Our French Christmas

We’re in the middle of our French Christmas and New Year and, despite being laid up by colds, are enjoying the experience.

Our colds started at the end of the university term and just as we were about to go to Paris for the weekend before Christmas. We did get there, stayed in a nice 3-star hotel and the two days we managed to venture out were spectacular.

We walked up the Champs-Élysées with its illuminations and Christmas market. There were thousands of people there and it was all very festive.

Earlier we had visited Le Bon Marché – the oldest department store in Paris – and watched people buy very stylish Christmas presents and some amazing delicacies in the food hall.

Food is always in important in France, but during this holiday time it does become spectacular. Today the queues were long at local patisseries as people bought their festive specialities like Bûche de Noël, chocolates, macaroons and Galettes de Roi, plus brioches for the foie gras, of course.

We’ve really enjoyed the food, which has been served small and often, rather than the huge ‘pig-out’ on Christmas day that is traditional in the UK.

Christmas day is very much a family day in France, with time to see friends during the following week. Sadly we had to turn down a number of invitations this week in order to nurse our colds and to keep our germs to ourselves.

Spending time at home, we’ve noticed that French Christmas TV is much less of a big deal than it is in the UK, although, as always, there are some excellent dramas and TV films to watch.

The big Christmas day film was Robin Hood Prince of Thieves – which is an excellent film to choose, but there would be outrage in the UK if BBC1 or ITV decided to show such an old film.

So, now we have finished 2008 – the year we came to France – and at midnight enter 2009 – the year we return to the UK.

We still have many more months here, but it is a definite landmark in our year – and perhaps time to make some New Years resolutions, which is a tradition here too.

The health benefits of Calvados

Many of the conversations I had with people before I left Brighton were about how wonderful French food was - and I have to say that I am not disappointed.

Food is a very important subject for those of us with IBD. We all react differently to our experiences of severe bowel symptoms - some of us can become scared of what we eat.

It is true that I run a mile at the sight of sweet corn, but I do generally love
my food and really enjoy cooking, so France is a great place to be.

The first thing about France is the abundance of high-quality food. In the UK, it seems to me that there is a choice between cheap and tasteless or tasty but expensive food.

Here, I can buy fresh produce - fruit, vegetables, bread, fish, seafood and meat - in daily markets, local small shops or in supermarkets.

The variety and quality on offer here means I have a lot more choice of things that are good for my gut, easy on the pocket and taste sensational.

Although my health has been patchy (my Crohn’s wasn’t exactly going to stay back in the UK was it?) I do think the diet here has been kinder on me.

I’d forgotten how tasty fresh seasonal vegetables can be. Soups are perfect for my gut and I’ve included a simple recipe below for you to try after you’ve been to the local farmers’ market.

The other benefit of living in France is how we eat. Lunch is not a sandwich gulped down at your desk - it is a two-hour institution.

Taking time over a meal, having several small courses, plenty to drink (an apéritif then water or wine) is perfect for the IBD bowel.

And so too, I’m beginning to think, is finishing the evening meal with a small digestif - Calvados (apple brandy) in this part of France.

I’m happy to keep trying it - for purely medicinal purposes of course!


Recipe: pumpkin soup

Ingredients - serves 4

1kg unpeeled pumpkin or squash

25g unsalted butter

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

1/2 tspn ground cinnamon

1 litre vegetable stock

100ml crème fraîche

salt & freshly ground black pepper


Method

1. Cut the pumpkin into wedges and scoop away all the fibres and seeds. Cut away the peel and cut the remaining flesh into small-ish chunks.

2. Melt the butter in a large pan. Add the onion and cook over a gentle heat for about five minutes. Add the pumpkin flesh, garlic and cinnamon. Cook gently for another 5 minutes.

3. Add the stock, cover and simmer gently for 25 minutes.

4. Take off the heat and liquidise until smooth. Stir in the crème fraîche and season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

5. Serve with fresh bread and, if you like, a handful of grated Gruyère cheese gently stirred into the soup.

Coming off steroids

I am suffering a bit having finished my course of steroids at the weekend. I have big aches and pains – particularly in my joints – and I am ridiculously tired all the time. The good news is that my guts seem to be behaving themselves.

Fortunately, I managed to squeeze in a trip back to the UK before the steroids stopped. It was really nice to see family and friends, but otherwise there was nothing much I was missing (apart from curry) and I felt like I was ‘coming home’ when I arrived back in Caen.

I have struggled a little bit getting back into listening to and speaking French – but I haven’t forgotten it. Speaking English for a week was a luxury and brought home to me how much work it is to live in a country were you don’t speak the language.

The first thing I had to do after returning to Caen was to have a blood test prior to tomorrow’s Remicade© infusion. The last couple of blood tests have been stressful as I haven’t really understood what was being said to me and I felt really stupid afterwards.

What threw me last time was being asked my weight by the receptionist. Because so much of my comprehension is based on the context rather than understanding all the words, I was simply not ready for this question. No-one has every asked this before a blood test in the UK.

I might as well have been asked the cube root of 27 or who was the second president of the USA. I know the answers to both*, but would not expect to be asked such questions prior to a blood test so my brain would never think that those were the words being spoken to me.

Anyway, these weren’t good experiences, so I decided to try another laboratoire this time. Everything went well and I understood what was going on. I was asked my weight, but I was asked very clearly by the phlebotomist (rather than the receptionist) and with a nod to a set of scales. And I was anticipating the question this time.

I got the results through the post this morning and everything looks okay (and better than last time). Even my haemoglobin levels are up – must be all the steak and red wine.

*3 and John Adams if you wondering