Bordeaux Expats

The Bordeaux Kitchen book

2018-11-29T14:54:00.001+01:00

Tania Teschke is a writer and photographer passionate about French food and wine, who holds a diploma in wine science and tasting from the University of Bordeaux.

She has a new book coming out, The Bordeaux Kitchen, and to mark the occasion she will be launching it CIVB on December 4th.

About the Book:

Part cookbook, part travelogue, part photo essay, The Bordeaux Kitchen is an ancestral French cookbook (with wine pairings and an in-depth wine chapter) that celebrates the rich foods and wines of France as well as the "disappearing" culinary arts of butchery, tying roasts, filleting fish, curing bacon, rendering fats, and preparing organ meats.

The book comprises a journey through the southwest of France, a chapter on the wines of France, and over 180 recipes from around France, along with Tania's own search for better health for herself and her family. As wine is central to the French lifestyle of communing with friends and family, she has made French wine, especially those from the French Southwest figure prominently in the book, alongside recipes and her own photographs.

The book focuses particularly on sustainable-raised animals and organically-grown foods and wines, the tradition of eating in-season, and the need for a shift in our "quick and easy" paradigm of convenient, low-fat, and refined "foods" over nutrient-dense, homemade, satisfying meals of meats, fat, fish, and fresh vegetables, as traditionally eaten in the French Southwest.

The Bordeaux Kitchen released in mid-June, and has already garnered #1 New Release in Wine Tasting and in Wine Pairing on Amazon.com, as well as #1 Bestseller in Food & Wine in Canada. The book will also be available locally at the Mollat bookstore.

About the Author:

Tania Teschke is a writer and photographer passionate about French food and wine, who holds a diploma in wine science and tasting from the University of Bordeaux. Tania has learned from winemakers, home cooks, butchers, and chefs in France, while exploring the nutritional density and health benefits of an ancestral approach to food and lifestyle.

She has compiled her knowledge into The Bordeaux Kitchen book, a comprehensive guide to French cuisine in a user-friendly manner, illustrated with her own real-world photographs. Her family ties to Europe and her interest in languages and culture have led her and her family around the globe. She currently lives in Switzerland with her diplomat husband and two daughters.

"This beautiful, richly illustrated book is Julia Childs infused with a low-carb sensibility. For anyone who loves French cooking, especially those creamy sauces and succulent cuts of meat, this book is an essential addition to your kitchen. And unlike Child's, the recipes are simple, uncomplicated--easy enough for any home cook pressed for time. The Bordeaux Kitchen combines a return to history with a modern sensibility. Plus, the science now clearly tells us that these foods are good for health: so you can have your leg of lamb and eat it, too."

--Nina Teicholz, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet

WHEN: Tuesday, December 4, 2018
WHERE: CIVB/Vins de Bordeaux @ 6pm

https://bordeauxkitchen.com/

OZ-360 Fitness – Australian Fitness in Bordeaux

2018-11-26T10:42:00.000+01:00

Ben Hill is the operator behind new Fitness group, OZ-360 Fitness. Hailing from Australia, he brings with him a laid back approach to lifestyle and a refreshing style to health training.

Here is his account of touching down in Bordeaux and the culture difference he has observed since being here.

The Decision

It was Friday evening 9pm, Mila (our 2 year old daughter) had just gone to sleep and my wife and I sat exhausted from another working week enjoying an overly priced glass of shiraz. We were living in a beautiful townhouse near the beach in the eastern suburbs of Sydney. As it did quite often our conversation turned to work and how we were ever going to be able to afford a suitable place to call our own in Sydney.

You see we were both earning above the median salaries yet the affordability of a house to raise our family was still out of reach. I was working as a commercial diver and my wife in management. We were both working 50 plus hours per week and although we had nothing to wish for it was difficult to save the remainder of what we needed for a down payment.

My wife is a French national, so late in November 2017 we made the decision to make the move to France for a couple of years and see if we could make a go of it there. Over the next few months we organised paperwork for the French administration as well as logistics for shipping what we didn’t sell of our worldly belongings.

