Tuesday 28 May 2013

Katharine C: Cook&Eat, May 2013

Starter was fresh crisp vegetables with anchoiade
So good for us! 
A wonderful session at Caroline's - a smaller group than usual.
The weather was benign and after the morning's work we lunched on the terrace. 
Lots of prep (rubber gloves required)  for these braised baby artichokes....

....served with rabbit in cream and mustard sauce

Caroline and Leslie

Anne

Elisabeth and Yvette-Jacqueline relax on the terrace

Leslie, Anne and Angela

This is what summer tastes like

Fresh strawberries, raspberries and blueberries, in sweet wine gelee,  topped with groseilles, accompanied by mascarpone cream with lemon zest
This dessert was indescribable;  I think the picture says it all.  Thanks to Caroline for yet another
fun morning.  One of our group asked whether members of Cook&Eat do try to replicate the meals that we prepare under Caroline's direction at home.  We certainly do, probably with varying degrees of success.   A tip for the fruit dessert above:  if you're putting it back in the fridge, keep a steady hand and a level plate, otherwise it will go sailing to the floor, a la Julia Child!

Here's the recipe:  Red Fruit and Mint Terrine with Whipped Mascarpone     (For 10)

- 500 grs strawberries
- 250 grs blue berries
- 250 grs raspberries
- 50 cl sweet white wine
- 150 grs red currant jelly
-  15 grs gelatin leaves (check the packet for the weight of individual leaves - they vary, packets now have leaves that individually weight 1 gram each).    
-  3 sprigs fresh mint

for cream:
    •    250 grs mascarpone
    •    zest from 1 untreated lemon
    •    75 grs honey
    •    2 tbs whipping cream
Put gelatine in a bowl of cold water to soften.
Pour half the wine in a saucepan and boil for 3 minutes. Add the red currant jelly and mix until melted. Off the heat add mint and let infuse 3 minutes. Remove mint and add strained gelatine. Mix and add rest of wine.
Cut strawberries in half. Line a « cake » mould with Saran (plastic) wrap leaving large plastic borders.
Alternate layers of fruit in mould and pour wine mixture over fruit. Close plastic flaps pressing lightly and put in fridge for at least two hours or over night.

Whip cream, mascarpone and honey until stiff and add zest.

To serve carefully remove plastic rap from terrine and serve with mascarpone cream.



Jane: Old finds

My 'batisse' dates back to around 1750.  No one is sure exactly but it was here in 1800 and neighbours feel sure that it was around earlier than that.  As I write this, a 'cuve à vin' is being divided and a shower room is being created one end and a utility room the other; a garage is becoming a beautiful living-room; and the vaulted room where the wine was no doubt stored, will be a sort of hallway accessing the shower room and the living-room.  Roll on the 21st century!

When my parents moved into our house in Purley, Surrey in 1958, they discovered a wonderful grandfather clock in the attic.  It still remains in our family.  When I bought my house in London in 1982, a friend spotted that there was a safe hidden behind a piece of wood in the basement.  Several years later, I had it opened.  There were several trinket boxes but most were empty, certainly the little heart-shaped leather one was!  There was a long gold chain however.  When gardening one day, I dug up a wonderful old medicine bottle.

So, what could I possibly find in my little batisse in a tiny hamlet here?  Roman coins? Wouldn't that be good? No, something possibly as old if not older.  My electrician appeared at my door one day clutching two pieces of stone, both with fossils in them:





 To be honest, the find was more exciting than the gold chain!

Maggie: Domaine d'O event


The final event of the winter season at Domaine d'O was on the theme of women.  It was a three part evening starting with a very moving story about surviving breast cancer.  (That short statement does not do justice to the performance.)  We then headed outdoors for a women's soccer match.  Back inside to hear from a Syrian woman about the current events in her country.  As Peggy noted, "The first and last plays were not easy to watch.  Thank goodness we had those cute footballeuses at intermission to raise our spirits." 
 
Members of AWG and FOAL were present at the event

Peggy and Latif well wrapped-up

Womens' football


 So happy the rain spared us during the football match.  It was kind of Domaine d'O to provide cushions and blankets, but I think the Americans in the audience missed the popcorn and hotdogs. 
Maggie and Mariannick

Elysa and Murielle


Thanks to PeggyF for taking some photos and sharing them.

Maggie: our April hike near Puechabon



It's a shame that more people didn't turn out for the enjoyable and informative hike on the Plateau des Brousses near Puechabon in April.  
 
