Adieu mes Petits Poules

It's been a bit of sad week because we said goodbye to our three little chickens.   Don't worry they were not put in the pot - they are now residing back in the countryside where they belong. 

LaVerne enjoying the rich diet provided by the ample garden
of our old house

As soon as we moved to Cognac the three girls immediately took to
hanging around the back door and bullying the cats and dogs

We did try to find a way to keep LaVerne, Patty and Maxene but they did insist on pooping on their own doorstep which is never a good idea.

 

Jake looking harassed

and Oscar standing very very very still so as not to rile them

I will miss them but not the "walnut whips" they left in their wake

So it was with regret that they were whisked away to pastures new and a young family with a very excited 9 year old boy who I know will enjoy the antics of the cheekiest chickens I've ever known.

Psycho chicken, qu'est-ce que c'est?

I shouldn't joke, our poor little chicken LaVerne is very broody at the moment and her hormones are getting the better of her.  We've been keeping chickens for 10 years now but we've never experienced the weird behaviour our LaVerne is currently displaying.

"Having a Greta Garbo moment "I want to be alone"

She's always been a bit different from the rest.  The day she arrived we found her on the roof of the hen house and ever since then she's been a huge source of amusement and very friendly.  However, since the hormones kicked in the other chickens have been picking on her.  They do say that girls can be cruel and there is always the pecking order to consider!

Consequently LaVerne's been in a foul temper (or should that be a fowl temper... sorry sorry sorry!) and has been staging vicious and unprovoked attacks on the dogs!

Would you mess with this puffed up chicken?

It was funny at first. How we laughed when LaVerne pecked our rather nervous beagle Oscar on the bum a couple of times as he hurriedly rushed past her to get in the back door but a few days ago the laughing stopped.

Poor Jake, our lovely pointer mix, was in the back garden sniffing around and minding his own business when a bundle of puffed up red feathers literally flew at him beak first. Being a sweetie pie he just stood there looking bemused but after several attacks of this nature we quickly ushered the dogs into the house. Our Jakie has the most gentle temperament but there are limits even to his patience.

The boys enjoying the back garden in times of peace

Luckily LaVerne has decided that us humans are not her enemy and we are able to collect the other girls' eggs without any problems but in turn leaving her rather bereft.   So my next mission was to find a substitute egg to keep her contented.  I know some people just mark an egg and leave it with the chicken but I was worried that it might get broken leaving behind a rotten egg smell and inevitable mess.  

So when we were shopping at a local brocante market in St. Julien de l'Escap last Sunday I was delighted to find a man with a selection of marble eggs to choose from.  I've never bought a gift for a chicken before but after much deliberation I picked out a lovely teal coloured egg.  LaVerne loves it!  It's quite big for a chicken egg but she doesn't seem to mind and when she's finished with it I shall clean it up and display it in the house (until it is needed again!)

Not the Fabergé egg I was hoping for but precious to LaVerne

The other girls are up to their usual high jinks.  Patty and Maxene are running around the garden with poor old Millie trying to keep up and yesterday evening they joined us as we watched TV by jumping up on the sitting room window ledge.  It wasn't long before Patty started to look shifty with the obvious intention of jumping down into the room so we quickly shooed them away (there are limits even for soppy people like us!)

The House - the final frontier - to boldly go where no chicken has gone before

Millie's keeping out of it!

So the back garden is off limits to the dogs when LaVerne is out but they still have free reign of the front garden.  Fortunately for them our psycho chicken is for the best part of the day safely tucked away on her nesting box trying to hatch a big marble egg.  So Jake and Oskie are still able to sniff about and bark at passing tractors to their hearts content.  Did someone say country life was quiet and relaxing?

The boys by the back door (must touch up paintwork!)

A Merry Little Christmas in Rural France

It's that lovely time of year when I clamber up into the loft and fetch down my Christmas decorations.  They are stored in a shabby old Fortnum & Mason's wicker hamper which keeps all my precious Christmas trucs safe.

Every year Spike and myself exchange lots of little silly gifts in the hand-made Christmas sacks I made a few years back (you can safely assume that I'm a bit of a Christmas freak... the stockings we had before were far too small to fit anything in!!!)  

We also have a lovely tradition of picking out for each other a special bauble each year for the Christmas tree which gives it a wonderfully eclectic look and although our tree is smaller than usual I think it's beautiful all the same and because it has roots it can be planted out in the garden in the new year.

Our tree - small but perfectly formed

The drinks cabinet stocked & ready for friends who drop by 

This year we are having a quiet Christmas day to ourselves that will hopefully consist of sitting around in pyjamas for the first part of the day while we open our presents, moving on to necking the booze out of little bottle shaped liqueur chocolates (not the healthiest breakfast but you may say but you might as well start as you mean to go on!!) before eventually being persuaded by the dogs to get dressed and take them out for a long winters walk. 

By this time a bit splodgy but still yummy

Once all these things have been done the preparations for Christmas lunch can start. This year, as it's just the two of us, we are not being traditional at all so we are going to roast some monkfish stuffed with a mushroom duxelle (hopefully with some truffle shavings too if I can get my mitts on one... another story for another day!).  

I know this Christmas lunch sounds a bit unorthodox but I don't eat meat (that makes me a pescetarian apparently). Luckily for Spike we have meat-eating friends over for supper on Boxing Day so he will not miss out. 

