Plane trees on the road to Camplong

You’ve probably read about the fungus that is killing the plane trees on the banks of the Canal du Midi. Trees within 50 metres of diseased trees are being destroyed in order to stop the progression of the disease. In theory that means that plane trees that aren’t close to the Canal du Midi are safe. I hope so.

The plane trees are so emblematic of the south of France,  those long tree-lined roads leading to medieval villages, the dappled shade, the sense of coolness on a hot summer day, it just wouldn’t be the same without them.

The road to Camplong – in the Corbieres – is plane tree perfection.  Huge trees line the road, there are vines on either side. The road curves a couple of times on the way into the village and there are places where you can see the trees, the vines, and the hills behind the village. It’s beautiful.

It’s one of those places that I’ve often stopped at for no reason other than to enjoy the beauty and the sense of calm. This picture was taken in early spring. (Unfortunately, in the battle of age and memory age is winning and I can’t remember the name of the white flowers. I’ll come back and enter it when I do remember.)

Valerie is the energy force behind Vécu and she’ll be one of the vendors. She ‘produces’ one of a kind dresses, aprons, place mats. tablecloths, napkins, hand towels and tea towels from vintage sheets and fabric. Make sure you say hello to her, tell her Sam sent you.

Caramel - topped Semolina Cake

It must be the middle of September because I want to cook. I want to use the oven again now that it’s cool enough. Last night I made ‘real’ dinner. Chicken breasts with dijon sauce, rice, green beans, and – for desert – Semolina cake.

Have you ever had semolina cake? Apparently in France you can buy mixes to make it but I had never had it until I made it about 18 months ago – inspired by Dorie Greenspan’s cookbook Around My French Table. I love that cookbook!

I wish I could claim credit for the picture but it’s from Martha Stewart – as is the recipe.

The cake isn’t really cakey, it’s more like a flan or baked custard.  It’s delicious and easy to make. The recipe calls for raisins but you could use any dried fruit that you like.  You could also use fresh fruit – maybe poach it first. The picture shows it served with Creme Anglaise but I serve it plain. I read a review of the recipe that said the cake is even better the next day.  I have no idea if that’s true; there have never been any leftovers so I haven’t been able to test it.

Caramel – Topped Semolina Cake

Yield Serves 8

Ingredients

For the Cake
2 cups whole milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup farina or Cream of Wheat
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup plump, moist golden raisins or other dried fruits cut into small pieces
For the Caramel
Scant 1/2 cup sugar
Squeeze of fresh lemon juice
Creme Anglaise

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees with a rack set in the center.

Make the cake:
Place milk and salt in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat; immediately reduce heat and stir in farina. Cook according to package directions, stirring and adjusting heat as necessary, until thickened. Remove from heat and stir in sugar and vanilla; let stand until cooled slightly, about 15 minutes.

Make the caramel:
Place an 8-inch round cake pan in oven to preheat. Place sugar, 1/4 cup water, and lemon juice in a small skillet or saucepan over high heat. Stir until sugar is moist and bring to a boil. As sugar begins to caramelize, carefully swirl pan to heat sugar evenly. Cook until sugar begins to turn dark amber in color, about 5 minutes. Remove cake pan from oven and pour caramel into pan, tilting pan to evenly coat; set aside.

Stir eggs and raisins into farina mixture and pour into prepared cake pan. Transfer to oven and bake until firm, puffed up, and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean, 25 to 35 minutes.

Invert a rimmed serving plate over cake pan and, working carefully (caramel will be very hot), turn pan over onto plate and lift it off; caramel will run down the sides of the cake. Let cake cool to room temperature before serving.

Enjoy

Bistrot Gourmand

After all my moaning about the same old same old restaurants in the Aude I’ve found another terrific place to eat.  My friend Yvette and I stumbled on Le Bistrot Gourmand in Homps on Monday evening. We were driving past and decided to try it. Good decision.  such a good decision that we’re going back on Friday.

Le Bistrot is a wine bar and tearoom serving tapas.  We ordered three things to share and then ordered one more. Each dish is 6.50 so you can have a fabulous meal without breaking the bank.

The food is gorgeous to look at, beautifully presented.  I didn’t take pictures of it because they wouldn’t do it justice. It’s as delicious as it is beautiful.

