This week’s food:

Sweet stuff in France is lovely – pastries, tarts and brioche with jam. The yoghurt section in the supermarket is full of goodies. As well as lovely flavours like lemon and coconut, there is creme brûlée and chocolate fondant dessert – yummy.
Lu biscuits are a favourite – raspberry are just as good as orange but the famous Madeleines we found disappointing.

We’ve had to stop buying French cheese for a while – too tempting!

Supper of the week – Derek’s fish stew was delicious – a 10 out of 10.
Lunch of the week – my salmon and broccoli tart
Culinary disaster of the week – my vegetable tart

Avoid anything ending -ettes. We tried galettes for lunch in a restaurant – v. disappointing – stodgy and tasteless! Pork rillettes likewise – more like cat food than pâté.

Finally, I’ve decided there is always a caterpillar in a French lettuce – wash the leaves well in advance to give him time to crawl out.

Out and about:

Despite the cool weather, there are still quite a few summery flowers around including fuchsias, geraniums and alstroemeria.

You rarely see a foreign made car in rural France – it’s all Citroens, Peugeots, Renaults.

Passers by don’t always say hello and car drivers don’t flash their lights and let you out.

Villages generally look closed – hardly anyone about.

Vendeen sheep ( we did a website for owners of a local flock near Shipston) we have just realised are from The Vendee.

We’ve seen huge flocks of birds wheeling around in the sky and quite a few buzzards but otherwise not much wildlife. There are a lot of hunters around – maybe they’ve shot it all.