The heavens opened up last night with torrential rain, tremendously loud thunder and lightning that lit up the apartment. For two Victorians it was a pleasure to see and hear, hopefully we are getting something similar at home. CNN here has reported the floods in both Queensland and NSW - are we getting any in Vic?
Fortunately we were eating in last night after Sue had prepared chicken breast stuffed with comte cheese and tarragon mustard, wrapped in jambon cru (proscuitto) and pan fried with a little white wine sauce. Wish I'd taken a photo before I ate it!!!!!!!
Tonight's meal is Duck breast with a bitter orange sauce, asparagus and sauteed baby potatoes, Yum!!! How I love bringing the Cook with me to France (shhhh, don't tell the wife I said that - just some Aussie humour). Forgot, apricot tart for desert. I make coffee and then wash up.
Anyway the day started at the market to buy tonight's ingredients before returning to my poor lonely car for a drive to the town of Dole in the Jura region about 60 out from Dijon and only 150k from the Swiss border. With a population of close to 30,000 it really is a very pretty "Centre Ville" meaning the historic centre of the village. With the Rhone to Rhine canal passing at the bottom of it's steep and winding narrow streets above we viewed the house where Louis Pasteur was born in 1822. The village had its origin in the 12th Century when a fortress was built to watch over the river Doubs. I'm sure in the space of only 3 hours we miss out on a lot but how lucky are we to sit in the sunshine and soak up the ambiance of a village of this age, 1000s of kms from home.
With only two days left in Dijon it will be a little sad to leave as we have only just touched on its many wonders.
Our hostess Coco has recommended many things of interest and it will be difficult to fit everything in. I must say that the people we meet are fantastic ambassadors for their country.
We were lost, looking at our map of Dijon when a local woman asked if she could help with directions. Hopefully we do the same at home, I know I will in future.
