Market day and La Maisonette ...

The third day brought  a trip to the Wednesday market in Sarlat. Stephanie told us that it's smaller than the Saturday market but it was still quite large.  Cobblestone streets lined with stalls selling anything from strawberries to squashes, cheeses to seafood, spices to  dried mushrooms.  All of it picture-perfect. I, of course, honed in on the giant chunk of butter. I have butter radar.  It's a gift. 

My favorite part was the duck-fat-fried potatoes at the entrance.  Several of us shared a large portion.  After all, that's what I saved my €5 that Stephanie had given us for.  The afternoon was filled with shooting our market finds.  My only regret is not buying dried morels and cèpes (porcinis).  So much lighter than all the walnut oil and honey I acquired. 

Stephanie hosted a beautiful dinner at La Maisonette: potimarron soup, chicken with morels and a gluten-free chocolate torte.  All beautiful and the perfect accompaniment to a lot of laughter, story telling and cementing of friendships. It's rare to be thrown together in a group where everyone just clicks. The stars, which you can actually see in Beynac, were definitely in perfect alignment. 

the ladies...

I couldn't have asked to meet a lovelier, more supportive group of women.  We worked hard -- it was too much fun to really call it work -- and had a great time.

Steph

Olivia

Lorna

Nadia

Kim

  

Jennifer

From the top: Sanda, Lorna, Jennifer, me. 

Sanda

Aran

Picnics and a quest for ice cream

Day two

It was all about the picnic: sandwiches and scenes in a lovely walnut grove. We photographed then lovely Olivia holding a sandwich in a hundred different ways.  My ADD became apparent as the shots I was supposed to be taking were interspersed with photos of anything from flowers in the gardens to the cat that had little interest in playing with me.

Steph made the most beautiful Salade Niçoise for lunch.  The funny thing about our group was the sheer number of photos of everything we had to take before actually getting to eat. 

We picked walnuts as a prop, and snack, and photographed the scenes that Aran had set up. Let me say that by now everyone knew about my "thing" about going outside. I will say that enjoy "picking" things. I won't be owning an orchard any time soon, but it's an ok way to be outside.

 

When the shoot was over my quest for the ice cream began. Some of the group went to sample at the Jardins du Marqueyssac, but I wanted to go to the source. I had read of an ice cream alchemist in Walnut Wine & Truffle Groves in June not long after I'd signed up and couldn't wait to try this magically flavored ice cream-- flavors like poppy flower and daffodil or local walnut.  I called the number on the website and it was confirmed, albeit gruffly, that there was a "boutique and epicierie" in Saint-Geniès.  I forgot to ask hours but decided to take my chances -- mostly because he didn't answer the phone the other 5 times I tried calling.  Cursed caller ID.  

When you're in France, especially fairy tale-like Dordogne and someone says "boutique" immediately you get images of charming little shops pulled straight from the movie Chocolat, which was filmed there.  I was excited to be sure. Kim and Sanda made the trek with me to Saint-Geniès.  I was a cute little village, except for the Proximart in the middle selling anything from soccer balls to potato chips. 

We wandered around hoping to stumble on my ice cream wonderland,  but as it got later we decided to ask.  I went into the Proximart and was completely deflated to discover that this was the "boutique," AND they only had four flavors: vanilla, chocolate, salted caramel, and Rocamandour-cherry.  Rocamandour is a cheese from the region that I had had in its fresh and "sec" forms- both delicious. I bought the more, a-hem, exotic flavors and we went back to the Manoir where Ouafa was making dinner for us and two  other guests.  

Dinner was a delightful Moroccan tagine, a rainbow of fresh vegetables from that morning's market and a tarte aux pommes served with ice cream. We ate outside on the lawn, complete with floor lamp, and laughed a lot in French and English.