Cathedral in Auch
Chateau Lassalle
Life has been lazy since the vernissage since I worked up a credit of my hours, leaving me only 6 or so to work over these past couple of days. Sunday I sat around reading and felt guilty when we were fed roast potatoes and lamb chops for dinner after having done nothing all day long except washed some dishes; and Monday I weeded in the vegetable garden for a few hours, washed dishes, tidied up the kitchen, and then cooked a huge quantity of baked macaroni and cheese for dinner, since we had thawed out a very large block of cheese on Saturday which somehow did not get served on Saturday night.
Steve had offered to take us somewhere and today he had business in Auch, the departmental capital of the Gers, so he knocked on the gite door at 9:30 and asked if we wanted to come along, which we did, since he also offered to take us out for lunch! Auch is about an hour drive away, to the east, and we drove through a couple of lovely towns on the way there and back, including Vic-Fezensac and Barran.
In Auch we parked in a big shady parking area under plane trees and walked a block down to the front of the massive Cathedrale de Sainte-Marie – from the 15th and 16th centuries, mostly gothic but with some Renaissance elements. The impact of it was slightly muted by the scaffolding obscuring half of the front façade, but the right upper façade had been restored recently and it was interesting to see the contrast from the older, dirtier and more pitted surface to the newly cleaned and renovated stonework. We discovered that this cathedral – an Unesco world heritage site - is on the pilgrim route to St. Jacques de Compostelle in Spain, and I was excited to see a real hiker come up the stairs from the river towards the cathedral on the marked pilgrim route; a woman probably in her 60s, all alone, with walking stick, back pack, dirty boots, and obviously tired knees.
We ate a good lunch at a café near the cathedral courtesy of Steve – Walt and Steve had the menu du jour with potatoes, turkey or beef, and haricots verts (green beans), and I had a tartine – basically a big piece of toasted bread – covered with goat cheese, ham, and honey, and then broiled until the cheese is all melted and warm. It came with a green salad and some roast potatoes. Reed ate a little of both Walt’s and my lunches and plenty of bread, and of course helped Walt eat his dessert, a big waffle with some raspberries and whipped cream. I’m told we’re to have confit of duck for dinner, which is an unexpected treat: duck thighs that have been preserved in their own fat, with potatoes sautéed in said fat.
In America the fact that the French people drink lots of wine and eat plenty of fatty food yet are still very healthy is known as the French paradox, but in Europe this phenomenon is called the Gascoigne Paradox, where the traditional specialty food and drink are red wine, armagnac, foie gras, and confit.. I hope that the Gascoigne Paradox applies to visitors like us, because I love confit and Steve does not stint on the red wine at dinnertime. It’s easy not to stint on the wine because you get it from the local “cave,” filling up your own gallon or larger containers with the stuff out of big tanks like at a gas pump. It is easy to drink, inexpensive, and good. You transfer it into your own empty bottles at home for serving at the table.
