Istanbul once again ... |

Never but never have I left my beloved blog to languish like this! I hope you’re all still there and haven’t forsaken me.

I left you without a word earlier this month. It was hectic with a somewhat rapid transition from our village of Assos to the delights of the Dordogne. Once home in Istanbul some ten days later, we were dismayed to discover the internet was off due to massive work being done in the area. We have now discovered how to access it through our iphones, amazing in itself, and this is how I am on my laptop right now.

Oh Périgord as the Dorgogne is also known (which I hadn’t really appreciated),was marvellous! Need I say more? It was just utterly fabulous. So beautiful. So clean, so well-cared for, no rubbish at all, not one plastic bag floating on those wonderful French rivers. Polite people, careful drivers and of course, different food! I must say, after an uninterrupted summer in the village basically living off the land in terms of market produce, wonderful though that is, I was more than ready for something more exotic.

The Dordogne is the region known primarily for its patés de foies gras, magrets de canard, and truffles. Then we have everything else that we naturally associate with France: croissants, pains au chocolat, baguettes, and of course wine and cheese. Personally I love paté in all its forms but TT doesn’t share my love of all French charcuterie. He does like the cheeses though!

choosing a cheese is an art in itself

We were lucky enough to visit a couple of markets: one in the beautiful old town of Sarlat and then a much smaller one in Le Bugue. They are hard to resist but I have to say that the vegetables aren’t a patch on what we have here. Nothing can beat our markets for the sheer abundance of it all as well as the quality.

I was disappointed in the veg we had there. The cucumbers are just like English ones: not worth buying.

What I brought back:

paté (of course)
camembert (not enough)
honey (chestnut and acacia)
a tresse of garlic that will apparently last until April
assorted packets of jambon

All quite simply delicious!

Even olives

A wonderful spice stall but I restrained myself – we have it all here more or less

Market crowds in Le Bugue

We also managed to bring back 4 bottles of Bordeaux wine inspired by a first class wine-tasting tour that we took from Bordeaux to fabled Saint-Emilion, yet another of those historic medieval villages surrounded by glorious countryside and vineyards.

We can’t recommend the tour highly enough: it was an all day affair from 10 to 6, 8 of us with a marvellous guide called Isabelle. The amount of information we acquired both from her and from the chateaux we visited (chateau doesn’t mean castle here: it simply means the wine property) was huge.I now realise that we don’t know how to drink wine here in Istanbul. We drink it all right but there is a whole finesse attached to it not to mention a wealth of knowledge. I wish there was a wine club here to join. Maybe there is – does anyone know?Being away is all very well. In this case, it was a fantastic experience. But inevitably you come back. I was actually looking forward to fresh salads,

I now realise that we don’t know how to drink wine here in Istanbul. We drink it all right but there is a whole finesse attached to it not to mention a wealth of knowledge. I wish there was a wine club here to join. Maybe there is – does anyone know? Being away is all very well. In this case, it was a fantastic experience. But inevitably you come back. I was actually looking forward to fresh salads,

Being away is all very well. In this case, it was a fantastic experience. But inevitably you come back.I was actually looking forward to fresh salads,

I was actually looking forward to fresh salads, rocket in particular, believe it or not. But seasonal as it is here, lo and behold, the figs are all but done so I have missed out on making Fresh Fig Clafouti.

The peaches are finished so now I have to rethink my breakfast: I was eating one fresh peach with white cheese and a few olives daily.

I somehow don’t feel like getting back into tomatoes since they proved so disappointing this summer. I do have 6 big packets of white cheese from Assos however in my fridge: this is my absolute favourite feta and beats their chevre hands down.