Roast Duck, Pan-Seared Foie Gras and the update

There has been a request to show our entire house so some one can get a better idea of what we are doing.

I love requests…. so, here goes.

This is the back of the building.  The house is on the right; the barn on the left.  What appears to be a horizontal dividing line separates the cave or cellar from the upper levels.  The cellar is the oldest part of the house and has walls that slant outward at the base.

There are 2 doors going into the cellar, (the one under the balcony is open) and 4 windows that have closed shutters.

There is a door opening onto the balcony from the hall on the main floor. The window to the right of the hall is / will be the dining room; to the left is the kitchen.

The three little windows above are on the upper level that we are currently building out.  The one in the center is in the upper hall where the stairs come up.  The windows on either side will be in two bedrooms. 

Got that?

Let's go to the front:

This is the 'barn' view – the car is sitting in front of the barn door.  The little window underneath the tree is the part of the barn that the former owners built the kitchen in… It's our pantry.  In front of the tree is a round concrete cover over the well.  We don't use it – haven't found a replacement pump handle yet….

This is the 'house' view:

The door goes into our den or TV room.  There are no windows in that room – the little window is the one in the barn.  What is the upper level on the back of the building is ground level here.

The large window on the left is our living room.  The smaller window in between the door and living room is the bathroom.  It used to be the main entrance into the house.  They blocked it off and put the bathroom rooms there – no idea why.  The bathroom is at one end of the hall, opposite the balcony that is off the back of the house.

On the upper level the small window on the left is in the master bedroom, the small window in the middle is in the master bathroom.  the small window on the right is in the 4th bedroom.  Between the master bath and 4th bedroom is the 2nd bathroom, without a window.

There – now you know.

On to the work:

The biggest accomplishment this week was doors.

This is what you see when coming in from the barn:

It may look like a door in the middle of nowhere but it's at the end of the upstairs hall, going into the winter work area.  It will be the door into the 4th bedroom.

It looks like this from the other side:

The door on the left goes into the spare bedroom overlooking the back, the open door on the right goes into the second bath.

On the left side of the old post is the staircase and landing area.  I'm standing in the master bedroom door to take the photo.

This is the center little window looking over the back:

How'd I do?

Most European houses are plain on the outside, unlike American houses.  Ours is just a big, stone box – with walls 24" thick……

The hall runs front to back and there are 4 square rooms off of it.

Now some food….

I roasted a duck for our Christmas dinner – I wanted something easy.

Yes, I know there are still a few feathers…. I thought I got them all but they kind of pop out as it cooks.

I did nothing to it – a bit of salt and pepper, is all.  I roasted it for 30 minutes at 400F (200C) then reduced the heat to 350F (175C), add the potatoes and roasted for another hour, basting occasionally.

I made an olive sauce to go with it, chopped black and green olives simmered in a bit of white wine.  Simple!

To start, of course, we had my favorite holiday treat: Pan-Seared Foi Gras

This year I served it with a small salad of greens and slivered beet root tossed in a mustard vinaigrette.  A few olives and sliced walnut bread completed the course.

As the foie gras was rather large we managed to do this three days in a row….

Happy Holidays indeed!