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Ian Hoare<br>All the best<br>Ian<br>La Souvigne Corrèze<br>http:www.souvigne.com

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Ian Hoare<br>All the best<br>Ian<br>La Souvigne Corrèze<br>http:www.souvigne.com's Achievements

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  1. Yes the airport is going ahead. It is being built on the Causse south of Brive, between Brive and Souillac, nowhere near the N20/N89 intersection, sadlt, though I understand why. Last week Mme Chirac cut the first sod amidst general junkettings and festivities. However, I've just had a look at the news from the Chamber of commerce and this is what the headline said in 2004 L’aéroport Brive/Souillac en piste pour l’été 2007 Il aura fallu presque 20 ans pour que le syndicat mixte de l’aéroport Brive-Souillac(1) remplisse son objectif I'm sure I don't need to translate this. This is a link to a news report from 4 or 5 days ago http://www.e-midipyrenees.net/hebdopressedetail.asp?id=5588& In it they say it will be ready in early 2008. If they said the work would be finished by then, bet your boots it will be. The French nearly always finish their major civil engineering projects on time or early. I can't think of one in this area in the last 20 years which wasn't. During the planning stages, there was some doubt cast as to whether there was need/finance, but obviously with the increased number of low price flights around and the success of Bergerac, Rodez and Limoges, the viability looks pretty good. As you can see, it took them 20 years to solve the financing. ATB Ian
  2. Hi, I think Miki's right in saying that targets are essentially meaningless. I know you say that you were surprised to see how similar figures quoted were from different areas, but I don't think that enables you to have any kind of realistic target or even vague expectation. Anyway, to answer your question. Relative to the trends in recent years, which is really the only sensible way of judging how we're doing. January excellent Feb - poor, Mar spot on average, April down a bit, May well up (surprising considering no long w/e these last two years). June - Magnificent (near 100% except for 3 days at the beginning) July bookings very moderate, Aug bookings poor. However, several of our colleagues - serious and good - have reported catastrophic spring figures and we have noticed that despite being pretty full ourselves, we've not been passing on anything like the number of enquiries we've had in recent years. It's also true to say that our results, having run this business for 10 years, as members of Gites de France, advertising in Sawday and being included in the Guide Routard, will be wildly different from those achieved by someone in their second year, aiming almost exclusively at Brit visitors, by having English language only advertising, present only in English language web sites and guides and so on. We have found every year has been different. I think that there is a complex inter-relationship between the events/weather in the previous year or two, the amount of advertising carried out by the Department, the weather in competing areas, and so on. You can be pleased/disappointed at your performance vis-a-vis your colleagues nearby, that IS meaningful, but if no one is travelling to your area, then no one is travelling to your area and you can't really blame yourself for that. I'd not be surprised for example, if the rows between Blair & Chirac reduce the number of Brits visiting France next year. It might even reduce the number of French we get here (as Brits ourselves). Of course such speculations are pretty pointless as we have no control over the events and have no way of knowing whether our ideas are right or not.
  3. Hi Cary, You asked:- want to make my classic cheesecake but i need gelatine. Have bought some stuff for tarts, the glaze on the top called "nappage". Is this the same as gelatine?? Nope, as TU said, nappage is like rather nasty jelly. You buy gelatine (VERY expensively in small quantities) in leaves. To use them, soak in cold water until really floppy. Then put into a mug in hot/boiling water. When melted, incorporate into your recipe as usual. I much prefer leaf gelatine to powder. For your info 1 leaf weighs arould 2-3 gms.
  4. Hi, Grin! Yes 14 litres is rather a lot. But I run a B&B, and crème de cassis is one of the mixers I suggest for an apéritif kir. I am not even sure if I did it in that quantity, it's just how it was stored in my recipes database. Anyway, it has improved steadily over the last 10 years (grin again) so I don't think it was a bad idea to make it in these quantities. You should see how much Vin de Noix I make each year (very soon now, as it's usually made between St Jean and Bastille day)!! I see no reason why you shouldn't cut down the recipe to just one kilo of blackcurrants, though that won't do much to use up your glut! And yes it does taste nice - now. But I was woefully disappointed when I first made it. I think if I made some again, I'd be tempted to use one of the other recipes I've got, in the hopes that it wouldn't need _quite_ such a long cellaring.
