Local Specialties, Imported Troubadours

Our guest chef at Latitude, who comes to us from Berkeley, cooked up some incredible foods during the week. But we have also enjoyed many local specialties that are specific to the Lot region.

Croustillot: The crust is quite robust and has a tasty flavor that isn't burned but it borders on it (at least to the palette not used to critical bread evaluation). The taste is unmistakable once it's in your mouth.

Violet mustard: Let go of your jam expectations and remind yourself you are eating mustard (not Marmite). I just couldn’t make this work for me.

Pastis: A special apple tart rolled out only on long tables (no exceptions- the table length as the key differentiator) in southern France.

Sables au Noix: French walnut shortbread with that dark overtone that must be brown sugar!



By the light of a full moon, the singers gave a public performance in the lower room of the Mill.
Local friends and neighbors of our host attended to hear and see them all adorned in Medieval costumes shipped from the U.S. Nancy’s (shown above) daughter Cassandra used her artisty to hand craft the performance flyer so that all could read the program. Click the image to enlarge and read what got sung. A link to the podcast David made of the show will be here when that's ready.

One person in attendance was the owner of a chateau in St. Circ-Lapopie. In return, he invited all singers and their guests to take a tour of his chateau/modern art gallery there. Here is a picture of Shira’s charms working on him. I'm positive she was the reason for his invitation.
The coolest thing about his place, which also serves at times as a modern art gallery, was the "piscine à l'intérieur de la roche" or, "pool inside the rock" in the lower level of his property. You literally stepped out into a courtyard overlooking the Lot River, then through a door where you would find yourself precariously at the edge of a swimming pool with its sides nearly flush to the interior natural rock walls.