Soirée Moules Frites

Jayac is a sleepy little village : 180 inhabitants the average age of which is 76 –   just as well we Djelils moved in otherwise it would have been a lot higher 😉

In spite of that people really pull together and several times a year the local Salle de Fête stages a themed event to keep the community spirit alive. We’ve had crêpes evenings, BBQs, Périgordine nights and apéro gatherings to name but a few.

There has even been a suggestion of my good self organising a Scottish ceilidh & teaching all the locals to set & reel…can you imagine?? Just translating all the moves into coherent French and picturing the ensuing chaos was enough to send me loupin’ ooer the Périgord hills. I’ve kept a pretty low profile since then and all has gone quiet…so far so good!

This weekend we had a Soirée Moules Frites ( mussels & chips night)! As with most of these events Amar was nominated as head chef.

My very own mussel man 😉

Turning out Moule Marinières for 150 hungry people was never going to be easy but add a pulled ligament in his right arm to the mix & he was facing quite a challenge! Luckily there were plenty of helpers to clean & prepare the 140 kgs of mussels so they got there in the end.

I’ve never known these events to start on time and this night was no exception – , by the time all the stragglers arrived, got settled and fuelled the appetite with lots of apéritifs – cider with créme de cassis this time – it was nigh on 10 pm!

140 kgs of moules marinières

and lots of chips!!

Hello Sailors!! Stripey tops and committee sailors hats keep the theme afloat!

The entertainment was provided by local band ” Weekend” – they are always brilliant at getting everyone in the party mood with a repertoire for all ages & costumes to match – not that age has any bounds…I have to say there is something quite surreal about seeing a Périgordine Granny getting to grips with Gangnam Style!!

YMCA - courtesy of Weekend!

 

A middle eastern flavour...

Amar and I also had a very Proud Parents moment when Emma was invited to sing during the dessert. A couple of English numbers and a Celine Dion French classic went down very well and left me amazed at how seamlessly she can dip in and out of both languages with the greatest of ease  ( Note to self – really must try hard to polish up my own linguistic efforts).

Emma

The night eventually drew to a close around 1.30 am with the band still playing as everyone was clearing up…another successful fun filled evening with a real sense of community spirit. Just waiting to see what the next soirée will be….hoping beyond hope it won’t have anything to do with haggis, neeps or Dashing White Sergeants!

Signs of Spring

It’s been a while… we’ve been away on our annual family visit/short break & I didn’t have time to post anything before we left.

It was an eventful trip including strikes, missed sailings, hospital visits, insurance claims, early dawn rises and being stuck out at sea for 34 hours in 130 kms/hr Mistral winds. No need to say more but it was all made relatively painless thanks to some very special & helpful people. We always try our very best to make sure we help all of our guests in any way we can from simply booking restaurants/tickets to tracking down lost video cameras ( yes, really we did do that once!) but our own recent experience has only strengthened our resolve – nothing will be too much trouble!!

Stuck out at sea for 34 hours in gale force winds - not nice!!

But we survived and now signs of Spring are everywhere. It was a welcome 20°C on Thursday, perfect for collecting this season’s new batch of hens and guinea fowl. As usual we went to Terrasson market to get them from Monsieur Lacoste, a fountain of all knowledge when it comes to poultry. The guinea fowl are at still at the scraggy, ugly ducking stage but will soon be sporting their intricate coat of adult feathers and the hens are already laying.

4 young guinea fowl unceremoniously packed in a box bound for Les Crouquets!

Spring also brings with it some unknown substance / plant / insect which Miss Molly is allergic to . This time of the year usually involves several vet’s visits and a stiff collar which serves to stop her scratching her head as well as cramping her usual energetic style. She spends a lot of her time indoors just now wistfully staring out of the window at what might be…

Miss Molly thinking about all the things she'd like to be up to....

In our family Spring is always heralded by Alistair’s birthday. This year though Spring arrived a day early on 20th March. According to people in the know there won’t be another 21st March Spring until 2102 so unless we break the World Records for longevity there will be no more en famille official Spring birthdays in our household.

All the trees and shrubs are now in full bud. The peach, apricot, cherry and quince trees are all showing great promise…hopefully there will be no late frosts which sadly have robbed us of a lot of the fruit the past two years.

Spring also means the countdown to the first guests of the season so lots of Spring cleaning is about to begin!

Miniature daffodils