The Bas Rhine valley

We are in the lower Rhine valley...south of Strasbourg by about 12 miles!...The valley is very fertile, and is rimmed by two mountain ranges.  One mountain range is in Germany, just past the Rhine river, and the mountains on the other side of the valley lead to the Alps.   The land, and what grows here reminds me of the Pennsylvania Dutch country near Lebanon, Pa.  The Amish farmers call it "the bread basket of Pennsylvania".  Here, most of the fields are covered with corn and hay.  I have also seen apple orchards.  The golden hay fields look like fields with golden raised polka dots, when the rolls of hay are harvested and await shipping to market.  The steep slope to the roofs of the houses led me to believe that they get snow here.  So, I looked it up....they get about 30 days of snow here, each year!

It feels much more German than French.  Our town is Schaffersheim.  Most the village names seem to end in "heim".  I think Obernai and Strasbourg, Mulhouse and Colmar, are some of the few towns nearby that don't!  But MANY of the towns nearby end in "heim"...for Example, other towns nearby are Entzheim, Ratzenheim, Buffsheim, Huttenheim, Bourgheim, Molsheim, etc.  Curious!

Many of the houses are deceptively large...huge even!  They seem to be compounds!  The original houses are surrounded by a barn, and often have additions that are apartments.  The buildings are arranged around a large courtyard that is, of course, a garden!  All have outside terraces, on which there is a table and chairs.  Our house is a compound like this!  I believe they have about 3 apartments, the original house (from 1830) and an old tobacco barn.

There are flowers at every home...in window boxes, and in their gardens.  Each house has a flower garden, and most have a vegetable garden too!  There are flower baskets on most of the light posts, and many of the towns have flower boxes in the middle of the dividers in the street.  The half-timber houses are EVERY color!,,,yellow, sky blue, geranium, green, periwinkle, pink...EVERY color!  Shutters, are every color too!  But many of the shutters have carved hearts in them.  From the inside, the light and shadows that the hearts throw are lovely! ...and there are lace curtains in every window!...some are up higher, and some are lower, but they are all lace, of different kinds.  I believe the curtains in our bedroom window are hand made, crocheted lace.

The people here look more Germanic, and are heavier, in general, than the people in the south of France.  We noticed MANY more blonds here, than in the south.  We hear French spoken, from time to time, but we hear a tremendous amount of German....and even the French we hear, seems to be infused with German...perhaps that is the Alsatian language?  If I had to bet!

The food here is not as Mediterranean as the food in the South....many more sausages, sauerkraut, and potatoes.  The favorite seems to the "tarts" or, as we call them, thin crust Pizza!  The Alsatian pizza has a creamy white cheese sauce, very thinly spread, and onions with Canadian bacon chunks called lardons.  It is delicious.  I will do a blog about our friend Louis dinner!  We had the tarts there!

Here is a view of some of the houses nearby, and in some of the small towns close by.

Sky blue house above left, , and a Pink house above! 

Our house/compound!

We took these last two photos in Obernai, a quaint town about 15 minutes drive away.

Ouch! What a move!

Well, it wasn't exactly like the Beverly Hillbillies, but it was close....a Newport Beach version!  We were driving a new Peugot, and only the bike and the cat carrier,  NOT with the cats in it!...were on the outside of the car!  Bruce did his magic to get it all in the car!  Kitties had very little space, but a potty box was present!   Thank God, they didn't need to use it!  Not ten more inches of space for anything.  I can't move around much, so I just sat there anyway!  One kitty sat between us, over the emergency break, and one sat in a space behind my headrest, that was no bigger than a 12 inch long shoebox!

For those of you who do not know, just before we were due to leave Provence, I fell off my bike, and fractured a rib!  Very difficult!  There was blood in my chest cavity, so we put off our move to Alsace for 5 days!  We went for a second Xray, and well, all good news!  The Dr. Was pleased with my progress!  No new blood in lungs!  Old blood is dissipating.  I Still need rest.  The ride wasn't as long as we thought...8 1/2 hrs. vs. 10 hours.  I'll take any little blessing!  I'm trying not to use pain meds much!