Inside Le Bistrot Gourmand

We had a cold dish that had a small dish with a salsa of tomatoes, zucchini, onions and other stuff topped with diced smoked salmon. The other cold dish was onion confit topped with a shrimp.

The hot dishes were a plate with three brochettes with a dipping sauce and salad, and then 2 croustillants – sort of open face sandwiches – one with magret de canard on tapenade and the other with pork tenderloin on a fig and onion confit.

Yum.

We had dessert too.  I had panna cotta because I love it and Yvette had chocolate liegeoise because she conducting a one-woman campaign to find the best chocolate liegeoise in this part of France.

All in all a terrific meal.  Worth driving for if you aren’t already in Homps.

Le Bistrot Gourmand is on the Canal du Midi in Homps, the last building on the way to Carcassonne. If you’re driving take the D2610 off the D610.  It’s the fist restaurant on the left. The address is 56 Ave de Carcassonne Homps and the phone number is 0468 41 42 37.

They’re open everyday from 10.00 to 23.00 except Saturday and Monday when they open at 15.00

During the day they also serve teas and cakes.

The space has been recently renovated and is completely wheelchair accessible, hard to find in the Aude.

The patio

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• What: Brocant/yard sale
• When: Friday and Saturday July 29 and 30, 2011 from 10.00 to 16.00
• Where: Domaine de Domneuve, 11220 Montlaur

I’m in the process of clearing up my house a bit.  I have things that I had planned to take to Canada but it’s so expensive that I’ve decided to have my own little brocante or yard sale  until the end of July.

So what is there? Some vintage bed covers, books, baskets – old and new, Le Parfait jars, books, music, movies, office stuff, an HP printer, a Canon camera – old but a great lens, art supplies, and whatever else I find as the days wear on and I get more heartless.

It’s at Domneuve near Montlaur in the Aude.

I’ll be there off and on from July 8 to 29th but will be there from 10:00 to 16:00 on Friday July 28th and Saturday July 29.  If you want to come earlier please call or text 0658 85 54 55 before you come to make sure I’ll be there – or if you have any questions.  You can also email me – aude.france@gmail.com – but I only check email in the morning and in the evening right now.

There really are some terrific things and the prices really will be cheap.  There are pictures at Flickr.

Tell all your friends. If you haven’t been to the Corbieres before this is a great excuse to see it.  Come at 10 and then have lunch in Lagrasse.

I’m selling a Scicon padded bicycle bag, books, music cds, dvd, some vintage lace curtains and vintage camisoles, a gorgeous willow donkey’s head, some art, bake ware, serving dishes, interesting bowls, platters, about 2 dozen Le Parfait jars, a lovely mirror, 2 cute summer hats and hatbox, a wooden ladder, a vintage table with cafe chairs, loads of maps, 2 sets of watercolours, and other stuff.

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Friday evening at Cafe de la Poste in Olonzac

I’ve been using the free wifi at the Cafe de la Poste in Olonzac for the last month. I now think of the bar as my office. In fact I think I’ve spent more time in a bar this month than I have in my whole life to this point.

Stef and Dani run the cafe and Kathie is there in the morning at 6.30 to open and get the day going.  I have no idea what time they close.  I do know that they open a bit later on Saturday and Sunday – 7ish.

They don’t serve food and so don’t mind if you bring something to eat and order a drink.  Nice on a Sunday evening when they have live music from about 18.00 until about 22.30.  Have a drink, listen to the music for a while then go and get a pizza or kabob and bring it back.

Last week there was music on Friday evening too.  The place was jammed; people were even sitting inside – unusual in the summer.

More atmospheric than McDonalds or Starbucks.

The lunch menu is quiches, salads and desserts.  We both just had salads but the people next to us has quiche and salad and the quiche looked delicious – and smelled delicious.

One of the things impressed me is that the vinaigrette was homemade.  It’s so easy to do but not many restaurants here do it. It’s such a little thing but it makes a huge difference.

We also had lemon tart for desert.  mmmm!

Lunch for two – we each had a glass of wine – was 32.00 euros, 16 euros each.  I’ll be going back.

It didn’t occur to me to ask if they close one day a week – sorry – but you can always call and find out.

