Memories

Yesterday, at the supermarkt, I bought a Boursin cream cheese. Boursin used to be in vogue in the sixties-seventies when it was first commercialized in Belgium. Today it's still moderately popular, but for some inexplicable reason I don't seem to buy it anymore. I guess yesterday's purchase was more or less a spur-of-the-moment decision.


Or maybe it was because, subconsciously, it reminded me of our trip to Loué in 1993. On our way down, we stopped in a town called Pacy-sur-Eure in Haute-Normandie to have lunch. "What's the link with Boursin?' Well, although Boursin is a Gourney cheese (Gourney being the native village of François Boursin who sort of invented Boursin cheese in 1957), the production plant is nowadays located in Pacy-sur Eure. By the way, it wasn't an 'invention' in the proper sense of the word. All the man did was 'industrializing' the common French pratice of flavouring cream cheese with ingredients such as pepper, salt, chopped garlic and chives.


In this, in 1993 brand new, 'Auto-journal', listing over a thousand restaurants all over France, I had found the description of a restaurant called 'La Mère Corbeau'. Intrigued by the name and the favourable comments, I had suggested it to my friend as a possible place to eat.


The restaurant turned out to be everything the guidebook said. It was a nice day and we had our meal outside on the 19th century terrace with its intricate wrought iron and glass roof. There were lots of hanging baskets with pink and red geraniums. The waiters were dressed in typical long white 'brasserie'-type aprons, white shirts and black trousers and waistcoats. They were very cheerful and efficient.


As far as I can remember, we had the standard 'brasserie' lunch: homemade pâté, faux-filet steak with garlic butter, sautéed patatoes and a green salad. The cheese platter offered a choice of typical Normandy cheeses: Camembert, Livarot, Pont l'Evêque and ... Boursin (or course).



I have no pictures of our meal at 'La Mère Corbeau' in 1993, but I found this ancient postcard on the internet. Believe me, the place looked exactly the same when we were there in 1993 ... And I suppose it hasn't changed since. The restaurant still exists and, judging by my past experience, is still worth a visit when you're in the area.

La Mère Corbeau
Place de la Gare
27120 Pacy-sur-Eure

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