Canal du Midi Cycling

Tags

Canal du Midi, Cycling France, Winter cycling

Once again we took to the banks of the Canal du Midi for a cycling trip. Now that we have road bikes, we had to suss out the sections of the canal that have a paved cycle path or safe quiet roads to cycle along. There is no way we could ride along the mud/gravel path that accompanies most of the canal’s length.

We drove into Bezier & parked the car before taking off on our bikes in the direction of Agde & the Mediterranean coast. We had tried driving up into the hills where there looked like a promising valley route that we could do, but two things were against that idea, first the huge grey rainclouds that were actually down at ground level as we peered up the valley, and second the number of large trucks along that route. Oh well, we’ll find another hill/valley route, but hopefully it won’t be the small SMALL road we took over the hills (small mountains) on the way out this morning… that’s when Rod really discovered the true extent of my terror of tiny winding roads on the sides of mountains.. with no verges… with no space for two cars to pass… ARRRRRGH! Let’s forget about that one for now.

After leaving Bezier city, the ride was quite pleasant so we didn’t stop for photos and before we knew it we were almost at the coast. After meandering through some very ghostal-towns (which are HUGE drawcards full of crowds in the summer) and very much appreciating the lack of traffic, we found ourselves at a beachy, coastal, camping sort of area. An abandoned theme park (Euro Park) near the coast gave us a hint of what this area is like in summer.  That and the multuple “camping” sites, which are actually full of little chalets & swimming pools with slides and horse-rides… not a tent in sight!

After turning back (and only a small detour for getting lost) we had to stop & talk to this hairy fellow. At first he didn’t want his photo taken and was acting quite shy, but it didn’t take long for him to come up close for a lovely scratch under the ears!

Back along the beautiful tree-lined canal with vineyards on our left.

And the frozen edge of the water in the canal…

The ice makes it beautifully reflective, but I hope we get to see the green of the trees before we leave the area, by all accounts its stunning.

Looking back towards the coast

The ducks had us laughing… never before have I seen ducks walking on water!!

Time to head back to the car and some warmth. It’s a beautiful landscape, even in winter.

Au revoir et a bientot, Paige xo

A hearty winter soup

Tags

cycling, food

Ok, I know this is a very simple dish and most of you could probably cook like this blindfolded, but because I made it up all by myself and this is part of my “re-discovery” in the kitchen, I’m going to post it anyway!  I threw this together after we’d been out for a short but very very cold ride through the local hills around St Chinian. It was just the thing we needed and Rod liked it very much, so here goes.

Our cold ride today - Rod next to the frozen stream up in the hills. It was only slightly more frozen than us.

Hearty Vegetable & Lentil Soup with Smoked Sausage

Ingredients (serves 4):

1 ½ Onion

4-5 cloves Garlic

4 small Carrots

3 small sticks Celery

1-2 Leeks

8-10 Small potatoes (baby or new potatoes)

Thyme, rosemary, coriander seeds, paprika,

2 chicken stock cubes, or vegetable stock

1 cup Dried lentils (brown or red)

4 thick smoked pork sausages (I used Languedoc sausages)

Olive oil

Salt & pepper to taste.

The ingredients

Method:

Heat some olive oil in a large heavy-based pot, sauté the onion & garlic.

Dice all the vegetables (I scrubbed the potatoes & carrots instead of peeling) and add to the pot, stir to coat with the oil & cook for a few minutes to soften. Add the herbs & spices & stir.

Vegetables & herbs softening in the pan

Dissolve the chicken stock cubes in hot water & add to the pot, add the lentils, stir & when the pot is boiling, reduce heat, cover & simmer.

In a non-stick frying pan, brown the sausages on all sides. Add to the soup pot and check the liquid – add more water if needed.

Brown the smoked sausages...

Simmer for at least 1 hour, checking the consistency & adding more water if needed.

Bon apetit mes amis!

Serve with warm crusty bread and enjoy!

Bon apetit, a bientot, Paige xo

Saint Valentin Dejeuner

Tags

Dejeuner, France, French restaurant, Langeudoc, Parfums de Garrique, Saint Valentine

Today we decided to treat ourselves to a Saint Valentine lunch at a restaurant in a nearby town – Parfums de Garrique, which is situated in Maraussan, just outside of Beziers. Someone had recommended this restaurant before, but we forgot about that until we came across it on TripAdvisor. It had good reviews so we (well I (Rod)) decided it would be a good place to spend a lazy Tuesday afternoon.

Le Parfums de Garrique

We were welcomed at the door and led to a table towards the back of the restaurant. The tables were well spread out ensuring privacy. There were about a dozen couples in the restaurant, mostly French. Some Americans were at a table behind us.

