The French Village Diaries - Poitou-Charentes

The French Village Diaries is the blog of the Brown family who live in a village called Loubillé in the Poitou-Charente.

And the Brown family consist of…

Husband Adrian…

Son Ed (who has his own blog at English Kid in France) and

Jacqui (BlogMistress) and rather a lot of animals and birds and things….

And, I’ve heard through the grapevine (Jacqui and Mrs A Taste of Garlic swap smoke signals on Facebook from time to time)…

That Jacqui likes gardening and…

More importantly…

Is rather a good cook!

So, lets wash our hands and dive into….

The Foodie Bits…..

Jacqui starts us off with a gentle introduction to what goes into Being A French Foodie.

Although I do have to disagree with her about item 6…

“Tripe and Andouillette – both are considered speciality or delicacy dishes here. As much as I like the idea of not wasting anything from an animal killed for food, my delicate tum will not permit me to eat either of these!”

But Jacqui does make up for that slight lack of taste with her lovely post about Food, Glorious Food!

French schoolkids have it easy, don’t they? It was all Gruel and Mushy Peas for me when I were growing up!

And, even though she’s a dab hand in the kitchen (as long as the food is green and grows in her garden – I’ll get to that bit in a minute…), Jacqui does occasionally go and visit My Favourite Restaurant for some food that isn’t green and doesn’t grow in her garden (believe me, you’ll understand what I’m taking about in a minute!)

So, what does Jacqui cook when she’s at home?

She appears to be a dab hand at… Courgette Curry.

Now, I’ve never tried that but I imagine that it must be quite nice?

Or, how about her recipe for… Courgette Quiche?

Are you starting to see a little bit of a pattern here?

Ready for some… Courgette Soup?

I think that Jacqui must have read 1001 Things to do with a Courgette (the non-rude version!) a few too many times as…

Next on the menu is… Courgette Risotto!

There’s a trend here, isn’t there?

So what is for desert?

How about a Courgette and Chocolate Brownie?

With perhaps a dab of Chutney on top?

Voila… Mission Courgette Chutney!

Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen (and that lot down in Montpellier!)…

The Jacqui Brown family do live entirely on Courgettes (Zucchini for those of you of an American persuasion!)

Well, that’s not completely true…

On the rare occasions that Jacqui tries to vary the diet….

With something that…

Looks like Ratatouille to me

It contains… 2 large courgettes diced!

Wow, the thought of all those courgettes has made me thirsty…

I need a drink!

I think I’d better take a look at….

The Boozy Bits….

Jacqui starts off by saying… I feel a wine tasting coming on.

And surprises the hell out of me by going all the way through her wine tasting without once…

Referring to Courgette Wine!

Then she gets Seduced by La Seduction which is a Rosé Wine…

Which also surprisingly is made from grapes rather than those green things that grow in Jacqui’s garden!

Finally, as if she can’t find a fruity little number to go with her Courgette Porridge (I’m only guessing that the Brown family start their day with that?), Jacqui says that she’s Giving Up.

But don’t worry, i’s only for Lent and that’s only 40 or 46 days long?

The Bicycling Bits….

Changing the subject completely, I thought I’d take a little look at the preferred form of transport for Poitou-Charente Courgette Farmers.

And find out that it’s the common or garden bicycle!

Especially if it’s one that’s A lovely blue colour

Now (and not a lot of people know this), with bicycles (just like Citroen 2CVs), the blue ones are treasured because…

They go faster!

Their neighbour plays it safe and goes for a dark green one (probably been eating too many courgettes) as you can see from Pierrette’s Bicycle.

And Adrian goes for a nice silver one (probably never wants to see another courgette for as long as he lives!) as is recounted in Another old bicycle, another story.

Finally, Jacqui asks the question that philosophers and thinkers have been pondering over since the dawn of civilisation…

Do bicycles have sex?

Wow, after all that cycling I think I’d better go and have a sit down in the garden…

The Gardening Bits….

Being a bit “green” (and I’m so trying to resist the temptation to suggest that that might be a result of her mono-vegetable diet), Jacqui does a bit of Recycling in the Veggie Garden.

And, just to prove that she does grow something other than Courgettes, Jacqui shows us her Window Boxes.

Very nice! Full of flowers; not a courgette in sight!

And it certainly must help to have Helping hands and helping hens?

Or A Friend in the potager?

And, you know, I really am surprised that in Potager Update, Jacqui only mentions Courgettes 3 times (4 if you count the reference to Zucchinis!)

The Out And About Bits….

I don’t know if it’s the effect of all the courgettes in her diet but Jacqui certainly likes to get out and about a bit.

She’s been spotted.. Pied nu a Bordeaux and enjoying the Proms in the Parc à Melle.

She pretends to draw the line at Morris Dancing in Sticks, bells and very silly hats but I’m not so sure?

The maiden doth protest too much?

But then the poor old girlie does complain that she is… Nearly 40, wishing I were 6 again.

Which might be the right age to have some fun at the Village en Fete?

The Bits That Don’t Fit In Anywhere Else….

In Going on a boar hunt one of Jacqui’s neighbours does just that and Jacqui ends up pleading for someone to walk in the woods with her when she walks the dog.

Jacqui then thinks about Becoming a Lady but that might have to wait until after A poopie scoopie poo bag few days?

Still, Jacqui and her family must be doing something right because…

Their neighbours sum them up wonderfully…

They’re English, but they’re nice!

Or was she just talking about the mince pies?

So, Summing Up….

As you might have guessed, I am thoroughly entranced and captivated by The French Village Diaries!

I’ll forgive Jacqui her occasional references to courgettes because of wonderful posts like The Invasion which is all about us Brits (and Yanks and Aussies too!) turning up over here to intermingle with the French women, drink up all the French wine and eat all the French courgettes!

Actually, I made that last bit up very slightly!

I’d implore you to pay a visit to The French Village Diaries and say hello to Mrs Courgette…

Sorry, Jacqui Brown!

It’s a great blog and getting better all the time!

And me, Well I think I’ll have to do a bit of Brit Spotting.

You want to ask Mrs A Taste Of Garlic what I do when I spot a Brit in the supermarket…

I can’t reveal all the details but…

Scratching of genitals…

Does play a major part!

All the best

P.S. I do apologise for all the Courgette jokes…

But it was so tempting…

And temptation is the one thing I can never resist!

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3 Comments

• 

  By Jacqui, September 11, 2011 @ 11:22 am

  Having spent a busy morning in the kitchen chopping and peeling the ingredients for a delicious courgette soup I thought I’d pop into Garlic to see what the rest of the world was up to! Imagine my surprise, thanks for a lovely review Keith! I may have to make a courgette & chocolate brownie as a celebration.

• 

  By Keith Eckstein, September 11, 2011 @ 11:30 am

  Jacqui

  Go easy on the chocolate!

  All the best

  Keith

• 

  By sony, September 12, 2011 @ 8:20 am

  rainbowish …..expecting much from you…thanks

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