  5. Oh dear, oh dear, what have we come to when our definition of excellence in soup is so debased that we judge it by Heinz? No wonder Jamie Oliver waxes lyrical about debased tastes in the Uk. In fact what you so beautifully illustrate, is the danger of increasingly relying on supermarket food. We lose the reference points that we need to allow us to judge what IS good and what is merely artificially flavour enhanced. If you want to find out what Cream of Tomato Soup ought to taste like, try this. The quantities suit 6 1 litre sterilising jars, but you could halve or quarter to serve more moderate numbers. Be sure your tomatoes have some flavour, it's better to avoid supermarket ones, as even in France they're pretty poor. Make decent stock from chicken (or duck) carcases. @@@@@ Now You're Cooking! Export Format Cream Of Tomato Soup british, soups, starters, vegetables 2750 gm ripe tomatoes 6  garlic cloves; chopped 1  celery stalk 275 gm chopped onions 300 gm chopped young carrots 2100 ml stock; (1) 1  bouquet garni 1 tablespoon salt 1 teaspoon sugar    freshly ground black pepper 700 ml stock; (2) 825 ml cream 1  chopped chives or basil Simmer the vegetables and bouquet with the larger quantity of stock (1) until they are tender. Remove the bouquet garni and puree the soup in the blender or sieve until it is very smooth. Taste, add  seasoning and remaining stock. If it is to be served cold, stir in the cream and chill. If it is to be served hot, bring the cream to the boil in a clean pan and add the soup gradually. In both cases serve sprinkled with chives or better, chopped basil. If you like a spicy flavour, add nutmeg to the soup as it cooks and sprinkle a little on top when it is served. Modifications for sterilising Season lightly. Blend the soup, then sieve. Pour into 1ltr sterilising jars, and seal and sterilise in the usual way. When reheating, season then bring add the cream to the boiling soup and serve without reheating. Yield: 24 servings
  6. Hi, (For what it's worth, I understood your request from the title). Here's the recipe I used. Beware, you may find the pectins globulate when adding the alcohol. I didn't like this when I first made it. After 3 years in bottle, it's delightful. (You might feel it's worth reducing quantites!) I've also got a few french language recipes which are a bit different, can you read them? @@@@@ Now You're Cooking! Export Format Creme De Cassis 5 kg ripe blackcurrants 5 liter red wine 8 kg approx sugar * 4 liter approx eau de vie blanche ** * Use 800g sugar for each litre of juice - see recipe ** Use 1 part of eau de vie at 40% per 3 parts syrup. Macerate the fruit in the red wine for about 48 hours. Ideally in the sun. Little by little, smash up the fruit in the blender, then press well in a cloth to extract all the juice. When all done, measure the volume and add 800g sugar per litre of juice. Put into a jam pan and put over low to moderate heat to dissolve sugar. When dissolved, warm gently to about 140F and start timer for 15 minutes. When timer goes off, stir gently and check temperature. Repeat 2-3 times, then set timer for longer intervals (say 1/2 hour.) Make sure temperature stays steady, as it shouldn't rise above 160F. After some time (>2 hours) the volume will have reduced slightly and the liquid will have become slightly thicker. Remove from heat and cool. Using a mug, transfer 3 measures of syrup into a clean container, followed by 1 measure of alcohol, added while stirring carefully and continuously, until all the syrup is added. Towards the end, adjust the volumes maintaining the ratio of 1 part of eau de vie to 3 parts of fruit syrup. Pour into sterile bottles, cork and leave a couple of days before drinking. Recipe Jane Grigson's Fruit Book MMed IMH Yield: 14 litres  
  7. Hi I tend to agree with Zeb, though it has to be said that I don't seem to be inline with some french thinking. I (running a B&B with double/twins) got someone who wanted me to pack five into a double! "Oh the kids can sleep on the floor if you don't have enough beds". What we do is to have mathching singles, with bedding for both single and doubles, and fitted lower sheets which go over both single mattresses together, holding them together. You can then put the singles together to make a large double, which the guests love. Doesn't cost THAT much extra, for the duplicated bedding compared with the cost of converting the house. As a general rule I heartily advocate planning for maximum flexibility. No matter what you think is right now, it's perfectly possible you may change your mind later. It's difficult to change unless you've designed for it from the beginning. ALWAYS (as in your own home) put in loads of sockets, far more than the electrician - trying to keep his devis competitive - will suggest, for example.  
