An Extraordinary Weekend in Nantes

Self portrait by Olivier Sauzereau. Be sure to see his other exquisite photos on his website.

There are lots of things to like about Nantes. It is a very beautiful city, right on the Loire River and not too far from the Atlantic coast. The architecture is grand and the atmosphere is lively. There must be something in the air that stimulates the imagination. Jules Verne hailed from Nantes as do the famous Machines de l'Ile which, in their way carry forward the same marvelous vision. These are not the only creative minds nurtured in Nantes, as we were soon to discover.

Our dear friends Arnault and Bénédicte live there. Arnault is a man of many parts. He is a nuclear engineer, a talented photographer, singer and musician, a tinkerer extraordinaire, cook, and all around great guy. He has an interest in all things scientific and celestial. He found some photos online of the recent transit of Venus and was amazed to discover that the photographer was from Nantes as well. He was even more excited to learn that this amazing guy, Olivier Sauzereau, was also an astronomer and Nantes historian who is particularly interested in the history of nautical navigation, which has a rich tradition in Nantes. Better yet, Arnault discovered that they had a mutual friend, Olivier Grasset. He was yet further delighted to learn that Rick is a descendant of John Harrison, who developed the first chronometer accurate and dependable enough to determine longitude at sea. Arnault decided that this collision of coincidental relationships deserved a celebration of some kind and thus put together a day of discovery and sharing in Nantes, inviting among others, Rick and myself to his Congrès H4 (Conference of the H4 chronometer, Harrison's crowning achievement of 1761).

 

We left home on Saturday morning and arrived in Nantes about noon, just in time to get the last table at La Cigale, one of the most beautiful and famous brasseries in all of France. The decorations are stunning, and the menu does not disappoint either. The ceramic artist, Emile Libaudière, who is responsible for the interior design was also born in Nantes. The dining room first opened in 1895.

We spent the afternoon with Arnault, Bénédicte and their three boys, as well as Bénédicte's parents Bernard and Françoise, who have been our friends for many years. They are truly a wonderful family. We feel quite lucky to know them all!

Sunday dawned gray and blue. Arnault went off to the famous Talensac market to get his fresh Sunday fish. He brought home this beauty, a merlu (hake in British English), relative of cod and haddock.

Arnault generously shared the secret of perfectly cooked fish, and I'm about to share it with you! Get a fish pot boiling with with court bouillon. Put the fish in and bring back to a boil. As soon as it does, cover and turn off the heat. Allow the fish to rest in the bouillon for a minimum of 20 minutes and up to 45. It will be perfectly cooked, firm but not dry.

While the fish rested, Arnault whipped up some beure blanc, a emulsified butter sauce that is delicious with fish. For a small pot full, chop 4 shallots finely and add enough red wine vinegar or white wine to cover. Boil until all the liquid is absorbed into the shallots. Now add about a cup of butter cut into small cubes. Add it very slowly, two or three small bits at a time and stir until completely melted into the shallot mixture before adding more. Continue until all the butter is melted.

Bénédicte did the honors of serving up the fish. She peeled back the skin and carefully pulled the firm meat away from the bones. It was poetry in motion watching her.

Boiled potatoes and a crisp green salad completed the meal. Simple, delicious and hearty! I am certainly adding these recipes to our Maison Conti repertoire.

After lunch, our convention got under way. We began at the exquisite apartment of Jérôme and Geneviève, in the center of Nantes, where the participants assembled. There were, besides Bénédicte, Arnault, Bernard, Rick and myself, Hervé, who is an outstanding photographer, Ron, a sailor, Nathalie and Olivier Grasset, friends of Arnault, both scientists, Olivier Sauzereau and his wife Maggie. We drank coffee and introduced ourselves.

We were given a guided tour of the important sites of Nantes that are connected to maritime navigation. An extended group of interested people joined the tour and the weather mostly cooperated. To see some really exceptional photos of this day, follow this link to images taken by Hervé.

Neptune Favors the Traveler, is Nante's motto. Here you see Neptune, god of the oceans, holding up the third floor balcony. He is flanked by two grotesques, who reflect the terror of sailors in trouble on the high seas.

Another building in the same district of Nantes had a more important function. The linear image on the first floor is a meridian, which has now been dismantled. When it was built it acted as a sun clock, which at exactly noon would cast a shadow at a certain point. People lined up with their pocket watches in front the this house to be sure they had correct time. If you know anything about the history of time calculation, you will know how politically fraught the subject could be. Establishing common standards (especially French acceptance of Greenwich Mean Time) took many years.

