After a few minutes of deep reflection and analysis I have concluded that it makes sense to merge Been There Eating This in to theTravelsketcher blog. The Travelsketcher travels, eats, and sketches, so why not include all together.
So if you follow this blog but not http://www.peninkandpaint.com I hope you will start following it. I plan to post more often about where our travels, eating, yes and of course sketching takes us.
Thanks for understanding, and thanks for following this blog over the years.
Last Monday we returned to Assisi. We went down the stairs in the Basilica of Saint Francis to the chapel of his tomb. Two priests were there, quietly available, they handed out prayer slips to those who wanted to submit a prayer, or they just acknowledged your presence with an encouraging nod. I sat in a pew midway back and pondered what I saw. As I sat there, other people came in and also sat quietly, some with heads bowed, some looking at the sarcophagus where St Francis laid.
No one seemed to care about theology nor denomination, no one cared about politics, no one cared about Protestant or Roman Catholicism. This was just a place for each person to feel and express their faith and to seek some comfort or a bit of hope in their lives.
What I realize, is that for most of Christianity’s history, most followers just expressed their faith, seeking grace, mercy, and hope. Their leaders may have been corrupt. The scholars debated non-essential questions of theology, and sadly, the politically inclined used the church for their own objectives. But the person in the pew recited the Our Father, said a rosary, verbalized their faith through the Creed, and tried to live life as best they could.
Jesus prayed for unity, while Paul feared that wolves would come in to distort and divide the church. True to his fears the church has a history of division, distortion, and even evil. Yet through it all the faithful have continued to express their faith.
The Apostles left us documents to refer to, the early councils combined the essentials of the faith into easily memorable creeds, churches displayed icons and cut-glass images to teach and remind us of the Biblical stories, and a liturgy was developed that repeated the heart of the Gospel week after week.
Each week the liturgy proclaimed “the Lord’s death until he comes.” Even corrupt clergy proclaimed the message each week as they recited the liturgy of the Mass, and the faithful responded. Paul said in Philippians that some preach out of selfishness, even with a desire to do damage, yet he was thankful that even then Jesus was proclaimed.
Jesus said that the gates of death would not prevail against the church, and for centuries people have distorted the message and attacked the church, still, this week, there were people sitting in a basilica expressing their faith. The human-tainted side of the church may be a sad demonstration of the selfishness of humanity, yet the hearts of many common people, the kind of people that Jesus has always sought, still express their faith.
We have visited so many cathedrals, basilicas, and churches during our travels. Fortunately here in Europe the doors are often open so we can go in. The architecture is amazing and there is wonderful art. Some are magnificent places like Chartres or Assisi, some quite simple like the Église Notre-Dame-sur-l’Eau in Domfront, yet each draws people to sit for a bit and take it in, I call that faith, and it gives me hope.
Yesterday we returned to Assisi to visit the Basilica of St. Francis. The weather had changed from sunny Sunday to Normandie rain. We parked at the end of the city near the Basilica, which we discovered was the end with few restaurants. Lunch being a higher priority at the moment, we searched for food. We did pass a couple of places with groups of people standing outside eating some pizza or something, but that is not our idea of a good lunch, bien sur.
After climbing up some long flights of stairs, our app said eight flights, I saw a restaurant sign on a wall – Il Frantoio. Tired of walking, we decided it was perfect, without knowing anything about it at all. To our pleasant surprise we had stumbled upon a Michelin listed place, a sure sign of good dining. Here is the photo Tricia took from the main entrance, we entered from the other side so had not even looked at the menu until we were seated at our table.
Most have heard of Michelin restaurants and stars, here is a bit of the background. If you are an auto racing fan, or even just a drivers that appreciates quality you know that Michelin is first and foremost a tire manufacturer. To increase tire sales they produced a driving guide in 1900, correctly calculating that if people drove more and longer distances they would wear out their tires and need new ones. The guide listed hotels and places to eat all over France.
Just being included in the guide was an endorsement, this was long before Yelp or Google Map comments. Eventually they began to evaluate restaurants giving a star to those deemed most worth, the system developed into 1, 2, or 3 stars.
1 Star: “A very good restaurant in its category.”
2 Stars: “Excellent cooking, worth a detour.”
3 Stars: “Exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey.”
Il Frantoio does not have a star, but it must be close. We had an amazing experience. The first thing they brought was what the chef called a “welcome plate.”
Well it was actually four plates. In the distance, to the left of the bread, were two red potato chips, thin and hollow in the center with two different mayonnaise drops on top. There was a mini-taco, and a red pepper crème brule.
