when a friend visits the farm, bringing along her little sunshine and book.

a few weekends ago i was preparing for a visit from a friend, Bea who just a few days before released her first cook book. the media & blog world was bursting with admiration for her book, i was excited to have her and her family here but also found myself feeling intimated because what do you cook for someone who makes everything look and taste so wonderful.  I had met bea at her home a year before when aran and i were invited for lunch. the lunch was incredible but it was the ease that Bea prepared the meal for us that was most impressive going from kitchen to table and back again while maintaining a conversation with such grace. I am not so poised at it, so i was nervous but i managed.

Bea,  her husband P. and her daughter lulu arrived just before sunset on sunday. we stood outside as lulu finished her nap in the car , we introduced our spouses, P. was the first "husband" to visit and stay at the farm and he was charming, helpful and funny. when Lulu woke up we headed inside where  Lulu was introduced to the many animals, it took her a while but before you knew it she was becoming more comfortable with them. Lulu is lovely, not only beautiful, a doll- but her vocabulary, wit and knowledge of both english and french  is impressive for any three year old. when you do not have children you quickly realize that the sounds of a child's giggles can fill the house with light.

It was truly great to have them here, we had long breakfast, snacks  & dinners at the farm table chatting away while lulu played, chased and rode the wooden horse. we read books for lulu in bed, i clearly failed the french language as she politely took the book away from me and handed it back to her mum- which truly made me laugh. we took walks through the fields and visited the writers cabin, where lulu and the grown ups played ring around the rosy( that is right kevin i just told the boys at the shop). Lulu held a chicken for the very fist time and i was glad to be a witness to it. I am happy to have had time with Bea not only is she creative, but also beautiful and made even more beautiful by the grace and kind heart she carries within her.

merci bea, P and lulu for spending time with us at the farm.

to see and read a more eloquent post about Bea's time here please visit her blog and this beautiful post.

oh and  getting a signed book delivered by the author to the hill was the icing on the cake- her book is pure sunshine for the eyes, soul and body.

a new friend, a tart and france

I have a new friend, her name is tzurit, but i have always had a favourite bakery, Tatte i have blogged about it here and here .  Tzurit owns Tatte and i have been lucky enough to finally meet her, well not in person but through many emails. i can't  tell you how many times her and i have said "me too", we share so much in common, the love for tin ceilings, unusually re-salvaged materials, childhood memories and even some of our daily struggles.  early on we talked about paris and shopping for her new bakery Tatte Two that will open in cambridge this spring and guess what, she will be joining us in dordogne this fall. she bakes at night, while juggling the design of the new bakery and motherhood. she has incredible taste and has even employed Anthropologie's builders( gonna be gorgeous). while she bakes at night she often tweets images, i drool and answer back things like oh my, and how i wish and you know what she sent me a box of beautiful baked goods, it arrived yesterday. this morning i opened it ( i have patience) to find these lovely treasures but when i unwrapped the pear tart my heart leaped, how beautiful and simple it is which is the formula for everything she makes. i am lucky to have a new friend who feels like a very old and dear one, who happens to be the owner of my favourite bakery.

* also included is halva squares and her signature nut tart. i bring all my friends there and it happens to be where i choose to meet bloggers for the first time. so delicious. Tatte 2 will also include a restaurant and shop and that is very exciting!

* i am sorry i am the worst food blogger, i should take our workshop:)!

*dishes some antique ironstone and some from the talented asya of Gleena

a novel, when friends do amazing things.

When my dream of living in a house in vermont was coming true, my dear and talented friend  Corine (who made my dream possible) was having one of hers come true as well, she published her first novel Hidden In Paris.  Corine is one of the funniest sincere bloggers i know,  her blog Hidden in France was one of the very first i followed so to see what i so admired in her blog- her writing be put in a novel one that does not require me sitting at a desk to read but instead curled up by the fire while turning it's pages in anticipation well that was  just heavenly! i asked my dear friend if i could ask her a few questions about Hidden in Paris and she happily accepted. She will be giving one lucky reader a copy of her book just leave a comment below and the winner will be announced one week from today. I say why wait when you can buy it  here  right now.  if you would like a sneak peak into the novel itself you can find that over here! I am so excited to finally be able to share this with you, merci corine!

Hidden in Paris by Corine Gantz.

Thank you so much for allowing us to share a bit about the behind the scenes of the making of Hidden Paris. 


la Porte rouge You are a a french woman living in the US writing about an american living in France, did you find it difficult to do so. would you relate more with the main character of Annie, now that you are living an american life?

Corine 
 
 When I go to France I really see it with brand new eyes: my new, fresh American eyes. I am so surprised with the way French people are, and so amused by it. At the same time I know it’s all a question of ceremonials. Americans are very direct in their interactions with strangers, the French are more circumspect. A certain form of politeness, even decorum is hugely important not to offend. I think Americans study the way they are supposed to behave when they visit countries in Asia, India or Africa. But I feel some Americans don’t think to look up the behaviors expected in European countries because they assume it should be the same as in the United States. I’ve received some angry reviews because my character Annie lives in France and criticizes it abundantly, but that’s because she feels French. Her criticism has been seen as French bashing, but no one is more critical of France than the French themselves.

la porte rouge How much of you is in this book, do you relate with one specific character, are you in all of them or none. 
 


