Where is Paris?

(If you are reading this post on Bloglines, you might want to click through to Chez Pim for the slideshow.)

Where is Paris again? I seem to have forgotten. I came down to Gascony to visit Kate for the weekend, and now I might be staying forever. Well, perhaps not for ever, but for another week until I have to get back to London.

I am in a stone house dating back to the 1600's, in a charmed room with a view of the garden, the canal, and Kate's lived-in houseboat There's a clawfoot tub in my room, where I take my bath every night before bed, and a round wooden table by the window where I write, inspired by the fog creeping in over the landscape. There's also a door that opens to nowhere, and a fleeting spectre of a lady in white just turning around the corner.

We celebrated Chinese New Year Saturday night, with a charmed circle of friends Kate has cultivated, winemakers, poétesse, playwright, artists, cooks, writers, gardeners, and more. Lucy, having spent a few years working in China, made delightful chinese dumplings (the recipe and detailed instructions can be found on her blog.) I made beggar's rice -or perhaps to be appropriately fortuitous for the new year I should call it generosity rice- which was an impromptu recipe composed entirely of borrowed ingredients.

But for you-know-who waiting for me in California, I might never leave here, ever.

Comments

[faustianbargain]

have you ever considered buying a property...rural or otherwise..in france? it could be worth the bureaucratic hassle.

[Andrew Galarneau]

You know, if you're going to get lost in a country, it seems that you could do a lot worse than France. Especially when you get hungry.

[Richard]

Sure, it sounds lovely, but does French television air Battlestar Galactica in a timely fashion? That's the real question! (Though I suppose iTunes makes that a moot point).

The farmhouse looks so lovely. I've always dreamed of buying vineyard land in an unheralded part of France to make wine, but having endured a very long illness, and the resulting debt, I realize that it won't come to pass.

But here's thing that drives me crazy: France's current political climate. Perhaps it's overblown in the North America media, but why did the French bother with their revolution only to become so xenophobic a couple of centuries later?

I'm proud to be of French descent, and I'm glad that I still look like I could be from Normandy. (My family surnames were LeVandier, Le Roi and Benoit, so that might not be surprising, even 300 years after my ancestors emigrated). But should I get so lucky to buy a vineyard in the future, I don't think it will be in France.

[umami]

My China friends made dumplings for Chinese New Year too. Gong Xi Fa Cai to you!

[Susan from Food "Blogga"]

Gascony sounds like a peacful place you could lose yourself in.

[Lucy Vanel]

Your beggars rice was delicious, Pim! You are an excellent cook!

[barbara]

Lucky you, staying with Kate. I bet you are haviang fun and eating well. I've never met Kate but she's one of my hereos.