Garlic soup and Bergerac wine

St Fabrice
Yesterday's weather. Very unseasonal!

We had a lovely day yesterday. We dropped in at the garage to arrange for new number plates for the Méhari and made an appointment to have them fitted on Thursday. Then we took a drive up into Dordogneshire to look at the views and have lunch in Domme.

Somehow we managed to miss all the rain and even sat outside the restaurant in the square where we had an extremely nice meal. I apologise to vegetarians now, but I thought I would describe this meal as it is typical of this region of France.

It started with the local speciality garlic soup. This might sound pretty anti-social, especially if you are not a garlic lover but it really isn't, it's a light white soup which always contains slices of pain de campagne and is really delicious. Knowing the health benefits of garlic it is probably very good for seeing off colds. And vampires too. Jon and our friend then had a duck terrine with foie gras, staying with the local speciality theme. I had a very nice smoked salmon and carpaccio of salmon duo. Then we had a speciality of that restaurant, a very rich coq au vin cooked in Bergerac wine served with wild mushrooms which were probably picked locally as it is coming in to mushroom hunting season.

The desserts are to die for! A Dommois is a cross between a mousse and an ice cream, made with walnuts and has a slightly nougat-y flavour. It's very popular in this restaurant. I chose a dish that is translated as 'cork-shaped rum baba with summer fruits'. Mmmmm. On my plate were two small rum babas with a small pot of crème anglaise a strawberry coulis, an apricot coulis, a slice of pineapple, a strawberry and a spoonful of chopped up Calvados jelly.

We aren't really dessert people, but we do enjoy a dessert when we are out for lunch or dinner, it's the only time we really spoil ourselves. That dessert alone would have cost about £8 in our favourite restaurant back in the UK, but here it was included in a set menu which was ridiculously well-priced. We are always amazed how French restaurants can produce an excellent meal for such a good price when back home in the UK the equivalent would probably cost around 2 1/2 times as much. That probably explains why restaurants like this one are always full, not only with tourists but locals too.

After lunch we took a pretty drive back home so that our visitor could collect his luggage before we returned him to the airport. The weather had been very miserable really for August but we had a lovely visit with him and look forward to his return later this year, we hope. On our way back from Toulouse we saw the most spectacular sunset through some amazing cloud formation, but by the time we were half way home the clouds had gathered and it rained heavily all the way. Back here we were greeted by two dryish cats who had obviously found shelter, and one little fellow who looked several pounds lighter than usual and rather spikey with his fur all soaked!