96. Distant snow

11th November 2010. Now that the monsoon of the last 3-4 days appears to have blown itself out, we decided to nip across the border to Irun this morning for some shopping.. On the return journey, I was looking across at the Pyrenees and through a gap in the nearest hills I could see through to some more distant ones. To my surprise, the sun was shining like a spotlight through a break in the cloud onto a snow-covered peak..   

Question du Jour: What's Velcro^® known as in French..? (Answer at foot of post) (and no - it's not Velcreau..!)

Cheese - good or bad for you? An article in the New York Times sparked off this report from a US TV channel that attempts to link excessive cheese consumption with obesity and to score a political point in so doing. According to these figures (below), Greece is the top of the heap with France second. Yet strangely enough, contrary to the conclusion that might be drawn from the US report, neither Greece nor France are awash with wobbling blimps. In fact, it's a very rare event to see anyone overweight - let alone obese - waddling through the streets here in France. And - this will get me into trouble but it's true - those I have seen have usually had English accents.

I think obesity is less to do with 'excessive' cheese consumption and everything to do with a sedentary 'couch-potato' lifestyle, over-sized portions, snacking between meals and an excessive intake of processed foods high in additives such as sugars and salt - but then I'm not a doctor.

And so to Woody Allen - here he is with his thoughts on what makes life worth living (from "Manhattan")..

I like the moment in this scene (at 02:23) when the penny finally drops with him.. (been there..)

What would be on your list? Your answers welcomed.

12th November 2010. I found this clip on YouTube of the sea at Biarritz today..

13th November 2010. Last Saturday morning, the river was the lowest I've ever seen it and we had rain showers - just to stop us getting bored..! I usually row on Saturday mornings and Tuesday & Thursday evenings. Last Tuesday, the Pays Basque was being lashed by continuous rain and Thursday was a national holiday (Armistice Day) so today was my first outing for a week. It was the opposite of last Saturday.. it was warm - I'm guessing 16°C - under a burning blue cloudless sky, the river was full to the brim and static - it must have been high tide. We did 13km in a coxless quad sculler. (running total = 321km)

To St Jean de Luz this afternoon - the car was registering 23.5°C (74°F) and it was like a summer's day down there - people on the beach, swimmers, surfers, people messing about in boats, queues for ice creams (!)..

I've been thinking about the Woody Allen question and one item that would definitely make my list of things that make life worth living (apart from my dearly beloved, natch!) is a Vacherin Mont d'Or cheese.. Known as Vacherin Mont d'Or in Switzerland or Mont d'Or in France, it's a seasonal cheese normally only available in the winter months.

A Mont d'Or cheese (the French version)

 

Baked Vacherin

There are also many recipes for baked Vacherin (I've not tried it baked).. and this one looks interesting.. What to drink with it..? This cheese can take a big wine and, personally, I'd earmark my best bottle of red for this cheese. (Something like a Pessac-Léognan or a Saint-Julien (this is a great red - but it would benefit from being laid down for a few years), or, if your taste leans more towards the Rhônes, a Gigondas or a Côte Rôtie) (It's once a year so don't worry about the price - you're a long time dead..) If Madame asks you what you'd like for Christmas, now you know! That is - if you haven't got one of these handy doo-hickeys on the right!

Highlight of the weekend? No question.. England vs Australia at Twickenham..

What a try by Ashton and what a terrific team performance! Roll on the Six Nations..

Answer: Scratch.

95. T'was a dark and stormy night..

9th November 2010. It's been wet & windy for the last few days - and according to the forecast we're due more of the same today and tomorrow.

There was a tragic accident at St Jean de Luz on Sunday - a young kite surfer was lifted up and carried away off the beach by an exceptionally strong gust of wind up to the top of a 7 storey apartment block from where he fell to his death. 

I was just flicking through YouTube looking for clips of storms at Saint-Jean-de-Luz when I came across this one.. It's not Saint-Jean-de-Luz though. Life has clearly lost its thrill for these two.. (ignore the first 28 seconds) 

The sea front was covered with dense foam banks:

Well, after that review of a damp few days down here in the Pays Basque, what else could I offer you but:

There are a few places I mean to visit in the coming months: the fromagerie Iraty at Mendive, the écomusée de Marquèze at Sabres and the chocolaterie Puyodebat at Cambo.

Regular readers (you can be helped..) will have guessed by now that I'm a Woody Allen fan. Here's one of the more memorable scenes from "Manhattan" - in less than a minute he wraps up the key elements in his personality: his eternal romanticism, his love of New York and the great American standards - in this case, the lush strings of the New York Philharmonic and Zubin Mehta with George Gershwin's 1926 classic "Someone to watch over me":

I must be getting old.. I find I can listen to Ol' Blue Eyes nowadays without wanting to reach for the 'off' button.. which is something of a 'first' for me..