The elegant Passage Pommeraye is a commercial gallery on three levels. Currently it is basically a shopping mall but is classified as an historical monument.

Olivier pointed out the various sculptures and explained their meaning. Even the locals were largely unaware of their symbolism. It was a pleasure to have Olivier read these sculptures to us.

Olivier told us a delightful story of looking at the stars as a young boy in Nantes and discovering in a 19th century engraving that in one of the prominent city squares there was once a tower, not unlike this one, which no longer existed. He wondered if it might have been an astronomical observatory. No one could tell him. It remained a mystery for years until he was able to piece together its history. He was correct in his assessment and furthermore discovered that another observation tower, some way off, had been built subsequently. No one seemed to reckon the history of this structure – it became a movie house early in the twentieth century and later a watchtower for the occupying Germans in WWII. It was forgotten and more or less abandoned until Olivier uncovered its important role in maritime history. It was an observatory which served the requirement of sailors who needed to calibrate their instruments when on shore. These kinds of observatories were located up and down the coasts.

We had the fun, and distinct privilege, of going up into the tower. It is not open to the public at all. Olivier really made these spaces come alive for us as he described them with passion. He explained how in this room one would have entered and heard the ticking of instruments. We all were transported back in time as he explained it.

On the roof we could look out over Nantes, the Loire and off into the horizon where the sun was beginning to set.

Rick gave a brief talk about John Harrison and explained how it was his job as a child to wind the family chronometer.

We left the tower and our tour of Nantes very well mentally stimulated. But the day was not over yet! Back at Arnault and Bénédicte's house the other Olivier gave us a glimpse into the future. I haven't mentioned that he is a rocket scientist and heading up the French team on an international mission to Jupiter and its moons. He gave us an in depth explanation of the project's goals and schedule and how his team solves the complicated challenges of sending a space craft such an unimaginable distance.

After this weekend we are doing quite a lot of star gazing and dreaming of both past and future. What an amazing world we live in!

A Visit to the Jardin des Plantes & Other Pleasures

Fall continues to rapidly transform our world. Each day the colors change a bit more, the leaves begin to swirl in the breeze and the temperatures are unpredictable. Days become shorter and our rhythms shift.

This weekend we went to Paris to see the family. Sandwiched in between two days of very inclement weather, we had a glorious Sunny Sunday. Rick and I decided to take Quinn on an adventure to the Jardin des Plantes, the largest botanical garden in France. Originally called the Jardin du Roi, it was built for the royal family in the early 17th century, made for the cultivation of medicinal plant specimens. It is located on the left bank, right on the river, a few steps from the Gare d'Austerlitz, which is a straight metro ride from Emily's place. When built it was in the countryside, but now, of course, it is right in the middle of the city.

Besides the beautiful garden, which Quinn was much less interested in than we were, there are several museums. The buildings which house them are impressively grand and ancient. Quinn and I decided that they were built for giants. The Comparative Anatomy and Palaeontology Museum is located at the entrance where we came in.

When entering the first room. one is confronted with numerous skeletons as far as the eye can see. Quinn was quite competent in identifying what animal's bones he was looking at.

My favorites were the enormous whale skeletons.

The snake skeletons were also quite impressive.

On the upper level were dinosaur bones, which certainly tickled Quinn's fancy. He's learned a lot about dinos, as all young boys seem to do, and was able to recognize many of them.

The building is entirely open, allowing for wonderful views from above. We all found the place extremely interesting, just as good as the Museum of Natural History in Central Park. This was, at least, the consensus of Quinn and Rick who both hold very fond memories of that place. I've never been there.

After our museum visit we walked the full length of the park itself. It is such a delightful place to sit, especially on a day like that. There is a central core with plants labeled and arranged on grass borders, flanked on both sides by long alleys of trees. The benches along the way were mostly occupied.

The garden itself is very well maintained. We were surprised by how much is still in glorious bloom.

The fragrance of herbs filled the air. The bees busied themselves in gathering their last harvests.

Sun on colorful trees filled me with joy. I feel that poignant sense of impermanence each fall, which makes these sunlit days seem especially precious.

The Jardin des Plantes is a place one could certainly spend many days, and never see everything there is to see. We tipped our hats to the huge greenhouses as we went by. Hopefully someday we will be able to explore the exotic plants growing inside. But probably not with a three year old in tow.

