Teacups and Sauces: April 2012

Foie gras de canard cuit au torchon chutney a la mangue/carvi (Le Vin Quatre)

How is it that we have descended into mid-April already? With each year, time seems to pass scarily faster and every now and again I get a feeling of eeeek. Perhaps it is that I am filling up my days too much and not taking a chance to stop, breathe and well, look around. Although I don't think that is the case, as most days I still wake feeling how much I still appreciate and have time for London, consciously making the time to do the things I enjoy about this city. So maybe time just moves faster as we get older! Ah, les temps est precieux! With Easter suddenly upon us and fleeting mentions of a mini trip into France looking unlikely, I thought I would be content to stay in the UK and just enjoy London.

This lasted about the time it took to scour Ryanair for a destination with the most reasonable balance of flight costs, timing and things to do (read: eat). This brought us to Bergerac, a small French market town in the Aquitaine region in the South West of France in Dordogne. Land of truffles, armagnac, sunflowers and most importantly foie gras. Decision made and flight booked. Limited transportation meant we were rather restricted on what we could do but I was rather looking forward to a chilled and quiet weekend and a chance to catch up on sleep but early train starts, coupled with eating and drinking can be rather demanding. On researching I found several farms producing their own foie gras and offering cooking courses - closest being 13kms from town. I had in my mind thoughts of cycling out there from Bergerac and wanting to watch the process - or at least believing that I did.

Alas, upon asking - we were told unless we were very fit it was unlikely that we would be able to do it. 13kms didn't seem far at all? Doesn't matter though as the farm and alot of places were closed for Easter or not yet open for summer - hence the non response from the canoe company and the non-usage of our bikinis. What we encountered instead were some of the friendliest French people we have ever met, always with a smile and ever so welcoming. A taxi driver who was determined to show us the city by night, a quaint town with great food, sweet wine and a town where all roads didn't lead to Rome, but instead to 'au-Plus-Que-Parfait', a small bar where it seemed no matter what Rue we walked down, we ended there and so there we ended - each night and day. It was also situated next to the best and best value meal we had in Bergerac at 'L'Imparfait'. The Central Perk of Bergerac perhaps where everyone knew everyone, chatting and exchanging stories, where one bartender was happy to tell us how he ended up back in Bergerac after living in London for 13 years, and where the other would freely top up our wine glasses, and google our music requests, yet not so freely tell us his age (21, but hey, 'age doesn't matter - it was the car, not the driver'). A small town where the simple life can and still exists, where you buy baguettes from the boulangerie and your groceries from the farmers markets, where you know your neighbours and share your wine. Et pour moi? A renewed desire to immerse myself in one of these towns for however, but hopefully not too short, a while.

So, foie gras, our main reason for picking Bergerac over the other random French towns that Ryanair flies into. Our first night had us sample both a mi-cuit version and a fried version in a caramel sauce, which, no matter how much tried, it was just too rich to eat much of - the portion sizes did not help. Visiting Sarlat and the famous Saturday market allowed us to sample in abundance for the traders were all very willing for us to test their products. Voulez-vous gouter? Oui. Quality control of course. So we sampled. So much so that for the rest of that day and night all we consumed was almost sugar and seafood.

More-ish, guilty? pleasures. First common perception is the cruelty that the duck or goose must endure to be force fed, in order to fatten their liver unnaturally and then for this to be farmed for sale to people like me, who love eating it. Upon reading abit more, it sounds like some farms do so in a way so that the animals are not in distress. I guess it is a case of believe what you will and choose. I didn't get a chance to witness the process so, for now, I will go on enjoying. It tasted a treat with an ice cold glass of sweet Montbazillac wine on our final lunch at 'Le Vin Quatre'. Google and you will find many a discussion on the process but for some light information, here is the farm I had hoped to cycle to. Cooking class anyone? - I need 8 people. http://www.biorne.com/faq.html - Nous avons eu un bonne weekend.