Food in UK, 1: Traditional pub lunch, Wales

I love British country  pubs: in England and Wales, they are such a civilised institution, with their cosy bars, warm fires and good simple traditional food cooked well, not forgetting of course a range of great beers, ciders and perries! I do think that very often a good pub is where you'll find the best food in Britain, at least at lunchtime; restaurants can often be either disappointing or too expensive, sometimes both at the same time! In pubs at least you get good honest local food, no frills usually but well-cooked and satisfying.
We're in Wales right now and today after a good beach and country walk had lunch in just such a great little pub, the Plough and Harrow in Monk Nash, in Glamorgan.
I had local sausages(meaty, well-herbed and peppered, and quite delicious) with tender, sweet new potatoes, as well as carrots and swedes and green beans. The swedes weren't crash hot and I'd have preferred some more greens instead of them but the rest was very nice and with some home-made gravy and a pint of very pleasant perry(Two Trees), it made a fantastic meal, and in very congenial and atmospheric surroundings too. Both David and his brother had the same thing--traditional Welsh faggots with chips, gravy and mashed peas. the faggots were excellent, meaty and peppery, the peas were silky and tasty and the chips were crisp and golden. David teamed his meal with a pint of traditional cider and Richard with ale. Unpretentious food, unpretentiously served, and a very pleasant experience. And with the lilting and lovely cadence of Welsh accents all around us to boot!
Prices at the Plough and Harrow were similar to Australian pub prices--around 8 pounds 50($13.25)per main dish and 3 pounds($4.67)per drink. Dearer than France, and of course much dearer than Russia or Poland, but still very reasonable.

Fresh off the farm: Local meat

Another visit to a local farm doing direct sales: this time a mixed livestock farm raising sheep, poultry, pigs and beef the traditional way, free range and well-looked after. You order on the internet when the farmers send you a list of what's available, from veal to ducks, suckling pigs to turkeys, and pick up the box of meat directly from the farm. Like the Bourdichou farm, this one prefers the direct sale method, and so do their clients who love that they can see exactly how the animals are kept and support the farmers directly. The meat's great, and the prices are excellent too!

Fresh off the farm: a visit to a goat cheese producer

Xavier Tissot explaining how he sorts lentils, with an old machine at back

We had a very interesting afternoon the other day visiting a local farm, Bourdichou, which specialises in one hundred percent organic goat cheese produced using traditional methods with goats fed entirely off the organic feed produced on the farm itself. Lucky goats--they get not only the usual kind of feed of barley, grass and sainfoin(a coarse hay type feed) but also high quality green lentils produced on the farm, of the Puy variety, of which the farm produces about 6 tonnes. (The lentils are also sold to humans and are delicious!)
As well as buying some excellent cheese and having a bit of a tour of the 30-strong goat herd, who were all very bright-eyed and bushy tailed and very friendly as they are handled a lot, we were also treated to a very interesting free 45 minute slide presentation by owner Xavier Tissot, who explained everything about the farm, how it's run, what crops are grown, what the programme of each day is, etc. This is an added bonus of a visit to the farm to buy cheese--call ahead of time and you can also assist at one of these presentations(best done in a group or family). By the way they have an excellent  and informative website with all contact details and info on how to get there, http://www.aude-chevrerie.com/
The Bourdichou farm is situated in gorgeous rolling countryside in the Aude region, and consists of 102 hectares, supporting 30 high-yielding goats in constant milking. From those 30 goats, milked twice a day, the Tissots get 22,500 litres of milk per year, which converts into 34,700 cheeses a year, or around 120 a day. From the milk, the Tissots make only cheese, in different varieties: plain, flavoured with onions or rosemary, or oregano or thyme or lavender, and also rolled in pepper. (They also sell honey from their own hives as well as lentils). It's plain to see the goats are thriving; they are all extremely healthy, bright and curious and very productive. They also each have a name, as they are very much a part of the family and Xavier Tissot speaks of them with great affection and humour--one funny observation he made was, 'Goats are rather like adolescents; they can veer from endearing to very annoying in record time!' The goats are out in the fields grazing half the day (where they have to be watched)and half the day in their comfortable shed where they are given their hay, grain and lentils.
Of course it's a huge amount of work for the family for it is a never ending cycle. Market days are particularly heavy for the milking has to start at 4.30 am and does not finish till 7pm! Days where markets aren't happening are slightly less heavy--they get an extra hour's sleep and don't have to get up till 5.30 am! Then of course there is the crop work, which they do get outside help with, but still do most of it themselves.
The Tissots only do direct sales--from the farm gate, at local markets where they go several days a week, at special fairs and gastronomic events and occasionally from people who have been to the farm before ordering over the phone or online. They don't sell to restaurants, and most of their sales  are at markets. But if you are travelling in the region, I would urge you to go and visit the farm directly, for not only do you get the chance to buy the products at the very spot where they are made, but you also get an absorbing insight into how the life of a farm.
And the cheese? We bought a platter of it, about six or seven cheeses, in different varieties and it was all absolutely delightful, fresh, tasty and very very more-ish, with the platter being demolished very rapidly. And it was only 10 euros for the whole lot--an absolute steal! Highly recommended.

