Almost real

While I was going through some photos from my recent Touraine visit in May this year, I came across this picture from the mantelpiece in the ‘Salles des Cordes’ (the Ropes’ room) in Amboise castle.

Click to enlarge and to admire the details!

Although this mantelpiece is made of solid limestone, the carving is so delicate and detailed that it almost looks as if the ropes are real. Those renaissance stone carvers must have been very talented and patient to create such exquisite works of art.

Just zoom in to the picture and discover for yourself the skills of these exceptional artists. It looks so real that it will leave you breathless.

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A thing of beauty is a joy for ever

You’ve probably heard about the Baccarat rose, a long-stemmed, deep red rose with velvet-like petals. Receiving one perfect Baccarat rose from someone definitely means that that person has very warm feelings for you ...

But did you know that Baccarat is also the name of a town in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in the French north-eastern Lorraine region? And that this town has given its name to some of the finest crystal in the world.

The history of Baccarat crystal starts in 1764 when Louis XV grants the Bishop of Metz the right to establish a glassworks at Baccarat.

But it would take till 1816 before the first real crystal was made. Little by little Baccarat conquered the world, and the rich and famous of this earth soon decided that they couldn’t live without a real Baccarat chandelier. Today you’ll find Baccarat chandeliers in national palaces, royal and presidential residencies, sumptuous private homes, theatres and opera houses and even cathedrals in France and South America.

One of the more impressive pieces is a chandelier with more than 200 light bulbs and a total weight of over 1,000 kilos. It was commissioned at the end of the 19th century by the Maharajah of Gwalior. And Tsar Nicolas II of Russia had 12 electrified candelabras made for the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg. Each candelabrum had a heighth of 3.80 metres.

In 1994, to commemorate its 230th anniversary, Baccarat created a real masterpiece which required all their technicians’ skills and expertise: a gigantic chandelier in pure 19th century style, with the following impressive characteristics:

- height: 5 metres
- diameter: 3 metres
- weight: 1,500 kilos
- 2,150 metres of electric wire

It took 15,000 hours to build it. We were lucky to see this masterpiece when we visited the Baccarat museum (sorry no photos!) in the late nineties during one of our annual Lorraine weekends. It hung in the middle of a darkened room. Instead of being high-up against the ceiling, it was suspended on eye-level, thus allowing the visitor to admire the intricate details. The light of several halogen spots was beautifully and delicately reflected by the thousands and thousands of facets of artistically cut and polished pieces of crystal, making the whole chandelier sparkle like a giant diamond.

There was a text panel with all the details about this work of art. I remember that it even mentioned the number of people and the time it took to clean it. I have forgotten the exact numbers, but I know that it was mind blasting.

One of my delicate Champagne glasses.

After visiting the Baccarat museum we made the mandatory stop at the gift shop, which in fact is a gigantic showroom. The whole Baccarat collection – from 19th century type coloured and engraved crystal to modern design pieces - was on display. I saw some elegant champagne glasses and decided to buy a set of six, until … I saw the prize: almost 500 old French francs, which is 3,000 old Belgian francs or 75 of current euros for just one glass! I quickly changed my mind and bought only two. As it was a timeless model, I could come back the following years and buy two more glasses each time, until I had my set of six.

I never did go back though, because the glasses turned out to be too delicate to use on a regular basis. The rim of the glass is paper-thin and you have the impression that it’ll break as soon as you try sipping your Champagne. When you wash and dry them – putting them in the dishwasher is completely out of the question – you have a tendency to put a soft pillow on your kitchen worktop, just in case the glass should slip out of your hands.

Today they sit in their original cases with velvet lining and I only use them on very special occasions! A waste of money, then? No, because as someone – who was it again? – once said: “A thing of beauty is a joy for ever.”

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Blow your horn!

Every month the Loire Valley Tourist board sends me an e-mail listing the current and upcoming events in the Touraine region. Even when I don’t have any immediate travel plans, I like to browse through the information to see if there is anything interesting that I should know about or that could be useful for my next trip.

