HERE is your chance to win a copy of Walnut Wine & Truffle Groves, by Kimberley Lovato, which takes you through some of the hidden gems of the Dordogne.
Kimberley has kindly offered two copies of the book as prizes so readers of This French Life have an opportunity of winning one in an ever so easy to enter competition.
Here is an extract from the first chapter:
The house where Danièle’s father was born, where her four children were raised, and where she welcomes her six grandchildren each summer, could be a movie set.
Straw hats hang from one of the wooden beams and an old-fashioned lamp provides light to a small workspace where Danièle has laid out a crisply ironed white cloth on which she is slicing smoked sanglier (wild boar).
“I live almost like my grandmother did,” she says, pointing her knife in my direction, then gets back to the business of slicing.
The house indeed appears untouched by time and as I survey the room, Danièle seems to survey her memories then confirms that not much has changed, except for refrigeration and plumbing.
The main room is chock-a-block with mementos and photos, paintings and flowers, and consists of a kitchen and a dining-living room area with a glass door that leads to an overgrown garden.
But the pièce de résistance and my biggest source of curiosity is the enormous fireplace that separates the two rooms.
It is open on both sides with a slew of ancient cooking utensils at the ready, and slow burning embers cast their orange glow on a platter of duck legs that await their fate.
Danièle pokes at the fire and tells me she designed the fireplace herself with entertaining in mind.
“Cooking is so much more than just eating,” she says. “It is about talking and being social, and making people as happy as you can with the food you prepare.”
Walnut Wine & Truffle Groves is a culinary travel book that invites readers to pull up a chair and visit the Dordogne the way it should be visited, one bite at a time.
Through interactions with local home cooks and chefs, visits to local farms and historic sites, market tours, and wineries, readers will discover the true jewels in France’s culinary crown as well as discover the country’s most beautiful and less trod-upon provinces.
To enter please leave a message in the comment form below, for example ‘please enter me into the competition’, but make sure your email address is correct, and just one entry per email address.
Two messages will be picked at random each winning a copy of the book. Closing date for the competition is Friday, June 18, 2010 at 11am Paris time.
THE COMPETITION HAS NOW CLOSED
Comments
46 responses to “Win a copy of Walnut Wine & Truffle Groves, by Kimberley Lovato”
Throwing my name into the hat.
A really good read and with photos which inspired me to get into the kitchen and whip up something that made me feel like i was in the Dordogne with the Sun shinning through my window…even though in reality its dull and raining in Wales….comme d’hab.
I’d recomend this book to anyone who has even the slightest interest in France, Cooking or Sunshine !!
Ahhh the Dordogne! Wonderful Sarlat, great food, gorgeous countryside! Please enter me. Thanks.
Two years ago, my lover introduced me to France, driving across the northern plains, the Massif in a sudden, vicious hailstorm, and eventually down to the Mediterranean, stopping off to stay in small family hotels and chambres d’hote. He doesn’t know quite how much I have loved these journeys in his company, through a country whose north coast I first visited nearly 60 years ago.
France remains a magical romantic place, which I visit – and then leave. It’s best that way.
Susy
Me, me, me – I want to win this book – We’ve a walnut tree just down the lane, it might just give us some ideas.
I would love to be entered to win this beautiful book. The food of this area is incredible and the book is truly stunning!
Ok..so, I’ve shared my views on this extraordinary book many times.
Whats one more comment?
Yes, it has recipe’s, great practical information on the Dordogne region,beautiful illustrations, but what captured me, and made me feel as if I were in the Dordogne, and made me think, Wow I just want to go, were the stories of all the different people Laura, and Kimberley met during their stays is this fairy-tale like place…This is a book you will treasure.
Many thanks for coming out with this wonderful book!
sincerly, Delinda Rogers
This book takes you to another place in time. The sights, senses, tastes and smells impel you further into the Dordogne wanting more and more.
The pictures are breathtaking.
This is a great travel book for anyone who loves France and a great recipe book for anyone who loves to cook.
What a great gift.
This is the most wonderful book…I enjoyed reading and learning all about Dordogne. And for someone who doesn’t know how to cook, it made me want to open up my kitchen and prepare these beautiful recipes for family and friends!
Thank you for sharing your experiences with all of us. Best, Karen Sraberg
I haven’t yet been to the Dordogne, but I certainly plan to go now! I think Kimberley and Laura have invented a whole new kind of book: one that combines personal essay, armchair travel, and cookbook writing, all with glorious illustrations. I hope they do a whole series of these books on different culinary regions of Europe and the world.
I would love to enter this competition, and enter the world of la Dordogne through Kimberley’s scrumptious descriptions of this region! I plan to give this book to everyone I know who shares my passion for France, food, travel and cooking!