For our entree we asked to share scallops. No bringing the dish with two forks here, nope, the chef split it between two plates for us.
For Mains Tricia had gnocchi, I had pigeon.
We were going to pass on dessert but a cocktail on the menu was just to interesting for me to pass up – and I am not a big cocktail fan.
It had Cointreau, lemon sour, olive oil, and a dash of balsamic vinegar, and one egg white. I had never heard of olive oil in a beverage so was interested. It was beyond good, not overly sweet, a hidden taste of the oil, with a texture that was silky smooth – perfect desert. It was actually invented by our server, which was a nice touch.
Thanks to being in Italy, as opposed to expensive Geneve, it was not a terribly expensive meal, less than we thought it would be when we first realized we had settled in to a Michelin listed place.
After a satisfying meal we visited the Basilica, a bit of food for the soul made the day complete.
Started my day a bit off, but then, on the way to the Intermarché, Tricia reminded me that she was making pasta for lunch, it completely brightened my day; food is so important to us and our frame of mind. So now, thoroughly rejuvenated, I am writing while she is creating one of the best comfort foods in my life. I know we will be in Italy in eleven days – after stops in Paris, Lyon, and Geneva – yet her pasta is what has my attention today.
These last few weeks in Normandie we have eaten well, see my blog “La cuisine chez nous”. Since that post I wanted to report on the state of la cuisine chez nous.
We have gone out to Le Bistrot St Julien, it remains our favorite in the area. We also went to Auberge de la Source, another of the places we like, in fact it seems we rarely go anyplace else. The entree, a basted egg in a camembert sauce with bits of andoulette, was stunning.
We have both admitted that when we are home we would rather eat at Chez Nous, and eat we did. Tricia did the shepherd’s pie that I wrote about on my last post, since then she has posted the recipe, give it a try. For a Sunday lunch I made compte gougères for and entree, then Mushroom Bourgogne with polenta for the mains.
One of my other contributions was broccoli and compte on puff pastry. This one is defiantly a do again, unless of course our friend Dave is near, he calls broccoli “sticks of death”, not his favorite veggie.
Tricia followed this with another of the comfort foods she does so well, sole meuniere. She has never posted the recipe but since it is a classic French dish you can certainly find it with an online search. It is one of those dishes that can seem intimidating, but there are simple versions. The caper sauce is what makes the dish, so rice pilaf was the perfect accompaniment.
Saturday I made crab cakes for the main,
Yesterday for Sunday lunch Tricia made salmon chowder which I had with spicy coleslaw. I made parmesan shortbreads for the entree- the only entree easier than the compte gougères which I made earlier. Someday I must post the recipe as they are always a hit with guests, and easy to take when visiting. To complete the meal I made Parmesan toasts, and a roquefort salad.
When I started writing Tricia was making pasta. Most often our pastas are vegetarian, Tricia loves a lot of veggies, thankfully I do as well. We cook some pretty hardy meals with vegetables, nothing wimpy about them at all. Here is the finished dish.
So it has been a good few weeks here in Torchamp, we head out on Thursday for the train in Flers which will take us to Paris and then onward. Lots of trains on this trip, one through the alps between Geneva and Milan that I am particularly looking forward to.
We are grateful that we live in a place where travel is easy and much more affordable than in the US. Yet we have always traveled, even just day trips driving around the Pacific Northwest, or here in Normandie. The important thing for aging joints and healthy attitudes is to keep moving, I even read just this morning that moving reduces the chance of dementia. Some days I can’t remember much of anything, so we need to keep moving, and we will.
I hope your journeys are a joy, short or long. And look for good food along the way.
We got back home on Tuesday, 6 February, which means for us it is time for cuisiner chez nous, cooking at our place. We love restaurants yet we miss cooking ourselves so we don’t eat out a lot between voyages. Here are a few of the highlights from the last two weeks.
Tricia started notre aventure culinaire with vegetarian shepherds pie. I love that you can have something so hearty without meat, which I eat plenty of when we travel. Watch her blog in the upcoming weeks as she assures me she will be posting her recipe soon.
We have a few favorites that are quick and easy. The pre-made pizza dough here in France is so good and so quick that it makes a regular appearance on the menu. Since confession is good for the soul I will also admit that we love the frozen fish and chips that we can bake in the oven; I of course make the mayonnaise myself which is better than store bought, and so easy to make. Some other favorites are Tricia’s pasta, and we both like paninis.
