noodlepie

I could eat a horse... I did eat a horse

Well... not a whole one. At least not in one sitting. Chez Alain is one of two 'boucherie chevaline', or horse meat butchers, on Victor Hugo market in Toulouse. Alain sells every edible slice, chunk and and morsel of equine meat. Hav eyou ever seen horse tongue? It's rather large. And then there's the heart. Not to menton the much sought after horse fat. Alors, I'm in one is fun mode what with noodlegirl and the toad heading south to Andorra and I purchase just three horse merguez sausages.



Here they are. A little darker than your bog standard merguez. Don't look too threatening either.



Although horsemeat is generally pretty pricey these three stubs cost just €1.48. I chose the grill option, served with salad and Colman's. And they were rather good too. Stronger than your average merguez and not dissimilar to venison. For the 'live' verdict you'll need to check out my twitter - I live twitter pretty much everything I eat these days and the rest of my food thoughts end up on Word of Mouth.

Technorati Tags: Toulouse, horse meat, Victor hugo market, France

Sarko vs. Segolene

I'm sitting in my sitting room with three French women - my wife included - and we're all watching the French presidential debate between the right wing candidate Nicolas Sarkozy and the socialist Segolene Royal. The sitting room is rather biased. Two confirmed Segolene voters and one very much waivering the socialist way. I'll blog live the reactions to the debate in this one post updated regularly, or at leats until boredom sets in and/or the vino du callapso runs out.

Here's the live feed (accroding to the French Election 2007 blog) of the debate. The Guardian's Anne Cantener is blogging live. The New Statesman has some background.

OK, we're a bit late to the start - French fag and coffee break takes the brunt of the blame there - let's get the important things out the way first. French reactions to the sartorial elegance of both socialist and non-socialist candidates. Sarko - "I don't like the blue, Cest pas chic. It's like the mafia. Blue military. Like a gendarme." OK - he's not doing too well. how about Sego? - "I think she's too aggressive." And what about the clobber? "Today she's very important, she's OK. She's wearing a white colllar, like for the intellectuals." Oooh interesting. She does indeed have an odd kinda collar on. Apparently this collar signifies a degree of intellectuallism. These are the facts only the French can tell me. Interestingly, the consensus is that Sarko - the pitbull, the dangerman - is way less aggressive than his feminine counterpart. Lots of oh-la-la's going on at what Sego's coming out with.

Bit more interesting background at the BBC. And here's the pre-debate vote split,

I just noticed I uploaded the image on the left. Shit. I'm showing my true colours...

9:45pm - First feelings in from the sitting room. they're both out of touch. Sarkozy less so. Let's see if Sego can step it up a gear. She looks very earnest in her intellectual collar.

According to the Guardian, Sarkozy "bamboozled Royal, telling her was because of the 35 hour week that public hospitals were in such deep trouble." Although both "look calm". I think Sarko looks remarkably calm considering his attackdog reputation. Sego deffo comin goff as the aggressor at the mo' here in the Toulouse sitting room.

10pm - Word from the sitting room - "Sego has good ideas, but no clear explanation of how to make these ideas work." Sego still on the offensive. "She attacks him on everything, Whereas he seems to listen to everything she says. She keeps interupting him." Couple of other observations, "She looks down on him, she's quite ironic". As for me I love the way Sarko calls Sego "Madame". Such a polite attackdog. Grrrr...

From The Times - 'Brutal' Sarko must remake his image - I have a feeling he is tonight. Still early days.... Full coverage from The Times - no blog though I don't think.

Hardcore live French 20Minutes feesheet blog/YouTube/comment feed.

10:18pm - Apparently Sarko "secretly wants to be having a debate with her husband and not her." Le Blog d'Azur seems to agree with what I'm hearing here,

"First part of the match is for Sarkozy. Creepy as he might be, the statements made by Royal concerning accompanying female civil workers home and how the 35-hrs will create more jobs even though this has proven not to work are self destructive."