La Petite Maison Salon de The
12 Boulevard de la Promenade, 11220 Lagrasse
0468 91 34 09

Open from 8.00 to 16.00

La Petite Maison Restaurant in Lagrasse

La Liviniere village house 119,000 euros

I’ve been thinking about property prices in the Aude quite a bit lately. At Aude France Property I work with three agents, each covering a different part of the Aude.

When I talk about prices I’m talking about listing prices, not selling prices. May not seem logical but listing prices are what everyone sees.  It’s quite conceivable that as few as 10 people will ever see the selling price.

A couple of months ago I realized that prices in general were lower in one area than they were in the other two and that we were getting more enquiries for the area with lower prices than we were for the other two areas. Not a huge surprise really, especially if people don’t know the Aude.

Last week I had lunch with an immobilier – as a Canadian I’d say a broker rather than an agent – who runs an agency in the Corbieres. She reminded me that when prices rose rapidly 9 years ago it took the Corbieres a while to catch up.  Prices there stayed low for about a year after they started rising in other parts of the Aude.

She said that it’s going to take a while for them to come down.

Another really interesting thing she told me helped explain why estate agents in France often give such unrealistic estimates for the listing price – something that artificially inflates the perceived value of real estate.

A lot of estate agents in France actually are paid a salary. Yes, you read that right – a salary! But…they have a quota. In order to keep their jobs they are required to bring in a certain number of new listings – mandates – per week (or month). Seems to me that if agents have to bring in a certain number of listings in order to keep their jobs they aren’t going to be concerned with realistic estimating, they’ll be motivated to say whatever will get them those mandates – including unrealistically high prices.

There are also quotas for visits, offers, and sales but that’s another post.

So why don’t their immobiliers discourage unrealistic pricing? According to my friend the immobilier it’s because the value of an agency is calculated – in part anyway – by the total amount of the mandates they have on their books.

Why would immobilers care about the value of their agencies? Because for the past 6 years there has been a buying spree with big ‘national’ agencies buying up ‘local’ independent agencies.

It reminds me of the funeral and cemetery business 20 years ago in North America. There were two companies buying funeral homes and cemeteries across the continent. Independents were literally lining up to sell. It was almost like dot com fever and the bubble burst at about the same time as the dot com bubble.

The immobilier buying spree has certainly slowed down a lot. Immolbiliers have closed quite a few offices. The market peaked here 4 years ago and many immobiliers were slow to realize it.  Judging from some house prices some of them still haven’t realized.

So, back to property prices in the Aude.

There are quite a few independent estate agents in the Aude. They work through a broker but not in an agency office. No salary, just commission.

Most of them are in the Minervois. Listing prices are more realistic in the Minervois. Not many of them in the Razes.  Listing prices are high in the Razes.

It makes it difficult for buyers and sellers. Sellers list at unrealistic prices and then have to keep lowering their prices. Houses can sit on the market for years. Sellers can end up accepting fire sale offers just to get the house sold.

Buyers with a budget of 200,000 euros might think of looking at properties listed at 250,000 euros but probably wouldn’t think of looking at anything listed at 300,000 euros.

In a slow market where houses are priced realistically – to sell – someone with 200,000 euros could expect to look at houses priced at 225,000 euros and to buy one of them after some negotiation.

As I write this I find that it’s raising more questions for me than it’s answering.

As a seller – what do you think?  Would you rather list at a realistic price or list at a high price – on the off chance that someone will buy at that price – and have to keep reducing the price?

As a buyer – what do you think? Would you prefer to look at houses that seem out of your price range – on the off chance that a seller will accept a really low offer – or would youprefer to look at houses that you know you can afford?

I know what I think but I’d really like to hear from you.

On Nems Restaurant

The food was delicious, the service was great, there was a choice of about 4 Asian beers, the owner – Mary Phung – is delightful.  And the bill for two of us – with some extra nems to take home and a beer – was 25.00 euros.  Very reasonable.

The beer

On Nems Vietnamese Restaurant
6 rue Saint Just 11590 Ouveillan
0468 45 12 55

closed Monday, open Tuesday thru Sunday from 10.30 to 13.30 and 18.00 to 21.00 except on Wednesday and Saturday when they are only open in the evening.

On Nems Ouveillan opening hours