Corine 
Annie is opinionated, makes rash decisions, is blind to a lot of things and acts like a wounded person trying to protect herself. Lola rather put her head in the sand than face unpleasant things, and Althea has found ways to turn her anger at the world against herself. They all need to change and all need to heal. I can relate to every one of those bits. At the same time, Annie is spirited and funny, Lola is kind-hearted and Althea is artistic. Those are qualities I value and hope will rub off on me some..

la porte rouge Did you have to do any research about paris and places or did you reach into your past. if you could be in one restaurant or cafe, street or park right now in paris where would be. 
 


Corine 
Some places have left great impressions on me. Last summer I made a point to revisit most of the locations mentioned in the book to see if they matched my descriptions of them. They didn’t always but in the end I decided to keep with the memories rather than the reality. It was much more pleasing to me, after all I am no journalist, I write fiction and part of me rather live in fiction too.

la porte rouge your main character annie loves to cook, do you cook? what will you be cooking tonight? 


Corine 
I’m hard at work writing the companion cookbook to Hidden in Paris, but all my recipes are in my head, so I need to recreate them in order to note the ingredients and measurements. As we speak I have brioche rising on my kitchen countertop. Looks like we’ll be having brioche for dinner and little else. I’ll come up with something. When I’m not hungry nothing inspires me, so nobody eats but when I get hungry I get to the stove in a hurry. Lately I’m all about Indian spices. I like to try all kinds of wild things. My highest culinary aspiration is to one day go meatless… but I am weak.

la porte rouge The men in your book played major roles, was it hard to develop their characters or have you met them before 
 


Corine 
I have not met those men. Not those men exactly. The inspiration for Lucas, the French man who is secretly in love with my main character was a pure creation. He is a fantasy man in the sense that he remains unruffled by Annie’s unpredictability, her emotions, her drama, and bad behavior. Would it not be wonderful to be with a man who has seen our ugly side and love us despite it, or even because of it? A friend of mine recognized parts of her husband in Mark, and I recognize a bit of Lola in her, so anything is possible. As for Jared, he does remind me of a certain delicious Italian boyfriend I once had

la porte rouge I noticed you mention designers threw out the book do you follow fashion. what is the most treasured item of clothes you have 
 
 


Corine 
 
I am not into clothes at all and have no opinion on designers. I had to google the stuff. I do buy clothes in the hope that it will make me look better but it never does. The fact that my designer of choice is old navy might have something to do with it. I can’t spend money on expensive clothes because I will get bored with them and they won’t make me look any better than the cheap stuff. Same with Jewelry, hair and makeup. I just don’t know how to adorn or pamper myself. But I do have emotional attachment to a few items of clothing from years ago. Some things I bought for myself, by myself with my own money when I was very young and just learning to be myself. I don’t wear them, I just can’t part with them.

la porte rouge did you know how the book would end early on 


Corine 
This was not easy for me because I had to come to term with the fact that I needed my happy ending when the books I really love and admire are those that break my heart. I fought my happy, but in the end I was weak.

la porte rouge do you still think of your characters now, what would annie be doing right now ?

Corine 
My characters are very real in my head, and as was writing my second novel I keep finding them lurking in disguises in new characters. I had to yell at them and tell them to go away. This new story was not about them, I said.. but they seemed to keep coming back through the back door. I’m told a lot of writers have that problem.

Thank you Dear Nadia for listening to me. You and I are connected through more than blogging and our love of books now. Your creativity, personality and style inspire me so much you might find yourself in one of my stories one day.

LMT- you are the winner of  the novel Hidden in Paris by Corine Gantz , please send me your mailing addtress!

the three fs ( france part three)

france, food and Friends

the most amazing thing happened in Dordogne. i met incredible women, who in a very short time felt like  friends. Six women who never met came to the workshop and it was magical, in a world were we are bombarded with a million reasons not like other woman, were having a group like this can go very wrong. non of that happened, instead there was a laughter, deep conversations, learning, team work, tears and big hardy belly laughs. i honestly think that these women are amazing not to mention incredibly talented. i loved getting to know them. whether it was jennifer contagious laugh and her ability to make me relax in front of the camera( her laugh could cure world peace), or sanda's quiet ways, sweet wardrobe and insightful story that has me booking a trip to lisbon!), or perhpas kimberly and her killer style, talent and the fact that she has farm animals too, or perhaps it is romina's smile and the fact that she has a fun way about her not to mention an amazing bakery that i must visit, or perhaps it is olivia, beautiful, kind, creative and right now having the trip of a lifetime and then there is lorna who with her british accent, the loveliest complexion ever, clothes i would have easily stolen( if there was hope of me fitting in to them:) and how she is always  pushing herself to do better. i feel very lucky to have met these beautiful, wonderful, fun women and even luckier to be able to remain friends. please visit their blogs you will be blown away!

i want to say congrats to jennifer who just found out she is having twin boys!