We knew the move would be have an impact on my capacity to earn than my wife’s due to the language barrier I would face so I took up level A1 French lessons each Saturday for 2 months prior to the move. On top of this I realised I would not be able to work as a commercial diver for obvious reasons given the language barrier and so I studied in unison with French to gain my personal training certificate. I’d always played sports at high levels from a young age, enjoyed keeping fit and encouraging others to do so as well so it seemed like a natural progression.

At the end of March 2018 we landed in France to begin our new lives.

L’integration

Well you’ve probably heard that the French administration can be a long and drawn out process and from my experience this rings true. It took in my case 3 months for integration meetings with the OFII and as I require a carte professionelle for work it’s been another 3 months from there. Realistically you can expect to be waiting quite a while to work if you are a job seeker or have not lined anything up prior to your move.

Having said that everyone I dealt with during the process were friendly and professional and helpful. If there is one piece of advice that I can pass on, after my experiences, it would be to become as proficient as you can in the French language prior to moving. Nothing about the integration process is as difficult as a 24hr plane flight with a 2 year old and those of you with kids will know what I mean. So from my account there is nothing to worry about, just be sure to have copies of all your documents.

The gamble

It was a gamble to embark on a new career path at my stage in life but one that I am happy to say is beginning to pay off and one which may not have come to fruition had I not been at this stage in life anyway.

In Australia fitness is a “buzz” word and any given morning of the week, rain hale or shine almost every park and public outdoor area is a wash with people engaging in group fitness classes which is really great to see for so many reasons. We tend to live such sedentary lives now days in a climate- controlled zone between the house, car and office, so it really is a refreshing site to see people take back some control of their activity and lives.

During our previous visits to France this same type of exercise (boot-camps and cross-training) does not seem to exist at the level I was used to. Not that people are more inactive here, quite the contrary actually as the French population are very active in sports, cycling and football however cross training is much different.

OZ-360 fitness was born in Australia with the intention of providing group and personal training to those clients wanting to stay trim, maintain health and live a fully functional life into their more senior years. OZ-360 sessions, be they group or personal aim to bring fundamental movements to the table in order to facilitate proper human movement which is vitally important to counteract ageing and the issues we often see resulting from the sedentary lifestyles we have become accustomed to living.

OZ-360 is based in Pessac, we have around 20 clients (French and English speaking) training with us in group sessions now and a few whom prefer personal training. We are able to provide all formats of training be it group, personal, online, or corporate for team building sessions. With Christmas just around the corner we have offers available at www.oz-360.com so please visit the site or email us at info@oz-360.com for more information on how we can help you.

Brexit in Bordeaux - Outreach Meeting

2018-10-26T19:48:00.000+02:00

The British Embassy held an event in Bordeaux last Friday (19th October) to help shed some light on current Brexit negotiations for British nationals living in France.

Caroline Moreau, from First Start in Bordeaux, attended the event and provided us with her own conclusions from the meeting.

Photo by Chris Lawton on Unsplash

The general feeling is that there is still a lot of uncertainty about the future and many unresolved questions, most importantly regarding free movement rights around Europe for British citizens.

As a British citizen if you have already been living in France for over 5 years then you are definitely entitled to stay, which means that you have the right to health care etc.

The official departure for the UK from the EU is the 29th March 2019. However there is total free movement in place until 31st December 2020, thus provided you arrive in France before the 31st December 2020 then you can accumulate your 5 years of residency and thus entitlement to stay.

Most of the discussion and questions were about ‘cartes de séjours. All British citizens are entitled to a carte de séjour and moreover are advised to apply for one as soon as possible (even if you’re not obliged to have one for the moment). Numerous people at the meeting claim to have applied for one from the Prefecture and have been refused. The advice is that you need to insist to try to obtain one even following a refusal.

If you have the possibility to apply for French nationality, given that you still have the right to dual nationality this would be a safer option than just applying for the carte de séjour.

More information for British citizens living in France is available on the UK Government website: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/living-in-france

Caroline is a native Londoner who settled in Bordeaux more than 15 years ago. First Start in Bordeaux is a relocation agency that aims to assist people who face resettlement issues when moving to the South of France.

www.firststartinbordeaux.com