When we reached the far end of the garden, we exited. I had it in mind to get to The Paris Mosque for lunch, one of my all time favorite places to take a meal. It happens to be right across the street.

We have eaten here many times before, but Quinn never had. I love the rich colors and ornate decoration.

Quinn was impressed with the mosaic designs and he especially enjoyed the little chickadees which flew in and out of the dining room.

Even the bathroom here is a visual feast.

Quinn was charmed to have his own little bench to sit on and for a table, a large golden tray.

Lunch itself was couscous and lamb kabobs. This is not an expensive place to eat, but the food is very good.

I love the clash of patten and color, It is a rich meal for the stomach and the eyes.

The pastry selection is quite fantastic. Quinn enjoyed choosing some treats for after lunch which we had packed up and took back to the park to eat. There was still the royal zoo to visit!

 

One of the favored activities in the zoo was actually sitting in the mouth of a stone hippopotamus.

The king's menagerie was transferred to the Jardin des Plantes not long after its construction. It is a very beautiful zoo with many attractive buildings.

The vivarium, filled with reptiles of every description was fascinating. Turtles, frogs, huge exotic lizards and a completely motionless alligator all caught Quinn's attention. He didn't like the snakes so much.

We had to drag Quinn away from the flamingos. I believe he could have sat and watched them all afternoon. Jos told us that these birds only stay bright orange if they are fed a diet of shrimp. If fed on other fish, they lose their color within a week and turn gray.

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This week we also had the pleasure of welcoming one of my past students to the Maison Conti. We hadn't seen one another since she was in fourth grade. Gabriella is now a junior at Wellesley where she studies psychology. She is taking a semester in Italy to improve her Italian language skills.

She only stayed with us for one night, but we had some relatively nice weather in which to show her around our village. It is always such fun for us to take the tour with old friends who have never been here before. It allows us to see our world with fresh eyes.

The countryside here is so pleasant, gentle and at this time of year, particularly charming. Gabriella is studying in Bologna, which is a very big city. She hasn't had the chance to explore the Italian countryside yet, so I think she appreciated a brief change in tempo, and a home cooked meal.

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I have begun to harvest my colorful carrots which I bought from Cubits. They're pretty and delicious!

Autumn Diversion & Exertions

The weather changed dramatically this week. We had our first fires, turned on the heat and enjoyed the first real rainstorm of the new season. The virginia creeper on the house is starting to turn.

I don't know about you, but changing seasons always inspires me to change something in my physical world. Although we still do have clients on weekends, there are many week days when the house is unoccupied, and I have used this quieter time to begin a series of improvements. I have been longing to make some changes to our entry salon. The furniture there is a mixture of antiques. I've grown very tired of their darkness and formality. I wanted something fresh. My first project is to redecorate the whole room.

I started with the Louis XVI chairs. They are genuine antiques, made sometime between 1754 and 1793, just a generation after the house itself was built. I especially wanted to change the upholstery, which was very tired indeed. I also decided to paint the dark wood white.

I finally got hold of some Annie Sloan chalk paint and wax, which I've heard about from my blog friend Janet for the last several years. I found a wonderful source here in France. I've known about the shop for quite awhile, but it's just far enough away that getting there is a bit difficult. It finally dawned on me that I could mail order from them, which is what I did. This product can be purchased almost anywhere nowadays, as it is definitely a la mode, as we say over here.

I wasn't sure our skills would be up to reupholstering, but we decided to give it a go. We went to Paris and were able to find some lovely upholstery fabric right in stock at the famous Marché Saint Pierre, one of the hugest fabric stores in France. When we removed the hundreds of upholstery nails, we discovered how often these chairs have been recovered down through the years! We put some wood filler around the entire frame, to allow for our own nails to grip.

The painting process itself was the easiest part. The chalk paint goes right on, no prep necessary, which is my favorite feature. After it dried, I added clear wax and then some dark wax to bring out the decoration on the arms and legs and to give it that antique look. Once the chair was polished, the result was quite professional looking, and matched some other furniture I already had with this treatment. I used the old fabric to make my patterns and everything went together beautifully. Rick hammered on the fabric, I added the braid and voila.

I was very pleased with the results. So much lighter and more cheerful.

I used the same technique on the entry table, though I left the top natural. They go well together.

We're not sure we are content with the way the table turned out. The top is perhaps still too dark. We like the contrast, but we may whitewash it to bring it down a notch. Annie Sloan has a number of books with explicit directions, which make all these techniques quite easy to accomplish. I used the ideas in this one for my projects.

