Duck confit for sale at a market in Gascony/Photos by Donna Turner Ruhlman
It's been twenty-five years since I remember a Cleveland winter with such deep cold for so long as this. So, when Donna, going through some old files, sent me some photos from our summer travel in Gascony for this Conde Nast Traveler story, I longed for summer in a completely new way. Not for summer to arrive but for me to arrive in summer, a summer evening in Gascony. And I just wanted to share some pix here with enduring thanks to our guide and Gascon muse, Kate of Camont.
Donna, always into rustic and textured surfaces (she made our 2014 calendar with pictures of doors from this same trip to Italy and France, serious door porn on our fridge for the remainder of the year), shot this board hanging on a wall outside Kate's ancient farmhouse. She also collects them for surfaces for food photography, one of the most important elements of a food shot.
One can never, never have enough garlic.
Scoring duck for grill.
We grilled these fatties on one of our first nights in town.
Wheat!
One of the farmers we met grows 250 types of wheat, spreading seeds to other farmers to ensure a genuine diversity in a world dominated by monocultures. He mills his wheat and sells the bread he makes from it.
Baguette on restaurant hat rack in Larvadac.
This image says, more than anything, You are now in France.
Something, anything, bring me back....
Ah I'm dreaming of Gascony too, transported there everyday by Kate's Instagram feed 🙂 Actually heading back there next month briefly then for a longer time in the summer. Cannot wait. In the meantime, your (Donna's) pictures are a lovely way to live vicariously! And that board? I have pics shot on that too. It's so beautiful!
Thank you for sharing, bringing a little summer sun light to the winter night
I love your blog. Being a french expat, it is a little bit of home every time you post something. Nous sommes les cadets de gascogne, de casteljaloux, toujours fiers... Moustache fine... Merci!
Ah! Thank you for reminding me of that trip too. I long for those duck breasts. Chicago has been brutal this summer. Lets go - race you to Camont!
I wish I was there, stocking up on that duck confit in the first picture! Now that I think about it, cassoulet sounds like just the thing to bring some warmth to this insane weather we're getting in Chicago (that is, as long as I don't freeze to death on the way to the butcher shop).
"Baguette on a hat rack"
That... would be a great name for a band!