Thursday, May 24, 2012
Some experimental bread!
Monday, May 21, 2012
Saturday, May 19, 2012
B&B still coming in!
We are still amazingly very busy. I am certainly not complaining but for some reason I expected it to tail off a bit. We are always trying to get to grips with new menus not just for our guests but it makes it more interesting for us. Some of our 'experiments' work and of course some don't but that's the fun of cooking. It always surprises us that things that shouldn't work on paper absolutely do when put together, seasoned and cooked. One recipe for instance is a sweet Brioch loaf with two Toulouse sausages baked inside and when baked and sliced served with Mango Chutney as a starter. The sweet and savoury work well together.
We have a week off now but have just filled our B&B for the week after so time to recoup and get cooking again.
The weather here in this part of Bretagne is all over the place and trying to garden and cut grass at the moment is very hit and miss. Our cider apple tree which every year is a mass of blooms this year has been a big disappointment so I hope it's not a sign that we are in for a poor summer.
Yesterday was a very busy day at the bread oven but it went very well and the bread, eighty loaves, were perfect. The day at the oven was given over to showing a group of children from a home how to use the oven and how to make the bread. A very enjoyable and rewarding day.
One of my friends who always comes to help on our bread oven days went for her annual check up and was promptly sent off for more investigations and has been diagnosed with lung cancer. The amount of friends with various illnesses at the moment is quite frightening.
My brother is coming over for a couple of weeks soon and we are hoping to further the renovation on my bread oven here at home. I always enjoy my brothers company as we have our very own Gourmet evenings and it's nice to try out my experimental cooking on him.
Well now it's off to bed!
Friday, April 27, 2012
Still very busy!
Just a little update to say that we are still very busy at La Vieille Grange.
Our B&B seems to be going from strength to strength. We have however booked a week off next week. We thoroughly enjoy doing it but we need to get some of our jobs done around the place.
This week we took the opportunity to try out a couple of our own meal creations and I am pleased to say they went down very well and are now on the menu. One was something that should not work but does. We cooked two nice fat Toulouse sausages wrapped in ham and then baked them inside a Brioche loaf which is a sweet cakey bread. The sweetness of the bread and the savoury sausage taste just great together. We also did a twist on breakfast. We baked soft rolls. Scooped the inside of the rolls out to form a bowl. We then added to the bread rolls beans, scrambled eggs and sausage chunks and a rasher of bacon. Very Yummy!
My friend Jean-Paul and I have a lot of jobs at the bread oven to get done as we are very busy with bookings for bread making and baking demonstrations. This year in August we are having another three day festival of bread making and baking. It has been growing year on year and is now one of the biggest festivals in the region. Over the festival weekend I will bake over one thousand French Boules. These are all sold and the money is then donated to all the local causes such as the elderly, the homeless and some of the poorer children in school. We raise every year with the festival and our demonstrations over 25,000 Euro and after expenses and insurance costs to set up the festival it all gets given away to all the various charities. The other main purpose is to keep the tradition of bread making alive and well. I never in a million years thought whilst walking around on the top of Esso tankers and running three petrol stations that one day I would be living in France teaching French people how to make French bread, it's just very weird!
After really lovely weather it turned really nasty with wind, rain and storms. Bretagne is very green so the rain does have it's benefits and the sun will soon return so we have that to look forward to.
Sunday morning we are off to a brunch at a new restaurant run by an English couple and I am supplying some bread for the Chef to 'Critique'. They have done a brilliant job of the renovation and it's the way I would have it if it were mine.
Time for bed!
Our B&B seems to be going from strength to strength. We have however booked a week off next week. We thoroughly enjoy doing it but we need to get some of our jobs done around the place.
This week we took the opportunity to try out a couple of our own meal creations and I am pleased to say they went down very well and are now on the menu. One was something that should not work but does. We cooked two nice fat Toulouse sausages wrapped in ham and then baked them inside a Brioche loaf which is a sweet cakey bread. The sweetness of the bread and the savoury sausage taste just great together. We also did a twist on breakfast. We baked soft rolls. Scooped the inside of the rolls out to form a bowl. We then added to the bread rolls beans, scrambled eggs and sausage chunks and a rasher of bacon. Very Yummy!
My friend Jean-Paul and I have a lot of jobs at the bread oven to get done as we are very busy with bookings for bread making and baking demonstrations. This year in August we are having another three day festival of bread making and baking. It has been growing year on year and is now one of the biggest festivals in the region. Over the festival weekend I will bake over one thousand French Boules. These are all sold and the money is then donated to all the local causes such as the elderly, the homeless and some of the poorer children in school. We raise every year with the festival and our demonstrations over 25,000 Euro and after expenses and insurance costs to set up the festival it all gets given away to all the various charities. The other main purpose is to keep the tradition of bread making alive and well. I never in a million years thought whilst walking around on the top of Esso tankers and running three petrol stations that one day I would be living in France teaching French people how to make French bread, it's just very weird!
