Boulangerie Les CoPains

    Our past 10 days at Boulangerie Les CoPains have been fantastic! When I initially booked here with the bakery I hoped that I would learn a few things about bread and maybe even get to knead a dough. My expectations were surpassed as we were involved 100% in the bread making process from start to finish. I really loved that about this bakery, they allowed us to knead, shape and even put bread into the oven and if a baguette came out crooked...they would laugh and call it the artistic piece of the day. I never felt pressured here, or felt nervous to mess something up because of the calm nature here at Boulangerie Les CoPains.

This is quite a different atmosphere in comparison to most kitchens where perfection is the goal and owners are more cautious of letting amateur bakers have a try at products being sold to the public. Eric, Manu, Thierry and Seth were all great teachers, all with very different personalities. Eric was very fun-spirited and would most of the time be dancing or singing where Seth was very precise and quiet. We learned so much about kneading techniques and shaping from everyone, and I think our bread actually turned out quite well. The concept of baking here if very different from any other bakery because if you ask what the recipe is...the answer is 'enough'. That's right, there is no measuring of ingredients or dough temperatures here! Flour is piled into the kneading troughs then 'enough' water is added to make the correct consistency. I was amazed when I first seen this, after making bread at home using exact temperature calculations and amounts. Hearing this you would probably wonder if the bread is consistent or if it even tastes good and the answer is yes. The bread was always consistent and tasted exactly like it would with measurements and calculations. This technique really allowed the bakers to have a feel for the bread rather than just adding in the written measurements. It forces them to use ingredients according to the day and time of the year and have a strong connection with the dough.

    We stayed in a flat above the bakery with one of the bakers, Seth, along with a dog named Baboosh and Houdini the cat.

The warmth of the wood fired oven would be so pleasant in the early mornings along with the smell of bread in the afternoon filling our room. Unlike our last Wwoofing location where meals were prepared for us, we were given money to buy our own food from the local markets to allow us to try different foods that interested us. This worked out great because Seth was so knowledgeable about the local produce and would always have good recommendation for cheeses and vegetables to try. One of my favourite vegetables we tried was an orange squash that is plentiful in this region this time of year. It had a rich, sweet flavour that paired wonderfully with a square of butter.

 Seth also taught us so much about the local varieties of cheeses and even purchased samples for us to try with his own money! It was so nice to be around someone who was knowledgeable about the local area and local products as that is what I love to learn about each place we go. Originally with a background in science and Engineering Seth was naturally very scientific about the bread and was able to answer all of my questions regarding why bread reacts in certain ways and how to make changes.
    Aside from baking bread, there were lots of other experiences we had such as picking apples in the afternoon, participating in bongo drum lessons with Eric, cider farm tours and goat cheese farms! I laughed when Eric first told me he gave drum lessons because it has been something I've wanted to do for a long time and at a bakery was the last place I thought I would have the opportunity to do so! The lesson was very fun especially with Eric dancing and singing while we all tried to keep rhythm. We were very lucky to also have the opportunity to visit a friend of the bakeries' Cider and Calvados farm. Seth gave us a great tour through the old building filled with barrels of aging cider, calvados and a regional specialty called Pommeau.

 The Calvados is aged 5,10 and 15 years and definityl has a bite to it! The cider is aged a minimum of 16 months, although their cider was nearly 6 years old. My personal favourite was the Pommeau. It is a mix of Calvados and apple juice aged in barrels that has a fantastic creamy taste with strong apple notes. It is only made and sold in this particular region making it  an even more special drink that I'm happy to of been able to sample. Processing the apples for ciders and calvados was very back-breaking work in the past and up until 4 years ago this particular farm was still picking all the apples by hand and carrying apple sacs up the stairs on their backs. One man we met in his early sixties at the farm had a cane and a hunched back...evidence of years of hard work on the apple orchards. We had a sampling at the end of our tour of the 5,10 and 15 year old Calvados, the cider and Pommeau. Personally the Calvados was too strong for me, especially the 5 year old bottle, but I appreciate the flavour it had and could see how people do enjoy it. The cider was great as well and unlike ciders I've had before it was not too sweet but more bitter with a strong apple flavor, I really enjoyed it. Then, like I mentioned before, the Pommeau was my favourite. I think I will be purchasing a bottle before we leave this region to take with us.