Also - by the standards of any era - Ava Gardner was/is stunningly beautiful. 

Note to self: why has it taken me so long to realise this?

94. Coast walks

3rd November 2010. It's hard to believe that, as we speak, kids in the UK are putting together small arsenals of fireworks and constructing bonfires ready for the big night on Friday evening - November 5th. I've got the window wide open as I type this and the sun's shining..

This picture shows just how close Biarritz's Grande Plage is to the centre of town. There was a Latin American festival in Biarritz a week or so ago and the Casino was taken over by people selling brightly coloured ponchos, CDs of  flute music, South American chocolate, honey, pots, furniture and all kinds of exotic products.. (in other words, objects that already have one foot in the garage!)

This compelling recording by Incantation from 1982 (already!) was probably the first time that South American music found space for itself in the cultural mainstream:

The other day we went for a blowy walk along the Sentier Littoral - or coastal footpath.

We walked from Bidart to the former whaling village of Guéthary & back - the walk took us along the cliff tops before descending to beach level. Guéthary is supposedly where the "people" (as the French refer to their celebs, newsreaders, politicians and media luvvies) go to spend their holidays. I'm not trying to put you off!☺ 

There was a lively sea running with great rollers rearing up in a foamy mass on an offshore reef before surging in to pound the shoreline.. Some of the large houses built on the cliffs were magnificent - but I'm not sure I'd feel 100% secure inside one of them with a strong westerly gale off the Bay of Biscay gusting against those overhanging Basque roofs.

Looking across at Spain from Bidart (Saint-Jean-de-Luz is off to the left)

6th November 2010. A misty autumnal morning sortie out on a very low river today.. our blades struck bottom several times - 13km (running total = 308km) - and as it was the first Saturday of the month, we had a drink afterwards. Slightly curious choice though - Scotch on ze rocks, or wiz Coca or Tonic, Ricard or port. Not a cold beer in sight! 

If you've ever had a summertime drive down to the south west of France from the Channel ports and listened to French radio on the way down, then - before the gathering gloom of an English winter overwrites all those happy memories - here's something to remind you of those long golden days in the sun. It's Etienne Daho with his classic summer hit 'Duel au Soleil' from 1985 that was the perfect accompaniment to the long drive south:

I know I often drone on & on about Madiran wine.. well, here we go again! This is Château Peyros - we were offered this recently at a friend's house.. Highly recommended.

It's worth digging around your local wine merchant to find a bottle or two of Madiran - it is 'out there'. The one you won't find is Irouléguy.. unless you belong to the Wine Society.

Both of these wines really open up if they are served at room temperature - always remembering, of course, that the ambient temperature in SW France is a notch or three above that in the UK. In England I used to park mine in the airing cupboard for a few hours.

93. ελληνικός καφές

31st October 2010.  I've been drinking Greek coffee for years and yes, I have to say that I'm hooked on a particular Greek Cypriot brand - Charalambous Gold Mocca coffee (below). The problem with getting hooked on Greek or Turkish* coffee is that any other kind seems anaemic and insipid by comparison. I'll refer to it as Greek coffee throughout - hope this doesn't upset anyone - no offence intended.

When some friends from England visited us about a year ago, they were kind enough to bring me some much-needed packs of Charalambous. To my continuing surprise, despite trying every deli and coffee shop in the Pays Basque, I've been unable to find anyone here who stocks it or a similar product. And this in the land where you would expect shops to stock all manner of food items. If anyone reading this knows of a mail order supplier in France, please let me know via a comment at the end of this post.

Charalambous coffee is excellent and it has a rich taste with a hint of cardamom (I think) in there somewhere. It receives a 5* rating from me. However all good things come to an end and a few months ago I finally used up the last of my coffee stocks.

Last week, D, another kind friend in England, sent me some new supplies and all is now well again with the world - for the next few months at least! Loumidis Papagalos is a Greek brand (left) - and it has a slightly different taste to the Greek-Cypriot one. In looking for an image to copy, I discovered that Papagalos is available via the US Amazon site. I suspect it's been slightly de-tuned (unleaded?!) to suit the North American market - I don't think it has quite the same hit as Charalambous. I'll have to try adjusting the mix to see if I can squeeze that 130 octane aviation grade caffeine hit from it. By the way, if this post does whet your appetite for making Greek coffee yourself, don't forget to store your coffee in an airtight jar.