10:30pm - "She's more anxious now, but they have been very petty. She seems to be very green, but - say the women in the sitting room - France is not exactly the most environmentaly friendly country. We have to count on nuclear power. Windpower is a errr.... pipedream, milldream?" That's the feeling from the leather lined sofas in Toulouse. This isn't good. Sego coulda turned this all around tonight. She just needs to bump it up a notch and Sarko to lose it a notch, but that's not 'appenin'.

10:40pm - I'm not the only one who thinks Sarko is overdoing the Madame bit. Now Sego is pretty darned hot, but overdoing the Madame bit is no way of sweet talking any woman, let alone french one. Wondering how many of the folk in the suburbs are gonna react to this. They're the folk - with no jobs, not much of future at present - who could decide this whole thing.

10:42pm - The feeling is Sarko's overuse of Madame is a "rude tool" to distance himself from Sego. He's addressing the journalists more than he is Sego. Whereas Sego, I'm hearing from the floor, is very, very egocentric "I do this, I do that" It's all to obvious. It' not subtle. Forced even. My own feeling is that the folk in my sitting room are not convinced by Sego, but are not swayed by Sarko. Personally, the whole Madame thing reminds me of the old bag lady who tore Margaret Thatcher to shreds on Nationwide(?) wometime in the early 80's.

10:48pm - Sego doesn't want more than 17 pupils per classroom in French schools. Hmmmm... Practical? Possible? Here's the full policy background.

10:55pm - I reckon Sego's kept this bit of powder in her barrel for the end. She's coming out punching on handicapped children and schools, but I think she just sounds a bit too ranty, a bit too... too... Joan of Arc. Where's me vino? Lost count of the "oooh ahh's" and "ooh-la-la's". Calls for valium for Sego.

10:58pm - Sarko's back up. Mr. Calm, but his Madame Royal's are grating the room up the wrong way. First impressions are there are no winners here tonight which all means (possibly) that Sarko will win it. If this debate has not affected the whole population one way or the other - and I really don't think it could have - I think it's very safe to assume Sarko will be president come this Sunday night. My wife's pretty level headed, very level headed actually, and she says Sego "just lost it".

11:06pm - Typically French, timetable is scrapped and we're a shocking 6 minutes overtime now... - One great wee highlight pickep up by lomelinde sama,

S. Royal : *exposes her project on some subject in a quiet, rational way*
N. Sarkozy : *interrupts* Yes, but what I'm proposing is way worse !
S. Royal : *smirks* I can only agree with that.

We laughed. I almost shrugged. OK... I did shrug.

11:17pm - From the comments at the Guardian,

Segolene Royale seemed to be on the brink of tears as she reacted passionately to Sarko's remark about the new versus the old politics in relation to the education of handicapped children. Quite dramatic stuff. Royale has really suprised me she is more than a match for Sarko and has found at the end of the campaign in this head-to-head a Statesman(woman) like quality. Will it make a difference at the polls though.

I have to say on the ground here in a room full of mostly Sego swaying voters that is not the case.

11:21pm - This is all reminding me of the very excellent BBC documentary podcast France vs. the world. All very school marm, stay behind after school, write your lines, get threatened with the cane and stand in corners etc. Achhh... much the same as British politics, or any politics, I guess. Bonus link. I just came across some more interesting debate at Comment is free.

11:30pm - there's a feeling among the French in the sitting room that Sego has overread the Hilary Clinton book of politics. She's a bit too crafted, but not well crafted. She comes across as something of an amateur whereas Sarko, who's probably read from the same book, appears to have more oommph, appears be more spontaneous.

The fact that the debate is going way over time is a good sign for all.

11:34pm - Persian Perspective offers some insight ont he foreign policy section of the debate,

"she did another gaffe saying France should boycott the Olympics in China, with Sarkozy cleverly pointing out how French athletes couldn’t compete in a country where Segolene Royal paid a diplomatic visit lately... It seems from the polls that Sarkozy will be winning this election, even tough Royal did appear strong on many topics during the latest debate. Yet, her clumsy foreign policy is something that people might want to take into consideration before voting."

