Joyeuses Paques

The sun shone brightly to celebrate the rebirth of Jesus..... nothing but clear blues skies welcomed in Easter Sunday.  The church bells have been silent in Cabrerets since the Thursday before Good Friday as all bells in France are silenced in acknowledgement of Jesus' death.  Children are told that the bells have flown away to Rome to see the Pope and return on Easter Sunday Morning when the bells ring out to celebrate the resurrection, declaring that Jesus is alive again.

We have been invited to a traditional Easter Lunch at the home of Peter and Michelle Paulin, we spend the night before practicing our very best pronounced Joyeuses Paques, which simply is Happy Easter just a whole lot harder to say.  We are joined for lunch by Monsieur Francis, Monsieur Philippe, Mademoiselle Marielour and of course our hosts Peter and Michelle.  Aperitif is served,  French Champagne (not Moet or Veuve Clicquot, that is for the mass market!!) no privately owned French Chateaux Champagne for us, Monsieur Francis just happens to be a Champagne  and Wine connoisseurs who has walked the entire Champagne region of France visiting and buying for his personal wine cave, which apparently is something to behold, he has a bottle of wine in the cave worth over Euro 6,000, which we haven't been invited to drink yet, but we are working on it.  The Champagne is served with fried cod balls!!!  no not what you are thinking, flakes of cod rolled into a ball with herbs and lightly fried.  This is then followed by a white bean soup, not just any beans but some special beans that can only be sourced this time of year, and are very expensive, to quote Ian "it was bloody delicious".  We then move the party to the dinner table, which is so elegantly dressed.

Wines flows, along with the food, next course, hard boiled eggs the yolks removed and filled with a mixture of gherkins and mayonnaise, the bright yellow yolks are then sprinkled on top to represent the promise of a long hot summer.

Roast lamb, the traditional meat of Easter in France, potatoes and green beans follow, the conversation flows even though it is mostly in French, we understand the gist and Philippe translates for us.  We enjoy hearing French spoken and realise that slowly, oh so slowly, we are beginning to take the first steps towards learning a new language.  As if we were not already full to the brim more food continues to come to the table, small rounds of goats cheese with a very fine walnut crumble on top which has been heated in the oven, served with a small green salad.  

Michelle comes to the table with a basket overflowing with Easter offerings, eyes closed we reach into the basket and receive our Easter gifts, chocolate bunnies, chickens, lambs and eggs.  Coffee and a gateaux decorated with little Easter chocolate gifts complete the amazing meal.  We are overflowing with contentment, and it is quickly decided that a walk in the beautiful sun is required to help digest our lunch.

Michelle stays home for a well earned rest, while the rest of us head off towards the cliffs.  What feels like several days later, we return for more Champagne.  As I mentioned before Monsieur Francis who is in his 70's is an avid walker, and he set the pace!! A very quick one at that, we find it impossible to keep up, but his local knowledge lead us to many undiscovered treasures hidden amongst the woods, the more delight we show the more enthusiastic he becomes and the longer the walk becomes, in fact 3 hours in total.

Michelle lends me a blanket to rug up against the cold for your short walk back to Maison du Cele, another amazing day spent here in Cabrerets.