Dave Hatfield

Thanks for your kind thoughts and suggestion, I'll be trying them and looking out for 'fatless' cheeses here. Thanks for the tip Abra. We'll see that the results are when I go for blood tests next week. I strongly suspect that my chlorestrol will be back down to normal if so that plus the fact to my blood pressure is now normal will ebcourage me to start eating cheese again. I'll just keep the quantity down & the quality up. What's the old saying? "Life is too short to eat bad cheese."

Although I'm not 100% sure I don't think you need to cook Morteau. It comes from the Comte and is pure pork. It is hot smoked for at least 48 hours in a fairly strong steam of air. This 'cooks' it. Our friend Jacques is coming by tomorrow and since he comes from that area of France and makes a lot of his own sausage I'll ask him for an expert answer.

We have had much success in writing owners that we really wanted to stay in their properties but only wanted them for " x days, from y to z". Most times they respond with an adjusted weekly rate and consent to the days that we need. Worth a try... ← Agreed, its worth a try. As a gite owner, however, I can say that it very much depends upon how booking are are going. If they're good then getting anything other than the 'standard' week may be tough. If you want a few days within a Saturday to Saturday span then most people will be Ok with that & offer a deal. If, however, you want to span the weekend (Thursday to Monday for instance) its a different story as you are potentially putting two full week rentals at risk. It certainly doesn't hurt to try. Obviously a last minute inquiry stands a better chance, but that's hard on the nerves. Good luck in any case.

Really up in the heart of the Ardeche is the town of Les Vans. Its been a few years since we were there, but it used to have a good market and several OK restaurants. I still have fond memories of a wonderful seafood choucroute that I had there. a good link for gites is: www holidaylettings.co.uk. They have a wide selection. Be aware that most gites are let on a Saturday to Saturday basis. Since you are in almost peak season it may be difficult to get other dates. Gorgeous country side around there with great walking.

Here's a link to an article in this weeks Economist magazine. Can it be true? Is Paris really going to the sandwiches? Say it isn't so - please! If true what a pity. A do enjoy my plat de jour or even my prix fixe menu. But to have them displaced by le sandwich? Don't get me wrong I like & have always enjoyed sandwiches here in France, but enough is enough. Parisiens, tell me what's going on here please.

Ok, cheese eaters I need help. Badly! Having had two minor strokes in the last month my Doctors have insisted that I get my blood into better shape. Amongst other onerous things I've got to virtually eliminate fat from my diet. This means giving up cheese. Or at least that what I'm told by my wife. Since I'm not sure life is worth living without cheese I need to find some way to continue eating it. I'm looking for help. suggestions, tales of the experience of other in this situation, anything. Low fat cheeses? Any suggestions greatly appreciated

On our way back from England we stopped overnight at two places. Both hotels in turns out had pretty good restaurants. The first was near Calais, named Le Buffet, It was anything but a buffet in actuality. It was great. I would think it should be getting a Michelin star soon. The second, The White Horse (Le Cheval Blanc) was very good, but not quite up to star staus, Its between Orleans & Vierzon. Both are great stop overs for anyone heading to SW France. You can read all about them here. I've also put then on the interactive map of restaurants in France outsied of Paris. The one near Calais is particularly useful for those traveling to or from England by car.

Cali & all others who tried to help here's my non-report. We didn't go! A matter of two minor strokes on my part just before we were due to head out. They wouldn't let me fly. Fortunately, the strokes were minor and I'm OK except for a bit of fuzziness in one eye. Our in-laws did go ahead & when they get back I'll find out if they used any of the good advice. As for me its a strict diet and working on new menus that keep my weight & blood pressure down. (I'll be telling that tale on my new website/blog at www.frenchfoodfocus.com) No cheese & very little wine is going to be tough, but I guess its better than the alternative. Here's my weight loss tip. (I've lost 12 pounds) Spend 5 days in a French hospital then travel to England and spend 5 days in an English hospital. You WILL lose weight.

Good try, Chris. No prize though although I must admit that the idea of cooking one's cassoulet is an intriguing one. Wish our local bread maker, Jacques, hadn't retired. He was a friend & I'm sure he would have let me stick a cassoulet in his wood fired oven. His daughter moved the business to a larger town, Used to be a delight to go into the village and get our bread straight out of his wood fired ovens.

