L’Art de Bien Manger

  • Les Poissonchats Wondrous Advent Calendar – Strawberries in Snow

    Les Poissonchats Wondrous Advent Calendar – Strawberries in Snow

    It is strawberries the youngest daughter asks for when her father wonders what he should bring back from his business trip. Naturally, it is the dead of winter, and there are no strawberries in mid-winter – except, of course, in the enchanted garden of the enchanted Beast. One thing leads inevitably to another, and the… Read more

  • Les Poissonchats Wondrous Advent Calendar – Honey Cake

    Les Poissonchats Wondrous Advent Calendar – Honey Cake

    Back in 2018, on a whim, I started Les Poissonchats Wondrous Advent Calendar on my Instagram account. The idea was to recreate, in digital form, the much-cherished Advent Calendars* of my childhood: something whimsical, ephemeral, and delightfully old-fashioned. Over the years I’ve chosen different themes and built each calendar around them, and I think many of you… Read more

  • Marrons Glacés

    Marrons Glacés

    Quiet November days, the air is clear and glassy, cutting my breath when I go outside in the morning to open the gate. I made marrons glacés this week, that’s chestnuts cooked in sugar syrup and of course it’s got rum in it too. They’re a little treat and I eat them with my mocca… Read more

  • Another Autumn at the Castle

    Another Autumn at the Castle

    And so autumn has come. I hear the wind rustling through the foliage outside as I write, it may grow and become fierce and fiery over the next days. The garden sits still, ready for the cold months to come, with big heaps of branches and leaves for the little animals to crawl into and… Read more

  • Finding Mushrooms

    Finding Mushrooms

    The forest is a beautiful thing, and full of beautiful things too, and anytime I go into the forest, which isn’t very often though, I feel quite at home in it, quite myself, a little more myself than anywhere else, except for the sea in November perhaps. You can’t be anybody but yourself on a… Read more

  • Apple Season

    Apple Season

    Apple season is here, and it’s going to be a good one! We have an orchard on the lower terrace, not terrific, as neither soil nor exposure are really good for apple trees but then someone planted them and so they’ll have to stay. What with loads of rain this year and equally loads of… Read more