My French part 2

I am sorry to report that my french let me down again the other day. I had gone to the hairdressers for a trim and had hoped that either the mother or daughter who work in the salon would remember how I have it.
Unfortunately the daughter was off and the mother was busy painting some white haired lady a rather fetching shade of maroon, so I got the lady who speaks no english.
I knew the word for thinning but that was about it. So I pointed at the ad next to the chair at the suave looking frenchman and said "comme ca" like that. "Tondeuse" came the reply, which I knew was clippers. "Oui" I said, "trois,s'il vous plait"
As the clippers made their first cut, I knew I was in the merde. Either she didnt understand trois and thought I said un or number 3 on french clippers is a hell of a lot shorter than in the UK.
But what can you say when the first thrust is complete. " oh, I've changed my mind, please stick it back" or " thanks that will do, I fancy a reverse mohican" (not that i could have said either or not in a language she understood?)
I said nothing, sat still while my hair made piles on the floor and then smiled paid my €10 and left to rush across the road to the supermarket to buy a bobble hat

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French Life Toussaint

Toussaint is the french for All Saints. The date is the first of November and it is a bank holiday.

Whereas in the UK we are obsessed with the previous night, Halloween, fortunately the hype and doorway robbery of trick or treat, give us some money or we'll flour and water your windows, has not reached Champniers in a big way. We did have two small girls who arrived at fish and chip night dressed as ghouls who were regally treated by other customers to sweets and a few cents but that was it, thankfully.

To the French Toussaint, which is a Catholic commemoration of all saints is amalgamated with the Festival of the Departed, originally celebrated on the 2nd November.
This is a time when people visit their departed family and leave candles and chrysanthemums on graves making the cemetries a mass of colour.
Stores are full of chrysanths for a couple of weeks beforehand and huge quantities are sold to be placed on 1st November.

A word of warning One of our clients thinking how nice the flowers were, bought one for a french couple who had invited him to dinner. He got the same reaction as if he had taken a bouquet made into the words MUM or NAN to an english lady

the moral of the story, take a bottle of wine, it's safer!

That's what friends are for

On Monday we were asked by a customer if we knew of any local accommodation. It appears they were working on a renovation and the electrician had turned up from England. He was a "friend" of the owner and had driven down from the UK as a favour.
The favour was returned by being told he could stay in the house being rewired. He duly arrived after a 10 hour journey armed with his sleeping bag to find that the house had no windows, no toilet and no kitchen.
Fortunately we keep business cards of all sorts of businesses in the area and were able to find him a room for the 10 days he is due to be here.
I would imagine he will be spending the time thinking how he can best thank his friend for the experience.

Salle de Fete

I have mentioned in the past the small size of the village but that it is very much alive. Last week was a fine example with 3 events in the Salle de Fete ( Village Hall)
On Wednesday there was the annual meal for the Over 65's. This is a meal laid on by the village for everyone who lives in the commune and is 65 or over. They have upwards of 50 people at this event and whilst the feedback was that a good time was had by all and that they played cards and games for a good few hours after the meal, neither J or I were invited so we cant say first hand!

Thursday evening, the Salle de Fete was in use again, a man from a local family Bernard Lucquiaud, was giving a talk on Columbia. This was to promote his book, written about his life in Columbia when he working for the Alliance Francais in Columbia. This was attended by about 80 people, 79 of whom enjoyed the anecdotes, the history and general discussion about the South American country normally only related to drugs and coffee.

The eightieth person was yours truly who sat for the hour and a half wishing he was speaking English and understanding only a little.


I was back again Saturday night for the third event of the week, a Music Event organised by Daniel, local poet, sculpture, radio presenter and owner of the Grange de Chanson in the village.





When we arrived at just past 10pm, (we don't close until 10), the evening was in full swing with all 100 or so seats taken. The meal had been served but we had advised them we would be late so were ushered to our seats where our Kir awaited. The meal we had come for was the autumn special, black puddings, cooked apples and chestnuts.
I will not go into detail about how a "boudin" is made, or what parts of the pig are used, suffice to say they are delicious and served with local cooked apples were exceptional. If you haven't tried boudin they differ from UK black pudding in that they are much finer ground and when eaten tend to be more like a mince than a sausage. picture below



The music played until midnight or so, then the remains of the wine were drunk up and it was time to go home whilst the salle de fete was readied for the next weeks usage in the sleepy village of Champniers

Thinking of Chili

Erl made it to Champniers yesterday evening, cycling 130 kms on the final day in 30 degree sunshine.
His journey was 1394 kms in total and a group of friends were here to meet him, even though he arrived earlier than expected

He explained that one of the things that he thought about for the last few days was a bowl of our chili with plenty of tortilla chips and melted cheese so for his meal he ha the biggest bowl of chili we have ever served!!!

well done Erl, superb effort

Harvest Festival

We are very fortunate that we frequently are given produce from our neighbours in the village and our customers. The 90 year old lady who lives next door keeps us in flowers for the bar, bringing a bunch over every few days. The neighbours on the other side of the bar both have large potages and sometimes drop in excess, tomatoes, courgettes, beetroot, apples, plums, peaches etc.
Recently customers have dropped us in raspberries, plums, grapes,squash,walnuts and chestnuts but the "oddest" gift has to be last week when Les delivered us a puffball.

Les is knowledgeable about mushrooms and what can and can't be eaten. The fact he is still alive and in good health means he must have got it right so far and of course he is a fun guy.
The puffball had been found near his house and was about 25cms across.
He assured us that as long as we ate it when it was still bright white it was fine. We cooked it for breakfast, cut into slices of about 2cms and then flash fried in a pan. Once fried we poured beaten egg into the pan and within a couple of minutes had puff ball omelette. The taste was like a mushroom steak and was excellent.

Regretfully we will not be adding them to the menu as our wholesaler cant supply.