 Anyway, we are here in the little town of Schaffersheim.  The apartment and town are charming!  It feels much more like Germany than France!We are in another small town, but a bit more spread out than Saint Quentin, and fewer people!  The population is only 850 people.  Buildings are newer, (not 16th and 17th century). and there is no town center.  Very colorful, half-timber houses; whereas, in Saint Quentin the houses were all stone!  And, we are surrounded by corn fields!  There are good deal of light industrial business nearby, but closer to the interstate highway, not next door!

The apartment we are staying in is owned by a charming older couple, (anyone older than us is "older")!  He looks like the big beautiful German decent ( Amish and Pennsylvania Dutch) farmers from Bucks County, Pennsylvania!  There are many antiques in the apartment.  So far, my impression is of a beautiful area set in rolling hills of wheat and corn, where most houses are half-timber, and every house has a garden.  There are gorgeous flowers EVERYWHERE, and hearts carved into the shutters!  The house we are staying in was built by the owner's great, great grandfather, in 1830.  It is their home, and has several apartments, and an old Tobacco barn for drying tobacco!  

When we got here, and it was so hot, the poor kitties look like a Salvador Dali painting, the were so melted!  Thank goodness, the heat broke two days later!  Kitties can go out in a fenced garden, so that makes them happy!  Right now, they are getting acclimated, and still smelling everything....sleeping in each spot in the house to see which is cooler, and more secure!

The second day, we went to the larger town of Erstein, about 3 miles away.  We had lunch and headed off to the grocery store.  We are still unpacking.  We stick close to home the first day too, because of the kitties.  They need some extra tender loving care until they get comfortable and secure.

When we left, the weather in Saint Quentin, and here in Alsace, was unbearably HOT!  It was over 100 degrees the day we got here, and the day after it!  The second night, we stayed up until 2:00 am, just to keep the windows open due to a storm that was approaching....it brought cooler temperatures!

The weather has continued to be a bit cooler!  The crops need rain here....not critical yet, but it is
clearly a place that gets more rain than the South of France, and is a bit parched right now.  The nighttime weather has been cool enough to sleep, and last night we even turned off the fan!

It is very Charming and there are many antiques, but they have allot of stuff sitting out!  We like it bit less cluttered, so we are putting things away.  
Here are a few photos of the ride, and our new apartment!

What is that SMELL?

In the middle of the night, about a month ago, I awakened to a luscious smell.  I couldn't place it...it was earthy, and grainy, but I couldn't quite place it!  Suddenly, I realized, it was wheat!  The wheat fields are being harvested, and our little village sits in the middle of wheat fields and vineyards!

I have never really spent any time in a place where there are wheat fields.  I think the first time I noticed their beauty was in the movie Gladiator, where you see  Russell Crowe's memories of home, and, most notably, the golden wheat fields blowing in the wind.

Well, they are really just like that!  Our ancient path has taken us thru a field of wheat.  In the spring it was the first field planted.  We took pictures of ourselves in the field...reveling in the green sprouts that were shooting up.  It seemed to grow about an inch a day.

But, the growth of the wheat was overshadowed by the poppies!  Poppies grown in the wheat fields, and bloom for about a month, until the wheat overtakes them, and grows so tall that it takes their light.

Each day when we walked we could detect that it was growing taller.  When it got to about knee high, the wheat stopped growing; but it wasn't until it turned golden in color and the heads dropped that they harvested it!  There is true beauty as the golden shafts of wheat bow their heads as the wind gently blows across the field.

At harvest, some bales are the huge round rolls, the stuff of the paintings by Van Gogh.  Some are the oblong bales .All are beautiful in their patterns and their fragrance!

Chef Jacque and my cooking lesson!

Several years ago, we had the privilege of having two friends of our friends, Larry and Regina to dinner!  Little did I know, but I would also make dinner for a French chef and his wife!  It happened quite unexpectedly.  We had invited Regina and Larry (who live in Uzes, France most of the year) to our home in Newport Beach, for dinner.  They called a few days before, and told us they had visitors from France.  Their very good friends Jacque and Annie were staying with them.  Of course, we told Regina and Larry to bring their friends along to dinner!  We enjoyed their company immensely!  They are both sweet, kind, and unassuming.  Little did I know, at the time of the invitation, that Jacque is a chef here in France!  Oh My!

