Le goût d'un vrai déjeuner

Photo prise au Totnes Museum dans le Devon. Je la publie ici parce qu'elle illustre mon propos. Je ne voulais pas bloguer sur de la bouffe encore une fois, mais çame prend comme l'appétit: j'ai comme faim de manger un bon gros déjeuner bien riche en gras. un vrai de vrai, avec des oeufs puis du bacon sauf que pas du bacon anglais parce que ça je n'aime pas. Je manque malheureusement de temps, ou du moins de patience...

A Hammy Christmas?

I received two personal Christmas cards from the Ticklers, one from each. They had made them the day the broke school and they were hyped from sugar, and because they had learned that I hated ham (my wife had told them I think) they decided to wish me... a Hammy Christmas. Their cards were full of "Jingle ham, jingle ham", "Have a Christmas full of ham", "Have a hamazing Christmas", and so on. The "hamazing Christmas" was so funny I think it deserves to be a great unknown line. Oh and they placed an old slice of bacon in one of the cards as they did not have ham. Moral of the story: the girls are so thoughtful.

The club sandwich of the Crown in Cookham

I have decided to start a new series of blog posts, food-related, a bit like the Friday sandwich treat posts I used to blog (remember those?). In this one, I will merely plug a restaurant or a pub, or something in particular on their menu. I have decided to start with one of those village pubs that makes England so enjoyable. The pub I am refering to is The Crown in Cookham, which I did not visit very often and only one visit was memorable enough. About a year ago, I went there with my colleagues for lunch. I had their open club sandwich. You can see it on the menu. It was a discovery. I was surprised to love it so much. I think very little of English bacon, in fact I usually don't like it at all. Since bacon is an important part of a self-respecting club sandwich, I also think very little of British club sandwiches. This one, however, was not only decent, it was great. And adding avocado to the mix was a stroke of genius. It is by far one of the best club sandwiches I had in a restaurant, a fancy version of the classic. If you stop by the village (which is absolutely lovely), stop at The Crown and try it. The rest of the menu seems good too. But their club sandwich was devilish.

Un club sandwich

Hier, ma femme et moi sommes allés dans un restaurant local. Et un vrai, pas une chaîne dont les Anglais sont hélas parfois un peu trop friands. C'est un des meilleurs restaurants de la ville et ce n'est pas hors de prix et il me fait penser à ces genres de bistrots européens que j'affectionne beaucoup. On y a mangé des sandwiches avec des frites et je me suis permis un club sandwich qui, comme mes lecteurs le savent peut-être, est pour moi LE sandwich parfait. Ca devait bien faire quatre ou cinq ans que je n'en avais pas mangé.

Il me vient parfois comme ça des rages de viande. Vivre avec une végétarienne ne me dérange pas du tout et la viande ne me manque pas en général, puis ça me vient soudainement, quand j'en vois au menu. Je n'ai pas été déçu avec le club que j'ai mangé hier. Il n'étais pas aussi bon que ceux que je faisais à Montréal, mais il était quand même délicieux, le bacon bien qu'anglais était croustillant et salé à souhait. Petit détail amusant: il y avait un oeuf cuit dur aussi dans le mélange. Pas mauvais.

Et je serai servi côté viande lors des vacances de Noël: les hommes de la famille ont tous décidé qu'on irait manger une fois Chez Georges. Pour ceux qui n'ont jamais visité Chicoutimi, c'est LE steak house de la ville, tellement que quand un gars de Chicoutimi dit qu'il va "au steak house", ça veut dire qu'il va Chez Georges. Les deux sont synonymes. Ca doit bien faire cinq ans au moins que je n'y suis pas allé.

Of countryside, old cottages and B&Bs

We have been recently planning our holidays, my wife and I. We both need one. As I said here, it seems that these holidays will be inland-based (no beach in sight this year). It also appears that they will be on the countryside rather than urban. That is an important distinction.

I am a naturally urban person, as I mentioned often on this blog. I have never been all that fond of weekend getaways in cottages (in Québec we call them chalets) and similar things. I can appreciate it, but at small doses. Maybe it is age, but I find myself inclined to appreciate rural environment, at least on an irregular basis. I wouldn't live in a cottage, but I am all very happy to spend a weekend or even a week there.

I remember going to L'Anse-Saint-Jean for autumn and summer breaks with my family. In autumn, the colours were beautiful and of course there was great atmosphere. I was a little more bored during summertime as I would often have rather been in our swimming pool. We usually spent time in rented cottages (there were loads in the area), made traditional food and that was quite fun. Now in England they also have old buildings and a much longer history, which add to the charm.

When one visits little places, especially when they are remote, one has to consider lodging in a bed and breakfast. We might do it, it would be a way to reconciliate ourselves with B&Bs. We did not always have good experiences with them. When we went to the wedding of my wife's childhood friend, my future wife, my future sister in law and I spent the night before and after in a "rustic" B&B that had been recommended to us. It was dreadful. The place was in a remote waste land, or at least it felt like it, the landlord was cold, inquisitive (he asked to see my passport after knowing I was a foreigner, I curtly refused) and barely polite. We got greeted with the usual tea and coffee, but straight away the old man asked us what we would have for breakfast. When I told him I would have the traditional English breakfast without bacon (I don't like English bacon as I find too close to ham) he said "What, you don't like bacon?" So they were not exactly hospitable. When I first came in this town, we spent nearly a month in B&Bs, trying to find a place. The experience was difficult for us. Living in ordinary houses, not on holidays, having to deal with the stress of finding a place, it put us off B&Bs.

So this summer might be the occasion to try B&Bs again, in much different circumstances. Surrounded by English countryside and in old houses, it will be a different and hopefully enjoyable, experience.