An Early Spring

Hello friends! Gourmet Girl Denise here from the beautiful Loire River Valley, France. Spring has come early to the Loire this year, and the winter was very mild. Many of you may already know that in the States I worked as a landscape designer, and although I have yet to create gardens for clients here […]

The Hunt Is On!

Hello Friends, Gourmet Girl Denise here. The last leaves have fallen from the trees here in the Loire River Valley and there is a chill in the air. Two weeks ago the night temperature dipped below freezing, and when I awoke the next morning and stepped outside my tomato plants were black and had turned to […]

A Year To Be Thankful

Hello Friends, Campers, and lovers of the Culinary Arts! Gourmet Girl Denise here from the Loire River Valley, France. Fall has passed and winter is upon us here in North-West France. The skies are gray with intermittent sunshine, weak as it is, and the leaves have fallen from the trees. Nature is beginning its’ long sleep, […]

Bounty from the Garden

Hello Everyone! I’m back online after a glitch in my partially completed electrics here at Le Petit Saint-Barnabé in the Loire. Internet runs on DSL here, so if a telephone line gets knocked out by the wind, no phone, internet or TV. I suppose even Paradise has its’ drawbacks. I do live in the countryside, […]

Born to Cook

Hello, fellow campers, world travelers, and gourmets! Denise here from the Loire Valley, France. My partner and gourmet gal Gail recently sent me a wonderful article commemorating the life of Robert Haas, the founder of Tablas Creek Vineyards. It was written by his son and was a lovely retrospective of all he accomplished in his […]

The Soul of a House

Hello friends, Gourmet Girl Denise here, live from the Loire River Valley, France. I know this blog is about camping and the food we can prepare camping, but I wonder if we might digress a bit this time. In some ways this blog is related to camping as it is its’ opposite; staying home, or […]

Dinner at the Moulin Bregeon

Hello, fellow food lovers! Gourmet Girl Denise here from the Loire River Valley France, where spring has sprung and life is busting out all over! This is the view as I drove into my new hometown in Mouliherne today with her twisted bell tower and the view of a huge ornamental cherry in my front […]