For our first Sunday lunch, our regular tradition, I made grilled salmon with braised lentils. The dish was inspired by something we had in Paris, and it turned out quite well. It was accompanied by grilled vegetables in the style of Peñiscola. I may post the salmon and lentils recipe in the future.
Here are the veggies, served on the tres cool slate plater from Mukilteo, a gift from our friends Claudine and JJ.
Yesterday we had nachos, which are a bit of a challenge here in France, at least rural France – you just don’t find refried beans here, so I tried making them. All I can do is quote Ina, “How good is that!” Refried beans are now added to mayonnaise as something I will never buy again as they are too easy to make and so much better than any pre-made.
Saturday I made cauliflower soup, another of our favorites and so easy. Topped off with Parmesan cheese toasts and a Roquefort salad, with a glass of Cotes de Rhône it was perfect.
We do like food, so I better finish this up as we are heading to The Citadel in Granville, one of our favorite restaurants. It is just 90 minutes away near Le Mont-Saint-Michel, so we have views of that to add to our trip on this sunny day.
I hope you are eating well and following Tricia’s maxim of cooking good food for the people you love.
We are back in wet Normandie, thankfully, the cold snap we escaped a few weeks ago is over and temps are in the 50sF (10sC), so, other than the rain, it is feeling a bit like spring – Snowdrop flowers have even come up. In some cultures February is considered the first month of Spring, I agree.
We were in Peñiscola during the Festival of St. Anthony. On the closing weekend of the festival they spread sand on the main route through the castle area where we were staying. Then on Saturday there was a procession of horses and horse-drawn carts. Sunday morning we went to church at Santa Maria de Peñiscola. We exited the church and discovered a crowed lined up for a second procession of horses and carts. I am not sure of the significance of the horses but it was quite a thing to see.
We discovered that most all of the restaurants are quite similar in their offerings: paella, grilled fish, shellfish, etc. There was though quite a variety in quality, seasoning, service, and ambience. Towards the end of our stay we discovered a place so good, and a bit different, that we went there twice: Porto Rico. On our first visit we ordered too much, but we ate it all, I was sated, and then some.
On our second visit we shared croquets again as an entree, then for my main I had grilled Iberian pork marinated in spiced red wine, c’était superbe.
We only had one meal that was disappointing, and it was all our own fault for picking the place. The host was working too hard to fill the tables and the menues were quite tattered, which should always be a dead giveaway to avoid a place. Other than that the food, service, and amazing views made Peñiscola dinning a pleasure.
We have been eating well these last couple of weeks. We started off in Paris, where we met up with some friends before heading off to Spain.
A couple of the meals stand out. It doesn’t get much better than falling-off-the-bone braised lamb with sauerkraut.
Then there was this amazing meal. Three kinds of grilled fish, a shrimp, and mussels – served over sliced potatoes with a cream sauce. This one was memorable for sure.
In Spain, and particularly when near the Mediterranean, seafood is ubiquitous, with of course Iberian ham and chorizo just for good measure.
For our first meal here we went to the Taverna just next door. We shared patatas bravas and grilled veggies. I had flaming chorizo.
The next day I had grilled sardines and we shared a seafood paella.
And of course another paella on another day – both were perfect.
Yesterday, I had one of my favorites in this part of the world, grilled octopus, with patas bravas, at the taverna next door.
Add in plenty of green olives, a sip of cava, along with some spectacular views and you have the perfect place for a couple of foodies like us.
I hope your travels and meals are delicious, we are constantly reminded that the best seasoning is the people you are eating with, so gather a friend or two and eat, it just doesn’t get better than that.
We got back home on 4 January after a month in the US, so what has it been like?
First off it has been pretty cold most of the time, morning temperatures in the 20sF, we even had a dusting of snow. We try to use our wood stove as little as possible, it is just too much bother and too much smoke, yet we have had a few fires out of necessity.
I took that photo last winter when Neville was still with us, he did like the fires. Though we always miss him, and talk about him often, since returning we are missing him for another reason – mice. It seems the cold has driven the mice to seek warmer places indoors, so we have been setting traps and cleaning a lot, yuck. If Neville was here it would be pas de problème .
We eat quite a bit differently when we are home. While traveling, and especially on this trip to visit friends and family who all wanted to share amazing food, we eat a lot. Here in Normandie we are pretty much vegetarian and eat our main meal at lunch, though still pretty light. Then we have just an appetizer type nibble in the evening.
Our first Sunday back I made crisp, thin polenta cakes with a light Roquefort sauce, topped with beets, walnuts and crispy shallots.