Décorations de table

The waiter greeted us in French and asked if we wanted some water and the carte de vin. Surprisingly we were able to understand him quite clearly, which is a first for us. Both Paige and I were suitably impressed with ourselves.

Madam Paige

The waiter asked if we wanted the house cocktail which consisted basically of champagne and grenadine. It was very nice.

Cocktail de maison

Yes, Paige really enjoyed her cocktail.

We ordered a bottle of Deutz champagne. So nice to be able to buy champagne without paying the earth for it. Going to restaurants in France is really a good way to learn French, as you are constantly asking for things or being asked. It really puts you on the spot, but its a great way to get the language flowing. Most of the waiters we have come across are very happy to tolerate our very poor French and the waiters at Le Parfum de Garrique were no exception.

It wasn’t long before our first course arrived. an Amuse Bouches, consisting of a couple of prawns, a broccoli & mushroom soup with truffles and a few little bites of various things. It was quite nice, quite  a lot considering we had seven more courses to go.

First course - Amuse Bouche

Second course was Fine crème de Langouste et Raviole au romarin – Cream of lobster ravioli with rosemary. That was very nice and tasty.

Fine crème de Langouste et Raviole au romarin

Third course was Zéphyr de Saint-Jacques aux juliennes de légumes. Scallop with julien vegetables. This dish was absolutely delicious and along with the scallop there were mussels, a scampi and what we think was shredded crab.  The seafood was very tasty as were the vegetables. It was on abase of semolina which was excellent. An interesing inclusion was the tiny slice of bright purple potato (in the top right corner of the dish below).

Zéphyr de Saint-Jacques aux juliennes de légumes

We had a bit of a respite for fourth course. It was a refreshing Granité pétillant au Champagne rosé. Sparkling rose granita with grapefruit and champagne.

Granité pétillant au Champagne rosé

We were up and running with the fifth course in no time. Médaillon de volaille “à la royal”, Jus aux Truffes, Gratin de Pommes de Terre et Fricassée de Cèpes. Chicken medallions with black truffles and truffle oil and potato with mushroom fricassee. Very, very tasty and filling. There were a couple of things on the plate we were unsure of. We managed to work a few out for ourselves – aubergine and pork belly, but one item was a bit unusual, tasty, but unusual. It was a type of nut we couldn’t identify so we asked the waiter what it was, he said it was “marrons”. Didn’t taste like marron to me. He didn’t know what the English name was so he went off to the kitchen and came back with a little plate of them and the other waitress to translate. I think he thought we asked for more. The waitress said they were chestnuts! Oh well, not exotic, but nice enough. All of the flavours on this dish combined to make it very very enjoyable.

Médaillon de volaille « à la royale », Jus aux Truffes, Gratin de Pommes de Terre et Fricassée de Cèpes

By the time the 6th course came out, we were starting to struggle. We had a choice for this course. Sorbet de fromage blanc au Miel et Pollen de flours, sorbet of “fromage blanc” (a yoghurt-like product) with honey and pollen or Assortiment de fromage fermier– assortment of farm cheese. Paige chose the sorbet and I chose the fromage.

Sorbet de fromage blanc au Miel et Pollen de fleurs

Assortiment de Fromage Fermier.

…and there was more!! Seventh course was dessert.  Lingot D’Or, Chocolat-Gingembre au fruit et sorbet passion. A selection of pieces surrounding a rich chocolate gateaux in the shape of a bar with gold-tinged icing. This included some berries, passionfruit, a sorbet and a little chocolate & vanilla cream box (flower) all immersed in a very delicious passionfruit sauce.

Lingot Chocolat-Gingembre au fruit et sorbet passion

One of the chocalates on the plate. Even the flower was yummy.

As if 7 courses wasn’t enough, out came the 8th and final course. A selection of biscuits, sweetened cumquats and little spoonsful of coffee flavoured creamy concoction, which tasted deliciously like a decadent cake batter. We were asked if we wanted coffee, but we decided to skip that. We still had wine to drink.

8th and final course!

At the end of the meal, chef Jean Luc Lanture came out for a little chat. It was a “little” chat as we could not speak much french and he could not speak much english. However we managed to let him know of our plans about touring France and told us to look up his friend in Chablis, I think his name was Jean Servin. That’s all we have to go on.

Three hours after we arrived we rolled out of the restaurant clutching our cute little red souvenir pens presented to all St Valentin diners as a parting gift.. It was a good thing we had no breakfast. Soup and baguette (if anything) for dinner I think. A very nice day out. C’est le vie!

Abientot, Rod