Les cardons à la moelle

Les cardons à la moelle, a Lyonnaise recipe to die for. One of my favorites!!

The best recipe I have found is Paul Bocuse's. I'll translate it into English for you.

If you want to serve this dish at night, start in the early afternoon, its long. You can always cook it earlier and then heat it up for the meal. "Oh, difficult to prepare, long?" I hear you say. Trust me, this dish is worth it!!

2 or 3 kilos cardon

4 to 5 bones with marrow (butcher shop)
(make sure there is plenty of marrow, I've gotten some bones with hardly any)

1/2 liter of water (roughly)

2 tbl (csoupe) butter

1 1/2 tbl (csoupe) flour

grated gruyere cheese (one large packet)

salt and pepper

Go to the market and buy some Cardon. You need a lot for a big platter, maybe 3 kilos. You'd be surprised at how little you end up with once you've sliced and diced the whole lot. Get smaller cardon as its more tender.

Take it home and rinse it well. The leaves cannot be eaten, only the stems and the heart.

Now, here is the biggest task ... peel all the stringy bits off, and I mean all.

You can find cardon, cut and canned, but the heart isn't included and that is the best part. Besides, its far more gratifying to do it yourself from scratch and proudly proclaim having done it! But if you can't find cardon in your region, go for the canned. (if you get canned, skip the soaking step)

Next, cut the cardon into small pieces--stems and heart and soak it in water with a bit of lemon juice.

After letting them soak for 15 minutes or so, cook the cardons in heavily salted water until tender, probably around an hour or more. You should be able to easily slide the point of a knife into the cardon when its done.

Grease your platter with butter--real butter, please! Put the cardon pieces in the platter. Cover them copiously with shredded gruyere cheese. 

Preheat your oven to 180 (325).

Meanwhile, place your bones with marrow in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Lightly salt it. This photo shows only 3, personally I would use 4 to 5 good sized bones with plenty of marrow.

Bring it to a boil, cover and cook for 10 minutes.

Let it cool and then take out the bones. Make sure to keep the water to make the sauce!

Use a small thin knife to cut around the marrow inside the bones and then pop it out with your finger. 

Cut the marrow into small pieces and sprinkle on top of the platter of cardon and grated cheese.

Now, lets prepare the sauce! 

Use a metal or copper saucepan, certainly not teflon as you will be whisking with a wire whisk. 

Melt butter in the saucepan, add flour and whisk like mad, making a roux. We are making a blond roux, meaning only let it get a bit of color. Little by little add half the water the bones and marrow were cooked in. Make sure you whisk like mad the entire time so you don't get a lumpy sauce! This is a sauce blanche or béchamel. Add some salt and pepper. (add more water if you feel it needs it)

This sauce will be fairly liquid. 

Pour it over the cardons, marrow and cheese.

Cook for about 45 minutes in the oven at 180 (325). You can put it under the top grill in the end to get a nice crusty top.

Serve with a nice hunk of meat: lamb or beef. I like to serve it with a cut of beef called "onglet" (hanger steak). This is a fairly tender piece of beef that you cook very quickly, the outside being nice and browned while the inside red and juicy. Bien sur, serve the whole thing with a killer red wine, preferably costeau (hearty). 

Oh and, by the way, there is noting like a good onglet served with sauteed shallots ....

Bonne dégustation, gros bisous et a demain!

Love, Charley

Marguerite de Bourgogne haunting the Château-Gaillard

Okay, put your Medieval thinking caps back on and throw a jaunty, haunted feather on top for good measure.

Remember two days ago when I blabbed on and on about The House of Capet? I left off with the demise of the Capet line: "Things fell apart after the death of Philip IV "The Fair"...he had locked his daughter-in-laws up for adultery ..." Who can resist an opening line like that? 

Marguerite de Bourgogne (1290 - 1315?) was the granddaughter of Saint Louis IX (who wasn't such a saint!). She married her cousin, Louis X "The Quarreler" of France, eldest son of Philip IV "The Fair".

(Can I tell you how much I love these nicknames!!)

They had a daughter. 

