Monthly Archives: December 2013

Radio Free Daglan in 2013: The numbers

Posted on December 31, 2013 by loren24250

Once again, a year’s worth of numbers for Radio Free Daglan have been added up and sliced and diced by the WordPress.com statisticians. During the year, the total number of posts on RFD since we began this blog rose to … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogging, Life in southwest France | Tagged Daglan, numbers for 2013, Radio Free Daglan, RFD, statistics | 6 Comments

Mark’s amazing scallops with apple: The recipe

Posted on December 30, 2013 by loren24250

By popular demand, I bring you the recipe for the amazing scallops that we enjoyed last Wednesday, as the third course of our seven-course, seven-and-a-half-hour Christmas Day lunch (“A Christmas feast in France,” posted December 27). Made by our friend … Continue reading →

Posted in French food, Life in southwest France, Recipes | Tagged Calvados, Christmas Day lunch, Daglan, entrées, food, lardon, New Year's Eve, scallop recipes, scallops, scallops with apple garnishes, seafood, seared scallops, spinach | 2 Comments

A Christmas feast in France

Posted on December 27, 2013 by loren24250

Seven people. Seven courses. Seven and a half hours. That’s a quick summary of the Christmas Day lunch we enjoyed in a large and beautiful stone-walled home that friends are restoring, upgrading and updating on a hillside in the hamlet … Continue reading →

Posted in French food, Kayaking, Life in southwest France, Wine | Tagged beef roasts, bollinger champagne, boudin noir, Champagne, charcuterie, Christmas, Christmas pudding, Daglan, desserts, entrées, Fabrice le Chef, Fabrice Lemonnier, foie gras, food, French oysters, gravlax, La Bégonie, mushroom soup, mushrooms, prime rib of beef, scallops, seafood, semifreddo, truffles, Yorkshire pudding | 17 Comments

A Boxing Day blogging break

Posted on December 26, 2013 by loren24250

Quite sensibly, Canada has followed the British tradition of treating the day after Christmas as another true holiday, called Boxing Day. As Canadians, my wife Jan and I believe we should celebrate Boxing Day by (1) recovering from our Christmas … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogging, French food, Holidays in France, Life in southwest France | Tagged Boxing Day, Christmas, Daglan, Dordogne weather, food, Lendemain de Noël, weather | 2 Comments

The first present of Christmas Day

Posted on December 25, 2013 by loren24250

This Christmas, a few of our friends decided that our cat Scooter warranted a present, and so we had some surprises for him this morning. In fact, as my wife Jan and I finished our Christmas morning breakfast, we gave … Continue reading →

Posted in Holidays in France, Life in southwest France | Tagged Agnes, cats, Christmas, Christmas morning breakfast, Christmas presents, Daglan, door stop, Scooter, Scooter the cat, Senga | 7 Comments

Why not lobster? Why not Champagne?

Posted on December 24, 2013 by loren24250

Christmas time in France puts a spotlight on the wonders of the sea — including of course oysters, which are now found in all kinds of shops and supermarkets in the Greater Daglan Area. And this suits us fine. In … Continue reading →

Posted in Festivals in France, French food, Holidays in France, Life in southwest France, Wine | Tagged brussels spouts, Carrefour, Cénac, Champagne, Daglan, desserts, Fabrice le Chef, lobster, poached pears, Sarlat, seafood, shrimp, Thiénot Champagne | 2 Comments

We’re dreaming of a wet Christmas

Posted on December 22, 2013 by loren24250

We’re pretty certain that we won’t be sledding or skiing on Christmas Day. As we enter Christmas week, our daily Daglan weather forecast from Météo France predicted either rain or grey skies for today and the next three days, with … Continue reading →

Posted in Holidays in France, Life in southwest France, Markets in France, Weather in the Dordogne | Tagged Christmas, Christmas tree, cold weather, Daglan, Dordogne weather, food, weather | 6 Comments

Doing the osso buco switcheroo

Posted on December 21, 2013 by loren24250

Today is officially the first day of winter. (Here in the Greater Daglan Area, it’s sunny and cold, with the temperature hovering around freezing — thanks for asking.) And of course, Christmas is getting awfully close. So you’re probably wondering … Continue reading →

Posted in French food, Life in southwest France, Recipes | Tagged canned tomatoes, marrow bones, osso buco, tomato sauce, veal, veal recipes, veal roast | 3 Comments

Our Christmas tree gets pretty

Posted on December 14, 2013 by loren24250

It’s done. We have a Christmas tree that’s decorated and — so far — our cat Scooter has not attacked it. In fact, he hasn’t even shown any interest. In fairness, we’re having some work done on the house, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Life in southwest France | Tagged cats and Christmas trees, Christmas, Christmas tree, Daglan, tree decorations | 7 Comments

Winter wins the tug of war

Posted on December 9, 2013 by loren24250

Just a bit more than a month ago, I posted an article about the somewhat spring-like weather that our village of Daglan had been enjoying. I called it “Hello autumn, hello spring (where’s winter?),” and illustrated it with a close-up … Continue reading →

Posted in Flora and fauna, Life in southwest France, Weather in the Dordogne | Tagged cold weather, Daglan, Dordogne weather, flowers, forsythia, nature, plants, weather | 1 Comment