    The goat farm I already have written about in my last blog, so I won't go into too much detail again. I really appreciated that they arranged for us to have these experiences on other farms, allowing us to see what the region has to offer.
    We also went to the markets on several days to sell bread and see the different vendors. Selling bread was a fun experience...especially since our french is very limited. It was really neat to be on the other side of the table selling the products rather than purchasing. I never though I would be selling bread at a market in France!

Getting up early in the morning to bake bread then selling it fresh to people was wonderful, especially seeing how passionate the customers were about eating organic, well-made bread. It was nice to see that many people are still willing to pay the extra money for quality food that they know is prepared properly without additives and machines. The breads made at Boulangerie Les CoPains included complet (whole grain), demi-complet (around 60% or so whole grain), and a variety of breads made with nuts and seeds. They also make a pain au brioche (natural, raison and chocolate chip) as well as sablee cookies, seasonal fruit tarts, pizzas and petite brioches. Everything tasted great (and yes I made sure to sample EVERYTHING) with my favourites being the sablee and petite brioche.

    Boulangerie Les CoPains was a special place to visit and unfortunately the ten days went by far too fast. Waking up early and working with dough everyday with fantastic people has inspired me to make more breads when I return to Canada. They showed me that bread isn't scary and you shouldn't be afraid to try new things with dough. I feel more confident to make bread now then when I arrived and I have Boulangerie Les CoPain to thank for that.

A Day on a Goat Farm.

    Today was an exciting day for me because for those of you who do not know me well...I LOVE cheese (another reason that attracted me to France I have to admit.) At our current Wwoofing location at Boulangerie Les CoPains, they were able to arrange with a friend for us to come and spend the morning on the goat farm. It appears to be quite common that different hosts will exchange Wwoofers for the day with one another to allow travellers to experience the most they can from a region. I love being able to visit different farms and truly experience what the region has to offer first hand while meeting the farmers and seeing where products come from.
    We woke up around 7:30am and took a small road that winded through the colourful fall trees to a house at the end of the road. The house was of traditional Normandy style with bricks and post and beam structure. We were cheerfully greeted at the door by the woman who makes the cheese, inviting us in for a tea. It was cozy inside with a large wooden table in the center of the room, a fireplace and jars of preserves on all the shelves. We met her husband and daughter and visited briefly before heading outside to the goats.

    There were around 30 goats waiting in the barn when we opened the door, all excited to eat their breakfast. Goats are really beautiful animals and each one is so unique. After spending time around goats I have come to love how each one has such character. These goats in particular were very friendly and you could nuzzle right up to them. I scratched their ears when they jumped up on the fence and then they would lean their head on my shoulder affectionately.

     Grain was scooped into the troughs in the milking station then five goats were lead in to be milked. At this goat farm the milking is done all by hand and everything is very rustic. You will not find any machines, special stalls or equipment...it's simply an old wooden platform with wooden bars to close around the necks to ensure the animals remain in place.

 We were given a quick lesson on the milking technique then we were given a goat. It was a little tricky at first because when there is so much milk it is hard to squeeze the initial milk out, but after a few tries I managed to do so. It was great to milk the goats and to see the fresh milk right from the source. I really enjoyed the process and I could see how getting up in the morning to milk could be almost therapeutic (very hard work though!) Watching the connection between farmer and animal was amazing...she knew each ones behaviours so well and you could tell she truly loved her goats and they loved her.

