Little feet: Birding in Southern Europe
Whenever I travel, wherever I go, I bring a bird book specific to that area, along with a pair of binoculars. Katherine must weary of the number of times I have brought the car screeching to a halt in order to investigate some darting form among the trees. This was certainly the case on our recent trip to Europe. But first, a little culinary history for you, from Larousse Gastronomique, that thick dictionary of French cooking. This is just a small taste. Petits pieds: French menu term used to describe all the small birds... Garden warbler: the garden warbler has been greatly praised by Brillat-Savarin, who...put it in the first place among the small birds. This bird, he said "gets at least as plump as robins and ortolans and nature has given its flesh a slight bitterness and a unique flavour, so exquisite that they engage, gratify, and stimulate all the degustatory powers... According to the poet Martial, "If, by good fortune, you come by a garden...