11:36pm - Ooooh dear Sego... just asked to give her wind up spiel after Sarko, she turns on the false smile and flicks on the pre-programmed political speech. By comparison, Sarko kept things brief, whereas she obviously had her prepared speech and there was no way she weren't gonna give it. Word from the couch, "She's too amateur. You can see how she's worked on this speech. Overworked on it. it looks amateur, sounds amateur, she just turned on a button."

11:47pm - It's Sarko on points says the Daily Mail,

"Sarko by a mile... Sego did not land the killer blow she needed and instead lost her cool in a theatrical way on the subject of handicapped children. That allowed Sarko to accuse her of being too temperamental for the presidency."

Mathilde couldn't disagree more with the Daily Mail verdict and pretty much the verdict I witnessed in Toulouse,

She was GLORIOUS. Oh my GOD she actually made me scream with glee a couple of times. She was PERFECT, and I want her as my president, I want her so much it's almost physical aagh. I YEARN. And him. He was a pathetic, ugly little creature. He wallowed in ignorance and petty remarks and even open sexism... If after such a demonstration that piece of shit still gets elected, I swear to all that is good and pure that I will leave this country before the year is over.

The debate continues until Sunday night. The Guardian haven't decided what they think yet and I'm off to bed... Whooops. That's a lie. One last link and a headline I can totally empathise with, Change France but keep the lunches.

It's all French

The makings of another great little documentary podcast series - France versus the world - from BBC Radio looking at modern day France,

The French maintain that they - their culture, their social model and their foreign policy - are exceptional. But for how much longer? In this four-part series, Lucy Ash takes a forensic look at the position France occupies on the world stage, how it defines citizenship and the way globalisation is threatening to undermine its cultural heritage.

As someone who lives in France, I do wonder how sustainable the 'French system' is and how seemingly 'behind' the country is. Maybe that's always been the case. Of course, it's not just outsiders like me who are wondering and worrying. The French do that too. To paraphrase one conversation I had with a French chemist recently,

"All of this is new. France was never like this. It's the first time in French history we have problems like this."

I leave you to wonder what the 'this' is, but from where I'm standing 'this' could be directed at any number of issues.

What goes up

Not sure I'd recognise the place. Saigon that is. I've been grinning my way through Jon's posts at It's the Final Word, one of a number of English language Vietnam blogs I continue to follow since moving to France. He's busy documenting changes he sees on the streets of Saigon - buildings that go up, those that come down, abysmal chain stores that take root etc. His blog is a great wee way of keeping posted direct from the streets. As always, if you know of any new Vietnam blogs, particularly those like Jon's, with a keen eye for the minutae, the wallpaper of the city - please post a comment, email etc. Yet to find a new food one, but I hope it's only a matter of time.

Kind of inspired by Jon, I thought I'd post a few (crappy) photos I took yesterday and this morning from Toulouse. Pictured above is the statue of Toulousian poet Pierre Goudouli in Place Wilson. The humour value of Fairy Liquid in a fountain never fails to cheer me up.

As can be seen from the Sunday edition of the local rag - La Dépêche du Midi - it turned out crap again. Rain, drizzle, wind, grey, dull and suicidal, all very un-south of France if you ask me, which you didn't.

On Sunday I ate too much. The bread above is very, very good stuff. It can be found on Victor Hugo market. I'll blog more on it one day. A hard crust protects an intelligent dough - that sounds daft and it is daft, but I'm adjective buggered ce matin. It makes for a more than decent partner to the cheesy specimen below.

And this is where this blog post gets slightly interesting - bear with me. This is Vieux Boulogne. It's a cheese. This is the first time I have ever tasted it. As I sniff it's cheese power I twitter about it from my mobile,

What I didn't know then, but do know now is that my nose is electronic,

"Scientists at a Bedfordshire university have found what could be the smelliest cheese in the world. Vieux Boulogne, a soft cheese from northern France, beat 14 other whiffy varieties in tests. Experts at Cranfield University - who led the research - used an "electronic nose" to analyse the cheese odours, along with a panel of 19 human testers... The particularly pungent smell of the Vieux Boulogne is created by the beer reacting with enzymes in the cheese. It even beat Epoisses de Bourgogne, a cheese so smelly it is banned from being taken on public transport in its native France." From BBC News.

Much banter ensued upon the arrival of the Vieux Boulogne on the cheese splattered table. Six adults and four children struggled with adjectives to adequately describe the foul stench that had gatecrashed a pleasant Sunday afternoon. My first thought was chlorine, but not the straight chemical in a bottle stuff. More man chlorine. It's street wall toilet chlorine or, more precisely, stale urine in the heat of the summer sun. Close your eyes and you could be face to face, or rather nose to Armitage Shanks, with a filthy French urinal. Clearly not a cheese that makes friends easily, but it's creamy and rich and far tastier than it reeks. Other noses have their say,

"The odour of rotting vegetables and the scent of a goat on heat"

"Unwrapped from its plastic covering the Vieux Boulogne sent an aroma of six-week-old earwax floating through the Guardian’s offices. From a safe distance of 50 metres, the cheese emitted a pleasant eau de farmyard, replete with dung and Barbour jackets. Close up, its firm orange flesh, flecked with a delicate mould, recalled varnish." via Petite Anglaise.

 

Season's stuffing

The festive season started hard and proper last night with French Onion soup, cheers Delia, along with a bit of venison and mucho vino. Today, it's escargot de bourgogne, some superb foie gras - from a friend's farm - and stilton - yup - I'm in France, home of the fromage fascists, but the best cheese shop in Toulouse - Betty - sells Stilton from the UK. Thank you. I don't know what's in store for Christmas day. We're catering for 15. I know there won't be no turkey. There are four trained chefs in the family, one of whom is Michelin starred, so whatever they arrive with I'm sure to wolf plenty of it down. Keep an eye on Flickr and if you Twitter, I'll Twitter back. Oh and the pic above is from lunch today. The slightly sweet vino went with the foie gras. And went it did, rather well.

Stop the flood

In Toulouse it rains turd. The Mairie are trying to do something about it. Moi aussi.

Stubbed out

The cover of my local rag. The countdown commences for fags in France. At least in public. Just a few weeks left. The ban comes into effect in November. Cafes, bars, restaurants and nightclubs get longer  to eradicate tobacco use - until January 2008. I'm still a relative newcomer to France - but it's no joke, this is one stereotype that is true - there are a shitload of smokers in France. 30% of the population apparently. I gave up ten years ago. I feel a bit of an outsider. To celebrate stubbin' out, here are a bunch of worth hitting French links,

• Rion - a photoblogger originally from NYC. Lives in Paris. Nice snaps.
• Agnes Poirier at Comment is free - I really enjoy her columns. A tight, entertaining writer. Try this one for starters.
• travelling... - a photoblog from the Paris underground. In the same vein as Express Train in NYC.
• Capitole webcam - the beautiful centre of Toulouse, a few minutes stroll from my gaff. That's McDonalds directly opposite.

More soon.

Eurotour

Before I start sticking my snout back up the many attractive back passages of Saigon, I thought I'd quickly wrap up a few personal highlights from what was a hectic European tour. Click the links below for more snaps and more info. Firstly, in vegetarian unfriendly Andorra, brother-in-law and solid Toulousaine chef Jacques, conjured up the amazing rabbit barbecue pictured above. Twelve lovely, fluffy bunnies were cremated at this Pyrenean forest barbie. He also taught me how to cook paella. In the Place Saint Miguel, Barcelona I tried a paella negre (squid ink paella). I've been wanting to try this dish ever since I heard a Barcelonian (is that a word?) rave about it. However, it was bollocks. Any ink flavour there is gets lost by cooking it with the rice.

In the UK, I had a superb fish supper at the 'world famous' Anstruther Fish 'n' chip shop. It's reputation is well deserved. Not in the slightest bit greasy, bonkers fresh fish, chunky chipshop chips. For my money, which isn't saying much I suppose, this shack is up there with my perennial fave in Oban - the one that featured in last year's mammoth Scottish fish 'n' chip shop round up.

This is the best Scottish breakfast I've ever had (and I've had one or two) - Haggis, Orkney black pudding, organic Tamworth pig sausages and bacon, homegrown everything else including the eggs. East Lochhead B&B in Lochwinnoch, Scotland has that whole healthy, homegrown, Slowfood mashmix going on. Noodlegirl and me had two dinners and two breakfasts here. As the Americans say, "It freakin' rocked." More snaps here.

