I'm back! Friday 27th March 2009

Ok, ok, I know... it has been a while since my last post. Sorry. Being John's last week, the last think I wanted to do was to sit blogging all week just to keep you lot happy. Also, as we have been here a while, life has settled down and we have seen so much, some days we enjoy not having to rush out and about.

Today John chose to spend his last full day here in the Beaujolais region . It has been one of our favourite places to venture to. Alex went off to school and John and I headed to Beaujolais. We drove through tiny villages like St-Julien, and Blace. They were so quiet - John always says it is like a nuclear bomb has gone off in some villages the streets are so void of life. We drove into the heart of Beaujolais and it was so pretty. Some of the roads we took were more like cow tracks, but they all seemed to connect us back to something bigger which kept us feeling like we weren't too much in the wilderness.

We headed through the villages of Denise and Liergues which were lovely . We didn't stop, we were on a mission. We had decided to head back to Charnay and have lunch at the little Auberge we had visited weeks ago - The last hurrah!

Well, we possibly should have left the memory as it was. Not that there was anything drastically wrong, but today's experience wasn't in keeping with the lovely memories of before. We sat in the upstairs dining room where windows on one side overlook the village square and on the other side, hills and vineyards, It wasn't as cosy as downstairs where we had sat on our last visit. Sophie-Anne was rushed off her feet with full dining rooms to contend with, she just wasn't warm and welcoming. So much of a dining experience is about the feeling, it had changed. There was fish on the menu - John doesn't eat fish. Maya happily made him an omellette which was lovely, but at the end of the day, an omelete is an omelete. On our last visit (remember they brought us one of each dessert on the menu), I had tasted the best praline tarte I had ever had. I ordered it today and it was a shaddow of its former self. The deep pink filling was chrystalised and grainy rather than smooth and silky, it was a dissapointment. I sent it back and they were just lovely about it. No problems, 'what would I like for a replacement'? I ordered an apple crumble but in the interim, the electricity went out and it could not be heated, no electricity meant no coffee as well. Gggrrrrrrr!!!

Back in Lyon, the sun slipped away and the streets came alive with the energy of Friday night. The three of us wandered into the city, sandwiched between the two wide rivers whose bridges were lit with golden lights, their reflections twinkling on the water. We wandered up rue Republic, Alex's favourite, and stopped at Voisin, the chocolatier famous for the coussin de Lyon. We found 'Bistrot a tartines' and settled in for dinner. We all had the same, a tartiflette tartine and praline tarte for dessert. This place is simple, cheap as chips and is packed to the rafters at any time of the day. It bustles with life inside its walls decorated with grandmothery wallpaper of delicate stripes and soft pink rosebuds, and 50's and 60's memorabilia. The produce is bought at the riverside marche every morning, 'we use only the best breads, cheeses and produce because what we do is simple so it has to be of the best quality', Florian, the manager says. The menu consists of various tartines with glorious toppings like brie, walnut and cheese, or the potato, onion, lardon and roublechon concoction called tartiflette. There's a simple green salad sprinkled with walnuts with a choice of three dressings, we choose the mustard one, gosh its good. They have a range of sweet, old-fashioned tartes for dessert. The prices are great, the food is great, the atmospere is buzzy and energising, what's not to like?

We walked the half an hour home via the discovery of the beautiful Theatre des Celestins. Around the square where it sits were trees in precocious pink and white bloom, it was a picture.


John's impending departure stimulated deep and heartfelt conversation. I walked behind and watched as my boys walked homeward, arm in arm and happy.

La petit villages. Saturday 7th March 2009.

We were up and at 'em early this morning, onto the maze of motorways that lead out of Lyon. John says he would love to see an aerial shot of the road network here, it seems so complex.

Today we explored Chatillon-d'Azergues where we walked up the side of the hill, past the ramparts to the old fort, the weekly market was on in the square, it was lovely. We found a boulanger/patissier/chocolatier/glacier who made the most lovely jambon tartes and we ate them on the street.

Next was the village of Charnay where all the buildings were made of honey coloured stone from the area. The buildings looked as though they had been licked with late afternoon sun. We came across a little restaurant called Auberge la Broc' Assiette and what a find. Run by mother and daughter, Maya and Ann Sophie, the food is what they cook at home, there is no menu. Waitress Pascaline rambles through the plats of the day, all simple and good. We order the menu for €18 a head, and got so much more than we bargained for. Entree choices were assiette of saucission (which Alex and I both ordered, sourced from a local farmer), and John's choice of endive, lardon and egg salad.

There is no choice for main course at all, all diners are served what Mum decides to cook. This was definitely the best meal I have had since arriving in France. Three mismatched plates arrived at our table, piled high with caille farcie (stuffed quail, but these were the biggest quail I have ever seen, the kind that are worth while eating), a sautee of wild mushrooms and pan fried haricot beans, drizzled with a light jus it was a delight. We made little noises as we ate, industriously taking every bit of quail flesh from the bones to reveal the centre of onion laced stuffing. We ordered a half pot of Beaujolais blanc which was dry and crisp, an accompaniment worth remembering.

We thought it was time for dessert but Ann Sophie had a different plan. The fromage course was next and you had to see it to believe it. The commumal cheese plate travels around the restaurant, from table to table, and is not moved on until you have had your fill. The choice is for fromage blanc or fromage sec but Ann Sophie spoiled us and gave us everything to choose from. She tipped a little pot of fresh cows cheese into a bowl and sprinkled it generously with sugar, mixed it up and offered it to me. It was fresh and clean and white as snow. Alex enjoyed the reblochon which was oozy inside and stinky as an old boot, and John tried the Saint Marcellin for the first time which was studded with sweet raisins.

It was time for dessert and lovely Ann Sophie dazzled us with seven choices all made by herself and Mum, Maya. She disappeared into the kitchen leaving us lolling around the table with satisfied grins plastered on our food loving faces. She returned with "something very special just for us". Placed before us was a serve of every dessert on offer, accompanied by three spoons. There was a pralines tarte, not too sweet and with a thin base of homey pastry, a tarte of citron, orange and grapefruit, a devilishly rich chocolat mouse, tiramissu (not very french I know), a pear cake, a moist chestnut cake, and a white chocolat and coconut tarte with a thin slick of dark chocolate between the pastry and the filling. We all looked like the cat who ate the cream. I could not do it justice after the feast I had already indulged in, but the boys did me proud and tucked in. I must say the small taste of the pralines tarte was perfection followed by the white chocolat and coconut, I adore that flavour combo.

We waddled out of Auberge la Broc' Assiette having enjoyed one of our best food experiences ever. We talked about how Fran would love the hospitality and would love to bring her here when she comes to stay with us in Lyon this April. I am torn between wanting to share this place and keeping it as the perfect memory it is.

We wound our way along the windy roads of the Beaujolais region, over hills and through valleys visiting the villages of Bagnols, le Bois d' Oingt and Oingt, all built of warm, honey coloured stone.

If I was asked what I would change about today... my answer would be 'nothing'.