After really lovely weather it turned really nasty with wind, rain and storms. Bretagne is very green so the rain does have it's benefits and the sun will soon return so we have that to look forward to.
Sunday morning we are off to a brunch at a new restaurant run by an English couple and I am supplying some bread for the Chef to 'Critique'. They have done a brilliant job of the renovation and it's the way I would have it if it were mine.
Time for bed!
Wow! Another busy week at La Vieille Grange.
It's been another rewaeding week running our B&B. We now have it all off to a fine art I am pleased to say but as is the way we are always learning.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
A Week off?
After three weeks of full on B&B we have a week off, Woop! Woop! Not quite true in a sense as there are lots of our own jobs that need doing. After the winter the garden is a priority and if the B&B carries on like it is the garden is going to play a big part. We have a secret garden which is part of a ruin. You could visit our lovely house and not realise that it even exists so it is a perfect place to hide away with a café and a good book. It is in the basement part of the old cider house and so it is sunken with the most beautiful view down to the river and up through the valley and not another property in site. We have had as many as twelve people to lunch down in the ruin. It has a very French feel as it has a large solid table under a beamed area covered in a lovely vine mixed with honeysuckle. We also have electric lights and a charcoal BBQ as well. It's a hard life being retired but I am getting the hang of it!
I also keep an eye on three holiday homes. What is very nice is that all of the owners of these properties have become such lovely friends. All of the homes are very different but all have a charm of their own.
I personally could not have a holiday home whilst living in the UK as I would be constantly counting the days in between each visit and would just want to always be over here in France as it is where my heart is. From our first visit to France thirty odd years a go it's where we wanted to be. Now we have lived here for ten wonderful years. Evie has thanked us more than a few times for bringing her to France as she has enjoyed an idylic childhood.
Sunday next we start a new week of B&B which starts with a trip to Dinard airport to pick up a guest. Our Rav 4 has now clocked up nearly 200,000 miles which is amazing as apart from the normal things like brakes and tyres we have never had a thing go wrong with it.
We are hoping to have a lazy day on Friday and take the train to Rennes for a wander, a meal and just take in the beautiful city that it is.
Now to bed!
I also keep an eye on three holiday homes. What is very nice is that all of the owners of these properties have become such lovely friends. All of the homes are very different but all have a charm of their own.
I personally could not have a holiday home whilst living in the UK as I would be constantly counting the days in between each visit and would just want to always be over here in France as it is where my heart is. From our first visit to France thirty odd years a go it's where we wanted to be. Now we have lived here for ten wonderful years. Evie has thanked us more than a few times for bringing her to France as she has enjoyed an idylic childhood.
Sunday next we start a new week of B&B which starts with a trip to Dinard airport to pick up a guest. Our Rav 4 has now clocked up nearly 200,000 miles which is amazing as apart from the normal things like brakes and tyres we have never had a thing go wrong with it.
We are hoping to have a lazy day on Friday and take the train to Rennes for a wander, a meal and just take in the beautiful city that it is.
Now to bed!
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Still busy busy
Well we have been full tilt at La Vieille Grange for the past three weeks. It's been very hard work and great fun. The people we meet are a very diverse bunch but all have their 'Ways'
Next week we have some time off and it will be nice to get some of my own jobs done. The amount of time spent in the Super Market is unbelievable shopping for our guests breakfasts and evening meals. We spend so much time in Léclerc they must think we are on the pay roll. It's very sad that I now know where every thing is on the shelves in that particular store.
Jane and I have done so much baking and cooking too over this period and we have once more had such brilliant comments about our food. It's a real buzz when ones hard work is appreciated.
The days are getting longer now which is good because I can't wait to get our garden back in shape after winter. The summer here is just wonderful it has to be said. I am looking forward to the walks along the cliffs at Val-an-dré and a nice lunch in the harbour.
April is approaching and I have three bread oven days already booked, Can't wait to get started again. It is going to be a very busy season on that front.
Gone mid night so I am now off to bed ready for my early start in the morning.
Next week we have some time off and it will be nice to get some of my own jobs done. The amount of time spent in the Super Market is unbelievable shopping for our guests breakfasts and evening meals. We spend so much time in Léclerc they must think we are on the pay roll. It's very sad that I now know where every thing is on the shelves in that particular store.
Jane and I have done so much baking and cooking too over this period and we have once more had such brilliant comments about our food. It's a real buzz when ones hard work is appreciated.
The days are getting longer now which is good because I can't wait to get our garden back in shape after winter. The summer here is just wonderful it has to be said. I am looking forward to the walks along the cliffs at Val-an-dré and a nice lunch in the harbour.
April is approaching and I have three bread oven days already booked, Can't wait to get started again. It is going to be a very busy season on that front.
Gone mid night so I am now off to bed ready for my early start in the morning.
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