No "I'm bored!" was uttered during this slow lunch, thanks to Graham's well-timed requests for the girls to go forage for dandelion greens, wild strawberries, or "green" walnuts outside.Īn hour later, our 8-year-old asked for her road trip companion, the iPad.
#DAN BROWN MUSEUM CARROT WEATHER FREE#
Simple quality ingredients like poultry, delicately flavored white fish, potatoes and bread are prepared and served, free of complicated sauces and unrecognizable spices. The food of the Charente is perfect for kids. In typical French fashion, lunch ambled on for several hours, with more and more courses prepared spontaneously after devouring the previous. Strawberrie s or walnuts off the tree outside. We took cues from the simple surroundings to create easy, rustic dishes. Delicious courses came together in a kitchen lacking state-of-the-art gadgets like crème brûlée torches or electronic bread makers. The lesson, food preparation and subsequent lunch were a treat. Don’t kids dream of sunny days, flowers and open fields? This beautiful place is something.Ĭheck back to watch us pop open the oysters, more deftly each time, hoping to spy a black pearl in one of them. Nothing? The colorful scene before us had been the subject of my children’s drawings and paintings for years. “This is it? There’s nothing here,” my husband said. Oh, the age-old question of getting there.ĭo we learn that question in preschool, along with sharing, writing our name and obediently eating all our animal cookies? “Yes, we are here!” I excitedly proclaimed. The iPad battery was running low and the kids, getting progressively restless, interrupted my mental wandering. Winding one-lane roads flanked by tall, graceful trees led over the hills to nowhere. Green, rolling fields with geometric swaths of bright yellow flowers ran for what seemed like infinity.
We departed Spain early to arrive at a village named Charmé by mid-morning for our scheduled market tour and lunchtime cooking lesson.ĭriving through the area I realized why I pinned it on my digital map. I sent an email to this American and decided we’d pack up and spend a long, family weekend exploring the Charente, to see what all the nothing was about.ĭay 1: Charmé, restless backseaters and the American I found a cooking school in the area - an American chef in the Charente.
No landmarks, no mentions of typical travel clichés like “quaint, charming or not-to-be-missed”. Travel websites mention a handful of larger cities with the prerequisite “must visit” cathedral or “picturesque” fishing village.īut the Google search for information about my digital map pins in the region amounted to nothing. If you Google the Charente you’ll find that geographically, it’s huge. With beautiful spring weather and a long weekend coming up, I planned the next family road trip. Reviewing the map one day, I noticed a cluster of pins in the same area: the region of Charente in Southwest France. On these drives past fields and hilltop villages, I pin idyllic spots on my iPhone mapfor a future return. We’ve sped through the French countryside on our way to Paris, Berlin or other parts, countless times. Proximity to the border allows us to satisfy road trip impulses to destinations dreamed of, but unknown. We’re strategically based in Northern Spain for quick access into France and continental Europe. The Bowman clan, as we call ourselves, are a road tripping family.