Victor Hugo markets, Toulouse

I always love going back to Toulouse, the city where I spent my early years with my grandmother and aunts. And whenever I'm back I love going to the famous Victor Hugo covered markets and having lunch there in one of the many restaurants above the markets which serve fabulous and very reasonably priced lunches made from market produce, all deliciously fresh. Today we were thee and took a menu at 12 euros 50---entree, main course and dessert--which for my part consisted of a lovely squid and mussel starter in a spicy sauce with a little puff pastry to go with it; guinea fowl in Provencal sauce, and a deliciously unctuous 'petit pot', a kind of baked cream, flavoured with salted-butter caramel(entree and dessert pictured here.) Fabulous!

Home cooking

Who does not love going home to their mum and dad for some great cooking? I certainly know I am going to be in for a treat as they all pull out all stops in their never ending campaign to never let anyone go hungry or dissatisfied at their table! And cooked with love and many decades of excellent experience, it is even more pleasurable...

A gorgeous roast duck the other day, brushed with a lot of honey--everything local and fresh and delicious! Starters are simple: charcuterie; salads(here grated celeriac and tomato). The only concession to their increasing age is the fact they usually buy in cake rather than make it. Or just give great cheese and fruit.

Stopover in Pithiviers

Back in France now and on our very first night, on the way to Gascony and the home of my parents, we stopped at the little town of Pithiviers, famous throughout France and beyond for its lovely almond tart. We stopped at an excellent hotel called Le Relais de la Poste in the very centre of the town, one of those traditional French hotels where you get a good room and a good dinner and breakfast for a very reasonable price. The restaurant was excellent and for 18 euros we had a delicious three course menu. I had a salad of mussels and artichokes and lardons, or bacon dice, for a starter, then a succulent piece of steak in mushroom and green pepper sauce with veges for a ain course and of course a Pithiviers tart for dessert! David had a salade campagnarde, ie with ham, goat cheese, tomato and more, for a starter, roast guinea fowl for main course and two types of Pithiviers cake for dessert(the second one was called a fondant and was more of a thick paste inside and cakey rather than the classic mille-feuille tart). And my brother Louis had duck pate with salad, a blanquette, or stew of lamb and fresh fruit salad. all very delicious!

Food in Warsaw, part 4

For our last night in Warsaw, we decided to head up to the Old Town and have something in one of the many restaurants that are scattered just about everywhere there. They have the reputation of being tourist traps serving indifferent food but the one we happened on certainly wasn't like that. Pod Samsonen (literally means 'under Samson' or 'at the sign of Samson'--lots of restaurants in Poland are prefixed by 'pod')is a lovely place with a great atmosphere and a good list of Polish and Polish Jewish food, much more varied than many of the other restaurants around there, friendly, efficient staff, and excellent prices too. To start with we had 'herring Samson', which was a delicious herring salad in sour cream, and an equally lovely smoked salmon tartare, with vodka; and then, for a main course I had fried Galician trout seasoned with garlic and plain boiled potatoes, with carrot and cabbage salad on the side; and David had roast pork medallions in plum sauce with home-made gnocchi-style noodles(not pictured.) This time we managed to have dessert--peaches cardinal(with alcohol that means!)with icecream and whipped cream, and David had little cheesecakes with whipped cream. Beer and water as well, and the whole thing only came to 105 zloty(about $32). A great note to end our dining out experience in Warsaw on!