Living through a pandemic

in the south of France

351 days in Carcassonne since

1st lockdown in March 2020

▫️ DAILY AND WEEKLY STATISTICS HERE .

▫️ Status quo or new turn of the screw? Jean Castex will speak again on Thursday 4 March, one week after having agitated the threat of new health restrictions in twenty departments. The Prime Minister is expected to make announcements during the weekly government briefing on the fight against the Covid-19 epidemic and to indicate what new health measures could come into force from this Saturday, March 6 in certain towns, cities or departments.

▫️ At the national level, the number of new contaminations in 24 hours was 26,788 on Wednesday evening. And the number of Covid-19 patients treated in intensive care units also continues to rise, with 3,637 patients on Wednesday, the highest level since the end of November. But this figure is still far from the peak of the 2nd wave in the autumn (4,900) and, above all, the 1st wave in the spring (7,000). 326 new deaths were recorded in hospitals on Wednesday, a rate that remains stable. Since the beginning of the epidemic, more than 87,000 people have died from Covid in France.

▫️ CURIOUS BOOTY that the one found last week by gendarmes from Bram (Aude), between Castelnaudary and Carcassonne. Thieves were touring the supermarkets with a particular whim on some specific products: chocolate, chewing gum and cosmetic creams.

▫️ FOOD & DRINKS from our cooking correspondent

🔵 New ‘Easter egg’ gin launches

Salcombe Gin’s ‘Easterly’ is meant to evoke childhood nostalgia.

This spring holiday, you can take a trip down memory lane with a new gin, inspired by the “nostalgic smells and tastes of an Easter egg hunt” – and also by a bit of Devon’s shipbuilding heritage.

“Easterly” is inspired by the journeys of the Salcombe Fruiters, according to Salcombe Gin’s co-founder Angus Lugsdin. He says: “Built in the Salcombe shipyard in the early 1800s, the Salcombe Fruiters were racing schooners designed to speed home with cargoes of perishable fruit from the Azores, Iberia and the Mediterranean. They sailed with the Easterly trade winds. So the name refers both to that and to the holiday.”

Easterly gin doesn’t go so far as to describe itself as “Easter egg flavour”, but it does have “tangy citrus notes on the nose from fresh orange peel, followed by hints of rich vanilla, sweet cherries, and a smooth chocolatey finish from organic cacao nibs.”

It’s designed to take the drinker on “a journey down memory lane” to the fun and excitement of Easter treasure hunts.

Hand-made in Salcombe, Devon by a team of distillers, Easterly uses the one-shot London Dry method, blended down to 42% ABV using Dartmoor water. This is then distilled with botanicals, with the Easterly extras complementing the traditional Macedonian juniper, English coriander seed and orris root. Cherry, coconut and honey add more sweet notes.

For those of us who fancy ourselves a bit gourmet, here’s the “taste profile”:

Nose: Fresh, zesty notes from orange peel with hints of layered cocoa

Palate: Velvety and rich vanilla flavours are followed by sweet cherries, with an underlying backbone of classic juniper and subtle nuttiness

Finish: A smooth, chocolatey finish

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🔵 The chocolate and orange martini:

Besides the obvious “Easterly and tonic” (the distillery suggests serving with a twist of “flamed” orange peel), you can try the Reminiscence, a chocolate and orange martini perfect for Easter. Here’s the recipe: