au revoir Genevieve

My sister Genevieve is going home tomorrow.

After an unlucky start to her holiday, which saw her hospitalised for two weeks, things settled and she extended her stay by two weeks.

Today we had a farewell lunch at a nearby restaurant, Le Temps de Vivre at Saint-Hilaire-de-Lusignan.

It was, as the French say, super bon.

an entrée

a main course

a dessert

Genevieve in the middle

Life has dealt Genevieve a few tough cards, but she's happy these days. She deserves it.

We didn't do a lot of galavanting around. There was a cruise on the Garonne, a visit to the castle at Duras and crepes in the bastide village of Clermont Dessous.

We had a day sight-seeing, lunching and shopping in Bordeaux.

Most of the time we spent at home, our new home, where she was content to potter in the garden or lie by the pool.

At night, we had fun playing scrabble or arrowords.

We've thoroughly enjoyed Genevieve's stay. Although it is a long and tiring trip from Tasmania, we're hoping she'll come again.

Bodega at Prayssas

The nearby village of Prayssas had a Spanish-themed festival this weekend.

They called it Bodega. I was told it was an annual celebration of the Basque country and its food from the land (terre) and sea (mer).

There was a fair crowd at the Sunday lunch.

There were stalls selling vegetables and fruit, Spanish ham, jewellery, wine, waffles, chips ... and a vide grenier (car-boot sale).

At the foot of the tall church tower, the village square was decked out with tables and chairs ... those under the shady trees were popular.

So was the bar.

I bought a dozen Archachon oysters, opened them with a knife borrowed from the vendor and washed them down with a cold beer.

There was a stall selling mussels and paella.

The mussels were delicious, smothered in caramelised onion.

The tapas from the bar was great value at 10 euros. It consisted of six treats, sausage, octopus, chicken, potato, cheese, melon and bread.

A guitarist played and sang.

It was a wonderful atmosphere.

Wine tasting

We were happy to accept an invitation from our English chum Christopher Garety to attend a wine-tasting evening at his house in Tombeboeuf.

We joined him and his son Patrick and Patrick's fiancee Ellen last Friday night.

Christoper had chosen six red wines from his cellar and covered them.  His son poured them into tasting glasses, which were arranged on his father's West Australian jarrah table in the renovated barn.

The barn adjoins the house and is wonderfully decorated with African artifacts. Patrick and Ellen both live and work in Malawi and Christopher's wife Lorna lives in South Africa.

The wines were labelled A-F. They'd worked out a system whereby no-one knew which wines were which but could be checked after the event.

Well, the tasting proceeded. Each wine was sniffed, swilled and savoured. The tasting sheets were filled out.

After participants had commented on and scored each wine, Christopher revealed its identity, where it was from and the price paid.

After we had tasted all six and compared our scores, we found that each of us had a favourite.

However an overall trend had emerged. The two non-French wines had been the most impressive.

The French ones were ...

The fourth French wine was from Graves and didn't rate at all, quite insipid.

The overall winners, on aggregate scores, were wines from South Africa and Morocco!

Just for comparison ... these are the prices Christopher paid for the wines.

2008 Chateau Haut Coteau      20 euros
2011 Chateau Arnaud              30 euros
2015 Chateau Haut-Goujon    20 euros
2009 Meerlust Rubicon           30 euros
2013 Kahina                            13 euros

I scored the Meerlust and Kahina equally, at nine out of ten (exceptional), but gave Kahina my No.1 pick.

When it was unmasked, I was thrilled to discover it was Moroccan. I remember 40 years ago drinking a plonk called Doumi Rouge in bars in Casablanca.

The tasters ... photo by Christopher 

Christopher's renovated barn

Friends of the Garonne

The other day, we went on a cruise along the Garonne. It wasn't a long cruise. The boat wasn't big, the seats weren't luxury and there wasn't food or drink.

But it was great.

There were five of us. We were in an aluminium punt with an outboard motor and a canopy roof.

We left Tonneins with our hostess Monique and Captain Yannick. We travelled slowly around the long, lazy loop that stretches from Lamarque to the Le Mas d'Agenais bridge.

The Garonne canal hugs the river for a couple of kilometres, an artificial bank separating the two.

Monique produced a book of photos and information sheets about the fish and wildlife in and around the river.

This dossier also contained photos of recent and historical floods.

Yannick had plenty of yarns about the river. Once upon a time there were no trees along the bank, planting anything was strictly forbidden.

Using long ropes, humans hauled cargo boats along the river. They formed relay teams and did about four or five hours before handing over to the next team. It was how locals made a few sous to survive.

Yannick said in the Middle Ages, a Royal decree made poultry and game the sole preserve and privilege of the Court.

People along the river got sick of eating fish. Unrest fomented.

Good King Henry IV stepped in and rescinded the decree ... and the region's famous Poulet au Pot was born.

Monique speaks good English. She and Yannick love the river. They go to schools and talk to the students about its rich history.

They are an affable and highly knowledgeable pair and made our cruise enjoyable.

Monique Bonfils is contactable on 0651112247 or go to www.loscaminsdelaiga.com