Foodies Explore

A reason, and a large one at that, why we come to France is the food.  We love markets, restaurants, bakeries, recipes, meeting the chefs...  As any foodie would attest, it's an exploration all its own. 

Thursday evening.

We decided that our first restaurant meal should be at "Chez Didier", the only local eatery in town.  Just remember that this is a small village, perhaps about 400 people, and most of the clientele come to the restaurant for lunch.  Pizza take-out is popular in the evenings.  You must make reservations for a sit-down dinner.

There is a bar and a restaurant on the main floor, and three rooms to rent above.  It is also the home of the owners who are very charming.

Turns out we were the only dinner guests.  We started off with a Kir Royale but got the impression that the Cassis liqueur that is added to the bubbly had been sitting in the bottle for a long time.  It created a film on the inside of the glass.

Madame, the owner, took our order and enquired where we were staying, how long we would be in the neighbourhood, whether we had children and grand-children, and what had brought us to this little town.  We told her that this was our 7th extended stay in France and that we loved to improve our French.  Once all this information was related to her husband, Monsieur rushed out to greet us and welcome us.  He told us about his trip to California years ago which remains a highlight in his memory.  He recalled the route from San Diego to Reno and couldn't have been more enchanted with the whole journey. 



The appys were toast spread with pâté, and two varieties of savoury nuggets.

The salad was fresh with generous wedges of melon and some delicious cured ham.  Having a nut allergy, I wanted to make sure that there were no nuts in the salad since sometimes we find pine nuts in the mixture, and so began our first "French lesson".  In English we say "nuts" as a generic term for all nuts, but if you say "noix" in French, they most likely will think "walnut".  Monsieur came again to our table to assure me there were no "fruit à coque" in any of the dishes he was serving.  It literally means a "fruit found inside a shell".  Pine nut is a "pignon de pin". 

I had two fillets of salmon in a lemon cream sauce over tagliatelle.

Karl had veal medallions with beans, peas, and potatoes.

Dessert is always a highlight!  Karl had the "macaron au chocolat avec crème anglaise" which looked like a Wagon Wheel at first glance, but Karl said it was delicious and tasted nothing like a Wagon Wheel.

I had the "Île flottante" which is steamed beaten egg whites, also in a crème anglaise.

When ordering his coffee, Karl was definitely out of practice, simply stating he wanted coffee instead of "un grand crème", which meant he drank a strong little espresso instead of the regular "American size" cup of coffee with cream that he prefers. 

By the end of the evening we had met the grand-son and acknowledged both the daughter and son-in-law.  We were practically family.

The "addition" was 45.50 euros, which is about $68.25.  Wow!  Prices have certainly gone up in the last few years...  During our French lesson earlier in the evening, I had mentioned to Monsieur in a totally different context that the word "dispendieux" meant expensive.  How prescient to have chosen that "word of the day" for him. 

***

Friday lunch.
 

Big market day in Thouars on Fridays.  We were definitely back on familiar stomping grounds.  We drove around town which a few years ago seemed down at heel, but had somehow picked up its socks and become more vibrant!  Store fronts that had been closed were now open with an array of goods and services.  The transformation made us very happy!  Even the Médard Square where the grand old church is located has been spruced up and buffed up.  We will definitely have to enquire if this was a "first blush" kind of impression or if it has any basis. 
 

Off we went for lunch to one of our favourite gourmet restaurants (there are so many) - Le Grain de sel.  Unfortunately, it has been sold and the new owner specializes in pizza and frog legs.  So we trotted off to another restaurant further down the Square - Le Trait d'union.  (It means hyphen). It did not disappoint!



We started off with the freshest gazpacho I've ever eaten!  Those veggies must have been picked that morning and puréed to excellence, with garlic bread crumbs on top.  The salad had cabbage and small veggies with its greens, in a creamy dressing.

We both had the "Plat du jour" which was beef in a brown onion gravy, butterfly pasta and a zucchini casserole .  Too much food so I brought half my beef home for dinner.  It is quite customary to have the main meal of the day at lunch rather than at dinner.

That sweet ending to the meal was "Pain perdu", which we usually call French Toast.  It had been prepared with baguette slices and an abundance of cinnamon and brown sugar, served with a scoop of ice-cream and crème anglaise.  Karl's spoon is about to dig in...

And just for the record, this "Menu du jour" with a quarter litre of rosé wine came to 36.85 euros.  Definitely more in line with the prices we remember.

This little packet of cookies came with Karl's coffee.  It's from the "Bonne Maman" company that makes jam, and it's called "Le petit cookie" - the little cookie.  Cute and dainty.

                       "The gardener uses both roses in the flowerbed and thorns in making fences". 

                                                    ~  Hazratnayat Khan Gayan