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BruceR

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Everything posted by BruceR

  1. We distuingish between quaffing wines and sipping wines.  Quaffing wines are lighter and more straightforward we drink them on their own and with meals.  Sippers usually are heavier and more complex and strictly for meals.  Good old Chenet vin de table is a typical quaffer.
  2. Wih I had your problems.  When we are in France (Le Touquet area 62) and crave something different if we are very lucky there might be a box or rotting chilis in the supermarket.  Fresh ginger, fresh coriander forget it!
  3. Remember the French butcher meat differently to the Brits.  Brits cut meat into chunks with the bone in, the French dissect out muscles.  A lot of beef sold in France as "steack" wouldnt be given house room in Britain. The reason is that the French as a rule eat their steaks very rare with a sharp steak knife.  They can get away with offering cuts like bavette which is skirt in English, this is only edible if you smack it into a red hot pan for seconds and sear it, if you want it well done it becomes shoe leather.  If you are buying steak go for something recognisable - entrecote , faux filet or filet and dont overcook it. For stews dont try and cook it too fast I cook jarret of beef that is the cut nearer the hoof than nerveux and is called shin in English for 2 hours and it falls apart.  You need the casserole to be just ticking over, in our fan oven I do it at 110. I hope this helps
  4. I agree you ned something with oomph and not to subtle.  A rough vin de table would do me, J P Chenet is probably too sophisticated for this dish lol.
  5. I suspect that if none of your British recipes are successful you have either got casual and are cutting corners (my principal sin) or the environment has changed.  It could be your new oven is not as hot as you think which would cause disappointing results.  Here are some of my mistakes. Not kneading enough first time - the dough should be springy when you finish Dough too dry - it should be slightly sticky otherwise it wont rise much After the first proof(rise) you MUST knead it again (my most recent error)  Otherwise it definitely wont rise much if you just shove it into the bread tin. Avoid too much/not enough salt 1 tsp per 250 grammes flour is about right For what it is worth I have used "Francine" white bread flour and got good results. I have found that adding a small amount of flavourless oil - peanut(arachide) or sunflower oil definitely improves the moistness of the bread it is still good for sandwiches after 2 days.  The rough amount in 650 grams of flour is about 2 TBS - I just give it a splash. Other personal tricks are that for brown bread I use 2 white to less than 1 wholemeal flour and throw in some rye flour or oatmeal bran for flavour. Good Baking
  6. It just goes to show that it takes all sorts etc. We dislike Helmans too and we always bring back from France Benedicta mayo in the handy squeezy bottle, along with the booze etc. One word of advice avoid any french mayo with Dijon in the title it will really be loaded with mustard and is an acquired taste - and not by us  
  7. My house is insured via La Residence (Laresidence.co.uk)  It is probably not the cheapest but I had good service when I was looking for a property that when I found somewhere but not through them I gave them the business. I stand the risk on the contents myself as the house is in a residential area with good neighbours so I feel the risk of burglarly is low.  I have not enquired but I would imagine the cost of contents insurance to be very high as like you we are only there about 50-60 days a year BruceR
  8. Dream on, Vieux Bruges is a hard cheese resembling Gouda the way a Rolls resembles a Fiat uno.  Full flavoured with a long finish.  Difficult to come by in Le Touquet so we pounce when we see it
  9. There is another problem with frequent traveller - that is actually using the system.  As a former IT professional I am horrified. For example my id begins FT one assumes that means frequent traveller.  Trust  me you never put info into an ID in case the business changes and you are locked in.  Oh and by the way I mean FT not ft it doesnt recognise ft as valid. I found the instructions obscure, the way it works is you buy 10 cheap single trips up  front.  However if the trip  you request is out of the cheap zones you pay a surcharge with the booking. Having registered the only way I could get the discounted fares (after passing the ft/FT hitch was to go via an obscure link at the bottom of the column "explaining" the scheme.  The straight forward method of booking doesn't seem to work. To book multiple trips you have to go right out of the system and start again at the home page.  It requires you to put your address and email address in each time you make a booking (no post code look up it doesn't work) And finally it refused to take a booking for February 2006 I quote "Mission Full" whatever that means. Yes but they will get away with this sloppy work because £58 return is cheap.  But to travel cheaply between now and the end of September try speedferries.    
