Sunday, June 6, 2010

Forty five minutes to ourselves.





Overnight a thunderstorm cleared the air bringing with it some sanity restoring freshness. To celebrate , a now fully recovered Wilf was up and out for a lengthy early morning walk past the lamp posts and water hydrants of the light industrial park. Not the most beautiful of strolls but one which both of us enjoy - he likes it for the upmarket urban sophistication of its smells and scents while I love its tick free safety and the complete Sunday morning absence of cars and cherries.

On the way home stopped at the market for some cheese. The lady behind the counter said that the Salers , fresh in that morning, was wonderful. Then an educational cross counter chat. It's made in 90 small farms at the crest of the snow bound mountains and the name can only be used by herds that graze in these high mountain pastures between May and September. Usually a cheese is at least 50% water but Salers ( I now know ) is the densest of cheeses being nearly 60%. It's stored for a year and then hey presto it's ready for sale. A quick sliver to taste and I was hooked - boy, it's strong but as the flavours explode on the tongue you can really taste the dandellions, anemones and other mountain flowers the cows graze on. Not a single preservative or chemical to hide the taste. The joys and endless discoveries of life in France.

Finally, to the artisinal bakers and the pricey but tantalising cake counter. Wilf agonised over whether we should buy an Opera or a strawberry tart for lunch but finally plonked himself down on the floor and sat staring determinedly at the Opera. Decision made. ( Someone asked last week about the cake with the name Caroline piped on it - the baker says that it's a type of chocolate cake not a returned birthday cake ).

Not sure about the colour for the shutters. The taupe didn't work so decided to try the paint that we used on the house in Italy - a refreshing pale grey-green. Here in France the light has a different composition and the end result looks a bit flat if not cold. Have done a couple of the ancient shutters at the back of the house in the new paint but will need to do some more before a final decision can be made. Wilf will be alongside directing things.

15 comments:

  1. I was going to say both the cakes and Wilf look delicious, but that just doesn't sound right! I was thinking that 20 Euro seemed high for the price of a cake, but I guess I just haven't bought any whole cakes at a bakery lately!

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  2. Oh that cheese sounds just divine. Reason enough for relocating to France.......Especially when you have just woken up to a chilly, haar-shrouded Sunday morning in Aberdeen.
    (The cakes look OK too!)
    Cheers, Gail,

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  3. We'd go for the cheese! We ALL just love the stuff.

    Does and opera cake make one sing?

    XXXOOO Daisy, Kendra & Bella

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  4. The bakery counter is full of delightful creations... all of which probably harbor thousands of calories but surely life would not be worth living without the occasional treat.
    So Wilf likes cherries does he? Very wise dog.
    Love the colour of the shutters but then our climate is so different than yours... still it is a fine pastoral shade.
    Susan

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  5. What a coincidence, I was just at our crème de la crème grocery store called Wegmans (have you heard of it?) and they were giving (very) small samples of Salers cheese--I was also given a lesson on its origin and was told that it was even served at the table of Louis XIV of France--??--But even in the small taste I had, I loved its rich and amazing flavor--Unlike the kipper spume that I had a few weeks ago...
    But I'm glad you brought Wilf with you to help make the choice at the bakery, it's not a job that can be done alone--It makes sense he would pick the "Opera," because of the cherries, I'm sure he's had enough of the "color red" for now!

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  6. Good choice, Wilf! Chocolate wins over fruit in our household any day. (if I'm going to eat the extra calories, they'd better be brown calories!) now, as for the shutters, we quite like the blue in Friday's post, as well as the soft green in today's photo of the naked white toddler(!?!?!). Suggest you get samples of several hues, paint big swatches on poster board and move them around the house to see what looks best in different light throughout the day.

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  7. Ooooh, cheese! That sounds like great cheese, too. This post made me both very hungry and a bit disdainful of what we have on hand in the kitchen.

    wags, Lola

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  8. It sounds like a very relaxing 45 min of quiet in town for you and Wilf. It makes me giggle to imagine the two of you trying to choose a cake. My dogs would say "We'll take them all, thank you"!

    Too bad that the ticks are such a scary problem. Our K has a deathly allergy to ticks so we use a combination of a preventic collar and Frontline (plus we carry a syringe of med in case she swells up from a bite - but that's never happened since we started using the preventative stuff). It's worked so far - fingers crossed. I hope that your tick season ends soon.

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  9. You must torture me with descriptions of delicious cheese? You're a cruel man, M'ongoose! I'm practically drooling on the keyboard here!

    I'm with Wilf on the Opera cake! That looks delicious!

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  10. LOVE picture of Wilf and his stuffie -

    The cheese reads like it must be delish...

    Cake - tart - Cake - tart why choose have both....

    Don't care much for the look of the little grey green paint....we're sure you'll soon find just the right color....

    XXooXXoooXXXooo

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  11. MMMMmmmm, that strawberry/kiwi tart(torte, flan?) whatever looks really good! No decent bakeries around here :(

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  12. Ohmygosh, I am fainting with delight! How in the world do you not weigh millions of pounds with a bakery case like that staring you in the face?

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  13. Wilf
    I just caught up on the last few posts..honestly, Mommi is such a slackew.., I get vewy behind weading about fwiends,
    thank dog it was only the chewwies, hehehe, I had a good laugh ovew that once i calmed down.
    How I wish I could go into a stowe wif yummie cheeses and pastwies, sigh..to live in such a civilized place must be beyond heaven
    smoochie kisses
    ASTA

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  14. Wilf
    Have I offended you in some way?
    My posts nevew appeaw on youw bloggie.
    I don't know why you don't like me. I'm a vewy nice doggie, and I love you
    smoochie kisses
    ASTA

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  15. Thank you Wilf!
    I'm just glad I didn't make you upset ow anything.
    I'm off to dweamy land now and hope you have sweet dweams too
    smoochie kisses
    ATA

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