Deep France (44 page)
Authors: Celia Brayfield
In France, there is serious talk of abolishing the thirty-five-hour working week.
By order of President Chirac, on 29 November 2002 the remains of Alexandre Dumas were dug up from the small cemetery north of Paris where they had been for more than a century, placed in a
coffin draped with velvet and emblazoned with the Musketeers’ motto,
Tons Pour Un, Un Pour Tous
, and awarded a lying in state outside the Château de Monte-Cristo. This event
was shown on television, with leading writers and actors standing vigil. Then, attended by Presidential Guards and four Musketeers dressed by the couturier Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, the coffin
was transferred to central Paris and taken in procession from the Senate to the Panthéon, between cheering crowds who had been happy to obey the official suggestion that they should carry
copies of Dumas’s works. At the Panthéon, the remains of the great author were interred beside those of
the rest of France’s leading writers. In
Saliès in 2003, fifty per cent of house sales were to British buyers.
Zoe and Matthieu were married in London just before Christmas. In April, they held a beautiful reception for two hundred people at the concert hall in Tilh, which began with a blessing from the
Anglican vicar of Pau and ended with fireworks and dancing until dawn. They have bought a house in Laas, and Zoe has opened a shop in London, to sell Basque linen and ceramics. She has called it
Espadrille. It is in a part of Fulham where there are already so many shops, bars and delis selling French antiques, food and drink that people are calling it Little France.
Literature and Biography
La Reine Margot.
Alexandre Dumas, tr. Coward, Oxford University Press, 1997.
The Three Musketeers
. Alexandre Dumas, tr. Sudley. Penguin, 1952.
Aspects of Love
. David Garnett. Chatto & Windus, 1955.
Voyage en Espagne/Españ
a. Theophile Gautier. Folio Classique/Editions Gallimard, 1981.
Gaston Fébus
:
Prince Des Pyrénées
. Pierre Tucoo-Chala. Editions Deucalion, 1993.
The First Bourbon: Henry IV of France and Navarre
. Desmond Seward. Constable, 1971.
Eugénie: The Empress and her Empire. Desmond Seward. Sutton, 2004.
Cyrano de Bergerac
. Edmund Rostand, tr. Burgess. Hutchinson, 1985.
The Man Who Was Cyrano: A life of Edmond Rostand
. Sue Lloyd. Unlimited Publishing, US, 2003.
Magic
. Edited by Sarah Brown and Gil McNeil. Bloomsbury, 2002.
History and Folklore
Lo Nouste Béarn
. Hubert Dutech. Mon Helios, 2003.
Le Béarn
. Marcelin Berthelot. Lacour, 2000.
Proverbes du Pays de Béarn
. V. Lespy. Lacour, 1992.
The Basque History of the World
. Mark Kurlansky. Jonathan Cape, 1999.
Saliès-de-Béarn
. Jean Labarthe. Les Amis De Vieux Saliès, 1996.
Légendes du Pays Basque – Les Pyrénées et Leurs Légendes
. C Lacour. Editeur, 2002.
La France Secrète et Mysterieuse: Lieux et sources des légendes.
Benoit Laudier. Guides Gallimard, 1996.
Contes de Gascogne
. Jean-Fraçois Blade, illustrated Jean-Claude Pertuzé.
Autrefois he Pays Basque
. Claude Bailhé. Editions Milan, 1999.
L’almanach du Pyrénéen
. Gerard Bardon. Editions CPE, 2002.
Eleanor of Aquitaine
. Alison Weir. Jonathan Cape, 1999.
Athenaïs: The Real Queen of France. Lis
a Hilton. Little, Brown, 2002.
Cooking and Food
La Cuisine des Pyrénées
. Francine Claustres. Editions Sud Ouest, 1994.
French Country Cooking
. Elizabeth David. Penguin, 1966.
French Provincial Cooking
. Elizabeth David. Penguin, 1968.
La Cuisine Gasconne
. Guilou Giacomazzi. Lacour, 2001.
Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World
. Mark Kurlansky. Jonathan Cape, 1998.
Memories of Gascony
. Pierre Koffmann. Headline, 1991.
The Cooking of South-West France
. Paula Wolfert. Dorling Kindersley, 1989.
Under the Sun
. Caroline Conran. Pavilion, 2002.
Cuisine Grand-Mère
. Marie-Pierre Moine. Ebury Press, 2001.
Tourism
Gascony & The Pyrenees
. Cadogan Guides: Diana Facaros and Michael Pauls; updated Rosemary Bailey, 2001.
Bilbao & the Basque Lands
. Cadogan Guides: Diana Facaros and Michael Pauls, 2001.
Pyrenees Aquitaine Côte Basque
. Michelin.
Magazines and Periodicals
Pays Basque
. Issue nos: 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22. Milan Presse, Toulouse.
