Hello Friends, Family, and Fellow Campers! Gourmet Girl Denise here writing to you from Le Petit Saint Barnabé in Mouliherne, France. This year has flown by, filled with summer camping trips and lots of gardening through a very hot summer. It was a great year for tomatoes, grapes, apples and artichokes! My tiny little […]
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The Romance and Mystery of Fall
Hello, campers, foodies, and friends! Gourmet Girl Denise here from the Loire River Valley. It’s been a while since we last communicated what with all of the summer’s activities, vacations, and children returning to school. I’m afraid as a result our blog took its own holiday. A season has passed and fall has settled in […]
Joyeux Noel and Happy Hanukah!
Hello, fellow campers, wanderers, and food lovers! Well, here we are again ready to celebrate Christmas and the year’s end. This year seems to have gone by very quickly, and maybe that’s a blessing after all. What a year it’s been! We have lost so many souls to the dreaded Covid and the resulting lockdowns […]
Summer’s End
Hello friends, fellow campers, and gourmets! Gourmet Girl Denise here from the Loire Valley, France. The days are getting noticeably shorter as fall sets in and the swallows and swifts have fledged their young and moved away. Evenings are cool and the veggie garden is pumping out the last of the season’s tomatoes and my […]
The Slow Life
Hello, campers, food enthusiasts, and cooks everywhere! Gourmet Girl Denise here from the Loire Valley, France. Well, what a strange time we are living in right now, n’est ce pas? Here in France, we have just completed a two-week lockdown only to be told we will have to stay on lockdown another month, until April […]
In Memory of Daphne, Ruby, Madelaine, and Mimi.
Hello friends and fellow campers! Denise here from the Loire Valley, France. It has been a while since I have posted a blog, what with the holidays, working on my old farmhouse, and fielding a few of life’s foul balls. It is hunting season in France and about three weeks ago I returned home to […]
How Much Is Enough?
Hello, fellow campers, chefs, and lovers of food! Gourmet Girl Denise here from the Loire River Valley, France. It has been a while since I have been in communication, mostly because it has been a very busy holiday season for me over here and the remodel of my farmhouse continues. A wonderful WorkAway fellow, Mark, […]
Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head!
Hello friends! Gourmet Girl Denise here from Le Petit Saint Barnabé, Pays de Loire, France. Well, the rains have begun and the days are getting shorter, but my garden just won’t quit. My hollyhocks re-sprouted and my ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ climbing rose at the kitchen door are still blooming. I am still harvesting […]
Autumn in France
Hello friends! Gourmet Girl Denise here from the Loire, France. The rains have begun intermittently with sporadic sunshine peeking through the grey clouds from time to time. The air is crisp at night though it is still too warm during the day to start a fire in my dining room fireplace. This particular fireplace (there […]
Summertime!
Hello friends and fellow campers! Gourmet Girl Denise here from Le Petit Saint Barnabé, Mouliherne, France. The weather is hot here at the homestead in the Loire River Valley. The mercury is topping out this week at 40 degrees centigrade or 104 degrees Fahrenheit! Yikes! Lemonade consumption is going to be high and I will […]