It must be the water!

The other night I had a chance to ask a kind of water specialist here in our little town my big question, one that has been plaguing me since we arrived – is it possible that the water seems to have such a different texture from our water at home, or am I hallucinating?  He said “It’s heavier, isn’t it?”  I was thrilled -- yes, that’s it exactly, but how can that be?  Minerals, he said.  Duh.  Of course we proceeded to have a long talk about it, with another colleague as an incredulous witness, comparing in every way the possible water processes here and there, and I also came to realize why everything here is so completely different to cook and store – not just the amount of water it contains, but the quality of the water itself, in John’s words, “The water is alive here.”  Now John Melvin is not a scientist, he is a kind of artist in residence here at the school in Pont Aven, and spent a year studying the river that runs through here in preparation for the first public piece on and about the river, which is why I call him a sort of water specialist. Plus he is an American living in France.  

So now I think I understand why a cut lemon rots on our counter after two days, in cool weather, where at home it will stay in exactly the same condition for at least a week.  The one at home is full of chlorine, first of all, and flouride, and whatever other chemical additives we deem fit for us to consume in our H2O, and here less of the original minerals and organisms are removed, or killed, so in John’s words, everything is full of “live” water, and truly living things decay, right?  And as I mentioned, the water is palpably heavier here.  This was especially noticeable when we first arrived, in the hotter weather, and I fished out the empty trays from the freezer and made ice.
The act of pouring water over the ice seemed to create a kind of syrupy water, and I thought I must be insane!  I certainly am crazy about ice at this stage in my life, but I don’t need to go into that here!  Cooking timing and techniques are completely different here and I'm still adjusting.  I made French Toast (sic) this morning and it took literally a minute (less than two) on each side to cook, nice and brown.  And an endive I had cut in half with a knife actually kept growing, so that little curly bits started poking out of the flat cut center.  Whew, it's weird.  Suffice it to say I’m not crazy, the water here is great, and the food is wonderfully perishable, I had just forgotten that it is supposed to be like that.  Now I’ll get back to my pear poaching, I'll have to post about French desserts next time.