Enter Isabella of France, only daughter of Philip IV "The Fair". Known as the She-Wolf of France, she was drop dead gorgeous and dangerous to boot. Married to King Edward II of England, she had to contend with his bi-sexuality at a time when it could be punishable by death. Isabella was therefore often manipulating the enemies/lovers of her husband as well as having people assassinated for political gain.

On a trip to Paris with her husband, Isabella gave embroidered purses to her three sisters-in-law. These purses were later seen in the hands of two knights, prompting Isabella to assume adultery had been committed. It was called the Tour de Nesle Affair as the three women were said to have had the amorous relations with the knight in the Nesle Tower. The knights in question were "broken on the wheel, skinned alive, castrated, hanged on the public gallows of Pontoise, and finally beheaded."


The three sisters-in-law were "shaven, shorn, stripped of their royal robes, and imprisoned."

Imprisoned in the Château-Gaillard, a castle built by King Richard the Lionhearted in the 12th century. Located in the Eure department of Normandy, this castle was built for war, not residence. The living conditions within were fairly atrocious. 

Either Marguerite was held captive in the Northeast tower, in the donjon inside the castle itself, or in an "underground crypt" dug at the foot of the North wall. Either way, creepy, drafty, cold, and austere. 

When Philip IV 'The Fair" died, Louis X "The Quarreler" became king and that made the imprisoned Marguerite, Queen of France. Her husband wasn't okay with that program. He wanted to get rid of her and remarry to produce a male offspring. Unfortunately, adultery wasn't cause for divorce. Also unfortunately, the Pope died and the Bishops in Avignon took months and months to choose a new pope.

Louis X "The Quarreler" being headstrong and quarrelsome, decided the best course of action was to strangle his wife and be done with her.

And that's exactly what he did.

Today, you can visit the ruins of Château-Gaillard in Normandy and hear her cries of agony. She is frequently seen wandering about the fortress.

The ghost of Richard the Lionhearted is reported to have been seen often as well.

I'll bet those two have a lot to talk about!

As for the other two women: Joan was placed under house arrest and, thanks to her husband's efforts, eventually acquitted, Blanche was imprisoned in the Château-Gaillard for 8 years, when her husband assumed the throne, he had their marriage annulled and put her in a nunnery where she died shortly after from poor health.

Now there is one other rumor ... that Marguerite de Bourgogne's family snuck her out of the Château-Gaillard and brought her back to the family Château de Couches, today called Château de Marguerite de Bourgogne located in Couches, Bourgogne, France. There she lived out her life in hiding until she died at the age of 43 in 1333. 

Spirits are known to haunt places that have had an impact on their lives. Example: Empress Matilda who haunts the Mortemer Abby (see my blog). 

Therefore, no matter if Marguerite died on the spot or not, she definitely has reason to haunt the Château-Gaillard as does Richard the Lionhearted. 

Bon, gros bisous des endroits hantées et a demain!

Love, Charley

Les Parapluies de Cherbourg

An absolutely delightful 1964 pop art, comedy musical, starring Catherine Deneuve. Brilliantly restored.

Called The Umbrellas of Cherbourg in English, this film was nominated for 5 Oscars 3 for best musical scores and the 4th for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay written Directly for the Screen. It won the Golden Globe for Best Film, it was nominated for a Grammy for Best Original Score for a Motion Picture, and it won several awards in France, notably the Golden Palm for Jacques Demy as well as Best Film. Whew!

The plot: 17-year-old Genevieve lives with her widowed mother who owns an umbrella shop. Genevieve falls in love with an auto mechanic who is shipped off to the Algerian War, leaving Genevieve pregnant. The widowed mother strongly advises her daughter to accept a marriage proposal from a wealthy gem dealer who is madly in love with Genevieve and promises to bring up her child as his own. Guy, the auto mechanic / soldier comes home and  ....

The film is a riot of colors and music, the singing fantastic. I highly recommend it!

Here is a "fan" trailer.

Bonne séance du cinema! Gros bisous et a demain!

Love, Charley

The House of Capet

Let's put our Middle Ages thinking caps back on. 

France was originally part of the Roman Empire. The area we call France today was settled by Germanic tribes from central Europe: the Franks, Visigoths, and Burgundians.

Then, in the end of the 5th century, Clovis managed to unite many of the tribes into a Frankish kingdom. Remember those gorgeous kings with the long flowing trademark hair who are perhaps descended from Jesus? The Merovingian Dynasty (see my blog).  