I did a lot of work interviews in Europe. One of the most interesting was with the manager of Cumbrae Oysters oyster farm off the Isle of Cumbrae in south-western Scotland. He has around a million oysters on his farm, which he tells me is quite small as far as oyster farms go. His oysters, particluarly his 'jumbo oysters', and hand dived razor clams, have a niche following in Hong Kong.

Regulars will know I love oysters and it was fascinating to learn more about how to farm them, how they grow, the taste, the importance of sea temperature, predators (did you know starfish, even small ones, eat oysters by drilling a hole into them and sucking the oyster out over a period of days? No?, well you do now. This blog is a bleedin' education, I'm tellin' ya) I'm pondering whether or not to podcast the interview with him. I record most interviews on a K750i phone which works just like a regular audio recorder, but the quality is not really good enough for broadcast. So, bollocks, maybe I won't podcast after all. I'll just annoy you with the fact that I could, if I wanted, but I won't, or maybe I will, then again... More pics from the oyster farm here.

So that was Europe and those are snails. Now, where was I... Oh yeah, Saigon. One (final) year of blogging from the streets of Saigon ahead of me. I'm looking forward to it, hope you are too.

Cheesy moment

Mountains are great, aren’t they? You can climb them, ski down them, grow stuff on them and look at them for hours without getting bored. However, to my mind they’re even better when eaten. The Pyrenees, a glorious, tectonic slab that forms the border between France and Spain, is also the home of a fabulous cheese of the same name. It’s usually the first and last cheese I taste whenever I venture this way. It’s a simple chap, freckled with gaps, ever so slightly soft and has a mild, salty bite. Pictured above you’ve got the cheese. Above the cheese, if you squint slightly, you’ll see the Pyrenees (mountain version). Cheesy moments don’t get any better than this. Marvellous.

More on cheese from the region at Egulllet and at Frencheese.

Market watch

I just posted a reply to Toru's comments about fish 'n' chips and the maddening inability to find decent nosh in Britain. I think it's worth repeating what I commented here as this 'foreign muck' series gradually comes to a close - maybe three more posts and that's yer lot. I've interspersed the post with shots taken from Toulouse central covered market, Saint-Aubin Sunday market (Toulouse), Saint-Gaudens weekly market (45 mins from Toulouse) and Tesco Supermarket (UK). "Fish 'n' chips is not for everyone. And there's far more bad fish 'n' chips than good. However, I've only met a couple of Asian born Asians who liked it (not that you are of Asian descent) - the rest found it repulsive. It is a 'difficult' taste to get into. Much like the way I first found Kimchi in S. Korea. However, you're quite right about the availability of decent fresh fish in Britain. For an island nation it's shocking, but also indicative of what has happened to Britain's food supply in general since the 1970's.

Supermarkets have taken the simple freedom to taste away from the British consumer. Most Brits do not know what veggies, meat, fish and fruit should taste like anymore. What they are being sold looks fab, but tastes of sod all.

As I always say to folk who go to Britain. There is great food in Britain, but unless you know where to go (and also when - food is seasonal after all. Although how many Brits still realise that I do not know) you will not find it. Whereas in France, Vietnam, Japan... you don't have to hunt for a decent meal or ingredients.

The 'disappearance of taste' from British food is a fascinating topic. This extract from Joanna Blythman's scarily accurate book, Shopped: The Shocking Power of British Supermarkets says it far better than I can.

On a more positive note. The mini-boom in organic delivery services and slow growing interest in organisations like Slowfood is helping redress the trend towards crap. I have my reservations about the growth in Farmer's markets in the UK - sterile and dull was my recent experience, but the fact that they are happening is also a step in the right direction.

Don't mean to harp on, but it's a topic I am keenly interested in. TBH, if I hadn't spent so much time out of the UK - and experienced many different tastes - I probably wouldn't question what I was buying either. The Brits 'musn't grumble' attitude explains a lot - we'll put up with any old shit :))"