LUNCH IN ST. JULIEN
The St. Julien Restaurant was recommended by our trip organizers, and our host here also said how much she likes this place. On the way in, who should we see entering in front of us, but our new acquaintances, Lisa and George. Great palates dine alike, or something like that. We were seated in in an attractive airy space with a view of the chef as were they.
We ordered from the blackboard specials. The Chief Penguin had sole meunière with small potatoes while I ordered the crevettes (whole shrimp in their shells) cooked with garlic and parsley in a butter sauce. The crevettes required some work, but were worth the effort. Rice with cumin came on the side.
For dessert, Greg had a pretty raspberry tart, and I had the strawberry and raspberry soup with strawberry sorbet. Crisp white wine was the perfect accompaniment to the fish and shrimp. Early on, the chef made the rounds of all the tables, shaking hands and greeting his guests.
DINNER TABLE D’HOTE
We opted to have dinner at our B&B last night, and given that it was steadily raining (much needed rain), we were glad we did. Madeleine prepared an excellent veggie crumble (my new favorite dish) with tomatoes, shallots, and other vegetables seasoned with thyme and topped with Parmesan. This was followed by cod with roast potatoes and braised chicory. Dessert was a fig clafoutis made from figs grown on their property. And we had very local red or white wine to accompany the meal.
Yvette and Dave from New Orleans were new guests who had arrived that morning in Paris, taken a noon train to Bordeaux, and then driven to the B&B. Wow! They are outgoing and very personable. We were interested that they too are France Just for You clients, and this is the second time they have used them. They were very pleased with their first experience.
ENERGY, CLIMATE, & GASOLINE IN FRANCE
This morning we had an informative conversation with Madeleine about her plans for the winter and energy costs in France. She is going to take a wait and see approach and would like to remain open through the winter, hoping for weekend guests or families perhaps coming at Christmas. Both the B&B and her house have heat pump systems, but the house uses oil as the back-up fuel. She commented that filling the tank recently cost 60% more than a year ago. She strongly believes we all need to be much more conservative about the energy we use.
She also noted that the summer’s drought and heat will have an impact on the vineyards. The grape harvest will be smaller than usual, and it will take the skill of the vintner to create fine wines. Part of their property is a vineyard. They lease it out to someone who manages it and shares a certain number of the bottles produced with them.
This afternoon, we stopped at a supermarket gas station only to find a paper with the word, ”Rupture,” posted on the pumps. No gas. We then went to another supermarket station with cars waiting at each pump. It was taking too long to figure out the subtleties of this set of pumps and which credit card it would accept, so we left. We have enough gas to get where we’re going tomorrow and will fill up somewhere else along the way. I should also note that we bought a few items in the first supermarket which was very dimly lit. At about 5:00 pm, they turned on the bright lights, perhaps a sign of saving on electricity use earlier in the day.
Note: All photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.) Header photo is of the chef at the St. Julien Restaurant.
