La Bonne Femme: Chicken with a Pan Sauce

Bonne Femme is French for “good wife.” But in French cuisine, the expression refers to a style of cooking. It is the fresh, honest, and simple cuisine served every day in French homes.

Just Pics: Doors, Shutters and Textures of Rural France

I have hobbies. I participate in Vietnam War reenactments, and I take pictures of interesting doors.

A Day on the Coast

The sun came out yesterday so we hopped in the car and drove to the coast, taking backroads through the countryside, weaving through miles and miles of patchwork fields, vineyards and small towns.

Lo siento, no hablo francés

It’s amazing though, how much you can understand through just living in a place – soaking up words through osmosis or inferring meaning through context and hand gestures, a skill in which Adam is particularly adept.

A Babs about Town

My mom, Barbara, recently visited us and it was delightful, to say the least. What a treat to experience this calming, picturesque place through my mom’s eyes for the first time.

Adventures on the Road in France

Driving in France has turned out to be quite easy, and a great way to see the vast countryside. For a country of modest proportion, it is enviably diverse in landscape and cuisine.

The Shutter Ritual

The differences in privacy between cultures probably has a lot to do with climate and adjacency to one’s neighbor, but regarding France in particular, homes and shutters are part of the French culture’s intuitive sense of what’s intimate vs. what’s public.

Bassac Streets

I’d hate to be the car that is confidently driving down the street one minute and wedged between two homes the next, although I’d love to be the amused bystander.

Small yet Satisfying Firsts

Traveling in a foreign country where you don’t speak the language is a guaranteed roller coaster of emotions – giddy excitement at all the newness and possibilities paired with nagging insecurity and alienation; the pride of someone mistaking you for a local met with sheer terror that they will try engage you in conversation.

Bassac

Bassac is a small town, or more specifically a French commune, which is located in the southwestern region of Poitou-Charentes, will be our new home for several months.