A Rum Tale

This is not only a rum tale it is a long one.

Last Saturday our friends invited us to a fund raising event in the next village. Their niece is very involved with a school in Nepal. A recent earthquake destroyed the old school so they have built a new bigger one. However it has no water supply due to the earthquake so funds are needed urgently. Sometimes it is good to reflect how lucky we are.

We had been told that there would be pizzas afterwards and we were to go to the barn....what barn? Peyrille is a small very old village with a tremendous community spirit and lots of expats. Apparently the "barn" was bought by the commune as a venue for community events. It transpired that the adjacent ancient bread oven had been fired up, someone had made a vast quantity of dough and we had to make your own pizzas to be cooked in the oven. In view of the large number of pizzas to be cooked there was an inevitable delay. No need to worry as we were also required to bring a glass which was filled with wine for a euro. Our friend had brought water tumblers for us which were FILLED to the top. Wine flowed all evening and the pizzas just kept on coming so you can imagine that there was a wonderful atmosphere!

Monday evening the same friends invited us round for aperos as their son and his partner were home from Martinque. We were still getting over Saturday night but it would be churlish to refuse!! Michel said "the boys" were preparing a Caribbean evening so it sounded fun. We were greeted with a rum punch which apparently contained white rum and surettes (a kind of sour apple grown in the tropics which is steeped in syrup). That went down very well and was followed by something a little longer - rum and orange. Gorgeous food accompanied the alcohol which now included organic red wine. As it got dark our hosts suggested we might like to try an "old" rum digestive. Why not! However to our astonishment it came out in a 3 litre box exactly like wine is sold in. It was delicious so we had two. We came home carefully, hoping that we would not encounter any gendarmes as we had to negotiate the village fete which was in full swing. We made it and reflected on a wonderful evening with super company. I also reflected that we had guests for lunch the next day and hoped that I would be in a fit state to cook. I had a perfectly clear head on Tuesday, it really is good stuff.

Christophe and Franck have ideas of turning Michel's barn into a pied-a-terre for their long holidays in France. Michel has obviously told them about our house so they arranged to come and have a look on Wednesday morning. However they arrived clutching another bottle of rum declaring "this is the best"

Subsequently John went on line to find out more about the producer and his wares. We were flabbergasted when we found out that the bottle was selling for 237 euros. What generosity.
We now have to organise a special evening to open it.

The very happy alcoholics are now having a few "dry" days.