5th September 2010. Another bullfight at Les Arènes this evening.. Thankfully, it was the last of the season..
Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No 3 provided the signature theme to the film Shine - which, if you missed it the first time around, is well worth seeking out:
6th September 2010. When we were finally handed the keys to Piperade Towers 3 years ago, I was a bit taken aback by the size of the main front door key - a good 5" long and made of solid brass, it would not have been out of place in the Château d'If..! The front door was fitted with two ancient locks - neither of which would have deterred a professional cambrioleur* (= burglar). Also, the front door was, at best, only an approximate fit in the space provided for it.. This aspect finally sealed its fate last winter when icy draughts would come knifing in. We decided to call in Eric - aka le menuisier magique (the magic carpenter) - to fix it. He came yesterday and fitted a modern lock which did away with the need for 2 locks and he also reworked the door edging to close off the source of draughts. While he was here, he also fitted a ventilator to an external cellar door and, as an encore, went with me in his van to Castorama to select the right récupérateur d’eau de pluie (rainwater collector) which he then connected up to a drainpipe.
* I always thought this would make a good name for a car!
7th September 2010. Overnight I am reliably informed that we had a thunderstorm (I didn't hear a thing!) and on checking the new water barrel this morning, I saw it was full to the brim - all 350 litres of it.
Just back from the doctor - I needed a medical certificate stating that I am healthy to continue rowing.. I am more than happy with the outcome of the tests - blood pressure came out at 125/75 and heart beat was 54 (a marine diesel ticks over faster than that!). Think rowing is doing me some good. I'm working on my weight to get that back to 14st 5lbs / 201lbs / 91kg - which is what I was for years. Did 16km this evening on the river.. (running total now = 153km)
Enjoy John Williams and "Asturias"..
8th September 2010. We went down to St Jean de Luz this morning to pick up a few things.. The parking spaces lining the northern end of the golden beach were 90% free this morning as the great mass of tourists have thankfully decamped back to from whence they came.
Low season (Sept-June)
High season (July-Aug)
St Jean de Luz was once again a delight - the sea air had that fresh tang, the circular bay looked beautiful against the backdrop of white houses across at Ciboure and Socoa with the Pyrenees outlined blue against the hazy horizon. The wooden frames for the beach tents were already being dismantled and soon the diving platform moored a hundred metres or so offshore and the line of buoys to keep power-boaters and swimmers apart will be a memory. We walked along the front where a few pampered clients of the Hotel Helianthal Thalassotherapy centre were walking on the beach a tad self-consciously in their white towelling bathrobes.
How can I say this without being accused of ageism but St Jean was chock-a-block with pensioners.. (yes, and I know I'm one!) We've now entered the season of the Silver Tourist.. I try hard not to shuffle about and block pavements but it is catching!
I've finally remembered to post a pic of one of our favourite places in St Jean - the La Buvette Des Halles. OK, the plastic chairs are a bit naff but apart from that small niggle, it takes some beating. Why pay more?
The menu of La Buvette Des Halles - aka the eye test!
Finally, we stopped off at Laffargue to pick up something we'd ordered for Madame's birthday.. I've got a standing instruction that if I never know what to buy her for a birthday, Christmas, whatever - I've just to go to Laffargue..!
8th September 2010. I read the other day that John Lennon would have been 70 next month.. Here's a reminder of him at his best.. (in my view!)
And now, if you'll excuse me, I must start preparing myself for my weekend away with the Resistance! Starting tomorrow.. Now where did I put my Sten gun..?
20th February 2010. In previous posts I've mentioned a few Basque dishes, notably the Gâteau basque, but I think I should apologise in advance to the Confrérie du gâteau basque for what I'm about to say about their revered cake.. (I should add that this is all tongue-in-cheek!)
At the 2009 Fete du Gâteau basque in Cambo (below), the judges were photographed filling out Next Of Kin forms before trying to speed-eat eight Gâteaux basques* against the clock (although I could be wrong here..) No, they were really suggesting alternative uses for the cake in the middle.. (I heard later that the winning suggestion was "Boat Anchor.." with "Base for garden umbrella" cominga close second)
(Note from Management: 1 Gâteau basque, but 2 Gâteaux basques)
There's even a museum dedicated to the gâteau basque.. Try as I might, I just can't imagine a museum for Dairy Cream Sponges or Custard Slices in the UK - but that's all part of the magic of France. Gâteaux basques come in two main varieties (and an HGV licence is needed for both!) with either a black cherry or a crème pâtissière filling. Madame usually buys the cakes (I'm only allowed to buy them when there's a 'k' in the month) and I've never really been that enamoured with the black cherry variety of Gâteau basque.. finding them a bit heavy going, rather like a flywheel in cake form.
Last Sunday, I was off out to buy a couple of baguettes from the baker in the centre of town when I had a sudden hankering to try a Gâteau basque with a crème pâtissière filling. I found one at a pâtisserie (I've been "hedumacated" not to buy cakes at bakers) and brought that home. It was chalk & cheese compared to the black cherry variety. Of course, Madame wasn't too keen but, as far as I'm concerned, it's the one I prefer.