Something I always make this time of year are Christmas cupcakes which are a variation on the traditional Christmas cake but much lighter, oozing with cognac with a yummy cream cheese frosting on the top.  

They keep really well and can be offered all through the holiday season to anyone who drops by (our French neighbours absolutely gobbled them up last year when they popped in for an apero or two).

Here is the recipe for my Christmas Cupcakes if you would like to try them (sorry it's all metric but there are, as I'm sure you know, conversion tables available online):-

Ingredients

90g butter – softened

100g brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tbsp of orange marmalade

500g finely chopped mixed dried fruit

100g plain flour

½ teaspoon of baking powder 

1 tsp of mixed spice

2 tbsp of cognac

Ingredients for frosting

45g soft butter

100g icing sugar

100g cream cheese

Method

• Preheat your oven to 160°C
• Line a 12 cupcake pan with cupcake cases
• Using an electric whisk, beat the butter, sugar and eggs until just combined
• Stir in the mixed fruit and marmalade.  Mix until well combined
• Sift the flour,baking powder and spice.  Add to the mixture
• Add the cognac and mix well
• Spoon the mixture into the cupcake cases – dividing evenly
• Bake for about 30 minutes
• Remove from the oven and pour a little cognac over the top of each cake
• Immediately after this cover all the cakes with foil
• Allow to cook before removing the foil and removing them from the pan

 Method for the frosting

Beat together the soft butter with the icing sugar, then beat in the cream cheese. Pipe on the top with a swirl!

I think that if you try them you will enjoy them as much as we do and I really hope that you 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas' too.

An Afternoon Antiquing in Rural France

The Courtyard and Charming Rustic Farmhouse

Things have been a bit uneventful lately so I didn't have to be asked twice when a good friend of mine suggested we go antiquing in a rural antique/interiors shop in a little village not far from us.  

On arriving we were overwhelmed by the vast array of architectural salvage and rustic objects that vied for our attention in the courtyard. But seeing that it was a cold and overcast day and knowing that there was a good chance that some vin chaud and a selection of gateaux were waiting for us we wisely decided to head inside first.
  

Being rural the owner of the brocante doesn't keep normal opening hours but my friend had cleverly gleaned that this particular day she was holding a special open afternoon to welcome the approaching Christmas holiday season.

Table Set with Seasonal Trucs

Lot of Lovely Shiny Trucs

Inside the charmingly rustic farmhouse an array of candles, baubles and sparkling decorations greeted our eyes.   The stock was a mixture of the antique, vintage and new so there was something for everyone.   The log burner in the old fireplace was throwing out oodles of heat and it wasn't long before we were pulling off hats and coats and milling around with the numerous other customers in the search for seasonal gifts.

Unsurprisingly being something of a purist when it comes to antique shops and brocantes it wasn't long before I was itching to finish my drink and get outside for a good rummage through the proper old stuff in the courtyard and adjoining barn.

Unfortunately my coffers were a little on the low side that day so it was to be a browsing expedition rather than a buying one but I wasn't about to let a small detail like that spoil my enjoyment.   I do love to chiner though, as the French say, and the glass of mulled wine was sorely testing my resolve not to buy.

Inside the Barn

Having had a good look outside we headed into the barn and found ourselves in a veritable Aladdin's cave of trucs.  

I am always on the lookout for ideas and inspiration for the vintage/coffee shop I would someday like to own and this place didn't disappoint.  For as long as I can remember I have yearned for my own shop, a fact that my long suffering Mum would attest to having been subjected to many a tedious hour visiting my makeshift shop under a myriad of different guises!

Some might venture that she must have had the patience of a saint but I say it doesn't do anyone any harm to hone their acting skills once in a while (and who was it that bought me the little cash till that started it all???)

I am happy to report though that I do now at least have an Etsy shop (yes, it's true, I finally did it, ta ta da da... so please take a look!) so for the time being I shall have to be content with just dreaming of my shop in Cognac... picture this... a little old fashioned bell on a spring tinkling when you enter, the smell of freshly ground coffee assaulting your nostrils, 1930s jazz and blues music playing softly in the background and a room filled to bursting with wonderful, eclectic trucs (sorry about that!  I seem to have meandered off into a lovely daydream).

Antique Terracotta Plaques

Anyway, back to our afternoon out! We decided to quickly nip back in to the shop to say goodbye and pay for our purchases...I bought a solitary bauble (so sad!). I must admit to hoping that having been outside for some time the owner might have failed to recognise us from earlier and offer us more complementary mulled wine and cake!

It was then that I noticed, flanking the lovely rustic blue front door, a couple of terracotta plaques that I sold at a brocante fair earlier on in the year.

It seemed a bit funny seeing some trucs that used to belong to me somewhere else but they did look splendid either side of the door so I imagine it wont be long before someone falls for them and snaps them up.

I must confess that I didn't recall the proprietor as the buyer but I see so many people at these fairs it's really hard to remember them all (I am truly rubbish at recalling faces.. and names... unless they happen to be dogs which isn't very helpful in my profession..."Well hello there Snuggles - what can I interest you in today?")

All things considered I can't think of anything better to beat the winter blues than to wrap up warm and go out with a good friend antiquing!