     After we had two milk cans full, we ventured up to the cheese laboratory. We put on a white lab coat, lab shoes and hairnet before entering the room to ensure no unwanted bacteria made its way into the delicate room. The cheese lab was quite small and like other ones we had seen, was sparse. There was a fridge, stainless steel table, washing table and a hose. She brought out a dozen or so molds to the washing table and we helped her unmold the finished cheeses.

I learned that the cheese will vary greatly depending on what mold you use. For example, a cheese made in a cylinder will taste much differently than a cheese made from the same batch in a pyramid. This is due to the amount of air that can penetrate the cheese while aging. Next, we sliced the larger cylinders and spiced the outsides with cumin, cinnamon, pepper and herbs (not all on the same piece). Then we used the previous days separated milk to make another batch. Depending on many factors of the day, the curd will behave differently. Ideally, the added culture will separate the whey and curds so the curd is smooth almost like yogurt. If the curd is not creamy, but more like the consistency of a tofu dessert, then you need to place it into a tray and combine until soft.

 

After this step you fill your desired mold and leave it in the fridge overnight. The following day you unmold the shape, season if desired, position on racks and place back in fridge to age. I didn't realize until recently how fast the goat cheese process is. You can be eating your cheese from the milking stage in as little as a week.

   It was a fantastic day of learning for us, and I will enjoy goat's cheese even more now after seeing the process. Having the opportunity to watch fresh milk be transformed into a beautiful piece of cheese all in one day was fascinating. It encouraged me to be even more conscious about purchasing cheese from artisan farmers who are still so passionate about their products. Watching the connection between farmer and animal was wonderful and to see only fresh, basic ingredients used demonstrated why it is so important to buy from local, artisan farmers if possible.

Loving every part of France.

It has now been over two months that I have been in France. I really don't know where the time has went. The amount of places we have visited and people we have met is astounding, and it really dawned on me this week that we are living here for the year. I'm not sure what clicked in my mind, but one morning I woke up and the fact that France is my home for the year suddenly sank in. It makes me smile whenever I think of this reality...it really does.  What makes me even more happy, is  all the experiences I wanted to have in France are actually possible. In the past week at my new Wwoofing location I have visited a goat fromagerie, toured a cider and Calvados farm, made bread in a wood fired oven and even worked as a vendor at a local market for the day! I will go into this past week further later on in the blog, but first I would like to talk a little about our journey up the West coast of France.
    After leaving the Pyrenees we decided to travel to a ocean-side city called Biarritz, located in the western corner of France. Biarritz is a beautiful city with glamorous clothing stores, trendy restaurants and gorgeous beaches to stroll along.

There is an elegant feel to the city partly due to the prestigious hotels and the classy mannequins staring back at you through the shop windows. In particular, the Hotel Du Palais is a very impressive hotel that sits right on the beach with restaurants overlooking the crashing waves. The hotel was the summer residence to Empress Eugenie, wife of Napoleon III, so you can imagine how impressive this hotel really is. Although, this hotel is out of most travellers budgets costing more than 500 Euros a night (basic room) and with the top suite listed at over 1900 Euros a night! Perhaps a nice picture of the impressive building will be enough then.

 My favourite part of Biarritz was strolling along the golden beach and looking back at the city nestled along the coast. I found the beach to be particularly beautiful because of the mix of sand, cliffs and rocks sticking out from the water. I find myself preferring beaches with character over flat, resort style coastlines.

While walking along the seawall you can also watch the talented surfers ride the large waves, sometimes coming very close to rocks! Biarittz was a fantastic city, very different from the rest of France where you can go to enjoy the sun and water. A day-trip from Biarritz that I would highly recommend is to take the train to a small fishing town South of the city called Saint-Jean-De-Luz.

This village can also be reached by foot if you walk along the coast and highway, although after walking the distance I would recommend to take the train as it is a very far walk! Needless to say, we ended up hitch-hiking after walking for nearly four hours. Saint-Jean-De-Luz is also nestled along the coastline with beautiful boats dotting the ocean and unique Basque homes.