So, back to Basque specialities. A feature of Basque cooking is that the colours of the Basque flag - red and green - often feature in the dishes (usually red & green peppers). I think my first lip-smacking experience was at La Buvette des Halles, a small café that had just opened in the centre of St Jean de Luz adjacent to the covered market (that sells meat, poultry, fish & all types of sea food, fruit & veg and cheese). After the market had finished for the morning and while all the detritus was being swept up, we saw a chap quickly setting up tables and chairs. His kitchen was inside the market building and his fish-orientated menu featured much that had come straight from the market - so without further ado we sat down at a table in the shade of the platanes.
I still remember what we had that first time - Madame had a tomato* and mozzarella salad and I had 9 oysters, then we both had grilled sardines (we didn't know then that they'd been cooked on a plancha) accompanied by a pichet of cold rosé. Everything was fresh and full of taste. Coffee, a Café Creme cigarillo and the bill followed - 105 francs - which at the time was only ~£11. If we could have pressed the rewind button and had it all again we would have! Delicious - and in such a simple setting - and as a bonus, it was ideal for people watching. It was his first year in business and we've been back every year (bar a couple) since then.
* Tomatoes are a no-go item for me..
His menu is a véritable (as they like to say here) catalogue of Basque cuisine - he serves all of the following staples of the Basque kitchen: Ttoro, Pipérade, Omelette au piment doux, Axoa d'espelette & Poulet basquaiseand probably a few more that I've forgotten. Plus a few standards like sardines, grilled tuna, dressed crab, oysters, moules, entrecôte steak or confit de canard. For freshness of taste (and price) I don't think he can be beaten. It's one of our favourite places when it gets a bit warmer. Recommended: Light lunch? Go for the sardines. Feeling peckish? Tuna with pipérade will slow you down a bit..
I remember after our first holiday down in the Pays Basque we were keen to try sardines on our barbecue when we returned home. After they all fell through the grill and smoked out the neighbourhood we realised that frozen ones just won't do! And you need a plancha..
Here's the late Keith Floyd attempting to make a Pipérade in a Basque lady's kitchen in St Jean de Luz and getting it all so wrong. (Imagine the reaction if a Frenchman was ensconced in a Yorkshire kitchen attempting to demonstrate for the viewers - and the lady of the house - 'owze famoos pudding de York-sheer was made..) I think he escaped very lightly! Don't misunderstand me.. I had a lot of time for Keith Floyd.. it took some nerve to do what he did here. Can't imagine the saintly Delia trying that!)
22nd February 2010. 15C this morning. I went to Dancharia in Spain to fill the car up with diesel.. It's crept up to a tad over 1€/litre (~88p) - presumably in the light of the Total refinery dispute in N France which threatens to disrupt the supply of petrol to the country. While I was there, I picked up a few odds and ends and had an extra virgin cold pressed hot chocolate.. (as you do).
23rd February 2010. A few months ago, we were asked by A - an old friend of J-M in Tours - if we’d like to go for a flight with him one day from the Basque Aero Club at Biarritz airport.. A is a semi-retired fighter pilot (French Air Force) and he's a flying instructor at the Aero Club. Biarritz Airport is not that busy and the main operators who use it are Air France, RyanAir or EasyJet. Occasionally a biz jet flies in. We were there once waiting to board a RyanAir flight to the UK when I sensed that there was something going on. I noticed a posse of gendarmerie motorcyclists discreetly standing by with a few heavy-looking characters talking into their cuffs. An Airbus landed and, as it taxied in, a small tricolourcould be seen fluttering from the flight deck window. It taxied up to the terminal and shut down in quick time while a stairway was hurriedly wheeled into place. There were a few impressive looking 'suits' nervously waiting below.. A minute later the door opened and there was El Presidente Sarkozy himself.. with MAM* two steps behind him.
Anyway, on the day we flew with A, all was blissfully peaceful and quiet. We opened the hangar doors and pushed out the (very) small aircraft (a Robin DR 400 120) that we were going to commit aviation in and, after a few external checks, we strapped ourselves in, quickly ran through a short checklist, called the tower to ask for start clearance and then started up. All very simple and minimalist! Once the engine and oil temperatures were showing the correct values, we called for taxy clearance and then we were off taxying around (above) to the threshold of the active runway. Then, following a quick look around, A released the brakes and opened the throttle and we were off down the runway - all 7,382ft of it.
We climbed out over Biarritz before turning north over the sea to follow the coastline. At around this point, A turned to me and said "You have control.." (at that point I could sense Madame watching me like a hawk from the rear seat!) and we continued flying north along the beaches at Anglet before he told me to turn onto an easterly heading to fly up the northern banks of the Adour. I'm reminded (not by my performance of course!) of the classic comment written on a student pilot's report. It went: "Once Bloggs climbs into an aircraft, he starts a chain of events over which he has no further control.." Ouch!
It was a day when I would normally have been rowing and down below I could see a couple of 'yolettes' (fours) outlined like pond skimmers against the silvery Adour.
The rowing club lies just above the second bridge up on the pic above on the left hand bank. At this point we turned right hand down a bit (technical aviation term) towards the Pyrenees and suddenly my mind map of how the Pays Basque fitted together suddenly took on an extra dimension as the landscape unfolded before us.
Saint-Jean-de-Luz
After St Jean de Luz we landed back at Biarritz, refuelled the aircraft and then taxied around to the hangar and locked it all away again. Great fun.. and I wish I could afford to do it more often. Many thanks to A for his kind gesture.. the Pays Basque looks just as good from the air.
To wind up with, here's the pooch enjoying himself on a blustery day at our local beach a day or two ago. The clip won't win any awards I know - I was really just testing out my new camera.