I'm in the non-smoked camp. So, I guess I agree with Paula. Can't say that I've ever seen smoked pieces in a cassoulet her in France. I just don't think its a flavor that needs to be added to this already complex dish. Still, to each his or her own. If smoked stuff makes you happy why not. Certainly isn't going to wreck the dish unless way over the top in quantity or strength,

What next? Ferran Adria's Bulli-Burgers, side order of foam? ← We'll find out tomorrow night on British TV. Helmut Blumerthal is devising a new menu for the 'Little Chef' chain of restaurants (sic) here in England. This could be fascinating. I don't quite know how to describe a Little Chef to those of you who aren't English, but suffice it to say that the term greasy spoon was probably coined in reference to this chain. More later on this before we leave for France & home. ← Should have done my homework better yesterday. Here is a link to write ups from the UK papers regarding Little Chef after Heston's rework. Now, if only he or somebody could come over and rework the French motorway cafe's. They've never quite sunk to the depths the English did, but they could certainly improve.

What next? Ferran Adria's Bulli-Burgers, side order of foam? ← We'll find out tomorrow night on British TV. Helmut Blumerthal is devising a new menu for the 'Little Chef' chain of restaurants (sic) here in England. This could be fascinating. I don't quite know how to describe a Little Chef to those of you who aren't English, but suffice it to say that the term greasy spoon was probably coined in reference to this chain. More later on this before we leave for France & home.

IMHO. Omelette is THE way to go with truffles. Why share their unique flavour with anything else.

Of course, Dave - don't I remember that you have a Rhode Island connection? Then you will appreciate my sliver of Boston Harbor and the Islands. Please bring raw milk cheeses with you! ←

Can I come and look out on the Atlantic with you? Cheese platter between us of course. I'll even bring the wine.

Here's a picture of our Christmas treat. A nice piece of Stilton brought to us by a very kind friend.

Just to keep wordwise current, the December 15-16 ANP said that the Gilles Choukrounesque Mini Palais was now serving drunch. ← Perhaps a drunch is nothing more than a late brunch? Or does it fit somewhere in between a nice flunch and an awesome slupper? What a way to come to the end of 2008.

Again, may thanks to all of you who contributed information to help us with our stay in the area. Thanks especially to CaliPoutine who has been a font of helpful knowledge. Less than two weeks before we're off. Any further thoughts appreciated. Thanks

That is precisely what I was trying to say without saying it plainly... Another good example is piment d'Espelette (not on the head please, as a matter of fact the topic is taboo in France). ← Agreed. Rancho Gordo's pretty good at it too. Still the naive and gullible listen. buy and believe. Who am I to talk having been a marketeer for many years albeit in high tech where your BS has to be real. ← After suffering misadventures with second-rate products, there are some who through experience have found a reliable source for what passes as a basic commodity to those living in France. I for one do not consider myself either naive or gullible. The belief comes from results. ← Well I certainly agree that if you have a proven source then stick with it. My personal experience when we last lived in the states (California, then Chicago, then Rhode Island) was that if I looked at sell by dates I could get perfectly good beans, usually Great Northerns, in most supermarkets. Whole Foods normally came up trumps. My point & I think Pti's was that there's a lot of hype in the food industry. Tarbais & Piment are just a couple here in France that have 'captured' attention & are managing to get a premium for their product. More power to them, but that doesn't mean I need to pay over the odds for their product in order to make in this case a good cassoulet. I've been making cassoulet for over 20 years and am now finally happy with my recipe.I'd probably have to change it if we moved back to the states. Doesn't mean that others don't have an equally good recipe using Tarbais, Rancho Gordo or whatever. After all the beans are only one of the ingredients, an important one, but still only part of a complex taste experience. You can find a fully illustrated recipe for my version over on my new website mentioned below.

Are you ever going to cook & eat this thing before it finally goes rotten? Or, are you just going to continue to tease us, make us drool and wish that we were invited to your house for dinner? If I live that long that is!

That is precisely what I was trying to say without saying it plainly... Another good example is piment d'Espelette (not on the head please, as a matter of fact the topic is taboo in France). ← Agreed. Rancho Gordo's pretty good at it too. Still the naive and gullible listen. buy and believe. Who am I to talk having been a marketeer for many years albeit in high tech where your BS has to be real.