Côte Ouest
. 2002.
Maisons sud Ouest
. 2002.
La Gazette des Ventes
. Edition du Sud-Ouest, 1 Route de Fajolles, 82100 Garganvillar. tel: 05 63 95 64 57
1
, fax: 05 63 95 64
57, email: michel.ferrer3 @wanadoo.fr
The News
. 3 Chemin de la Mounie, 24000 Perigueux.
Restaurants
This is a random and highly personal list of the restaurants which wormed their way into the story – sadly, in a year in a region justly famous for several great
cuisines, I spent far too much time writing and not nearly enough on gastronomic research, so failing to get around even a quarter of the most distinguished establishments. For a more exhaustive
listing, consult the Cadogan Guides (see above.)
Auberge du Forail, Place du Forail, St-Palais. tel: 05 59 65 73 22
Auberge de la Fontaine, Square de l’Église, 64390 Laàs. tel: 05 59 38 59 33
La Belle Auberge, 64270 Castagnède. tel: 05 59 38 15 28, fax: 05 59 65 03 57
Blue Cargo, Villa Itsasoan, Avenue Ilbarritz, 64200, Biarritz. tel: 05 59 24 36 30
Le Commerce/Chez Darracq, Amou. tel: 05 38 89 02, email: [email protected]
Chez Pantxoa, Port de Socoa, 64500 St-Jean-de-Luz. tel: 05 59 47 13 73
Chez Tante Ursule, Bas-Cambo.. tel: 05 59 93 7575
Les Près d’Eugénie (gastronomic) and Auberge de la Ferme aux Grives (farmhouse) at Eugénie-les-Bains. tel: 05 58 05 06 07, fax 05 58 51 10 10.
Website for the whole resort: www.ville-eugenie-les-bains.fr
La Terasse, 64370 Saliès-de-Béarn. tel: 05 59 38 09 83
Txamara, Port de Guéthary, 64210 Guéthary. tel: 05 59 26 51 44
Tourist Offices
Orthez: Office de Tourisme,
Maison Jeanne d’Albret, 64300 Orthez. tel: 05 59 69 37 50, fax 05 59 69 12 00, email [email protected]
Sauveterre-de-Béarn: Office de Tourisme, Place Royale, 64390 Sauveterre-de-Béarn. tel: 05 59 38 58 65, fax 05 59 38 94 82, email [email protected]
Saliès-de-Béarn: Office de Tourisme, Rue des Bains, 64270 Saliès-de-Béarn. tel: 05 59 38 00 33, fax 05 59 38 02 95, email: Saliè[email protected]
Website: www.Béarn-gaves.com
Endnote
1
Telephone numbers given are for dialling in France. If dialling from outside France, drop the initial zero and substitute the international code for France, 00 33.
So the French number 05 59 38 11 18 would become the international number 00 33 5 59 38 11 18.
Acacia-Flower Fritters
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Asparagus Omelette
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Axoa
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Béarnais Tomato Sauce
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Beef Daube
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Blonde d’Osso Bucco à la Landaise
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Confit de Canard
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Créme Anglaise
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Créme Caramel au Fleur d’Oranger
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Eton Mess
Tante Rose
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Garbure de Fête
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Hot St Clement’s Cake with Jurançon
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Le Milhassou
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Merlu Koskera
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Pastis Landais
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Piperade
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Poule au Pot Henri IV
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Poulet Basquaise
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Pumpkin Gratin
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Salade des Deux Asperges ‘Belle Auberge’
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Sangria
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Simple
Garbure
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Sticky Pork Salad with Lime Dressing
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Stuffed Courgette Flowers
ref 1
Picture credits
Part titles
November, February, March, May, June, July, September, October: Celia Brayfield. December: Editions Artpyr. January: Photo RMN ‘G.F.
Tournachon’. April: The Vanity Fair Print Company. August: Musée du second Empire, Picardy (portrait by Franz Xavier Winterhalter).
Plate section
Maison Bergez; Squirly ironwork chairs; Lunch at Maysounabe;
Esprit de
Beverly Hills; Rock Pools at Biarritz;
Saliès-de-Béarn townhouses; The Duchess; Piglet: Celia Brayfield. Andrew, out walking with Otto and a guest: Adrian Forster. Poster for Rostand’s
Cyrano de
Bergerac
: photo Marc Hauvette – Editions Lavielle. Saliès-de-Béarn, the bandstand: watercolour by Glynn Boyd Harte by kind permission of David Game (orientation as in
the original). Detail from Roger Hallet’s panorama of Saliès-de-Béarn, showing La Terrasse: by kind permission of the artist. Le lac de Bious-Artigues et l’Ossau: Jean
Pascal Seyrat.
Deep France