4 posts tagged “france”
If you are thinking of visiting the Charente Maritime area (about an hour from Bordeaux) I would like to recommend a new blog in English about that area and its attractions.
Link http://lostinfrance2.blog.co.uk/.
Being a big fan of Rick Stein I did a search for and found this cool article about the famous La Tupina restaurant on www.london-eating.co.uk . It is a mouth watering read.
http://www.london-eating.co.uk/newsletter/2005/october/tupina.asp
If anyone has not seen Rick's French Odyssey two disc dvd and loves French things I highly recommend it. I have often watched the whole series back to back and feel like I have been on a fantastic culinary holiday.
What a fantastic series! When it was first broadcast on BBC 2 in 2005 I was suitably impressed being a Francophile and fan of Rick. However, after getting the DVD I am totally hooked. Rick Stein is a very engaging man. He liberally peppers his enthusiasms for French dishes and style with humour and anecdotes about the fascinating people he encounters during the course of his slow journey from Bordeaux to Marseilles onboard the two canal barges; "Rosa" and the "Anjodi". On this journey his dog Chalky was left behind in the uk on advice of the vet.
In his quest to get to Marseilles, he reminds us that it was Brittany which gave him so much inspiration during the early days of his seafood restaurant at Padstow, Cornwall. En route to the South West Rick also indulges in some very non-British food; for example eels in Breton cider expereinced at a packed Les Routiers truck stop. This experience really shows the differing attitudes that the French have for food ie: in a similar transport cafe in the UK the fare might well superficially consist of sausage, baked beans and egg, beans on toast or just....beans! Ok, maybe chips with beans and brown sauce. Another stop finds him enjoying a superb steak in a railway cafe at Agen's train station wherein he tells of some mouth watering fare on offer,all seemingly at very reasonable prices.
The authentic recipes shown include Vichyssoise, Pissaladiere, Bouillabaise, Cassoulet and Tarte Tatin. A visit to the Victor Hugo market in Toulouse finds Rick salivating over some local hams and the famous Toulouse sausage - to be cooked in duck fat, of course. On my own return to the region this year I might well need to pop to this market to follow in Rick's footsteps.
Onward they travel down the Canal lateral a la Garonne in the Rosa. The canal runs all the way from Bordeaux to Toulouse alongside the river Garonne. Then they changed to the Canal du Midi and travelled down to Marseille in the Anjodi. Rick comments on the tranquil pace of travelling like this and that it is a very interesting way to visit the French towns without all the mess of the outskirts that one normally experiences by road travel.
So, if you want to escape to virtual France for a few hours then pop this DVD in the player and relax with a bottle of good red Bordeaux by your side, some olives in a bowl, press the play button, sink into the chair and imagine you are aboard the canal barge Rosa with Rick and his chums. Sorry Chalky, no dogs allowed in this trip. We'll bring you back some sausage!
http://www.bordeaux-tourisme.com/uk/decouvrir/unesco.html
An excellent site for any visit to Bordeaux and a great way to be prepared for the cultural events that are a mainstay of Bordeaux life. The picture is from the main railway station, Gare St Jean. With a little French I found that the helpful staff here helped me get around the region very easily to destinations like St Emilion and Bergerac amongst others.
My blog will be full of links to sites that are of interest to any Francophiles out there. I have a particular interest in the city of Bordeaux having been there three times in the past and having fallen in love with this charming city in the South West of France.
Some say that its three universities and 60,000 students make it the largest campus in Europe. It has a vibrant night life, theatres, concerts and bustling cafes. Broad avenues and spacious squares, like the Place de la Bourse and the imposing Esplanades des Quinconces, dominate the city and give it international cachet.
Bordeaux is the capital of Gironde department. Built on the banks of the Garonne where the river widens into the Gironde, Bordeaux was already an important center at the time of the Gauls. In those days it was called Burdigala, still the name of one of the most fashionable hotels in the city.
In Roman times it was the capital of the province of Aquitainia Secunda. After the fall of the Roman Empire, it was briefly occupied by the Arabs. In the twelfth century, following the marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine to Henry Plantagenet, the later duchy of Aquitaine passed into English hands, only finally returning to France in 1452.