I think the local coop near Tarbes has done an excellent marketing job with the Tarbais bean. You can see their website and the whole story right here. Personally I've used Tarbais, lingots, coco and in the states Great Northern's. They all work well so long as they're prepared properly. I certainly wouldn't pay a premium to buy Tarbais beans. By the way I don't think a lot of the Cassoulet recipe on the coop's site.

Thanks for your kind remark 6PPC. All I can say/add to this discussion is that the essential ingredient to a good cassoulet is love and care. Put lots of those into your cassole and you can't go wrong. Good luck with the cook book.

As the holidays near many of us who live outside of our home country begin to have nostalgic feelings for dishes that are popular back home, but are difficult to find or cook where we now live. As an example, I recently had cravings for cheesecake. Not a dish that's easy to find here in France. I decided to make one, but finding the ingredients was a bit of a challenge. I did succeed and it was worth all of the effort. What dish do you crave? Can you find it? Or can you find the ingredients? (or acceptable substitutes?) Lets hear from you. If you made your dish yourself the recipe complete with local sources of hard to find ingredients would help us all. To start off, here's my cheesecake recipe: Dave’s Cheesecake Ingredients: For the Crust 12 (180 ml) Tablespoons unsalted butter 12 (340g) ounces of cookie crumbs (see later) 6 (90ml) tablespoons caster sugar For the Filling 4 eggs, separated 24 (680G)ounces of cream cheese (see later) One lemon For the topping I used black berry puree, reduced with gelatin added, but you can use anything you like. The trick is to make sure it will set as a jelly once cold. Quince jelly is nice as is a lemon puree. Cherry is very traditional (both jam & halved cherries) Equipment: Mixing bowls & utensils Approx 7 inch spring form cake tin Parchment paper A baking pan large enough to hold the cake tin comfortably. 2”+ deep Method - Line the bottom and the sides of the cake tin with the paper making sure that the paper around the side is at least 2 inches high. Use a bit of soft butter as ‘glue’ to hold the paper in place. - Pre- heat the oven to 350 degrees F. For the crust: - melt the butter - Break the cookies into fairly fine crumbs (I bash them in a plastic bag with a rolling pin) - Add the sugar to the cookie crumbs - Pour the melted butter over the cookie- sugar mixture & mix well - Press the mixture evenly over the lined cake tin, both bottom & sides try to get the sides at least 1 inch high. - Bake for roughly 10 minutes, remove from the oven & let cool. For the cake mixture - Separate the eggs into separate bowls - Mix the egg yolks & the cream cheese together until smooth - Add the juice & zest of the lemon to the mixture & mix in well - Beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks - Gently fold & mix the egg whites into the cream cheese mixture - Gently place the mixture into the cake tin with its crust, smoothing over the top & making sure any gaps are filled. To Cook - Place the cake tin into the baking pan - Carefully fill the baking pan with hot water until the level is within 1” of the top of the cake tin. - Very carefully place the baking tin in the middle of the pre-heated oven. - Bake for about 1 hour or until the top just browns. - Remove from oven & remove the cake tin from the water. - Let cool then place in the fridge. The topping - As previously noted the topping needs to set into a jelly like consistency - I normally use gelatin to achieve this - As mentioned the topping can be anything you like. - What is important is that the cake is fully cooled (at least a couple of hours in the fridge) before you put the topping on. - So, prepare your topping and let it cool, but not set. Then pour it over the cake smoothing as you go. Place the cake back in the fridge (or even the freezer) until the topping has set. - Now you can remove the cake from the spring for pan & carefully peel off the parchment paper. If you are brave you can lift the bottom of the cake and gently peel off one side then the other of the paper under the cake. If not just leave it and move the cake to a serving plate. Notes: - Type of cookies. In the USA Graham crackers are used. I’m told that English digestive biscuits work well. In France I just bought some cheap sugar cookies & they were Ok. Italian almond biscuits should be excellent. - Cream Cheese. Philadelphia brand is the standard in the USA. I’m told you can find it here, but I haven’t so far. The only thing that works is KIRI. Its fine except for having to peel off the foil around all those little packets. 4 of the 160 gram packets are close to the 24 ounces called for.

We once went to our friends & neighbors for dinner knowing that they were not cooks, but not wanting to refuse as they were trying to reciprocate for the many times we had fed them. She served Duck a la Orange made with real marmalade. It was then put on the counter where unbeknown to them their cats had a nibble. We politely declined seconds.