* pictures at the castle in Beynac and a lovely picnic by the river thanks to stephanie!

* more to come, the markets of dordogne

the three fs ( france part one)

 france, friends and food. as we drove into dordogne i suddenly felt as if i was driving into one of my beloved novels.  we arrived in the town of Beynac, where stephanie and her husband renovated the loveliest home, so tastefully curated at the foot of a castle,  you could not help but to feel lucky to be within its walls( do you know you can rent the maisonette!) every morning i would get up early and in my pyjamas would step onto the terrace( photo right above) and look outside to the incredible views. i would walk around the castle, the cobblestone streets and gaze over gated entryways. the fog visited this tiny village and reminded me of home, the church bells would ring, the birds would sing and i would whisper to myself this is magical and it was. it is not often that the imagination and reality meet but there in beynac and the maisonette it did just perfectly.

nights would be spent with long dinners at the loveliest places where thoughtful menus were prepared, incredible fish soup served in a beautiful white terrine, plat principal of delicate fish, in season vegetables, desserts such as   glazed figs and verbena ice cream, how we dined, each place now has memories of good conversation, laughs attached to them. we would make our way back to the maisonette, sometimes stopping by neighbours who shared incredible stories and filled our hearts with unexpected emotions. as we walked down the hill pass the castle we would gaze at the stars. our nights would end with us sitting at the farm table exchanging thoughts and ideas for the following day, then i would retire to my bedroom till i would hear the morning bells ring once again...

* more to come

a walk with a friend

last sunday sheila and i after breakfast went for a walk. i wanted to show her the writers cabin, the apple and pear trees. we ate our pears as walked, we talked about butterflies, the people we care about and the future. we headed into the woods where i showed her a stone wall circle, we found a magical leaf. we scared a giant hawk from the trees who in turn scared us. we walked to the cemetery that is in our forest the oldest stone is from the seventeen hundreds all belonging to the Potter family.  i am glad i had this time with my dear friend, her wisdom and calm, her kind and generosity have been like a lighthouse to a ship, a ship who often looses her way.

thank you sheila for spending time with me.

hi friends, after much rain it is sunny here, lovely in fact. i will be spending the weekend alone, preparing the farm for winter, writing post cards for read with me and making wild blueberry jam. what will you be doing.

quiet came and so did many lovely things.

hi.

I woke saturday morning to a quietness, the one that i craved but you see i thought i was okay still without it but the night before a meltdown through tears, exhaustion or worse yet a lack of patience was quickly taken posession of my mind and body. the thing is i did not know i really needed some quiet, i craved it but needing it to function that was unexpected. so there is was saturday morning, the little chick that had slept with me in my bed because she needed a mommy badly, was no longer chirping because i had found her a real hen mother, the dogs were sleeping with k, the feathery were fed, the horses too.  i picked up a broom and started to sweep, cleaning house, placing things where they belong, picking flowers and making tiny clusters, all those things were healing. I had a visitor too that dropped by and performed some magic but i will leave that for another post. K and i spent the weekend doing regular things but enjoyed the silence.

sunday evening my friend catherine arrived with her children. she showered me with all things wonderful, peaches, plums and apples from her orchard. rhubarb, blueberries tomatoes from her fields. home made jams & vanilla, rices of all kinds, olive oils. goat cheeses and soap. heaven!.  i made dinner, we chatted. the next day we went to the lake read magazines as the kids swam, talked about life and projects, went for a long drive.

came home made dinner, ate good cheeses and breads and nibbled on chocolate. thank u dear catherine.

they just left and for the rest of the week there will be just me, les animaux and that is pretty special too.

i also wanted to thank corine for writing these kind words

when all is lovely

i can not believe how many pictures i took of our time with aran and her family.

having aran visit us in our new home was wonderful, last time she visited it was bitterly cold and she was shooting photographs of a new england winter for her book. at that time i had fallen in love with miren instantly but i was too  meet jon, and i was excited to hear his voice, for i had seen him grow through pictures, he is a very special little boy. the kids played well together, they fed the chickens and ducks, and where there as new chicks were born, they picked dandelion greens for our feathery friends. jon who at first was a little frightened of our very large bears( dogs) would come to love them and sneak out of the house just to sit and visit with them. miren had a voice too and she talked constantly although in her own little girl language, it was clear that soon she would speak in large sentences. she kept up with the big kids and clearly was the leader of the bunch. 

Aran , miren and i were able to leave the kids behind with k. so that we could go to the farmers market and scenic tour of neighbouring towns sans entourage. i loved this time with aran, she spoke so fondly of her country Basque, the culture, the food, the scenery and her childhood, i loved hearing about those things especially her stories about her father who i believe could teach me so many things about the life i am living. we shared thoughts about children, marriages and careers all while pulling over to the side of the road and taking photographs.

I am so glad she came and i feel as if she will always come and every time she does i feel as if i am in the company of a dear friend. thank you aran for taking such lovely photographs of the life we have hear, making the food i make look good and your kindness and generosity.

now  when are you coming back:)!

Ps. happy birthday Sir jon, a little package in the mail for you.