Prime Porkie Workie

Last summer, we agreed to have a half share in a pig, with our Dutch friends Joop and Cathelijne.

The pigs had a free range life for 6 months, and we were able to contribute to their diet, with some surplus apples and courgettes from the garden.

In February, the gig was up for the pigs, and it was time for the pot. Joop hired a butcher from the abattoir at Confolens. Farmers in France are allowed to slaughter 2 animals a year, for there own consumption, provided it is performed by a qualified slaughter-man.

The butcher arrived a bit early, so by the time we got there, the sow had already been killed. The male pig, by this time, had an idea what was coming and put up a bit of a struggle, as the butcher and Joop tried to tie his back leg to a tractor, so that he could be hung and so that the blood can be collected for black pudding. It took a few attempts, and a lot of squealing but finally he was tied on, and could be dispatched with a bolt to the head.

That was a bit unpleasant, as was the drawing out of the intestines, but if you eat meat, then I suppose you should be aware of the consequences.

The carcases were left hanging overnight, to drain, and it was back the next day for the butchery.

The butcher was very quick. So fast in fact that he finished our half and moved on to the next half before we had even noticed, making it a bit tricky to sort out who's pork was which.

In the afternoon he chopped all the mince for pate, rillettes and for sausages. We then mixed up spices for a few different flavours, french style, as Cathelijne had done the year before, and some Spanish, Italian and Cumberland recipes, from a book on sausages that i had been given as a present a few years ago.

Day 3 was spent mixing the pate and rillettes. The pate is cooked in jars in a big vat, overnight, while the rillettes are cooked on a stove, jarred up and then boiled for a while more, to sterilize and seal the jars.

I think we ended up with over 30 jars in all, of different flavours. We have tried some out on friends and visitors, with very good reviews.

Finally, it was time for the ham. Joop and Cathelijne had made one last year, and it was delicious, so we thought that we would give it a try as well.

First, you rub a mixture of eaux de vie and spices on the outside of the ham. Next, you soak some cloth in the same mixture, and wrap in around the bone endings. to protect them. Now cover the ham in salt, and keep it in a box for 2 to 3 weeks, depending on the weight of the ham.

Finally, remove the ham from the salt, and hang the ham in a ham sack, in a room with a constant cool temperature for about six months.

Hopefully, it will taste like Serrano or Bayonne ham when it is ready. It is hanging in the corner of the study and it smells good already.

Living on the Ceiling

We decided that we didn't want a cathedral ceiling in our new bedroom, as it would take too much heating up, and leave too many beams showing for spiders too hide behind.

To achieve this, we had to put in a false ceiling. I had done this before, in the cellar, but this would be much trickier, as I had to fit the joists as well. Neither of the beams that I had to work from were level, or square for that matter, so it was not possible to get the joists in nice straight lines, like you would find in a typical UK loft.

To get a level ceiling below that, I then used steel rails, suspended on adjustable brackets., with a lot re-adjusting afterwards to ensure that the rails were all horizontal , and in the same plain.

The lower part of the roof was more straight forward, although it was harder to get the rails in on flat plain because the slope meant that you couldn't use a spirit level.

Tina then fitted all of the insulation on top of the rails, a horrible job unless you like finding loads of glass wool fibres down your top and in your hair.

To fit the plasterboard, we were fortunate to be able to borrow 'Mr Orange', a board lift that belonged to our builder friend Mr H. This is a fantastic machine that means to you only have to lift a sheet 5 foot up in the air onto the top of the lift, and then you can crank it right up to the ceiling.

This then allows you to secure the board at you leisure, rather than trying desperately to find a railing to screw into while Tina holds one end of the board, and the other end rests on my head.

I Love Pavement in the Springtime

In fact, I love Pavement all year round, as Tina can testify.

For those of you who have never heard of them, Pavement were an influential 'Slacker' band from Northern California, who made 5 albums before calling it a day in 1999. I, like many others, only discovered them after they split up, so I was very exited to find that they were re-uniting for a tour in 2010. As the tour was gradually announced, the one and only French date was announced, in Paris.

Their London Shows were selling out quickly, so we got 4 tickets as soon as they went on sale, as our friends Jane and Pete fancied it too, as long as we had an extra night in Paris ( Tina's condition).

We found a great Ibis Hotel near the Bastille, and managed to get TGV tickets to Paris for €100 return for the pair of us. Jane and Pete wanted to get the Eurostar over, but it cost so much to get to St Pancras from Salisbury that it worked out much cheaper to fly straight to Paris.

So, come May 7th, all four of us were up before dawn and heading for Paris, arriving at the hotel just in time for lunch. After lunch, we walked it off along the river to Notre Dame.

Then we took the Metro up to Montmarte, which was nearer the concert hall. The tube station near Sacre Couer was a lot rougher than I remember it, with crowds of North Africans selling anything from fags to mobile phones, but once you fought your way through the crowds, and up to the top of the hill, it was still worth it for the views alone.

The concert was in a venue called Zenith, in a science park built on the site of the Paris Slaughterhouse, next to the Periphique. After our experiences near Montmarte, we were a bit anxious as to what the area would be like, but need not of worried, as it was all very civilised.

The Zenith holds about 6,000 people, and was fairly full, with a good mix of ages. It wasn't all 40 somethings, there were a lot of people who must have been in nappies when the first Pavement album was released. Being in the over 40's age bracket, we forgo crowd surfing for seats next to the sound desk.

The support band were The National, a Brooklyn band who have been around for years , but are finally getting some attention. They did a very good set, similar to the one they did at Glastonbury, including one song that the lead singer performed from the middle of the crowd while he went on a walkabout.

Now for the main event.

Pavement did a fantastic 2 hour set, including most of their almost hits, and a few rarities as well. I'd seen some old clips on YouTube before, and they were a bit hit and miss, but tonight they were on top form. They played 27 songs, including most of my favorites ( no Hex though), but the highlight for me was an amazing 8 minute version of 'Fight This Generation", where Stephen Malkmus really showed why he is such a highly rated guitarist.

This is a YouTube link of Pavement performing Grounded that night.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dilPvr2_pM&feature=related



And this is a great site I've found that lists and plays back complete sets of concerts.



http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/pavement/2010/le-zenith-paris-france-1bd4e14c.html





It was one of, if not the best concert I have ever been to. The metro ride back into town was very civilized, so much better than London, now queues, no pushing, no hassle. We even had the energy left for a couple of nightcaps on the walk back to the hotel. Not bad considering the 5am start.






On Saturday, we walked through the Marias ....



Up past the Pompidou centre to the Louvre ...






And on to the Eiffel Tower, where the latest Paris fashion was on show (my T shirt).





For Saturday night, we tried to get into a bar that was in Jane's guidebook, but ended up finding a brilliant wine bar just round the corner instead. Then we tried a restaurant that was in the book, and that was fully booked, but we found a great bistro just round the corner instead, with some really good home cooked fresh food. A far cry from the more touristy places in the centre of town.

By the end of the evening, I was so 'relaxed' that I was speaking french to everyone, including a french guy on a scooter, who stopped us and asked for directions, and cut my attempts off with a french accented "you are not from round here, apparently" which had the girls in hysterics.


On Sunday morning, we had time for a cruise along the river before lunch on the left bank .












It was a great weekend. We got the train back, and were home by 9pm. Unfortunately Jane and Pete got Volcano-ed, so the had to spend a night at the airport Ibis, not nearly as nice as the one near the Bastille.



Pete and Jane did get home the next day, but not before the dog sitter had filled their dog with digestive biscuits.