This Frankish kingdom was split up with the succession of sons according to Frankish law and tradition.

In the end of the 8th century, Charlemagne was able to bring the Frankish kingdom back together and found an empire. So begot the Carolingian Dynasty (see my blog). 

Again, eventually this empire was split upon succession.

Enter High Capet, elected king in 987, beginning the Capetian Dynasty that would rule France until 1328. Hugh Capet was an indirect descendant of the Carolingian Dynasty. Although elected king, Hugh Capet managed to switch that all around by having his son, Robert II Capet, inherit his throne.

Hugh Capet (he looks like a fun guy!)

The Capetian Dynasty ruled from the Ile de France, a small area around Paris, including Orléans and Laon. It was a small and weak kingdom, but they were backed by the church. The rest of what we know today as France was ruled by Dukes: Normandy, Blois, Burgundy, and the famous Aquitaine. 

It wasn't until Louis VI "The Fat" (1081 - 1137) married his son off to Eleanor of Aquitaine that things got interesting. 

Eleanor of Aquitaine

Louis VII "The Young" didn't stay married to Eleanor, their marriage, full of discord, produced only two girls and, as we all know, she went on to marry Henry II of England and give birth to Richard The Lionhearted among other illustrious children.

Don't miss the spectacular film Lion In The Winter! 

Louis VII "The Young", two wives later, managed to secure a male heir: Philip II Augustus.

Louis VIII "The Lion" (1187 - 1226), eldest son of Philip II Augustus married Blanche de Castile, grand daughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II of England. Louis VIII "The Lion" unsuccessfully attempted to claim the English crown through his wife. 

Blanche de Castile with her son Louis IX"The Saint"

Taking after her grandmother, Blanche de Castile was one tough cookie; her son, Louis IX"The Saint", inherited the throne as a child and Blanche ruled in his stead until he was old enough to take over and again while he was away in the Holy Lands during the Crusades. She broke up a league of the barons, repelled an attack from King Henry III of England, and made terms with Ramon VII of Toulouse during military action in Languedoc.

Louis IX"The Saint"partipated in the 7th and 8th Crusades. 

Meanwhile back in France, they were busy with the their own crusade, The Albigensian Crusade, organized by Pope Innocent III to fully and utterly exterminate the Cathars and take over the land from the Counts of Toulouse in the Languedoc region of France. 

One of the most murderous epochs in France's history.

Primarily between  1209 and 1229, Louis VIII "The Lion" and Blanche de Castile, along with Pope Innocent III murdered hundreds of thousands of Cathars. The Medieval Inquisition was eventually set in place, torturing the Cathars by placing them on the rack, placing them in scalding water, having their eyes gouged out, forcing the victims to sit on spiked chairs that were then heated until red hot, burning their feet until the bones fell off, placing their feet into big leather boots and pouring molten lead in--you know, the usual Medieval fare. At the time, France wished for no blood to be shed, thus the preferred method of execution was burning the victims at the stake. Hundreds of thousands of Cathars were put to the stake. The Crusades against the Cathars were officially ended with the fall of the Chateau Montsegur in 1244, where 200 people were burned at the stake in one fell swoop. The Cathars were still being burned alive into the 14th century. 

For an incredible website on the Cathars, in English, click here.

King Louis IX "The Saint" reigned during the "golden century of Saint Louis" when, politically and economically, France was at its height in Europe. 

He was a devout Catholic and built the Sainte-Chapelle (Holy Chapel) in Paris to hold the Crown of Thorns and a fragment of the True Cross, relics King Louis IX bought from Emperor Baldwin II of Constantinople.

To pay for his crusades, King Louis IX "The Saint"ordered the expulsion of all Jews and confiscated their property. In 1243, he burned 12,000 manuscript copies of the Talmud and other Jewish books in Paris.

He also expanded the scope of the Medieval Inquisition, finishing off the Cathar butchery that his father and mother had started.

So why was this guy officially canonized and declared a saint? Because he was considered to be the model of the ideal Christian Monarch. Wow. 

Here is Saint Louis, allowing himself to be whipped for penance.

I regress ....

Then came Philip III "The Bold"(1245 - 1285), a shy man who was called bold for his excellent horsemanship.