 This small village is located only a few kilometers from Spain and everything about the town has a Basque feel including the food, homes and flags. A fantastic local specialty of the region is the Gateau Basque which is an almond flour based cake filled with pastry cream. The Basque culture is very unique and I would recommend reading about it more as they have so many interesting traditions unique to the region such as sports and language.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque_culture#Culture

    Well, I must move on to the next city now...the part of blogging I seem to struggle with the most. We travelled to Bordeaux, land of the wine and food. There is an Auberge de Jeunesse located conveniently downtown that is not easily found when searched for...but it does exist. It is not affiliated with HI or FUAJ so it does not come up on the hostel websites. Instead, search for Auberge de Jeuness Bordeaux located at 22 Cours Barbey, 33800 Bordeaux. The city was such an interesting shape because the old part of the city creates almost a wall, and when you reach the river you look back and there is literally a wall behind you. It's funny because a few people we met in the hostel actually said they were leaving early from Bordeaux because they didn't find the city interesting...I still find that confusing. The city is extremely interesting between the endless cafes, wineries, architecture, flea markets and people watching. The city is alive with energy due to the large amount of university students. Saint Catherines Street, the main shopping street of Bordeaux, is a bustling street lined with every store you could imagine. Even on the dreary day we were sightseeing, the street was filled with people and shopping bags.

 The street tram in Bordeaux is very convenient as well and will take you to about anywhere you need to go.for 1.40 Euros. At some points the sleek tram crosses over grass which I found to be very different as I've only ever seen tracks on cement. We visited a restaurant deep in the heart of the city called L'Oiseau Cabosse.

 There was a sticker outside noting it had been recommended by TripAdvisor so we decided to check it out. (Sometimes finding a sticker such as this is very helpful as there are so many restaurants that it is often hard to choose one). The interior was decorated with artsy posters and cute birds with homey jars of jams and stickers at the front. It reminded me so much of a restaurant I would find back home in the Kitsilano neighbourhood. The menu was printed on a chalkboard with offerings from the tiny kitchen in the back and I chose the Cake Roquefort avec raisins et noix, Mousse de courgettes au chorizo et petit epi de mais grille au safron and salad (11.50 Euros). My lunch was fantastic, especially the chorizo mousse and moist Roquefort cake. The restaurant was very popular and people were even ordering plates to go (literally took the plate and went to eat down the street).

    Since I was in Bordeaux, I really wanted to see a vineyard. Being a huge fan of wine I felt it was important to visit a vineyard and learn about the Bordeaux region. The problem is, when you are on a very tight budget the price of the tours can really break the budget with half day tours ranging from 60-100 Euros! We felt discouraged after reading these prices and even more so when the booking agent told us all the vineyard tours had already been booked weeks previously. However, when we were about to leave she pulled a pamphlet out from the shelf and told us about Chateau Luchey-Halde Vineyard. She told us it could be reached by city tram, there was a tour and tasting and best of all it was only 9 Euros! I was so excited that there was an easy to reach vineyard that was definitely within our budget. The vineyard was great, a little hard to find from the tram stop, but once reached it was wonderful. The sprawling rows of grape vines stretched in front of us upon arrival and in the distance I could see the winery...where the magic happens.

The tour was very informative with a guide native to Bordeaux who spoke both French and English. We were able to see the grapes up close, learn about the soil, wander through the processing room and even see the aging barrels.

 The barrels are purchased for 700 Euros and are only used for three cycles and then sold for 40 Euros (Quite often to Australia).

The tour ended with a tasting of three wines...a 2007 & 2009 Cab Franc-Cab Sauvignon-Merlot blend and a 2009 Sauvignon-Semillon blend. Surprisingly, the white ended up being my favourite! The reds were both fantastic as well but the white had a wonderful finish that I really found outstanding. Chateau Luchey-Halde was a fantastic winery at a very reasonable price that I would recommend visiting...you even get to keep your wine glass for that price!

    Content with two days of wine we moved on next to the port city of La Rochelle located mid-way up the western coast of France. This history rich city has been involved in every major French military action since the 10th century. The impressive towers of La Rochelle lead you into the vieux port (old port) where you can wander through the old architecture of the city.

 

 You can tour the Saint Nicolas Tower, Chain Tower and Tower of the Lantern and learn more about the history such as how the Tower of the Lantern is the only remaining medieval lighthouse on the Atlantic and was even a prison for a period of time.

 Les Minimes Marina is another impressive site to see in La Rochelle with 3500 boats moored making it the largest pleasure boat marina in France.

 The FUAJ hostel in La Rochelle was not among my favourite hostels with some the highest prices (23 Euros/person) we have encountered, no free wi-fi, no kitchen to use and slightly run-down facilities. It was not a bad place to stay but not a favourite for sure. I must mention though, the bar/restaurant in the hostel was surprisingly good with creative dishes and good prices (6 Euros/person).
    As we neared the end of our travels up the coast we headed inland to Rennes. Instead of taking the train we used the Covoiturage program to make the two hour journey. Covoiturage is a car-pooling program within France (and many other places in the world) where you can go online and arrange rides with local people. It is very affordable, at half the cost or more of a train ticket, and you get to meet some wonderful people while practicing French. We had used Covoiturage twice before the journey to Rennes, and both times were very pleasant. The first man had a Volkswagen van and had been in the program for years and I think fancied himself to be a professional coach driver. He did not speak too much to us but when he did he was very nice...he even had scheduled bathroom breaks on the two hour journey. The second driver was a young woman with a sporty little Peugeot who we learned had Canadian dual citizenship. The driver to Rennes was a man in his early thirties who spoke french with us the entire journey and shared a passion for cars with my fiance. I'm so pleased we heard about the Covoiturage program because not only is it significantly cheaper, it's also a great way to practice French and meet local French people.
    Rennes was a pleasant city with many university students. I couldn't help but feel a little sad when I watched all the eager, young students, knowing that with the unemployment being so high in France many of these students will find themselves jobless at the end of their education. I though about this quite often while travelling through France because we have seen so many universities on our travels and heard from so many people that work is becoming more and more difficult to find. It's a very sad reality for people here in France (and many other countries as well) that is quite evident when you speak to people. The buildings in Rennes were noticeably different from the more southern regions of France.

 The post and beam style of building is predominant as well as bricks.

 It's very interesting to see how the style of architecture varies so greatly from one region to the next. The Place de la Republique is worth looking at as well, being probably the most famous landmark of Rennes.

Browsing through the traditional Breton Culture stores is interesting as well and you will soon learn that the Breton culture is very unique to France just like the Basque culture is. They are very proud of their heritage, their Breton language and you will see the Brittany flag throughout the city. Rennes appeared to be a city for the young...a city where I was told can 'party hard'. Visiting the capital of Brittany got me excited to see more of the unique region in the new year.

    At last we had made our journey up to Northern France where we would begin our next Wwoofing in Saint-Aubin-sur-Algot. Once again we stood at the train station awaiting our pickup from a complete stranger to go and live in a new home for 10 days. Instead of anxiety though, this time we felt excited...excited to start another adventure.
   

Wwoofing...An amazing experience!

    The past month spent Wwoofing in the Pyrenees was one of the most amazing months I can remember. It surpassed all of my expectations that I had for the program and gave me memories I will never forget. If you are not familiar with Wwoofing, it's a worldwide organization that allows people to work on organic farms in exchange for food and lodging. There are many countries involved in the program with a large array of opportunities from goat farms to sustainable construction projects. After signing up, I searched for "pain" and "boulangeries" and I was so pleased to see pages of boulangerie opportunities! As I have mentioned before, as a pastry chef from Canada I came to France this year to work in boulangeries and gain some valuable European experience so you could imagine how excited I was after reading this. Immediately I applied to several different hosts and within a week I had four locations finalized which would take us from the beginning of September to the end of December (with several days in between for travel between hosts). The first and third hosts were a mix of bread baking and farm work as well as some eco-construction projects (I thought my fiance would enjoy this) and the second and fourth hosts were strictly boulangeries baking bread and pastries every day!
    The first Wwoofing location brought us to the beautiful Pyrenees in the South-West of France along the border of Spain. I cant even explain how nervous we were when we arrived in Lourdes that afternoon to be picked up from complete strangers. We were pacing the train station and wondering who these people were...we scanned each person that came in wondering if it was them. Would they be nice to us? Would they feed us enough food? Where were we exactly going? These were all questions going through our mind at the time in our state of nervousness and excitement. Eventually two women walked in and seemed to be searching the crowd like us...I smiled...they smiled...then eventually they made their way over to us and asked us if we were the Canadian Wwoofers? We laughed and said 'that would be us!'
    We piled into their tiny Audi A3 with our backpacks squished on our laps peering out the window curiously as we drove half hour out of town through twists and turns, hills and tiny villages. The mountains were absolutely breathtaking! The bright green hillsides reaching up into the sky's dotted with sheep looked better than any picture I'd seen. I felt like I was going into a different world...it's very hard to explain but it's that feeling you get when you are somewhere so beautiful you feel like it cant be real.

Eventually we stopped in a small pullout by a river and were warned we had a hike ahead of us to the house. Luckily we had been doing so much walking in the last two months we were in pretty good shape, so we loaded our bags on our backs and trecked up the mountain.

   Gasping for air, we arrived at their home and were shown our flat for the month. A cute little loft built in an old barn separate from the main house. The flat was perfect, with a bed, sink and shelves to store our clothing. The craftsmanship inside the loft was amazing with hand-cut timbers to fit the exact shape of the old barn. The main house was built from a barn as well with stone walls and slate roof tiles.

The inside was amazing...it felt like a tree house for adults. There were wooden paths criss-crossing overhead leading to open rooms. The kitchen was filled with glass jars of herbs and teas and the there was even a bread oven in the corner. A large wooden table filled the dining room area with baskets overhead full of fresh vegetables, herbs and plants. There were multiple cooking areas in a nook beside the bread oven where small fires could be made and cooked over. The house was so inviting and felt so...french.

   After visiting with Marie and Fanny (our hosts) we were instantly relieved of any prior nerves as they were so kind and inviting. They spoke both French and English and were excited to help us with our French. Their homestead was not only amazing because it was beautiful, but also because it was nearly completely self-sustainable! They had solar panels for electricity (and were very conscious not to abuse the power), plant filtration systems, spring water, compost toilets and used everything available to them including plants and mushrooms.It was such a fascinating lifestyle to be part of for a month that changed both my fiance and I for the better. It made us more conscious of consumption when it comes to power, water,meat and pretty much all aspects of life. They showed us that living positively both ecologically and for your health doesn't take away your quality of life...it only improves it!
    We did so many different tasks over the month ranging from firewood, cutting the fields naturally with Scythe, plowing the potatoes with the donkeys and baking bread. I had so much fun working with the donkeys, Afghan and Cotton (pronounced koo-ton). They were amusing animals with so much character and unforgettable donkey calls. I definitely understand now why the expression, "Stubborn as a donkey" is used!

