Staying at Home with Tony Goodman
Make some noise
Around us at 8 pm most nights balconies fill, people clap, bang pots and cheer. Horns a plenty to say thank you to the medical professionals, gendarmes, municipal workers, delivery drivers and people manning the checkouts. Love you all.
British humour
We are loving the quips, shaggy dog stories and long winded jokes doing the rounds. Some are groan worthy, side splitting or just down right rude. Self effacing, parodies, some as old as the Ark. Ridiculous puns, dry irony and just silly.
Our continental cousins try their best but they just can’t grasp the essence of English humour despite our best efforts to explain. Even our close Anglo-Saxon cousins scratch their heads. The French may lay claim to the phrase double entendre but we’ve raised it to an art form.
Here’s the high priest himself with all due acknowledgements.
Music
There are some superb operas available on You Tube. This week we enjoyed a 2001 production of Mozart’s Magic Flute from the Opera National de Paris, with English sub-titles. Something of a surprise. Then we found a fantastic Swiss production of Don Giovanni. Superb music of course but also excellent acting.
Later in the week it was everyone’s favourite uncle. Willie Nelson’s 1999 concert at Woodstock. Willie looked like he was enjoying himself but then again he always does. The crowd seemed happy and it was rather nice to have him belting out his standards as we enjoyed our home made Friday curry.
Theatre de l’Archipel’s Mozart au Salzburg has been rescheduled to October so don’t bin the tickets. Its some time away however it will be worth it.
Websites
Here are a few websites to keep you entertained:
https://www.winespectator.com/news plenty of free articles and interviews.
https://www.larvf.com/ French Wine reviews, you’ll need some french or a dictionary. While focussed on french wine makers, there is plenty of discussion of what’s happening elsewhere.
Plenty of wine makers have pulled the shutters down, one who has not is my good friend Andy Cook at Mas Christine Wines who will deliver. Contact Andy for details: andy@mascristine.com
Pot au feu
Nothing says staying in than a slow cooked Pot au feu, over the course of a day you can transform some humble ingredients into art.
For an evening meal around 7.00 pm start the process at 11.00 am.
300 g or say two chicken Marylands in a slow cooker or large heavy oven proof pot are enough for four. No need to dice and slice as the meat will eventually fall apart.
Plenty of onions and sliced leeks are next, big handfuls. Water enough to cover the meat by about ½ inch, one or two stock cubes. Lid on, start with a good amount of heat for the first hour then dial it right back.
Around 1.00 pm check the liquid levels, add wine if necessary. The meat should be just starting to soften.
Around 3.00 pm the meat should be falling of the bone. Check liquid levels and add wine,
Around 5.00 pm the meat should be soft and off the bone. The onions and leeks should be paper thin. Add one or two heaped tablespoons of fond du veau and stir slightly.
Dice a carrot, celery stalks and halve one or two small potatoes and put them all in. Check seasoning.
Last minute flourish: the liquid level should be quite low, add wine if you wish. Add celery leaves or flat leaf parsley and perhaps thin slices of red capsicum for effect.
A good local red or white of your choice. Thick slices of sour dough bread for the juice.
