NormandieFoodie is a business run by Australian Nola Pontifex, from bed and breakfast La Fromentale
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So time to update you on NormandieFoodie happenings.
Back in France a little earlier than usual sharing some time with friends in the Champagne region, Paris for the Paralympics and then back at La Fromentale.
We are just a little worn out!
Next week NormandieFoodie welcomes a couple from Mount Gambier SA, another from Lincolnshire UK and then a francophile from Brisbane and her partner.
Our travelling week has ended with the Rocky group heading their separate ways. Our last days were spent in Cancale, Honfleur, Villers Bretonneux, Lille and a drop off in Paris. A whale of a time had by all! Nola Pontifex Denise Mill
On the road again! NormandieFoodie sharing the local lifestyle with a Rockhampton group. This time 8 in the party and what a time we are having!
Nola Pontifex
NormandieFoodie 's Anzac Tour concluded yesterday with Lesley and Gordon heading back to Paris by train.
Since picking them up in Amiens we have had 11 days packed with new experiences.
After heading back to La Fromental through Arras to honour a fallen soldier from Rockhampton, then Naours to Honfleur we have visited Bayeux, Arromanches and the Landing Beaches, Mont St Michel and a quick whip around Saint Sever the local village.
There was never a dull moment! Nola Pontifex Lesley N Gordie
Friday to Sunday we've stayed in Ypres. Friday we visited Poperinge and went to the Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery to find both Lesley and Gordon's great uncles in the same cemetery. Lesley N Gordie
We discovered Talbot House in Poperinge, a rest house for Brits and Aussies alike.
Then out to Passchendale to a very worthwhile museum giving us the perspective of trenches and living underground.
A revisit to the Menin Gate and a meeting with Johan Moors of the Last Post Association ended another long day.
Anzac Day was huge starting with a 2.30am shuttle to Villers Bretonneux from Amiens. It was a great service as usual with the Minister for Veteran Affairs Matt Keogh and Mme Ambassador of Australia to France Gillian Bird attending. We met up with John Phelan and his Battlefields Cycling group briefly.
Followed by a trip to Bailleul on the border with Belgium to pay hommage to Great Uncle Maurice Mayfield brother to Lloyd Mayfield.
We arrived in time to settle into our apartment and to attend the Menin Gate service.
More discoveries around Villers Bretonneux. The massive memorial at Pozieres, the British Thiepval arches and the town of Albert all woven into the ANZAC history. Lesley N Gordie
Our first day on tour with NormandieFoodie was based around Villers Bretonneux in preparation for Thursday's Dawn service. NormandieFoodie
The yellow one on the right please!
Jort is made in a village near Falaise and as it ripens its smell can stink out your car even in an esky.
But the taste? Heavenly!
Plateau de fromages normand
Lequel pour vous ?
En Normandie, on trouve, à ce jour, 4 fromages possédant l'Appellation d'Origine Contrôle. Elle permet de préserver un patrimoine culturel et gastronomique.
C'est l'assurance qu'un produit a été fabriqué selon un savoir-faire transmis de génération en génération et transcrit dans un cahier des charges précis.
L'Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (AOC) est délivrée par l'INAO (Institut National des Appellations d'Origine) et est un label français.
Depuis le 1er mai 2009, tous les produits bénéficiant du logo AOC et qui ont rejoint la famille des appellations d'origines délivrées par l'Union Européenne doivent impérativement mentionner sur leurs emballages le logo d'Appellation d'Origine Protégée (AOP).
Quatre fromages normands
Le Camembert. Moulé à la louche et à la main. Comme autrefois, le fromager remplit délicatement chaque moules en sept couches de caillé successives, ce qui donne l’onctuosité au fromage.
Le Neufchâtel, fromage en forme de cœur, est le cousin du Camembert. Plus crémeux, plus frais, son goût est délicatement lacté et sa forme est connue en Normandie depuis le VI e siècle !
Le Livarot, plus ancien AOC fromage de Normandie, est entouré manuellement de cinq «laîches» en roseau naturel. Autrefois ces roseaux poussaient au bord des mares mais ils sont aujourd’hui cultivés à la ferme. Cette particularité vaut à ce fromage le surnom de «colonel» aux cinq galons.
Le Pont l’Evêque, fromage carré tout en rondeurs et en caractère, à la pâte souple et blonde, est le plus ancien des fromages du Pays d’Auge.
Spring is officially on in Normandie!
Not far from Paris is Monet's Garden but possible to include in a bespoke tour with NormandieFoodie. Contact Nola to find out more. The garden is open until the end of October with displays appropriate to each season of Spring (printemps), Summer (l'ete) and Autumn (automne).
Come and join us on the Anzac Commemorative Tour for 2024 22 April to 2 May. Lesley N Gordie
There are 4 seats remaining for an itinerary which includes:
3 days around Villers Bretonneux and Amiens and the Dawn Service, 3 days around Ypres including the Menin gate service and a day trip to Ghent followed by 4 days in Normandie doing foodie things staying at La Fromentale.
The tour is fully escorted by includes all meals, travel and accommodation.
Please message (button below) for prices and further details.
Available in Rockhampton. Well done Joe (Lickity Fingers) good solid, family food.
Some of you will remember the little restaurant up on the main road from La Fromentale where we've enjoyed some simple meals.
They've turned to raclette on the menu for a winter warmer. For those of you unfamiliar with raclette it's a special melted cheese served with hot potatoes, things like salami and hams, pickled onions and sour gherkins. Always a family meal around the table in a group.
