Bon weekend from a cake loving village in France

I hope that you and yours are well.

Here in my little village, as I told you in the last newsletter, we’re in the throes of Olympic fever – sort of. Not the real Olympic Games but our own village boules contest! (If you missed that newsletter, you’ll find it here). We’ve had two rounds so far and the last game will be tonight. So far, my team is in third place on account of me being not very good at it, but it is so far being taking in good spirit by my teammates!

Jean-Claude, my neighbour, and self-appointed Middle of Nowhere Olympic Boules Committee Chairman, has also appointed himself umpire. We are a mix of players, young, old, French mostly, British (me and the other half), Belgian and Parisian – Paris is considered to be almost another country in these parts! We are also a mix of ability – Claude Senior thinks he is really good but actually isn’t, Claude Junior, is a competent player, Petit Frère (‘Little Brother’, not his real name but he is the youngest of several though not young) is very good, and Paul and Cherie are almost good enough to go pro. They are like the power couple of petanque in these parts and to make it fair they are playing on separate teams. They practice almost every day. There are around 2 dozen players in total.

To tell the truth, the real competition is the food that everyone brings along to the games, and that gets just as much judging as the boules. So far, a strawberry tart with delicate, light golden pastry, creamy and sweet crème patisserie topped with strawberries from nearby Samer, macerated in Grand Marnier and dusted with icing sugar, is top of the table and most of the talk about the finale tonight is not about swings and pointing balls, but whether it’s actually possible to make a better tart! We shall see.

Meanwhile we have a new team member at home – Smudge the kitten. He is a tiny, skinny little ginger and white scrap with a smudge-like pattern on his face who turned up at the back door last week (he’s on my Instagram page if you’d like to see him!).

Wishing you a very bon weekend from a little village in France where cats and cakes rule!

Read the whole newsletter and see this week’s top features and recipe picks

ps top photo: lavender harvest in Provence! Dont’ you wish we had sniff-o-vision?!

Janine
Editor

Janine Marsh is Author of My Good Life in France: In Pursuit of the Rural Dream, My Four Seasons in France: A Year of the Good Life and Toujours la France: Living the Dream in Rural France all available as ebook, print & audio, on Amazon everywhere & all good bookshops online. Her new book How to be French – a celebration of the French lifestyle and art de vivre, is out now – a look at the French way of life.

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