Yvette-Jacqueline and Mariannick
The sun was out that day and we were able to picnic.  The rain seems to have cancelled the hikes since then.  Interesting ruins, scenery, flowers, and even a mushroom. The hamlets of Lavene and Montcalmès are among the oldest in the Hérault valley.
Stunning ruins.......

...... and Spring flowers

Maggie climbing to see ........

..... spectacular views on this walk
   Mariannick, as always, provided plenty of information, and the bilingual signs along the way provided even more.  I hope to see a crowd at the June hike and picnic.
  

Maggie: post-FAWCO lunch at Orla's

Here at last are a few more photos taken at the post-FAWCO St.Patrick's Day luncheon at Orla's.

Noel and her Mom, Mariannick and Jessica

Lunch - yum!

Orla being Orla

Indefatigable photogs Pam and Sylvia and Katharine C

Such a beautiful lunch table

Mariannick and get-up courtesy of Guinness

Deb: FATCA may well impact Europeans as well as US citizens

 
 
The EU to look at FATCA implications

Editor:  Deb and Kim have requested that the following message from Lucy Laederich, FAWCO's
resident expert on the implications of US tax and other policies,  be posted:
 
 
On Tuesday, May 28, the Economic and Monetary Committee of the European Parliament is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the implications for Europe of FATCA implementation. Up to now, we in FAWCO have focused on these implications for "us", i.e. American citizens with "foreign" financial interests, the reporting requirements imposed on us and our banks abroad, the dilemma these pose for our non-American spouses and domestic or business partners with whom we hold joint accounts, etc. However, as we have all continued to say, FATCA is not a "done deal", it is a work in progress and things are changing all the time.  Right now, European governments are considering whether or not to enter into government-to-government agreements with the US Treasury and whether this will require reciprocal agreements whereby the US will report on foreign holders of US bank accounts, also.
 
This hearing is momentous from that perspective and while we only learned of it very recently - too late for most people to plan to attend - it will be accessible via a live webstream and I cannot encourage you enough to tune in - ask your friends and neighbors to tune in - listen to what is being said so that we are ahead of the news, rather than behind it.
 
I  (i.e., Lucy Laederich)  have written a letter to one of the MEPs and to the Rapporteur of the Committee, pointing out the implications of FATCA in the EU for:
1) spouses and partners of Americans living in the EU
2) "accidental" Americans who may not even realize they are - or could be considered to be - Americans. 
 At stake are privacy issues, of course, and even potentially bank access issues for EU citizens due to an American law. 
This letter will be posted Tuesday on the FAWCO website, if you are interested. 
 
In the meantime, if you possibly can, try to follow the hearing  on:
The fight against tax evasion - FATCA as a step towards international automatic exchange of information?  
Tuesday, May 28, in Brussels, from 15:30 to 17:00.
The meeting will also be webstreamed viahttp://www.europarl.europa.eu/ep-live/en/committees/video?event=20130528-1530-COMMITTEE-ECON

Tuesday 21 May 2013

Katharine C: AWG's annual anniversary celebration in Montferrier, May 2013

A delectable lunch was organised by AWG's Laetitia and Kim to celebrate our anniversary.

KathyB, MaryCat, Maggie, Mariannick, Robyn, Jessica

In the pink .....

..... dining room

MaryCat, MaryBeth, Mariannick, Jessica

Nuala, guess whose Mom she is? and Orla

Caroline and Elisabeth
Very Special Guest Dora Taylor, our founder, with Kim, Dalene and Katharine J

Anne, Jessica, Kim and Dora

Sue Rou and Susan Rey

Helene and Kathy B

Caroline and Claudia



Jessica and Robyn

Mariannick and Maggie

Katharine C, Orla and MaryCat

Robyn and Jessica backed up by changing light of the chandelier

Maggie: Jaunt to Sete on March 26

 
 
The photos of our day in Sete on March 26th are a reminder of how lovely the weather was back then. Linda, Mariannick, Karen, Katharine J, Maggie

  

 
Obviously I could not take photos of the Salah Stétié exhibit at the Musée Paul Valéry, but I thought it was fascinating, and I had to be dragged away for the lunch in the museum's restaurant.
   

An added attraction was the unscheduled afternoon visit to the CRAC (Centre Régional d'Art Contemporain), which is normally closed on  Tuesdays but was open for us thanks to Karen's connections. 

A visit to Karen's garden and coffee in the sun on her terrace were a lovely way to end the outing.