 The best part was eating the fresh potatoes that same evening after seeing them be collected from the rich soil. Our first French phrases leaned there was the donkey language as they called it: Aller Aller!-Go Go! and Va-zee (not sure exactly how to spell it still!) meaning 'You go first'. At one point there was a neighbour pushing the plow with his baby strapped to his back loving the whole extravaganza!
    Another very interesting activity I was excited to participate in was bee-keeping! It was so exciting to see how the honey is retrieved from the beehive then extracted from the honeycombs. The whole process was very lively (as you could imagine) and somehow I managed not to get stung...I can't say the same for poor Marie though who got stung MANY times. When I asked later in the evening if she was ok, she just laughed and told me that's part of it. The honey was delicious as well...especially since they are not fed any sugar, just strictly wildflowers naturally.

 Baking bread was wonderful with Marie. She made her bread traditionally, all by hand without using any machines.

 

The bread was made with a natural levain (natural yeast) and baked in a large bread oven. The bread baking was done at a different house located actually in the small village of Gazost where there was more space to do the weekly 25KG amounts. Marie was so knowledgeable and helped me learn so much, one week I even got to make the Brioche dough. Watching how to prepare the bread oven was fascinating, as it was a long 5 hour process to get the oven to the correct temperature with many specific steps in between. She had to move the fire in stages until the ceiling bricks were white, remove the hot coals completely and even wash the oven's floor quickly.

 The skills required to make the traditional bread was so impressive and I am so lucky to have been able to watch and take notes and videos. It was exactly what I came to France to learn.

    Aside from our daily work, Marie and Fanny were kind enough to recommend weekend activities for us to do. One weekend we went on a three hour hike up a surrounding mountain where we spent the night in an old Shepard's house that was 300 years old!

That evening we lit a small fire inside the house and huddled over our Pate,wine and cheese as a storm rumbled above. It was so cozy inside the stone walls and exciting to be on the top of a mountain far from anyone!

The only things around us were the horses and sheep grazing on the mountain sides with their bells ringing lightly. It was such a fantastic experience!
    Another weekend they invited us to come along with them to the seaside for the weekend to a small town called Vieux-Boucau. I was so pleased that they liked us enough to invite us with them on one of their own weekend activities. They brought us to a campground in town (after loaning us their tent and sleeping bags) along with a bag loaded with food for the weekend! The campground was wonderful as it was located at the sand dunes and the entire campground was sand.

 We could also walk easily to the village center for ice cream and to the beach to play in the enormous waves. It was such a change from the crisp air of the mountains! That was one of my favourite parts of the Wwoofing experience...being able to go where the locals love to go in their free time, otherwise we would of never even known about this beautiful weekend escape.

    Our last couple days in Gazost were sad for me as I was beginning to get used to the daily life up in the mountains. We had started to get to know the people in Gazost, and it always brought a smile to my face when we waved and said bonjour to a familiar person. Marie and Fanny held a community dinner the second to last night, where neighbours were encouraged to bring food to cook in the bread oven. People brought home-made quiche, clafouti, braised chicken and olives and of course everyone brought a bottle or two of wine. I have to say I have never eaten a more perfect quiche in my life! The crust was to die for! Perfectly layered and incredibly flavourful and if I would of known more French I would of been asking what her secret was. Another man brought in a large cake in the shape of a tube. Fanny told us that he had made this cake in his basement for the party, a Gateau de la Broche. It's a very interesting cake that is a specialty of the region made by slowly pouring batter onto a spit, layer by layer. The cake is a very respected cake, and takes nearly 5 hours to complete....and it was worth every minute! I think the Gateau de la Broche moves up the list of my favourite pastries in France.
    Our time spent in the Pyrenees will never be forgotten and has gotten me even more excited for the Wwoofing to come. I am so proud of my fiance and I for getting past that comfort barrier and just putting ourselves out there. We were very nervous at first to live and work with complete strangers, but by the end we loved it so much and were looking forward to meeting new people every day. That small amount of time changed us dramatically. I think we left feeling more conscious of the world, our food and our actions. We learned so much french while staying in Gazost and now feel more confident speaking to others. The Pyrenees were truly magical and I am so happy to of had the opportunity to live and work there for a month. Merci beaucoup Marie et Fannie!