Hello everyone! It's been such a long time since anything was written on this Blog, very sorry.
We have been so, so busy both with the B&B and evening meals. We enjoy the cooking so very much and if you go on to our Web site and click on the Tripadvisor tab you will see the comments and ratings we have been given. We are so pleased with the comments we have been given.
Because the B&B has been doing so well something had to give and so I decided to back off from running the Bread Oven in the next village. Bread is still a passion of mine but I now bake at home for our guests and for friends.
Since my last post I have turned 70 which was a bit of a mile stone in my mind. I had lots of lovely presents after a family get together in February 2015.
Life in Brittany is still fantastic but we have bought a very nice ground floor flat in Pewsey Wiltshire Pewsey is a place I know very well from my early working years where I ran a busy petrol station. It will be our home when I retire proper but I am sure we will keep a foot hold in Brittany. Pewsey is still a very country town and now a very sought after place to live.
We recently bought a very nice classic Motor Cruiser which is moored on a beautiful mooring on the Nantes Brest canal only 20 minutes away. It's great to just grab a picnic and disappear to the Boat and relax for the rest of the day.
We also have since moving here such a lovely circle of friends mostly English but some French as well. We have some great evenings and lunches together which adds to our very happy life here.
Very soon we have family coming over which will be a lot of fun and laughter and some impromtu partying I am sure!
The summer started off great but at the moment it's wet and a bit chilly lets hope the summer returns soon.
Well not lots of staggering stuff but it's an update of sorts.
Tuesday, July 28, 2015
Friday, June 29, 2012
It's still all happening at La Vieille Grange
We are still busy at La Vieille Grange but having a real plan of action and a week off every third week keeps it as a paying bobby and fun which is a great plus.
We have just been given a great review by an Army officer who stayed. 'Fantastic hosts, beautiful house in a wonderful setting and the food was Michelin star quality served at home' I will settle for a comment like that!
Kept our guests on their toes yesterday at breakfast as I managed to fill the sugar bowl with salt. For a couple of our guests Weetabix will never taste the same again. My ploy of saying that salt is good on Porridge didn't cut it. They did see the funny side of it but I will never live it down.
Our guests seem to eat more and more of my home made bread and some of the repeat business we have been asked by e mail do we still do our version of Beuf Bourgenon and home made bread before they book. We have not tested as to whether they would still come if we didn't,
Weather here so unpredictable. One evening we are out having drinks and dinner in our 'Ruin, secret garden' the next evening we are inside with the heating on, what is going on?
Because we have been busy it's been difficult to fit family and friends in this year but I am sure we will manage.
Our daughter gets her BAC results on Friday the 6th of July in the morning and in the afternoon she flys off to start a two week training course with the TA in the UK. I really hope that she enjoys it.
Lots of gardening and DIY to catch up with this 'Week off' The grass is growing as you look at it.
Pinger just gone for my bread so go I must or I will end up with burnt offerings.
We have just been given a great review by an Army officer who stayed. 'Fantastic hosts, beautiful house in a wonderful setting and the food was Michelin star quality served at home' I will settle for a comment like that!
Kept our guests on their toes yesterday at breakfast as I managed to fill the sugar bowl with salt. For a couple of our guests Weetabix will never taste the same again. My ploy of saying that salt is good on Porridge didn't cut it. They did see the funny side of it but I will never live it down.
Our guests seem to eat more and more of my home made bread and some of the repeat business we have been asked by e mail do we still do our version of Beuf Bourgenon and home made bread before they book. We have not tested as to whether they would still come if we didn't,
Weather here so unpredictable. One evening we are out having drinks and dinner in our 'Ruin, secret garden' the next evening we are inside with the heating on, what is going on?
Because we have been busy it's been difficult to fit family and friends in this year but I am sure we will manage.
Our daughter gets her BAC results on Friday the 6th of July in the morning and in the afternoon she flys off to start a two week training course with the TA in the UK. I really hope that she enjoys it.
Lots of gardening and DIY to catch up with this 'Week off' The grass is growing as you look at it.
Pinger just gone for my bread so go I must or I will end up with burnt offerings.
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.
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