L’Art de Bien Manger

  • #2 Les Poissonchats Wondrous Advent Calendar – Snowflake Gazing

    #2 Les Poissonchats Wondrous Advent Calendar – Snowflake Gazing

    Snowflake gazing.  Ironically, the time historically meant for retrospection and contemplation, when all the work of the year was done, and the nights long and the days short, and ever so cold, and when you were meant to sit around the fire all day and tell stories and feed off of the fat summer months,… Read more

  • #1 Les Poissonchats Wondrous Advent Calendar – Nostalgia

    #1 Les Poissonchats Wondrous Advent Calendar – Nostalgia

    Nostalgia /nɒˈstaldʒ(i)ə/ A wistful or excessively sentimental yearning for return to or of some past period or irrecoverable condition.  Do you remember the scent of burnt cinnamon and apple caramel? Woodsmoke and the cold metallic smell of an icy winter’s night. The texture of the air when you enter the candlelit parlour. Walking on crumpled… Read more

  • Les Poissonchats Wondrous Advent Calendar: A Whimsical Tradition

    Les Poissonchats Wondrous Advent Calendar: A Whimsical Tradition

    Back in 2018, out of a whim, I started the Les Poissonchats Wondrous Advent Calendar on my instagram account. The idea was to create a digital version of the much cherished Advent Calendar of my childhood for my followers, something whimsical and ephemeral and very very old fashioned. In the years that followed I chose… Read more

  • Light Casting Shadow and Quince

    Light Casting Shadow and Quince

    We’ve run into a cultural situation where we’ve confused the symbol with the physical reality; the money with the wealth; and the menu with the dinner. And we’re starving on eating menus. Alan Watts Have you ever heard about Alan Watts? I find he’s probably the coolest of all contemporary philosophers. He says very clever… Read more

  • What we Ate in Tonnerre

    What we Ate in Tonnerre

    We’ve been on another one of our legendary road trips through France, mainly to get our dream wood fired stove, but then as goes with our legendary road trips, these come with the most interesting sides included. The stove really is a dream, a big black beast with brass fittings and it stood in a… Read more

  • Autumn at the Castle and Magret de Canard

    Autumn at the Castle and Magret de Canard

    Autumn has safely arrived at the castle and I can’t say I’m disappointed, so far it’s given us a splendid show of dramatic weather, torrential rain followed by golden sunsets, crisp and misty mornings and watery light flowing in through the kitchen window. We’re now having the wood fired stove going all the time, which… Read more