So East it's Ouest

What do foie gras, Josephine Baker and canoeing have in common?  Except being amazing?  They all can (could) be found in an interesting little corner of France known as the Dordogne also known as the Périgord which is about 2hrs north of Agen.  The area is known for its good food, the beautiful towns,  and for being a canoeing/hiking summertime hotspot.  It's known as being the area in France the best preserved of the 14th century.  My three main goals of the trip:  visit Sarlat known for its amazing market, visit La Roque Gageac on of the most beautiful villages in France, and visit Josephine Baker's castle.   Sarlat is beautiful.  Sarlat is frozen in time (except for the tourists) and one reason for this is that it was actually an old town that lost its prosperity during the hundred year war between England and France fought in this area (Protestant/Catholic), during this time while Sarlat was catching up again it was quite effectively cut ...

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...

...Italy. So I took up Anna-Maria's offer to visit down near Pisa in Tuscany.  Using the super cheap and super simple (a bus goes straight from Lille to the front door of the airport) Charleroi airport in Belgium I headed on down bearing gifts from Lucia from the north of France.  Anna and her husband Nick live in a small town nearby called Vicopisano nearby Pisa.  He is Dutch/Italian she is French/Italian and they speak english, italian, dutch and french fluently.  Ridiculous.  They both work as language teachers and Nick also heads up a bagpipe troup and is a Scottish aficionado (kilts kilts kilts), he wears a bowler hat.  They are part of the english group in Pisa and they study with many nigerians so they are now learning nigerian pidgeon,  things like 'You face be fine'=you're looking good. Tuscany  vs the south of France:         Basically Tuscany is really similar to the south of France.  Differ...

 Just some pics to make you start drooling. La Carbonade Flamande La celerirave rapé Un Welsh La biere   Les endives (les chicons)  with ham and cheese, as a raw salad, or carmalised   Le maroille-and anything it touches Spéculoos   La chicorée   Les Frites

My dear friends I can now breath in this country called France.  My social security papers are filled out, my rental agreement is filled out, my bank account is up and running, my school paperwork is filled out, my medical visit is scheduled for next week, I have my school lunch cards, I have all my goods in order to save a few bucks (youth card, grocery store loyalty card, carnets for bus/metro), a French cell phone, etc etc.  I bought some panier bags for my bike to make it a real workhorse transportation vehicle.  I got some warm clothes, started  really teaching and preparing lessons, I have two new return visits👍🏼 ok I'm told they might have been charmed by my accent so what?  I know when the trash gets picked up, where to park my bike, where to grocery shop, I know some of the good beers of the region, I brought in a mug/tea/and snacks for my school cubby, yeah I'm feeling at home.   I feel like this is the first time in France that I've ever felt c...