home decor and garden are very famous in the world

There is a very traditional piece of French furniture that has found its way from a butchers store to many fashionable kitchens - it is the 'billot de boucher',  (pronounced  bee-o  de booshay)  or the butchers table.

They are prized and expensive pieces to find, generally built from large blocks of oak or hornbeam,  and if they are genuine - and genuinely old  -  their table or counter top will be worn down and rounded away through years of use as a chopping block.

 The photo below has done the rounds on pinterest, so I don't even know where it originated, but it is a reproduction butcher's table, hence the practical and flat counter top.

What is lovely in this copy is that they have gone to the trouble of reproducing the hand carved decorative edge along the body base.

When we first moved to this village, our butcher used a billot just like this one below, with the steel bar attached to the back splash, a safe and handy way to store knives.   Sadly the health and safety rules were stepped up, and it was no longer considered desirable to have meat cut on a chunk of wood ...... hmmm.

Despite the grey skies over Normandy at the moment, it is the season for planting up the garden and enjoying the wonderful garden fairs organised all over France at this time of year.

This weekend we'll be visiting this beautiful 12th century château at La Roche Guyon for their annual Foire aux Plantes.

Local nurseries will bring along their best plants to show and to sell.  This  is an opportunity to find a special rosebush, or to discover new varieties of hydrangea, or choose hybrids of tomatoes for the potager.

So here's hoping that the rain will stay away and the sight of so much colour will finally persuade the Spring to do its stuff!

I hope you have something good planned for the weekend too

Thank you for reading me this week

PS.  I continue to have problems with the blogroll.  I have started a new list, but very often blogs that I list show for a while then disappear.  Please forgive me if your blog is not showing, I am working on it!

The Fragonard museum is open to the public, explaining the history of the company and more.  Fragonard not only tells the story behind the magic of making perfume, they also have a foundation, a charming boutique  and a museum of provencal costume.

Their little soaps are one of my very favourite hostess gifts 

 Another one of my recommended places to stop when you are next on the Cote d'Azur!

I must have grown up some because I am beginning to realise how dangerous it can be to assume.  You see I always assumed I would one day play the piano   ...  the musical piano of course, but also the culinary piano.

'Le Piano' the crown to any self respecting kitchen, hub of the homestead, pride of the family  in all its shining glory.

Strangely these assumptions haven't been realised, and of course I have survived.  I can tinkle out a little tune on the musical piano in our dining room, and I have cooked huge meals for years quite happily on a regular hob and separate ovens, but in a dark, seldom revealed, corner of my heart there is still a little hankering going on!

It's not only the allure of the sleek steel, and shiny enamel, nor even the brass knobs and buttons.  It's also the huge oven space and the challenge of learning how to tame the beast!  

So to console myself and to inspire you to hanker too, here are a few of my favourite piano pics....and a question - please tell me .....

what did you always assume you would achieve or possess one day that simply hasn't come to pass?

If you would like to be very 'French' today, then make your family some crêpes for tea.  Today is le chandeleur, the catholic holiday of candlemas, and today we make crêpes or pancakes like there were no tomorrow!

My children love to make crêpes for themselves and for their friends, they are so easy to rustle up from scratch, and delicious with sugar, jam or nutella, although my favourite is sugar and lemon juice.

If you want a more grown up version you could try the delicious traditional French dessert crepes suzette, cooked in orange juice and flambéd au cointreau.

 Here is my favourite recipe,  I find it makes enough for 6 people.

ingredients

4oz  or just under 1 cup flour

pinch of salt

2 eggs

275ml/10fl oz milk 

50g/2oz butter

1 medium orange, grated zest only

1 tbsp caster sugar

150ml/5fl oz orange juice (from 3-4 medium oranges)

1 medium orange, grated zest only

1  small lemon, grated rind and juice

1 tbsp caster sugar

3 tbsp Grand Marnier, Cointreau or brandy

50g/2oz unsalted butter

a little extra Grand Marnier, for the fun bit

Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl, make a hollow in the centre and break the eggs into it.   Whisk the eggs well until all the flour is moistened.  Gradually add the milk, whisking all the time, until the batter is smooth and there is no more flour left around the edge of the bowl.  Now you can add the orange zest and sugar.

Melt the butter in the pan, and pour most of it into the batter mix.  Using a piece of kitchen paper, smear the remainding butter over the pan, you'll find it best to do this before each pancake.

To start cooking the pancakes, you'll need the pan to be very hot.  I always start with a mini pancake, one for the pan as my children say.  

Now ladle a small amount of batter into the pan, cook the first crêpe for less than a minute on each side.  You want them slightly tinged with golden brown, but not overcooked so they are too dry.  If you want to pick up speed it's easy to cook the crêpes in two pans simultaneously.  The crêpes should be very thin.  You should be able to make between 12 - 16 crepes.

It's better to keep the crêpes warm, I keep a plate on top of a saucepan of hot water and slide the pancakes onto the plate as each one is finished.  If you are making the crepes for a dinner, you can do this stage ahead of time, then just make the sauce at the last minute.

To make the sauce, mix the orange juice, lemon and orange zest, sugar and Grand Marnier.  Melt butter in the pan, then pour in the orange sauce to warm through.  Place the first crêpe into the butter and fold it in half then into quarters so it is a nice neat triangular shape.  You need a large pan for this step because you aim to end up with all the crepes folded in the sauce.

This is the moment to flambé the crêpes .  The easiest way is to pour some of the Grand Marnier or Cointreau into a metal ladle, and hold it for a short moment over a gas flame, when its really warm put a match to ignite it.  Pour the contents of the ladle over the crêpes and take the pan to the table to share between individual plates. 

Spectacular!!  - if this one doesn't earn you a round of applause, nothing will!

PS  Don't forget , last day for the Diane James Home giveaway!!

I wash all our old linens in the machine then simply hang them out to dry behind the barn.  100 years ago the women  would have been down on their knees at the village lavoir, before carrying the heavy sheets out to dry flat on the grass in a meadow.   Today these lavoirs or wash houses are carefully preserved, but thank goodness nobody needs to take their laundry any more!

I actually quite enjoy caring for the linens, they smell good after blowing dry in the garden and of course they look so beautiful once freshly pressed.  Time I am happy to invest!  Right now I am preparing new sheets for the store.

Tomorrow I start my new series about my stylish French girlfriends!  Don't miss the first episode, how they dress; where they live, how do they cook and of course why they look so great!

A demain!

sometimes, when the glass dome has been broken, 

the shape is reproduced with wire to great effect.

don't forget!
only two more days till the end of the dress giveaway