Friday, September 4, 2009

Brioche and Apricots: Summer in France Continued

I'm looking out my window at the trees blowing and sheets of rain falling. Soon enough this will be a daily occurrence. In an effort to block it out of my mind I'm daydreaming about my summer vacation. Today's highlights include brioche from the village of Chiché, our arrival at Alan's family's weekend house in the Chartreuse Mountains, petit dejeuner--or breakfast--, and salad adorned with fresh flowers.

Brioche belongs to the Viennese family of baked goods which are richer and usually sweeter than ordinary breads (think pain au chocolat). While it is a leavened bread like a baguette or a flute it is different in that in contains eggs, butter, milk, and sugar making it more like a pastry.

Our first breakfast in Les Gandy. Outside in the fresh mountain air. Enjoying brioche with butter and jam...and did you get a load of the apricots? Incredible. They tasted just as good as they looked.

From top to bottom: the sweetest welcome sign; there are 10 houses in the village of Les Gandy, Alan's family's house is the grey one with blue shutters; next to the house is an old grenier where wheat and food was once stored; this is the view from the back side of the house where we enjoyed many meals.; a garage in the village (love the hanging plant); a salad that my mother-in-law prepared with ingredients from her garden. The flowers were edible and such a lovely addition to the green leaves and red tomatoes.

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