  10. The best stilton I have seen in the UK or France is at the cheese stall in Le Touquet market.  His carrier bags say that he has the fromagerie in Place Dalton Boulogne  a few doors down from the pecheurs d'Etaples co-op fish shop(That is the square where the market is held) I am going by the quality of the marbling which is usually a good indication, I have to say I am too busy trying all his other wonderful cheeses to get round to buying it.  Try Vieux Bruges!
  11. I agree it is not to be missed.  The inventiveness of the kite designers is incredible. The other incredible thing is all the French schools who regard a visit to the festival as educational.  During the week there ar walll to wall coach parties of school children.
  12. I dont think there are any big booze outlets near Boulogne, because until Speedjet started up there was no service from England. There is a large Auchan at St Martin a Boulogne suburb. Otherwise you need to go up the coast to Coqelles - the Eurotunnel terminus.  At Cite d'Europe there is a large Tescos wine store.  Further North still there is a good Sainsburys and lots of other independents round Calais. I find the benefit of shopping "English" in P de C is that you know that generally what you buy is of the same quality as in the UK, albeit cheaper.  I suspect that some of the French booze shopping supermarkets like Carrefour at Cite d'Europe get some muck specially in for the British day shoppers. 
  13. I would imagine your English teas would go like hot cakes(sorry).  In Le Touquet market there is what we call the Rnglish cultural mission.  Its a cake stall  started by an English woman years ago and sells treacle tarts, fruit cake, quiches etc. it is always surrounded 3 deep by French people in a feeding frenzy.
  14. The JP whatsit that you mentioned is almost certainly J P Chenet who do a very quaffable vin de table in characteristic squiffy bottle.  One version contains a Syrah/Cabernet sauvignon blend.  I dont know if it is fruity enough for you.  Bog standard supermarket Cote du Rhone is a another reliable quaffer but you would find that not fruity enough.  Try one of the C de Rhone Villages - Gigondas or Vacqeyras for instance.  Alternatively go for a Chateau Neuf du Pape.
  15. Our Atac (a small Auchan) sells epaule which is half a shoulder of salted pork (= shoulder ham)  If I remember it has a generic name of sale - sorry about no acute accent.  It is so delicious we always bring one back to England with us.  We boil it in the usual way having soaked it overnight usually to have hot with new potatoes and a mustard sauce and then cold with chips followed by soup and sandwiches later in the week.  I think it is intended as an accompaniment to choucroute, ugh!, but the flavour of the mear, in our opinion, is superior to what we get in English supermarket gammon and there is no no added water.
  16. I like leeks best shredded and stirfried with some olive oil, well seasoned and with ground cumin.  Cook till they still have a slight crunch
  17. I think it is a good idea to send cheese to your friends, (dunno about postal regulations).  I am sorry to disabuse you but Bleu d'Auvergne which I also love is freely available in the UK - Southern half anyway - in J Sainsbury and Waitrose.  
  18. We have a French market that tours Surrey twice a year calls at Guildford, Godalming, Cranleigh etc. Bread is fine, pate is a rip off and an ok fromager. Waitrose seems to be a good place for French cheese though it depends on volume and the manager at a particular branch. As a digression has anyone else experienced the Beaufort from the Fromager by Place Dalton Boulogne and Le Touquet market???
  19. LAST EDITED ON 01-Jul-04 AT 04:37 PM (BST) Try the Welsh Pub in Place Dalton. In spite of it's name its actually a good traditional French Brasserie. Outside Boulogne try Le Relais at Ardres it faces the green. I have eaten at both many times - but not in the last 2 years but I cannot see them changing.
  20. I offered tandoori chicken, potato salad, tomato salad as a 'dinette' (new word to me but thats how my neighbours describe a light snack after heavy aperos and before the wine and cheese). It got woofed and I had to bring back a jar of Patak's estimable Tandoori Paste for them and write my version of the cooking instructions in French.
  21. I wish you luck. When we sold our last house in France the notaire held onto the proceeds for months which gave us cash flow problems in buying our new house, no sign of interest or apology / explanation.
  22. We have used gites for many years - and we own property in France. Personally we NEVER rent a gite in a complex, and are dubious if the owner is on site. The prospective income from gites always looks dubious to me because I cannot believe the letting season is more than - say - 12 weeks maximum and it doesnt seem to give much more of a return than you would get from a building society. I hope for your sake I am wrong.
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