Well it's snowed in Courson and NormandieFoodie is not there! The last time it snowed was April 2018 Marg Sears and Virginia Reddy! It's a rare event for this part of Normandie but the whole region is covered today!
Christmas in Rockhampton 2023. Family, good food and French champagne but the heat is still insufferable!
Cherbourg is right into the Christmas spirit too. Only 120kms from La Fromentale it is a city worth exploring. The Titanic called here before her ill-fated voyage in 1912. Lots of maritime history in this port city.
Christmas functions, parades and markets are in full swing in Normandie. Unlike the UK and Eastern Europe there is no snow atm but lots of rain and warmer temperatures the minimum -1 degrees.
The last few days in the Lakes District with old PNG/Lae Hash House Harriers family. Wonderful memories of our times together and our dear departed partners. Heading back to London on the train now, Heathrow to Perth direct tomorrow
It was the last night in France for this time round and in Paris dining at Le Petit Bouillon Pharamond with NormandieFoodie's granddaughter and friend who are backpacking Europe atm.
This restaurant presents traditional French fare with elegance, no pretensions and service so fast we were out in under an hour and a half.
We had snails, Boeuf Bourgignon, good old steak frites, and confit duck for main courses. Also on the menu tripes, sausages and lentils, some basic French dishes.
One of the things NormandieFoodie loves about life in France is the street music. It is a certain type of music that appeals with lots of brass. This is an historical recording from outside of La Renaissance in Falaise from the summer. Just love the children dancing and enjoying the tunes!
The last group to tour this year with NormandieFoodie squeezed a week of good weather out of the last 10 days of October. We dodged the rain on most days visiting Bayeux and the Chateau at Balleroy, Falaise, Mont St Michel, Honfleur, Beuvron en Auge, Granville Gavray and Coutances and of course the local town Villedieu-les-Poêles.
So some new experiences for NormandieFoodie and all new experiences for the tourists. We did heaps of walking and poked our noses into lots of new finds!
It was a very relaxed tour and we even had a couple of nights in our PJ's with dinner in front of the fire and TV.
Yesterday in Villedieu les Poeles a visit to the bell foundry revealed that the bells made and taken to Paris for Notre Dame have been returned to the factory. They have been checked and are in safekeeping until they can be returned to a restored Notre Dame hopefully in 2024.
Speaking of comfort food and cooler weather. Today we were out and about in Honfleur and lunch was a great pot-a-feu. It was delicious with braised beef and yummy vegetables.
It's Breast Cancer month in France too this October. NormandieFoodie is in Falaise today doing William the Conqueror stuff and this is the local opticien's window. Let me know Winter if you want to bring you ho.e the pair in the second photo! 🇫🇷❤️
It's become wintery in Normandie and expecting guests on the train from Paris after dark.
Prep in the kitchen with some leeks, celery, garlic and onion sauteed in local butter. Rabbit butt and legs browned and then pan deglazed with local Calvados cider, chicken stock then added. Will add the lardons and champignons in about an hour, once the lapin has braised. To be finished off with creme fraiche and served with creamy potato and celeriac mash and baby green beans.
NormandieFoodie couldn't resist a bowl of cider to go with the cooking even though it's only 1.30pm in the afternoon! The remainder with diner!
On a wall in Arromanches. What could be more appropriate? 🇫🇷❤️
NormandieFoodie was sad to say goodbye to the Treacey's and friends who spent almost a week re-visiting some sights in Normandie and discovering others. What a flat out time we had with days out to Mont St Michel, Isles de Chausey, Villedieu and Bayeux and Arromanches. We say a big thank you to Arthur and Jackie Chapman our good friends from our neighbourhood who helped out with the logistics.
Facebook drives you mad sometimes! Apparently you are no longer able to mix photos and videos in your posts, maybe as of this afternoon!
So after much frustration here is the video of the band playing on Rue Pasteur on Saturday night in Paris while we watched the Rugby World Cup match on the big screen.
La Porte
Courson
14380
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Villers Bretonneux
Facebook drives you mad sometimes! Apparently you are no longer able to mix photos and videos in your posts, maybe as of this afternoon! So after much frustration here is the video of the band playing on Rue Pasteur on Saturday night in Paris while we watched the Rugby World Cup match on the big screen.
#normandiefoodie #ilovefrance #holidaysinnormandie
#normandiefoodie #ilovefrance #holidaysinnormandie The two weeks that were with Tthe Photographer and the Foodie.
One of NormandieFoodie's guests this week is a non- Facebook person and so unable to publish a review of her week's stay. Leanne of Tasmania has given me permission to do this on her behalf from the survey she delightfully filled out before she left. Many thanks Leanne. What rating of comfort out of 10 would you give your room, with 1 being lowest and 10 the highest? 10. I stayed in the attic which is beautifully furnished and has a really comfortable bed. The shower is hot and has fabulous pressure and there is everything needed. The room is especially spacious. Was the tour up to your expectations? Nola's local knowledge, warm hospitality and readiness for anything (we changed our itinerary "on the hop" which didn't faze her at all) meant that our tour so exceeded our expectations we can't wait to come back and do all the things we couldn't fit in. Which was your best 'wow' moment? This is so difficult - there were so many - the harp concert at the 12th century abbey on dusk; the first glimpse of Mont St Michel on the horizon; the wildflowers when we walked the country lanes; the welcome at Nola's local bar; ALL the musical discoveries on our tour.
One of the lovely surprises on our visit to the village of Genets near Avranches yesterday was the town band. A wonderful mix of young players learning music, older folks and those in between. There were a few missed notes and dubious sounds but so enjoyable. This is what French villages and a locals experience can be!
An overview of the bed and breakfast