The most recent newsletter had a short, yet interesting article about an upcoming event in the courtyard of the Château d’Amboise. On November 6th on the occasion of he feast of Saint-Hubert, patron saint of the hunters, (although the official day is Nov. 3rd), hunters in full riding gear and their horses and hounds will assemble in front of the castle to the sound of the hunting horns.
 
The tradition of the ‘chasse à courre’, as it is called in French and meaning ‘hunting on horseback’, goes back to the 16th century when noblemen used to assemble around their king to go big game hunting in the surrounding forests and fields.
 
The article reminded me of a funny thing that happened to us in May, when I was visiting the Loire Valley with my friends B. and J.L. On Monday, we spent a large part of the day with blogger friends Susan and Simon who live in Preuilly-sur-Claise and who take tourists on guided tours of the châteaux in their vintage Traction Avant Citroën car, lovingly called Célestine. Towards the end of the day, Simon showed us an unusual view of the Château of Chenonceau, from the banks of the Cher somewhere in the woods.
 

A view of the Château of Chenonceau
that very few tourists get to see for real.

Thank you Susan and Simon!

 

While we were shooting photos, we suddenly heard the sound of a hunting horn. It was hard to tell were it came from. At first it sounded as if the horn player was standing on top of one of the castle’s towers. A few seconds later, however, the sound came from the woods on the other side of the river. And it seemed to come closer. This was very unusual, as the official hunting season only starts in September. Were we about to be overrun by a pack of hounds and hunters on horseback?

 

As soon as we had finished our photo shoot, we jumped in the car and counted on Simon to drive us into safety. Although we were heading for the main road, the sound of the horn became louder and louder. And then we saw were it came from! There was a little white van parked on the banks of the river with a man in hunter’s uniform and horn standing beside it. He was facing the river and didn’t even hear us coming as he was concentrating on blowing the large copper hunting horn in the traditional and ceremonial way. There wasn’t a hunter, horse or a dog in sight!

 

The horn player is behind the van.
Notice the speed at which Simon is driving to get us into safety!

A week later, after we had returned home, I received the recurrent newsletter from the Touraine tourist board. One of the upcoming events for the month of June was … a ‘Concours de cors de chasse’ - a competition for hunting horn players, in the grounds of Chenonceau! The man we had seen that day in the woods had probably been practicing his musical skills. Why was he there, all on his own, in the middle of nowhere? Be honest; you wouldn’t want your neighbour practicing his hunting horn playing skills in his backyard, would you?

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Pistachio 'roast'

There was a time when I bought cooking magazines on a monthly and sometimes even weekly basis. After a couple of years, however, I noticed that the same recipes returned every year when the main ingredients were in season. After three or four years I therefore stopped buying them. When I moved into my current apartment ten years ago I filed them by date and season in the hall closet, where they filled up two one-meter shelves. Two years ago I realized that I never used them anymore, as it was so much easier to look up a recipe on the internet.

Last year in September I packed them up in several large boxes and gave them to my friend B’, whose son is a chef. I’ve never regretted my decision and have since then used the shelves to stock some pots and pans that I rarely use. However, last Saturday I went into our local librarian’s to buy a lottery ticket. Something I seldom do as I never seem to win anything.

Last weekend there was a big jackpot, though, and I decided to give lady luck another chance. Apparently a lot of people shared my idea and there was a long queue of men and women waiting to buy a lottery ticket. While I stood around awaiting my turn, I looked at some of the magazines that were on display. One of them, ‘Cuisine Actuelle, had a ‘Petits Prix’ special (Low budget recipes), which looked very interesting. I picked it up and quickly glanced through it. And this is how I came across this recipe.

The original recipe in 'Cuisine Actuelle'.

A delicious meal for just 3.30 euro per portion!

It looked very appetizing and easy to make. So I went to the supermarket and my friendly butcher to get the necessary ingredients. I slightly altered the ingredients as I’m not a big fan of onions in minced meat. And I also wanted to make a roast-like version instead of individual portions.

These are the ingredients I used (serves 4):

- 4 thin slices of Ganda ham (Ganda is the Belgian equivalent of Parma ham)*
- 4 thin escallops of turkey breast
- 1 large slice of braised ham
- 250 gr. of minced pork
- 15 gr. of roasted pistachio nuts
- 1 small egg*
- 1 large carrot
- butter and olive oil
- white pepper and salt

(*) my personal touch!