Then came the illustrious Philip IV "The Fair"(1268 - 1314), famous for conniving and manipulating, it was he who finished off the Knights Templars in 1307. He died less than a year after burning Templar Grand Master Jacques de Molay at the stake, cursed by the Templars and summoned before God in judgement ....

Things fell apart after the death of Philip IV "The Fair". Three of his sons reigned in rapid succession, he locked his daughter-in-laws up for adultery, therefore chaos reigned as there were divorces, bastards born ... all kinds of n'importe quoi (utter nonsense) and squabbling going on. All that were left were the daughters of Philip IV's three sons. It was upon the death of one of these daughters, Blanche, in 1392 that the house of Capet came to an end.

So there we have the first three Dynasties of France: the Merovingians, the Carolingians and the Capetians. Whew!

"Oh, what a tangled web we weave 

When first we practice to deceive!"

Sir Walter Scott from his epic poem Marmion. I know, I know, he's an English author, not French! But, when you read about all of these dynasties and their struggle for power, this snippet from Marmion is certainly called to mind!

Bon, ça suffit! Gros bisous de l'histoire et a demain!

Love, Charley

OVNI Trans-en-Provence UFO

OVNI are the initials for UFO. The following story is called one of the most well-documented sightings of all time. It is certainly France's biggest claim to UFO fame; one of the most "realistic" happenings.

In 1981, in the village of Trans-en-Provence, France, a farmer, Renato Nicolai, was chilling out, minding his own business, working in his field when a very strange event happened. 

He heard a strange whistling sound and looked over to see a sort of double decker flying saucer land 45 meters away from where he was standing in his field. 

Mr. Nicolai notified the Gendarmerie, the police. Here is his statement: 

 "The device had the shape of two saucers, one inverted on top of the other. It must have measured about 1.5 meters in height. It was the color of lead. This device had a ridge all the way around its circumference. Under the machine I saw two kinds of pieces as it was lifting off. They could be reactors or feet. There were also two other circles which looked like trapdoors. The two reactors, or feet, extended about 20 cm below the body of the machine."

The police took photographs and collected soil and plant samples from the scene, the latter sent to GEPAN for further study. The results of the studies were the following: the ground had indeed been compressed by something weighing 4 to 5 tons, the mechanism that had set down on the field heated the ground up to between 300 to 600 degrees Celsius, phosphate and zinc were found in the soil samples and the chlorophyll levels of the plants had changed. When the same people tested the plants a year later, the levels were back to normal.

 Here is a short documentary, in French, of the incident.

Do you believe in OVNI's???

Voila, gros bisous d'extraterrestres et  demain!!

Love, Charley

Modern French Architecture

The end of Lyon's island has been under intense construction for a couple of years. It used to be the old ports and the city elected to revamp/redo the whole thing. This is what we saw--a Modern French City. All this along the river.

Going to be cinemas, shopping, etc. (I believe)

Across the canal

River boats the whole way along. It's charming to walk along the river. 

There are several night clubs and restaurants sprouting up, including the Two Michelin Star restaurant Nicolas Le bec

Kinda smarmy photo of Monsieur Le Bec

What you eat chez Monsieur Le Bec!

Odd contrast across the river, old ramparts and gates to old castles that no longer exist.

A few manor houses scattered about.

The Sucrerie, an old sugar warehouse that housed a super cool museum of modern art over the last 10 years or so. I am very sad that it will no longer exist. It was one of my favorite places to go.

In truth, I find it lacking in soul. I prefer the old architecture, warm, full of life, with many ancient tales to be told. Visiting Lyon's Modern City was interesting, impressive even. 

Voila! Gros bisous d'architecture moderne et a demain!

Love, Charley 

Vanessa Bruno

One of my favorite French clothing designers is Vanessa Bruno. In 1996, at the age of 24, she launched her own brand of clothing in Paris.

Very wearable stuff.

She is renowned for her fabulous signature bags.

Love her dresses, so cozy, chic, and sexy!

Got these boots in black for Christmas / Birthday, live in them!

Wrap yourselves up all nice in warm in her fantastic coats.

Gotta love Vanessa Bruno!

Gros bisous de mode et a demain!

Love, Charley