Well, we have seen Jacque and Annie several times since then!  They invited us to their home for dinner two years ago, when we were here in France.  Their home is in the countryside, and Jacque is now retired.  This visit, Jacque offered to prepare dinner with me in his kitchen!  I was overjoyed!  He is a very sweet man, no mad chef here!  And Annie watches and guided us, when we needed it...not to mention, she speaks english pretty well, and was able to help us, when Jacque and I came to a impasse!

The dinner was superb!  When we got there, Jacque had already prepared the fish soup, but we still had a lot to do!  Our wonderful friends, Larry and Regina arrived about 2 hours later for dinner.
The hot day had cooled substantially, so we moved to the terrace, and set the table.
Elegant and delicious!

Here is the menu:

Entrees:
*  Sparkling Rose wine
Fougasse - with home made black olive tapenade, and sun dried tomatoes
(This is a flaky pastry rolled out in a 9" round, then brushed with the tapenade, and sun-dried tomatoes on top.  The pastry is then folded in half, sealed and scored, brushed with an egg wash, and blue poppy seeds sprinkled on top.)
*  Pureed roasted beets with boursin and walnuts
*  Toasts with our home made Olive Tapenade
Dinner:
* A delicious red wine, I think it was a Pino Noir
* Poisson soup (fish soup) topped with toasts with Rouille (spicy mayonnaise we made)langoustines
* Lamb, tajine ( a Moroccan dish - lamb shoulder braised, with eggplant, zucchini, butternut squash,   Onions and garlic, white wine and chicken stock.) Divine!
* Bread
Dessert
* Shortbread cookies stacked with diced strawberries, raspberry sauce, and chantilly atop!

                                        Chef Jacque Nicollini

                The kitchen                                                                  The Fougasse

Annie Nicholini on the left, on the Right,  Regina, with Bruce and Larry behind her

A lovely picture of Regina

                                                           Chef Jacque and Larry

                                                                  Annie and me

The Group!

Bruce's 69th Birthday - Chateauneuf du Pape

Bruce is a believer in the old adage:  "if I knew I was going to last this long, I'd have taken better care of myself!"  I don't know, but I think he looks pretty darn good for 69!

My friend Lynn and I went to the town of Chateauneuf-du-Pape for a wine tasting while she was here. It is about 40 minutes away from Saint Quentin.  We looked it up in the Rick Steve's book, to get information on tasting rooms and restaurants.  He never disappoints!  So, when Bruce was back from the States, I wanted to take him for his birthday!  For those of you who are curious, Chateauneuf -du-Pape is called this because the Pope chose wine from this region, while he was situated in Avignon, in the early 1300's!

First of all, the town is charming.  It is a small town, where, at the center is a fountain.  It is up in rolling hills, and the town is perched at the precipice of several roads from all directions.  The countryside is mostly vineyards!  (One of the vineyards that we had gone to, previously, said they have 6 rows of vines in Chateauneuf-du-Pape....so, it must be that some of the vineyards source a portion of their vines to others!)  The curious part is that in the vineyards, they stack stones all around the base of the vines, and indeed throughout the vineyard.  I believe it is to attract and trap the heat of the sun, so as to stress the vines, and drive the roots deeper into the terroir!

We went to a tasting room called "The Best Vintage", and the lovely women in the tasting room, both spoke English quite well!  It is tiny room, with a marble top table at which there are 6 antique french chairs.  The stone walls of the tasting room keep it quite cool inside, and the marble top of the tasting table is cool.  Wines from 1986 till today, line the walls in wooden boxes.

Because I had been there, previously, and bought a case of wine for Abby and Roger's wedding present, they offered to open some "special bottles" for us to taste!  We started with two white wines, both were quite nice....one, we thought had a good deal of depth.  Then, they brought out the reds!  Superb!  I can't describe wine well enough to share with you what we tasted!  All of their wines are blends, and they specialize, primarily, in wines with genache, syrah, and cinsault grapes.  The tasting room has their own vintage: Chateau de la Gardine...in the family for generations....and they grow all 13 grapes permitted in this appellation.  However, they served wines from several other vineyards, as well.