I haven't stopped there, of course. The Annie Sloan paint gets a bit addictive. What you can't really see from the photos is how nicely it polishes up after you apply the wax. It feels very good to the touch.

I intend to redo all the furniture in the entry. We bought some fabric to recover the dark green couch. That's a much bigger job. It comes last. I'm still a bit nervous about it.

The dining room is another focus of my attention. I did manage to repaint all the breakfast chairs and tables. The Annie Sloan colors are luscious. I used her Old White mixed with a bit of Paris Gray for the chairs and table in the entry and Greek Blue for the dining rooms. Only yesterday I received yet another box with four more small pots of different tints. Oh yes, I do have lots of plans and projects scheduled for the rest of the fall.

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While in Paris to purchase our upholstery fabric, we of course visited the family, who we hadn't seen since their summer vacation in Slovenia. Zinnie has really grown. Last time I was with her in early August, she wasn't even sitting up. Now she's eating solid food by herself

 

and not only crawling, but seriously pulling herself up to standing whenever the opportunity arises. She looks so much like her mother at that age, that I feel as if I'm traveling back in time.

 

Her favorite things to play with are, of course, Quinn's cars and trains. She's a rolly polly jolly baby.

Quinn is a nice big brother and enjoys playing with her. He's very careful to be sure she doesn't pick up dangerous things with small parts, and when she takes something of his that he wants to play with himself, he offers her something else in exchange.

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We had the pleasure of welcoming one of Rick's old friends from high school this week. Dick and his wife Ginger retired from their jobs as a teacher and psychotherapist ten years ago, sold their house outside New York, bought a boat and have been sailing around the world ever since. We have kept track of their adventures here, but Rick hadn't seen Dick for over 40 years. We enjoyed hearing about all their adventures. They are, of course, very skilled sailors by now. I'm mostly a landlubber, so the idea of floating out in the middle of an ocean in a small craft makes me feel a bit queasy. Yet I can certainly appreciate the fun of visiting all those ports of call, and having your own free hotel room everywhere you go. Rick grew up sailing, so he can genuinely enjoy tales of the high seas. Dick and Ginger are dropping anchor in London this winter. They tend to sail for about 7-8 months of the year and stay put for the colder months.

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And now, perhaps randomly, a short discussion of salt. 

I grew up never thinking that there was anything remarkable about salt. When it rained, it poured and that was about the extent of my knowledge of it. I did notice that iodine was added to our Leslie salt and that my mother used it every time she cooked. I found out the iodine helped prevent goiter, which had been a problematic condition in the U.S. up until the 20s, when salt became the vehicle to alleviate this deficiency in the American diet. What I didn't know was that salt could come in so many varieties and that shaking it out of a salt shaker is not the only way to use it. In fact, these days we don't use shakers at all.

When we started coming to France we discovered fleur de sel, which is skimmed from the surface of salt evaporating ponds and is largely unprocessed. It comes in large crystals, too large to shake. It was a revelation to me at the time, and we began bringing it back as gifts to our friends, trying to share our enthusiasm for its very superior quality. We provided little crockery dishes in which to put the salt and little wooden spoons to serve it. I'm not sure anyone was nearly as impressed with all this as we were. We did notice that some fancy food stores in California sold Baleine salt at 5 times the price you can find it here in every supermarket. It is the Leslie salt of France and is processed in the same manner. The large gray salt is used here in cooking water for pasta and the like. It is essentially unrefined sea salt.

Several years ago Jos introduced us to Maldon salt, an English brand, and I was able to find it in Berkeley's gourmet ghetto. The delectable thing about it is its shape. It is a concave flake. For some time now we have used Maldon almost exclusively as our table salt. 

This year, however, we have been introduced to a couple of other varieties of British salt. It has now become a sort of battle of the salts, each new brand vying for our affections. Our friend Monica, who runs a B&B near Limoges, sent us a package of Cornish salt to try out. She swears by it. It does taste different. The only way I can find to describe it is to say it is stronger, or more salty, if such a thing is possible. 

Some Dutch friends stopped by a few weeks ago and we found ourselves again discussing salt.  Their favorite is the Welsh Halen Môn, which they tell us is the brand favored by President Obama. It comes in flavors (e.g smokey or vanilla) and also has that delicate flakey form we like so well. 

We took a taste test with all these varieties and truly they do taste different. It's hard to say what our favorite is though. We have an abundance of choice.