France, Food and Ol' Friends

Last weekend Nick and I travelled to France for the sixth time in two years. This time we had a reason beyond the lure of the French way of live – we were visiting our dear friends Becca and Dave. We flew into Carcassone in the Languedoc-Roussillon region and travelled to Quillan, our dear home for three nights where Bec and Dave and rented a beautiful house on a little square.  

It was exactly two years since the last time we had all been together, and in fact since Nick and I’s love affair with Western Europe began, when we spent a splendid couple of days in Lisbon. Visiting them reminded me of one of the best things about living abroad, catching up with old friends in some gorgeous part of the world. 

I am sure Becca won’t mind me saying that, despite appearances, she is a few years older than me. She therefore has far more life experience than I and is able to counsel me in a way that only someone who has ‘been there and done that’ can. It is a joy and comfort to have such a wise friend like Becca, particularly as Nick and I face a time of uncertainty. I was reminded of this, and how much I have missed it. 

As is always the way when Bec & Dave are involved, we spent the weekend eating, drinking and working off the excess with some physical activity. On the Saturday, our first full day in Quillan, the weather was pretty miserable which meant there was nothing to do except head to the market in the morning and spend the afternoon in the kitchen baking with the goods purchased. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to make a savoury cake recipe by Hugh-Fearnley Wittingstall that I had been keen to make for ages. With a slight adaptation, involving the substitution of some ham with £60 saucisson (a story best left for another time), we had ourselves a very tasty savoury cake. We also baked a superb cherry and almond cake of Nigella Lawson – equally delicious. And all made without kitchen scales, cup measures or electric beaters. We also made breakfast parfaits’ (which will of course go on the Phil n Jack cafe menu) of honey poached apricots and fromage blanc – divine. 

 

The next day we took our baked goods, along with the saucisson, some cheese and a bottle of wine, to the top of a small Pyrenean mountain for a picnic. 

 

In between the baking and the hiking we squeezed in some movie watching, new beer tasting, blanquette (the regions form of champagne) and espresso drinking, toe painting, cross-wording and of course, eating. 

So thanks Dave & Becca (or David Beckham if you say it quickly) for a wonderful weekend.