4 friends, 2 lunches

It’s been wonderful finally being able to see friends after the Covid lockdowns and travel restrictions. And in this past week, we’ve enjoyed seeing a variety of friends — from Scotland and New Zealand — and getting set for visits with good friends Elisabeth and Gerhard, who arrived in Daglan yesterday.

Our lunch-with-friends program began on Wednesday, when we met up with Scottish friends Shona and Tim, who have been frequent visitors to the Greater Daglan Area, and are very knowledgeable about it. They were staying at Trémolat’s venerable inn (with a Michelin-starred restaurant) Le Vieux Logis, but we opted to dine across the street, at the related restaurant, Le Bistro de la Place.

I’ve reviewed the bistro before, so I won’t go on and on. Put simply, it’s a casual place with quite good food and a pleasant location. We ate outside, despite the sweltering temperature, but we were tucked against the building in the shade so we were comfortable enough. After the customary kirs, we placed our orders.

I chose the 26-euro Menu Bistrot, which began with Gaspacho de Courgettes, Crème de Chèvre et Citron — that is, a cold zucchini soup with a dollop of goat’s cheese. Cool and refreshing. My plat principal was Pressé de Joue de Boeuf au Vin Rouge, with sautéed vegetables. As you can see in this photo, the vegetables had virtually every ounce of life sautéed out of them, but the beef cheek in red wine sauce was delicious:

Frazzled veggies, yummy beef in red wine sauce.

My dessert was a tasty, seasonal dish — roast apricots on a Brioche Perdue (somewhat like French toast, soft and eggy) with a granité of verveine. Here it is:

A nice treatment of apricots.

So once again, Jan and I thoroughly enjoyed the great conversation, accompanied by good food and a nice rosé from Provence. Late that night, back at home, we we were able to watch from our bedroom window a typically great fireworks show, put on by the village, because Thursday was of course la fête nationale de France.

Friday brought another chance to enjoy time with friends and have a wonderful lunch as well. This time it was lunch with Sarah and Karl, who have recently moved from New Zealand to France. (He’s originally French; she’s originally English.) Because we hadn’t seen them for quite some time, we invited them to our home to catch up over a bottle of Prosecco, before heading out for lunch.

Our restaurant of choice on Friday was (no surprise) O Moulin in Carsac, where we were seated on the outside terrace under a huge umbrella and a large leafy tree. We all chose the Menu L’Enéa at 35 euros, although our specific choices varied. Certainly a highlight was the entrée, a salad of assorted tomatoes, in a pool of clear tomato water infused with herbs, and with a large helping of burrata (the mozzarella with a creamy centre) on top. Here’s my serving:

Fresh, seasonal, savoury.

For the main course, a few of us chose the pork cheeks served with a polenta that included four spices and black olives. Here’s my serving:

Tender pork cheeks on top of creamy polenta.

Finally came a summery dessert — a fraicheur of rhubarb in a sorbet and compote, topped with a foam of fromage blanc, and sitting on top of a soft biscuit made with almonds. It was indeed refreshing, and a real treat. Here’s my serving:

Yes, there is rhubarb under it all.

Of course, the fun continues. It’s now Sunday afternoon, and time to get together with Elisabeth and Gerhard. In the words of our great friend Rob (in Toronto): “Let the games begin!”