If there's anyone out there who would like to know how to make Greek coffee - then here's how. I thought the quickest & easiest way to explain it would be via YouTube.. but after a quick search for Greek coffee I was surprised at how long-winded some of the explanations were - some of these clips were 6-7 minutes long! If this is the first time you've made it, then I'd suggest using the following measures as a starting point and you can adjust for your own taste the next time. 



a "Bríki"

For one cup of coffee, measure a coffee cupful of cold water and pour into your coffee pan (or bríki). Add 2 heaped teaspoons of coffee and 2 of sugar (or 2 sweeteners). Stir enough to break up any clumps of floating coffee. This next part is subjective but the way I make it is to bring it slowly to the boil & remove from the heat just as it starts to bubble and rise - as in the vid. Pour and serve. Needless to say - obligatory Health & Safety warning follows! - you don't drink the grounds.. By the way, if anyone thinks their method is better, or have any suggestions - then please leave a comment.. 

Now - isn't that the best tasting cup of coffee you've ever had..?

1st November 2010. Cracked it.. all it needed was slightly more coffee in the mix and the result was a satisfying brew of Dr Loumidis' Patent Restorative Mixture.

And now for something completely different.. This is a representation of the workings of a 7 cylinder rotary aircraft engine of WW1 vintage. I can watch this for quite some time - admiring the elegance and simplicity of the crank arrangements and the way that the apparent motion of the pistons is converted to rotary motion - and all without a conventional crankshaft thrashing about.. (you might have to click on the image to see it moving)

2nd November 2010. A propos of nothing, I just thought of Saya, a great Thai restaurant I used to go to in Seattle.. If anyone in Seattle is reading this, or if you're planning to visit, I can't recommend this restaurant highly enough. What to order? During the course of many visits there in the mid 1990s, I worked my way through their entire Thai menu - and while everything was excellent, my favourite was the Gai Yang - barbequed chicken..(beyond delicious) I must add a shout-out to the friendly staff. After not having visited for a year, I walked in and the waitress took one look at me and said, "Gai Yang, yes?" If only they delivered!

And now, duly caffeined-up to the eyeballs, back to the Pays Basque..

92. Indian summer

Click to enlarge!

29th October 2010. Yesterday afternoon we drove down to St Jean de Luz - and according to the car, it was 23.5°C.. (74°F in old money) and the beach was crowded.. It was dazzlingly bright, even with sunglasses, and we had what will probably be the last ice-cream of the year from Glaces Lopez.

They have a concession on the sea front at St Jean de Luz, another at Biarritz and they have a truly astonishing range of flavours. After a great deal of deliberation, Madame decided on a Cointreau Orange and Crème brûlée while I had a Chocolat Noir and Banane. (It's a tough job etc!)

St Jean de Luz (Place Louis XIV centre right)

We wandered through town - getting hotter & hotter - and we headed for the Place Louis XIV where the platanes had already been stripped for winter. It looked quite stark there without the familiar canopy of green overhead. We stopped at the Bar de la Marine for a sangria and, as is his wont, the dog soon introduced us to our charming neighbour and it wasn't long before she was offering him some ice cream..! 

Place Louis XIV, Saint-Jean-de-Luz

Following my painful introduction to surf rowing last weekend, you might have noticed that there's been no mention of rowing so far this week.. I probably would have been OK to start again tomorrow (Saturday) but I've got to stay at the house all day as we're having the garage rewired. I'm sure it still has the original wiring from when it was built c1930 - and the 80 year old wiring is crumbling. I'm also thinking about painting the inside of the garage - having first disposed of the numerous spiders in there - some of which look big enough to tackle a medium sized goat. Might have to send Madame in first!

91. All you ever wanted to know about chrysanths but were afraid to ask..

27th October 2010. Walking into town this morning to pick up the bread from our current baker of choice, I noticed that our local florist had a larger than usual display of flowers and potted plants outside. The star of the show was clearly the colourful presentation of beautifully trimmed chrysanthemums in pots - and that reminded me that this weekend is a good one to avoid on France's road network. this weekend is Toussaint (All Saints - 1st November) - a public holiday. On this day, it's customary to visit the family tombs and graves, wherever they may be. Chrysanthemums are the traditional offering at the graveside. Toussaint conveniently falls on Monday this year and, like so many salmon returning to their natal stream to spawn, many will be making, or at least trying to make, a long week-end out of it - notwithstanding shortages of petrol..

Normalement at this time of the year, the autoroutes and routes nationales across the country are heavy with traffic as Mamy et Papy return to their ancestral village d'enfance to pay their respects at the family tomb. Unfortunately, this mass migration brings with it a heavy toll of road accidents as septuagénaires and octogénaires, unaccustomed to driving long distances, take to the highways in droves. Be warned.. 

It should now be obvious why it's not advisable to offer French friends chrysanthemums..