After our tasting we headed up, up, up the hill to the top, where there are the remains of a chateau.
It was a bright, sunny, windy day!  We were able to get a table in a restaurant, called "Les Verger des pape".   Open air, with sweeping vistas of the vineyards....sunshine...and fabulous french food!  Not formal, or fussy, just delicious!  We had the Plat du Jour: a traditional lamb stew, with divine veggies on the side.  OMG!  Lick your fingers good!`

                                                    The big man himself!  Not bad at 69!

Sunflowers!

Our ancient path takes us through the fields in the valley between Saint Quentin and Uzes.
At first, when we walked into town, the fields were just plowed...rough clumps of brown were dampened by the Spring rains.  We were excited when the rough plowing was refined into smaller clumps of soil  (terroir).  But it was REALLY exciting when we realized that the seed that were sprouting were about an inch tall, and they were SUNFLOWERS!  I grow sunflowers in my garden
at the Cape every year, so when the seedling presented themselves with the two opposing green wing leaves, I was sure what they were!  We dared not hope that we would be here for the bloom!  As we walked our path in May, and June we were excited to see them grow knee high, waist high, and finally, about 5 feet tall!  How Gorgeous!  The bloom was really open at the end of June, but as of July, they are spectacular!  We have some wonderful pictures for you that show the fields, some, as far as you can possibly see!  Here are some of our favorites!

Brother Roger, and our new Sister, Abby - married after Nineteen years!

Roger  and Abby have been together for 19 years!  Abby has been a willing, kind and loving member of our family the entire time!  She helped to raise Roger's son, Stephen, and showed him kindness, love, and support from the day that she met Roger!

Abby loves to have fun, and share with others!  She has had family dinners, parties, and chats on a constant basis!  I can't tell you how kind a caring she was to our Mom and Dad, before they passed.
As a companion to Roger, she is supportive, and a willing partner in every way!

Roger loves "HIS Abby" totally!  At the wedding, he said, "I have never met a more wonderful person!"  and he meant it!  My brother Roger is one of my favorite people in my life!  He is bold, smart, kind and  supportive of our family in a every way!  And, and did I forget to say: OH SOOO FUN!

The wedding was superb!  Abby planned everything, and her two sisters helped her the day of wedding, and added wonderful little surprises for the Bride and Groom!  The Bride and Groom were gorgeous and gracious bride and groom!  Beautiful wedding site at the Saucon Valley country club, in Lehigh Valley Pennsylvania!  A beautiful day, luscious flowers, and joyous hearts!
                                                              The beautiful Bride:

The lovely couple!  My brother Jim was the Best Man!

The ring bearer was their Grandson, Reid.  Stephen and Karly's first little boy!

                                                 We were both there for the wedding!

The BEST picture!

The tables were champagne colored table clothes, with pink flowers: Peonies, roses, and hydrangeas!  

The oyster bar!

Blessings on them!  We wish them only the BEST!

Todd"s Graduation from Medical School

Well, our hearts are filled with pride and joy!
Todd, our oldest son graduated from Medical school!
He is a doctor of Osteopathic medicine.  In case you don't know, Osteopaths are regular doctors, but also believe in the body's need to be in alignment!  They are also taught chiropractic medicine.

Todd's journey has been a long one!  We all believed Todd should be a doctor, from the time he was
in High School!  He was certainly bright enough, and has a heart filled with compassion...he'll be a wonderful doctor!  I think it took the support of his wonderful wife, Kristine, to help him see his way to trying to get into med school.  For his residency, he will be working with the University of California, San Francisco medical school, in a family practice out in Fresno.  We are overjoyed to have Kristine and Todd closer to us, and back in California!

Words can't express how filled with joy, his Papa's heart was at Todd's graduation!

The dude on the right, is Todd's brother, Matt!  Gorgeous!  Both of them!