This is what you do:

Start by grinding the pistachio nuts. I used a small electric cutter to do this. Mix the pistachio powder with the minced pork, add some pepper, salt, and a small egg. At this stage you can also add a finely chopped onion.

Spread the slices of Ganda ham on a flat surface. Make sure they overlap. Carefully arrange the turkey escallops on the Ganda ham. Next comes the slice of braised ham. Take the minced meat mixture and spread it on the ham. Make sure to leave two centimetres around the edges, otherwise the meat will spill out when you roll the meat into a roast-shaped cylinder. Carefully tie up the cylinder and set aside.

Peel and cut the carrot in 1x1x1 cm pieces and melt the butter in a ‘Le Creuset’ type pot. Add a dash of olive oil to prevent the butter from burning.

Put the ‘roast’ in the pot and sear it on all sides. You can add some pepper and salt at this point, but personally I don’t think the recipe calls for salt as the Ganda ham is quite salty. When the meat is seared, turn down the heat and put the diced carrot in the pot with the meat. Put the lit on the pot and let the meat gently sizzle for about 35 to 40 minutes. Baste it regularly.

 

When the meat is ready, remove the cooking string and slice the ‘roast’ in 2 cm thick slices. Pour some baking juices and some carrot dices around and over the meat. The original recipe recommends serving this with a mash of sweet potatoes and celeriac. Sweet potatoes being hard to find in Belgium, I served some roasted potatoes and braised Belgian endives with it.
 
We thoroughly enjoyed this Sunday lunch, as the pistachios really give this dish an extra dimension. This exquisite meal definitely made up for the fact that lady luck once again ignored my lottery ticket!
 
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Ruins, a Crow and a Fox

Since 1985 we’ve visited several regions north of the Loire Valley. In the late eighties and early nineties, our destination was mainly determined by the presence of a ‘character’ hotel with a gastronomic restaurant. This is how we developed a soft spot for a splendid hotel in the village of Fère-en-Tardenois, in the Aisne department. This village with slightly over 3.300 inhabitants is located between Paris and the Champagne capital of Reims, at less than 300 km from Brussels. The largest towns in the neighbourhood are Soissons and Château-Thierry.

The hotel,‘Le Château de Fère’, was one of the first ‘château-hôtel’ in France. It opened in 1956 and was built in the 19th century on the foundations of the outbuildings of the former 13th century castle. The ruins of the latter are without any doubt the best feature of the hotel (banner photo). They are all that’s left of an elegant castle that was built between 1206 and 1260 by Robert de Dreux, grandson of Louis VI, also known as Louis Le Gros (the Fat!), who was king of France from 1108 until his death in 1137.

What's left of the bridge of the Château de Fère-en-Tardenois.

In 1528, Louise de Savoye, mother of François I (yes, the same one who commissioned the construction of the Château de Chambord; you see, the link with the Loire Valley is omnipresent) donated the castle to Anne de Montmorency, who transformed and embellished it by adding the spectacular and extremely elegant covered bridge that gave access to the castle. Later the crown confiscated the castle and the grounds after its owner had been sentenced to death. In 1779 the castle was partly demolished and the furniture and materials were later sold to Louis-Philippe I of Orleans. What is left was confiscated by debt collectors and auctioned in Paris 1793.

We’ve spent several vacations in Fère-en-Tardenois, touring the surrounding countryside. On one of these occasions we visited the nearby town of Château-Thierry were the legendary 17th century French writer Jean de La Fontaine was born. You are probably familiar with his fables, or short instructive stories, in which he uses animals to portray human vices and shortcomings. The most famous fable is probably, ‘La Cigale et la Fourmie’ (The Cicada and the Ant). My favourite, however, is ‘Le Corbeau et le Renard (The Crow and the Fox).

Are you familiar with Jean de La Fontaine’s fables? And do you know what the morality of the ‘The Crow and the Fox’ is? Click on this link to find out!

Jean de La Fontaine's birth house in Château-Thierry is now a museum mainly showing the author's manuscripts and prints illustrating his fables.

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