Cazenave

I've just returned from a late afternoon walk with the pooch around town. It's thronged with tourists - mostly French - as it's half term and Toussaint all in one. Lots of white-faced black-clad Parisians (black being the new black) were much in evidence, bumbling about and swamping the chocolatiers as they indulge in the heady delights of a chocolat à l’ancienne or a  tasse de chocolat à boire moussé à la main (below) at Cazenave.

Hot chocolate as you've never had it..

Just as the carpet of yellow leaves underfoot signifies the approaching cold days of winter, the arrival in town of the hot chestnut man with his "little locomotive" with its blue mist of smoke rising from the smokestack is another sure sign that winter's here. There's nothing quite like a paper cone of marrons chauds to warm the hands on a cold evening. 

Finally, my answer to those who would argue that Man has no soul, that we are just an accident of nature, that we are just a "billion to one shot" anomaly that crawled out of the primeval sludge..

Further proof - if further proof be needed - here:

This final piece of evidence - Exhibit C your honour - by Rachmaninoff is something my father would play. I think Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No 2 (with Geza Anda) was the first classical record he bought in the fifties. Despite it being played to death on Classic FM, it still retains the ability to hypnotise by its sheer lyrical quality. However, Yuja Wang's interpretation of the concerto takes the honours in my view: 

Watch on YouTube.

QED.

90. Surf Rowing

19th October 2010. Only did 5km (running total 273km) this evening - I went out in a 'yolette' with 3 beginners. They had quite a good row but it wasn't enough for me to work up a lather!

What I did do though was to sign up for a try-out of surf rowing on Saturday afternoon at Anglet.. The club has its own surf boat and it's something I've wanted to try for a long time. This video explains all.

21st October 2010. Very satisfying outing this evening in a well-balanced coxless quad sculler (IV). The crew had a good blend of technique and boeuf - evident in the distance between the puddles. Coming back, the river was quite lively due to the strong current towards the sea and an opposing wind, which gave rise to some waves.. so we came back a bit damp! 10km (running total 283km)

25th October 2010. 12km this chilly morning in a IV.. an outing that turned into a bit of a flog (running total 295km). But enough of that - after a quick lunch I returned to the club at 1pm and joined the five others who were going surf rowing with R & C. R is an Australian who works in London during the week but lives in the Pays Basque at the weekend - he commutes there and back via Ryanair. His wife, C, is French and rowed in the '92 Barcelona Olympics. R had looked at the weather and decided Hendaye would be a better bet as broken surf was forecast for Anglet. 

On arriving at Hendaye, we all changed and I couldn't help noticing that all the guys were letting it all hang out in the Cheeks Department! They were all wearing trunks that... well, look at the video above.. On inspecting the boat, I saw that there was no sliding seat to sit on - instead there was a slightly concave rectangle of plastic about 2 feet long by a foot wide that we were to slide up and down on - using water to lessen the friction between skin and seat. Except in my case it was between shorts and seat. 

We launched the boat and hopped in and started rowing through the small waves. I became aware that my seat/body interface (aka my backside!) was getting quite hot and fortunately we stopped at that point. I splashed more water on the seat and off we went again. The heat I was experiencing caused me to focus in on that to the extent that all I wanted to do was to stop, jump out and dip my burning backside into a bucket of cold water with all the sizzle you'd expect to hear when an old-time blacksmith dunked a red hot horseshoe in a tank of water..

On returning home, I found two burnt contact points - one on each cheek - that were still cooking! I'll be off rowing for a while..

89. Saturday row

16th October 2010. Great outing on a chilly morning in a competition VIII sculler - we did a quick and very enjoyable 20km. (running total: 268km) Made mainly from carbon fibre and fitted with wing riggers like these on a sculling boat (below), the VIII was very light and a pleasure to row.

Talking to the club president afterwards, he told me the boat was made in China.. (Is there nothing they don't make?) 

While rowing up and down rivers during the last 30 or 40 years, I've often mused over the possibility of rowing facing forward.. and other possible technical advances. Now it seems this too is possible:

And here's another technical advance that didn't catch on, for whatever reason:

And finally, a single sculler fitted with hydrofoils..

17th October 2010. The baker in the centre of town has a poster up in the window advertising a concert by Dorado Schmitt at the theatre here in Bayonne next Wednesday.. In case you don't know him, here he is playing Dark Eyes - a gypsy guitar favourite at a Django Reinhardt festival in New York. If you need a reminder of his virtuosity, take a look at this clip where he plays Gypsy Melody from the film "Latcho Drom"

:

And here he is again (except this time he's playing the violin) in another excerpt from the same film which looks like it was shot at the annual gypsy festival held at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer in the Camargue:

Time for your annual reminder about the health benefits of drinking red wine - specifically Madiran..

There - that felt better didn't it..!