  8. Hi, Of course I buy in Supermarkets. But not much, honestly. Mainly because I can't get fresh (but pasteurised) milk elsewhere. As for my charmed life. I buy bog rolls in Promocash since my toilet habits are obviously of paramount interest to you. I used to get them in Leader Price, but the quality went down the drain - err - to coin a phrase. I'm well aware the French are plunging headlong down the same shopping abyss as the Brits did 20 years ago. I don't have to like it, nor do I have to emulate it though. I buy my pork from Sylviane & Régis Balat, my chickens from Mme Vialle, my beef & lamb from TradiCorrèze, my ducks from René Larnaudie, my wines from the vignerons, and so on. I know most of my suppliers at the market, and in Argentat & elsewhere, and they know me. It takes me very little more time to do my shopping as I do, and the quality and freshness of what I get is incomparably better. I can even cook English food now, which is more than I could do in the UK - though with the improvements in the availability of decent produce again there, maybe I could envisage it if I lived there. And Miki, you BUY tomato soup? SHAME on you.
  9. Hi TU. You said:- Deby, the last time they wouldn't open the checkouts and I was queueing like that I went down to the accueil and placed all my shopping on their counter, the lot, and off I waltzed with my empty chariot. The girl at the counter was just about screaming at me saying I couldn't do that, but I smiled sweetly and said if they couldn't be bothered to open tills to serve me, then I couldn't be bothered to buy. Two - entirely opposite - comments. 1. Quite right. And you should have asked for a complaints form too! 2. If you buy in Stupormarkets, you are playing into the hands of the system that is destroying the French way of life. I'm not too sympathetic!! (choose whichever reply makes you feel happy and fulfilled ;-)) And OP. No, it's not time to quit, it's time to learn French, get off your self pitying butt and DO something to make your life less boring. (He said- full of sympathy and the milk of human kindness).
  10. Hi Christine, Well done!!! And thanks for coming back with the information. I might add that I feel less ashamed of myself at not having had the least clue about what it was!
  11. Hi I had to have this test once, when I fell rather badly from a table and had some very nasty bruises. The doctor wanted to find out what I'd done. The doppler echography enables them to distinguish between blood clots, free flowing veins/arteries and muscle tissue as far as I know. I'm not a doctor, but reading between the lines, it sounds as if they are wondering abour phlebitis - where a blood clot in the lower limbs can come loose and wander about the body, possibly cause deep probs in heart or lungs. The french for this is "Phlébite" afaik. The tests are non invasive and painless. Get them done ASAP, certainly and also make sure he DOES walk. When he/you goes to the clinic, make sure you either take a French speaker with you, or check that they have someone who speaks enough English to explain what is wrong and what should be done. My experience is that you get the repart as soon as the test is completed.
  12. Hi Coral, You asked about how I came to pay japanese Car Tax. I'm afraid my language was careless. It was a special japanese car excise duty. My Aerodeck would have cost £13k in the Uk, but I couldn't get a LHD one there so had to buy it "abroad". I bought it in Belgium. Tax free it came to £7k odd. Then came the Japanese car excise duty plus £2.5k VAT. Total cost around £10.5k. A significant saving. Sorry for the careless language.
  13. Hi. Completely off topic and off thread. I've had a Honda since I moved here 16 years ago. Bought in Belgium to take to France - had to do so via the UK so I could have kept it 6 months there first (£1000 Japanese vehicle tax). Rules may have changed now of course. To get French plates you need a "certificat de conformité" from Honda and pass an examination by the Service de Mines. Again, the rules may have changed since then. Apart from the fact that I've never broken down with either of the two Hondas I've had here, nor either of the two I had in the UK before we moved, servicing is no problems, there's a brilliant dealership nearby, with "rolls royce" service (remember them they used to be brit made cars).
  14. Hi, Well, I've had a good look, and I can definitily say it's not a buddleia (butterfly bush). That has flower heads that stand up, yours are racemes that hang down, and the leaf shapes are quite different. From your photo, I get the impression that the plant is some kind of rambler/climber, and that the flower colours evolve from a richish purple to a paler pink. Are the greenish parts seed pods by any chance? Whatever they are, I'm afraid I've no idea what the plant is. If you could take a series of closer photos, there's a chance I might be able to look again in Polunin. By the way, what part of France are you?  
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