Francoise, who has a delightful giggle in her laugh, invited Anne, me, and Elisabeth for Rummikub and dinner. Elisabeth was wise enough to take a picture. Of course we are eating on Blanot pottery!
This is the village bread oven. The year's new wine couldn't be sold before the third Thursday of November. Many villages celebrated with a big dinner that weekend. About 50 people attended this Blanot beaujolais dinner prepared by Jean, who has a reputation for being a good cook. It must have been a super time because Mireille and Noel didn't come home until 1:30 AM!
I didn't go to the dinner, but I did keep track of the bread making. Here the oven is being warmed. It was a rainy day so the tarp was essential. Later I bought 2 loaves and that bread was delicious!
The night of the dinner, Blanot and its surrounding hamlets lost electricity. That didn't stop the celebration; in fact it probably added to the fun. Everyone brought candles! I would have liked to have seen that, but I was busy getting Anne and Elisabeth's donations of candles to stand up in wine glasses. I managed enough light to read.
Marie-Annick, Francis, and Lauryne came to dinner at my place and we also ate on Blanot pottery!
Marie-Annick picked up this good looking sweater...it has wide short sleeves and split sides to wear as an extra layer...at the Cluny Saturday morning open market. We had Ben and Jerry's ice cream for dessert...ice cream from Vermont! I did a double take when I saw that in the local supermarket!
On the mantle behind Francis are many of the things I have to add to my overstuffed suitcases for the trip home.
And a thank you to Lauryne who really doesn't like her picture taken. She has guided me through buying a phone that still outwits me, though it has come in handy...especially the first night the electricity went out!
Anne has a lovely home where I have spent many hours drinking tea and having a chat.
With an American in the village, Anne decided we had to celebrate Thanksgiving.
Elisabeth wore the shawl I had had my dear friend in Vermont, Mary, make so I could bring it to Elisabeth on one of my first visits many years ago.
This was Anne's version of Thanksgiving turkey. It's an African dish called Terzine and gets served with cous cous.
What a melt-in-your-mouth cake! And then we had an apple crumble.
I'll have to have my pumpkin pie for Christmas this year.
Anne let me get away with taking a lot of pictures of her with a promise to pick the best. I managed some great pictures of her laughing, but every darn one of them was out of focus!
We couldn't possibly eat all of that dessert, especially not after such a good meal where we had all gone back for seconds. Leftover desserts were wrapped up and taken to Stephane and Veronique's dinner the next night.
One of Anne's two cats...
Here is Anne's front yard as I see it when I come around the corner from the pottery.
Even on a chilly day Anne opens her bedroom window. It's a sure sign she is up and about.
Behind the double doors on the left is the second bedroom where Anne has her computer and plays solitaire. Then comes the kitchen. The double doors on the right are at the back of the living room where the table sits. I love walking through the crinkly leaves.
Elisabeth and I went to Veronique and Stephane's home for a goodbye dinner. Tiep really, really wanted to play with the rabbit!
This is the special heater to make raciette, which is melted cheese to put over veggies.
This tempura, an African instrument, can drone like a dulcimer, but much lower.
Elisabeth treated me to dinner at the Auberge. She had the vegetarian dish while I had pork in a cheese sauce. I was glad to see Francoise and Florence before my time in Blanot came to an end. They didn't realize 3 years had passed since the last time I had been here.
