Greetings! Gourmet Girl Denise here from Le Petit Saint Barnabé in the Loire River Valley.
Things have been rather hectic here for the month of June and July. I am the proud mother of five lovely hens who are happily living and laying here in their new hen house, built the first week of June. I have enrolled as a host on Workaway, a wonderful online site that connects folks who want to travel abroad and work for room and board with folks like me who need work done on their properties. The hen house was built by one such Workaway fellow from Canada who stayed here for about one week.
Right behind him came another fellow from the U.S. who stayed for three weeks and did many odd jobs around the old homestead. He helped me plant a hedge and set up stakes for my tomato garden, cleared a u-shaped courtyard between my house and what will someday be my vacation rental, and did some much-needed brush clearing. He also helped me set up my fountain! I am so grateful for all of their hard work as much was accomplished here on the old homestead.
My veggie garden is thriving and soon I will have way too many golden zucchini! My fruit trees are also growing and many have set fruit. It will be a bountiful harvest this fall.
Last night I had dinner at the Moulin Bregeon and was introduced to Kathryn Gordon, a professional chef who will be teaching a cooking class there this week. She has written two cookbooks and teaches at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City. She is also in the process of writing a cookbook for the Moulin Bregeon, a small boutique hotel owned by my friends Jonathan, Bernard and Pascal. I am looking forward to trying some of her recipes when it comes out. If you are interested in more information about the cooking class here is a link to it: http://www.loirevalleycooking.com/
We all hope you are all having a delightful summer and that you are trying new recipes from our book The Gourmet Girls Go Camping! We appreciate feedback about our recipes so don’t hold back. Let us know what you have tried out here.
Happy cooking and camping!
Denise, Gail, and Lindsey