We have had flatbreads, salads, I made a cauliflower soup, and Tricia made a lentil soup. For her birthday last Friday I did polenta cakes again but with a mushroom sauce – it didn’t turn out as well as I would have liked for a birthday meal, but she said it was a good birthday, which is all that mattered. It feels good to eat a bit less, and I am sure my girth is happier for it as well.
Friday we head to Paris, then on to the south of Spain for a couple of weeks, it will be good to get out of the cold for a bit. We will leave traps for the mice just in case. And in Spain I can get all of the tapas and grilled fish I can eat, we can hardly wait.
We left San Diego and our California family and headed to Portland, Oregon. It has been a whirlwind, mostly. Our first stop was Newberg, OR, with our daughter and son-in-law, Alexis. We had lunch with my son and daughter-in-law, visited my other son in Vancouver. We stayed with friends in Portland, then back to Newberg for a few days then back to Portland. We drove from Portland back to Seattle, stopping along the way to visit my stepmother and my stepbrother. We were invited to multiple gatherings and met some wonderful people. This was a Christmas season we will long remember. Here are a few photos I took along the way, I could have taken many more for sure.
Peacock Lane in Portland with Alexis and Joe
Dinner at Papa Hayden’s with Alexis and Joe
Dinner at Clark Lewis with Tim and Lisa.
Tricia worked hard to bond with Cleo
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Zoo Lights at Woodland Park Zoo with Dave and Rosanne
At a New Year’s Eve party in Seattle with Tricia’s sister and family
One of the kittens tried to get a snack
We are at the Doubletree Hotel next to SeaTac airport, we head to the airport in an hour for a flight to London. Thanks to our many frequent-flier-miles we get to go First Class, should be fun. Then it is the Eurostar to Paris, and the train from Gare Montparnasse to Flers, then a short drive back to La Thebauderie. Our place in rural France seems like a world a way, and it is, yet right now, sated with love from friends and family, saturated with wonderful memories, it is a welcome destination. We have had a great trip, better than I could ever have imagined, yet as Dorthy said so simply, “There’s no place like home.”
On Tuesday of last week we picked up a rental car and headed north to La Conner, WA. It is a picturesque town at the mouth of the Swinomish River. A perfect place to spend our 36th anniversary.
We have been to La Conner many times over the years so it holds a lot of good memories. Some of the best memories are of when we took my mother there almost every year for her birthday, she loved it there.
We ate lunch at Nell Thorn Waterfont Bistro & Bar since our favorite place, The Oyster Bar on Chuckanut Drive was closed that day. It was a good time for sure. We stayed at the Channel Lodge in a room with overstuffed chairs, a gas fireplace and a view of the channel.
Wednesday we headed south toward Mukilteo, stopping first in Mount Vernon for a nice lunch with my sister and brother-in-law. It was good to get caught up.
Two of our best friends live in Mukilteo, if you follow my blog you have met them already since we joined them in October in Provence. Shirley goes all out on Christmas decorations. We were greeted with this amazing tree, which Tricia, of course, took a photo of. (Her last blog was all about trees, including this one.) They think it has 1200 lights, I can’t even imagine doing that, but it sure is beautiful.
If I had a patron of my art it would be Jim and Shirley, they have so many framed pieces of my art, even postcards that I have sent. Their home has hundreds of wonderful pieces of artwork, some quite interesting. I am not sure I want to know the story behind this one, but am honored to have my art shown in such a creative space.
They invited friends over for a couple of holiday get-togethers, Shirley put out quite a spread. Since they love France there was of course croissant.
Saturday we drove back up north for our postponed anniversary lunch at The Oyster Bar, and it did not disappoint, bien sûr. After a few oysters we shared an entree of smoked sablefish (black cod) on marinated beet with pumpkin seeds. It reminded me that the reason I detested beets for most of my life was not the fault of God creating them, nor of the poor beet itself, it was just poor preparation. This was so good.
I had the plat du jour, petrel sole roasted on a cedar plank.
After our leisurely repast we drove south to Ballard where we are staying with Tricia’s sister. Yesterday we helped out with our nephew’s birthday party at the Lynnwood Swimming pool. Oh my! A room full of eight year old boys sure do have a lot of energy.
Thanks Tricia for the photos
We have had a great time so far. We are so grateful for the folks that have taken us in and put us up. But most of all we have relished the conversations. Tomorrow we are off to San Diego for a couple of days, we have a new, well new to us, grandnephew to meet, should be fun.
Been There, Eating This 