So East it's Ouest

I technically live in the department of Lot-et-Garonne (the names of the two rivers) which is the old region called Aquitaine but I am right on the northern edge of...you guessed it Gascony.  Aquitaine has its own list of cool places and people; Eleanor of Aquitaine (cough she started chivalry), Bordeaux, lots of ducks, the town that was used as the basis for Beauty and the Beast but this is a post dedicated to the ancient wild beautiful region called Gascony. Who do you know from Gascony?  Uh I don't know a certain man called 'd'artagnan'.  Just kinda a big deal, not only because he is made fun of for being a gascon but also because try as he would he was very gascon.   Yes they speak with a cute twang, adding a -g- to the ends of words and yes they are friendly and different from other French from different regions.  Like the south east this region spoke a language called Occitan long before it spoke 'proper french' making it sound much like Catalan but not qu...

Ducks are so nice.        I love ducks.      They      are  delicious.   S outhern France how I love your love of duck.  Foie gras (inh umane I kno w, a discussion for another time) , cuisse de canard confit, magret du canard, oscillicoccimum, parmentier au canard...etc etc.  The south west especially is known for their love of chicken's more classy and dignified (noisy) water cousin the duck or canard { kaa-nar} in French.  Try duck and you will taste the difference.  Duck has much more dark meat and a richer flavor and a much thicker layer of fat under their skin.  It also has to be cooked well in order to be nummy (or nummy nummy nummy), if it's overlooked it will be tough and chewy. In the southwest however they take duck to a whole 'nother level.  They feel that duck fat is healthy for you.  In fact they swear by it.  Say what?!  The people in...

Bathroom.  Bedroom.  Stove top .  Heat.  Or not.... The joys of house hunting in France.  I have now realized that in the US we take many things for granted.  We assume that an apartment or house will have a toilet and bathing facility of some kind, we assume that a furnished kitchen includes a stove top if not a complete stove top oven, we assume that the building will have central heat. Well if you assume anything about France it's not to ever assume anything.  Furnished , check.  Sink, check. Floors, check.  Oven, nope.  Bed, nope.  Fridge, nope.  Washing machine, nope.  Table, nope.  Couch that is counted as a bed, check.  TV, are you kidding?  The joys of searching for and acquiring housing in France.   Let's start with the search.  Why are there so many restaurants in France, you only need to look at some real estate ads to understand why.  A kitchen consists of a stove top and a s...