L’Art de Bien Manger

  • 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

  • A Classic Tarte Tatin

    A Classic Tarte Tatin

    I do make various kinds of tarte tatin with my guests over the summer, salty versions mostly, because it’s such a French classic. Apples around here are usually just coming in season when we close the castle for guests, so in summer I use tomatoes, or eggplant or courgettes. Merci Sue Neuenschwander for the most 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

  • Summer Bellini Drinks and Romance

    Summer Bellini Drinks and Romance

    There is a certain kind of romance in those hot sultry August days, don’t you think, a certain kind of enchantment that makes the world glow, shimmering, very light and free. The romance of medieval tales, intertwined with myth and legend and magic, old and all encompassing, romance outside time. Quite unlike the rest of Read more

  • Rillettes de Truite and Les Grandes Vacances

    Rillettes de Truite and Les Grandes Vacances

    Hello Les Grandes Vacances! It’s the summer holiday season here in France, probably the second major event in the year, next to Christmas, and definitely as sacred and venerated! It’s a wonderful time, as things perceptibly start slowing down from now on, and there’s a pointed leisureliness in the air in the afternoons. It can Read more