Friday morning

Just plucked from the sea.
Sausage made in the area.
Sweet delicious bread. Lovely for teatime.
An enormous selection of dried fruit, spices and olives.
A must have "pain au chocolate".
Katie loved this chicken plate so I bought it for them as a remembrance of their trip to the Dordogne.
Flowers, flowers, flowers. The French love their flowers and nary a day goes by when you pass a house in the middle of winter without beautiful flowers in window boxes.
These chickens may or may not be decapitated before cooking. Personally, I prefer them headless.
The Dordogne is known for it's Foie Gras and is eaten regularly by most people here. My friend, Danielle (who was a former chef to President Mitterand) makes Nems with foie gras. The best description of a Nem is a Vietnamese version of an egg roll.

Every week, rain or shine, winter or summer, the market in Riberac is held on Friday mornings.

David has been many times but Katie had not so we were anxious to show her all the beautiful stalls.

David and Katie have arrived.

La Tour Blanche

The last few days have been hectic but wonderful.

After my drive down from Paris, I hit the road running as David and Katy were coming in two days and I hadn't been in my house for three months so there was a lot to do.

Thankfully Veronique was waiting for me with a full "frigo" of food so I wouldn't starve and could certainly get by for a few of days. She had cleaned the house so that it looked just as it did when I left.

First things first. I sm planning a dinner honoring David and Katy in two days so my first stop was Le Clerc for a big shop up. I was planning on doing a Moroccan meal so I needed lots of different vegetables, spices and chicken. There are always vegetarians at my parties so that also had to be taken into consideration.

A la prochaine

Here we go.

Flowers from Fleurt

My friend Margaret has, without a doubt, a way with flowers like no one else I know.

We both love to throw A list parties all year long. Our parties are like giving the party of the year time after time after time. What makes them special? Wonderful friends, wonderful food and absolutely incredibly beautiful tables. Sometimes I start setting the table a week before the party and barely finish before the guests arrive. There's always something extra to add.

Here's Margaret along with several of her creations.

Hotel in Paris

Small, cozy bar at the hotel.
Gorgeous!!!!!!

Driving on the Peripherique

Monday morning I woke early to begin the drive from Paris to La Tour Blanche. I went to the Air France terminal and rented a very cute Blue Fiat Panda and began my journey.

The speed limit is 130 kilometers an hour, the trip took about six hours.

I stopped at Flunch for lunch, a quick sandwich and coffee and continued on.

I later stopped for petrol, take note of the price. This was for about 1/2 a tank. We can't complain as gas costs approximately 8.50 USDollars a gallon in France. They charge by the liter so 4 liters is about a gallon, 1,57 euros a liter..... you can do the math and the conversion euros to dollars is about 1.33 today. Yikes!!!!!

A la prochaine

Evening in Paris

I am on the first leg of the return to my home in country France. I stopped in Paris for one night as some of my grandchildren were there and I always want to see them.

I arranged a dinner at La Coupole for friends and family. The beautiful ceiling is photographed above.

We had a wonderful time.