The last supper

My time in France seemed to be over in a flash. Blink, and you might of missed it. I was so sad to be leaving, but I always think that the best way to leave a holiday is with desire to stay, not the feeling of being ready to go home. We spent the last day soaking up the sun on the beach before heading back to the house for my last French feast. Every meal I ate while I was away was delicious, and this night was certainly no different. Em's cousin Maylis and her parents arrived, and with them they brought dinner...an extremely good dinner at that!

 A family reunited

A hearty spread was laid out, and it didn't take long before it had completely dissapeared! We started off with Pate and Cornichons, something I ate plenty of last week!

Then it was time to get fired up and stick some meat on the barby. After all what's more French than a juicy, pink steak!?

Its no secret that the French like their steak blue, and although I wouldn't say it was quite like that, it was super pink, packed with flavour and absolutely delicious!

There was plenty to munch on alongside this.
Grilled Aubergines

Roasted bell peppers

Tomato salad

Ofcourse in classic French style, the meal was followed by cheese. It was so moreish! Perfectly ripe, gooey and strong in flavour; exactly how I like it.

All of Ems friends then arrived for 'un soiree mojito', a mojito party in other words. Ems brother makes the most amazing mojitos so he got behind the bar and worked his magic.

It was the perfect ending to the most fantastic holiday. I couldnt have had a better time and I can't believe I've been missing out all this years! I cant wait to go back to Vendee, but in the meantime Em is off to Paris in September to do a masters so I know there will be plenty of new French adventures to come first...Just Watch this space.

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.

The real Burger King

Summer means one thing: BBQ season. When the sun shines back home the shops sell out of sausages, the shorts get dug out of the attic, and that fantastic BBQ smell fills the air. A BBQ back in Scotland is pretty rare, and I guess that’s why I feel as if I’m in constant BBQ mode when on holiday. This week has been no different, and though we’ve obviously barbecued a few times already, we all felt that there was no better way to end our week than with another good old Barbie! 

Up until now we have tried to be a bit more adventurous and let our BBQ taste buds run free, steering clear of your standard BBQ cuisine. Lime and Coriander Prawns, honey and mustard chicken kebabs and matured steak had all been chucked on the BBQ instead of sausages and burgers, but tonight we gave in. Everyone felt like a wholesome, mouth-watering, juicy burger, and that was exactly what we had! More to point, they were absolutely delicious if I don't say so myself! Just take a look at that photo...Need I say more!?

To spice things up a bit they obviously had to be homemade, and i took on the role of burger chef. Every girls dream.. Homemade burgers are always ten times better than your standard shop bought burgers. You know whats going in them, and you can be sure to be able to cook them however you want! I hope its common knowledge that a frozen burger can never be cooked anything other than well done, but if your at all like me, you'll love your burger medium, juicy and packed with flavor! I am always overly cautious when it comes to shop bought burgers. You can just never be sure whether they've served time in the freezer or not, so i would always go for nothing short of well done just to be on the safe side. But when you've made them yourself, your in the driving seat, and the only thing i have to say is Think Pink. 

This recipe is so simple that a monkey could make them blindfolded, so next time you fire up your BBQ on a warm summers day, hustle them up yourself. Trust me, you wont regret it. I promise they will only take you 10 minutes tops!

To make 6 burgers you will need....

600g Beef Mince

1 egg yolk

1 tbsp Dijon Mustard

A good handful of coriander.

1/4-1/2 Onion (depending on preference)

1.5 tbsp Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

Start off by chopping your coriander up nice and small, followed by your onion. I personally hate big chunky pieces of onion in my burger, and that is why i choose to go for only a 1/4 of an onion when i make these. More to point, i always make sure that i chop it up as small as possible. 

After you've done your chopping, throw all of your ingredients into a bowl and prepare to get messy...

Im afraid the only way is to roll up your sleeves and get stuck in. Use your hands to combine all of the ingredients until you've formed one big ‘lump’, or the worlds biggest burger...

Then break apart the mixture to make roughly six burger patties. You can make more or less as you please. Some people prefer a thin burger whereas others would rather get there chops around a big chunky number. Just go with whatever your heart desires.

And there you have it. Its time to get that BBQ smoking hot and cook up a storm! For me a great burger is all about the extras so I always make sure you to add plenty of salad, pickles, mayo, and Ketchup. However, tonight we pledged to make burgers that broke the standard  burger rules. We threw in a fried egg, a good helping of cheese, fried onions and some homemade Perinaise. If you haven't had the pleasure of trying Perinaise, it is a combination of a spicy Portuguese sauce (Peri-Peri Sauce) and mayonnaise which is served  in the fast food restaurant of all fast food restaurants, Nandos. I’ll save that post for another time...

My brother tried to be civilised and go in with a knife and fork.

He soon realised there was only one way to tackle this one...

Admittedly there was a photo of me chowing down on my creation, but the general consensus was that its in the best interests of everyone that it isn't released for public viewing. Trust me.

We washed the burgers down with ice cold Coronas as the sun set over Kamares. Nothing short of the perfect end to a fabulous holiday.