )
• 2 oz of chopped ham
• Salt & pepper 
PREPARATION
1. Heat oven to 400°F.
2. In a bowl beat the eggs until pale yellow and frothy.
3. Stir in flour, baking powder, olive oil, melted butter, and milk.
4. Chop the ham, cube the cheese and slice the olives.
5. Stir in ham, cheese, olives, salt and pepper to taste.
6. Pour into greased bread tin, loaf tin or cake pan (11 x 4 inches would be a good size).
7. Bake for about 50 minutes, or until golden brown. (check with knife, insert and done when knife comes out clean)