Vive La France

My best friend Emilie is French, and every summer for as long as I have known her she has disappeared off to France for the entire summer. For the past few summers ideas have been hatched and plans have been made for me to visit, but for one reason or another they have never taken off. This summer I was determined to finally see this other half of Emilie's life for myself, so last week I packed up my things, jumped on the eurostar and trained it down to Vendee on the west coast of France.

Em's Mum is the French one in the family, and Vendee is where she used to spend her summer holidays as well when she was growing up. Everybody that she was friendly with when she was young now holidays here with there children too, and as a result there is this huge group of people spanning generations that are like one big family.

The lifestyle is so relaxed and easygoing that it would make a spa day look stressful. People pop in unannounced at midnight just to say hello, its the norm not to have internet access and you forgot what its like to wear make up.  

A few years ago Em's family decided to buy a run down old farmhouse and renovate it to save themselves from spending the summer cooped up in the Grandparents house. The finished product is absolutely beautiful. Its rustic, but has this great typically French, beachy feel.

I arrived pretty late so the next morning Emilie and I decided to take a little bike ride, giving Em the chance to play tour guide and show me around.

What I loved about Vendee was that it is complete rural French countryside, yet it is right on the coast. You go from cycling between fields and farms to landing slap bang on the beach.

 

The beaches are breathtaking and just seem to stretch on forever. The West coast of France is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean so it can be a bit on the chilly side, but after 5 minutes of lying in the Vendee sun that icy chill is a very welcome cool down.

After tiring our little legs out it was time to take a quick pit stop for a coffee and a crepe. We went for the healthiest option on the menu...(cough cough) A chocolate smothered beast piled high with whipped cream. Not so great for our waistlines, but a great little piece of food porn!

Twice a week there is the most typically French market that takes place in a nearby village. People pile into the streets with their stalls and by midday they have all completely dissapeared without a trace. 

All of the stalls were selling different things: clothes, jewellery, ornaments, handcrafted crockery, the list goes on. The food stalls were my favourite, and with free samples flying from every angle, we hardly needed those crepes. (almost)

Plenty of smelly French cheese! Yum, yum, yum!

French sausage.

Every type of olive, sun dried tomato and Tapenade (a classic french dish of pureed capers, olives, anchovies and olive oil) you could ever ask for.

All tired out from our mornings workout and full of free testes and crepe, it was time to head home...for lunch. The vast majority of my trip to Vendee was spent eating, but the food in France is so delicious that I was hardly complaining... More on that another day. 

As for now, I'll leave you sunbathing in the garden where we snoozed all afternoon... The Vendee lifestyle is definitely something I could get used too, and theres plenty more to come.

Maison Bleue

Maison Bleue is a restaurant in Edinburgh that I have been meaning to try for months now. I have heard nothing but good things about it, and last night I finally got the chance to see what all the fuss is about. Unfortunately I had forgotten my camera so I only had my iphone to play blogger with. Annoyingly I don’t think it does the food justice.

 

We started our evening with drinks in the Missoni Hotel, the first of the Missoni hotels worldwide. The interior is quirky, colourful and chic, and it really is a great place to stop in for a drink. It's super stylish, and of course, with this comes an expensive drinks list. You can expect to pay the best part of £10 for a cocktail, £5 for a pint and £6 for a teeny tiny glass of Prosecco.  It is however all part of the Missoni experience. If you want to experience a little bit of designer chic, you have to be prepared to put your hand in your pocket. 

After a couple of drinks it was time to head for dinner. Maison Bleue is nestled just round the corner from Missoni on Victoria Street, right in the heart of Edinburgh’s Old Town. The restaurant is bright blue and has the prettiest handing baskets decorating the building. It’s nothing but welcoming, and you really can’t miss it. 

Split over two floors, the restaurant was a lot bigger than I had originally thought. The place was packed, and we had even struggled to get a booking; always a great sign. The interior is traditional, shabby chic, with big stone arches, low burning candles and rustic old wooden tables. The place has a real buzz about it and you can’t help but just relax.

We peeled our eyes over the menu whilst enjoying a glass of wine. Maison Bleue serves up a combination of French, Scottish and North African dishes, so from haggis to tagines, there really is something to please everyone. We both ate off their set menu which costs £27 for three courses. It has plenty of tasty options on it, so much so that I really struggled to choose.

We opted for the Haggis balls and the Special Calamari to start and shared them both. The calamari was really delicious, and I believe that I am right in saying that it is one of Maison Bleues signature dishes. The squid was served with a helping of crispy stir fried vegetables which I can only presume had been cooked in some sort of honey and soy sauce. It really was a bit of a surprise but it was something that I would definitely have again.

The Haggis Balls were deep fried in beer batter and served up with clapshot tatties and a whisky sauce. I’m a big Haggis fan so this kind of starter is right up my street. It was utterly delicious.

  

For the main course I went for the brochettes mix which consisted of marinated chicken skewers and merguez sausages served with saffron couscous and a mint yoghurt dressing. It was really delicious but it was a lot of food. I couldn’t even finish what was on my plate let alone the side of pommes château that came with it! I couldn't believe that one person was meant to knock back all of this food, but for anyone that is seriously hungry; this is the dish for you. 

My partner in crime went for the fish of the day which was sea bream served on a bed of risotto. I had a wee taste and it really was delicious. The fish was perfectly cooked, and the flavours in the risotto complimented the fish really well. We shared the potatoes which had come with my meal which worked well as the fish probably could have done with something a little bit extra. 

For dessert I went for my favourite, Sticky Toffee Pudding. I’ve had my fair share of sticky toffee puddings in my time so I really can be a bit of a harsh critic when it comes to mastering this creation. I must say that Maison Bleue did a great job! It was delicious! The cake was moist, the sauce was perfect and there was just the right amount of it. I hate when the poor sponge is drowning, and on an equal level I hate when I'm scraping the plate for every last remnant of the stuff.  Top marks for this bad boy.

On the other hand I wouldn't rave so much about the Panna cotta. To be fair, I am not much of a Panna cotta fan in general, so I guess this review is a little biased. As Panna cotta goes it was fine, but it would always come seriously low in my pudding rankings. It was however beautifully presented, and I'm sure that if this is your kind of thing, you would like this. The only thing I will say though is that the menu stated that this was a creamy Panna cotta served with a homemade digestive. I don’t know about you but I'm not too sure that you can call a biscuit with 'Mcvities' stamped across it a homemade digestive, but we won't hold it against them...

We finished up our wine and let our food go down before asking for the bill. For three courses and a bottle of nice white wine the bill came to £75. For great food and a lovely atmosphere we felt that this was pretty reasonable. I will definately be returning to Maison Bleue, and I can't wait to try all the other treats on their menu that I didn't this time. 

You can find this little gem at 36 Victoria Street, Edinburgh, or take a look at their full menu here.  http://www.maisonbleuerestaurant.com/menus.php