...The more that stays the same.

Knackered.

So, so, the 'light' lunch today was as follow: arrive at Bernard's restaurant, which is closed on Wednesdays. Ignore the 'ferme merdredi' signs on the door, and get welcomed by Bernard with a raspberry-based aperatif, and some foie gras on bread. We'd watched him make this - it's raw, cured in salt, and formed into a sausage shape and left in the fridge for a few days - to allow it to be sliced into small discs when served. Very rich. Theeeen the charcuterie arrived. So I was expecting a couple of slices of something dried-meaty, but noooo. We had 5 pates, and a slice of smoked duck. The pates were hard to identify, so I named them according to appearance initially (cat sick, dog food etc), but soon they were explained to be lapin (bunny), duck liver (but without the force-feeding required to create classic foie gras), campagne (mushroomy), piquante (with local hot peppers), and then a traditional pressed goose terrine. So far, so full. Needless to say, at this point the wine had arrived. Next came goat's cheese (fried in a paper-thin pastry) and gesier salad. Gesier is the ...gizzards - aka oesophagus - and in this case it was duck and turkey combo. Very traditional, and very tasty. We finished with the lightest, most exquisite chocolate mousse. I am officially putting my name down as the futute Madame Bernard. That man can cook!

Then we headed to Condom, home of Dogtanian and the Muskehounds, or some-such. Impressive cathedral. Then we hit a 13 century hilltop fort town called Larressingle, and the church had windows which both Kuni and I were convinced were Chagall. Apparently Didier something-or-other did them, biggest plagiarist evs! On exiting Condom Philip noted that it's twinned with towns in both Spain and Germany, but not England...wasted opportunity there.

We swung via yet another castle on the way home for a swat-up on armagnac (according to 70s promotional video it's to be enjoyed "in moderation", which explains a lot...esp as apparently I tried 2 types and an eau de vie last night and did not entirely recall whole conversations this morning...), annnd an armagnac tasting. We test-drove a 12 and 30 year old. 30 was much nicer. On the way home we stopped at Le Romieu (or similar) - a village obsessed with cats due to some tale I heard under the influence of armagnac featuring (as all good tales do) famine, people eating cats, then incest, and then a plague. The cats won out in the end, and there's a statue to Angeline (the cat) in the main square. NFI. Very picturesque.

Got home in time to inhale a glass of wine before a tour of the wine museum (incredible), and then dinner chez Bernard with Philip, Kuni, David, Vikki and Sam - homemade saucisson (divine, I want to come on the charcuterie week), then soup, vegetable crumble (which I'd bet body-parts contained duck fat), magret du canard, and then cheese annnd then the crepes suzette with amazing sauce by David. We've been spoilt with 2 incredible chefs this week. The cheese was unbelievable. I'd told Bernard that comte (with accent on the e - this keyboard isn't French!) Is my all-time best cheese, so he asked if I prefer 3, 6, 12 or 18 month old. I said I wasn't sure if I knew the difference, so he'd got the 12 month in for me to try, and it was like angels dancing on my tongue. Aka: not bad at all.

Back in the kitchen by 9am, and I am totally exhausted (but very happy)! Need a holiday.