One of my favorite reads in a long time. Fabulous writing, photos, and recipes. I now believe in Tinkerbell!
Please enter me in the competition.
My all time favourite nut, please enter me into the competition
Oh, the recipes are fantastic! If only while I cooked I had a view of a vineyard in France to make the dish complete. Oh well, I’ll have to settle for the sumptuous dishes on their own…which are just as good. 😉
When I cook for my friends, I have only one rule…they bring the wine, and I use your book.
Bon Appetit! Merci for the fabulous treats.
xoxo
Love walnuts, love cooking, love traveling, love France, this looks to be a great book.
I love all things French, please enter me into the competition. Thank you.
‘please enter me into the competition’
Vive le France! I would like to enter the competition please – thank you 🙂
fantastic i love france soooo much im eager to read anything set there.
Please enter me into the competition – sadly, no France for me this year, but a beautiful book about my favourite area would go some way to compensate!
A British exile from SW France now marooned in the hot plains of Madrid please enter me in the competition so I can dream once more of delicious,long,leisurely lunches where the conversation expertly weaves tales of previous meals with the tantalizing prospects of future delicacies.
Sounds like the inspiration I need. Hope to read it soon.
I now know why I didn’t plant my walnut tree in vain. Sounds just the book I need.
Would love to win this travel book on the Dordogne area.
would love to win this book and follow up with a visit to check out the dordogne
Sounds fantastic. I adore cooking in France and using the abundance of wonderful local produce here in the southwest of France. i would love to add this to my cookery library.
Me TOO – I MUST win this book as we too have a grove of walnut trees at the bottom of our garden in 46.
Wonderful website Craig … keep it up !
George
I would love to win a copy of this book – please enter me into the competition.
Elaine
We moved to The Dordogne when i was diagnosed with breast cancer and had to give up my job. It was a brave decision but we didn’t know what the future would hold. I am now in remission and enjoying our life in a small village called Issac. The french people have adopted us, we have integrated and learnt the language and i am now cooking french local dishes and always looking for new recipes to try so this book would be brilliant for me. It is something i would cherish with my other french cookery books. I am also going to be a first time grandma in January an event i wasn’t sure i would experience.
This book looks like a must have as I hope to be moving to my home in Dordogne very soon and we have walnuts trees and rumoured to have truffles.
Please enter me in the competition.
Name in the hat!
I’d love to take this book to France with me in September!
My husband and I spent 10 days in the Dordogne in May. It is the most beautiful place and we used Kimberley’s book as a tour guide and visited so many of the wonderful places she wrote of–Lascaux II, Les Jardins de Marqueyssac, Chateau de Beynac and Chateau de Castlenaud, Domaine du Haut-Pecharmant winery, Ferme Auberge Maravel and much more. Now that we are home I am looking forward to finally using the cookbook and trying to recreate some of those wonderful meals we had in the Dordogne.
I’ve already bought 3 of this book and would love another to give to friends who hope to go to the Dordogne next year.
Congratulations again on your wonderful success!!!
Please enter my name into the competitition for a chance to win this inspirational book.
This sounds like a delightful book. Please enter me in the competition.
I couldnt wait to read the entire Kimberley’s book and I like to cook and discover new recipes. With Kimberley’s book I believe I would know the basic of French style in cooking and dining, as well as its tradition. Congratulation for Kimberley! It’s an honor to say that she’s my friend.
This book I really would like to win.
eMAIL IS A WONDROUS THING.
Across the sea our messages wing
From me to you
O’er miles of blue.
Be glad ypu cannot hear me sing !
Just made it! Please enter me
Pick me, pick me!!
Recipies from Kimberly’s book inspired an entire dinner party which was a complete fest of wonderful tastes. I’d love to win a copy to share.
Oh wow! I would love to win this book as it brought back so many good memories of food and travel in the perigord region last year. Thank you for this oppurtunity- if I do not win it will be on my christmas wish list. Sandra.
I’ve been planning on getting this book for a friend of mine who would love it. I ordered one for me and am waiting for it to be delivered. I also can’t wait to selfishly brag that I am proud because I know the author!!
Ok .. alors, j’ai partagé mon opinion sur ce livre extraordinaire à plusieurs reprises.
Quoi encore un commentaire?
Oui, il a la recette, la Grande informations pratiques sur la Dordogne, de belles illustrations, mais ce qui me pris, et m’a fait sentir comme si j’étais dans le département de la Dordogne, et m’a fait réfléchir, Wow, je veux juste aller, ont été les histoires de toutes les personnes différentes Laura, et Kimberley a rencontré durant leur séjour est-ce conte de fées comme la place … C’est un livre que vous trésor.
Merci beaucoup de venir avec ce merveilleux livre!
sincèrement, Delinda Rogers