April showers!

Well I've just returned from 10 days  break in the UK. 3 days in Yorkshire, where both my daughters live, followed by a week with the aged parent in his new Retirement Village home in Hertfordshire. So, 3 days fun and chaos....trips to the park and helping catch up with all their laundery ( was there ever a family in need of a full-time maid!) and a week of sedate pub and Italian restaurant lunches ( yum-yum!) and bus trips into Watford for a bit of personal shopping! After 5 years in France I now find M&S overwhelming! So much stuff...so many styles, and colours...the choice is impossible!....and the food hall is equally bad! No wonder they say everybody is getting so fat nowadays!
It is WONDERFUL to be back home! I flew into Poitiers yesterday afternoon...we then spent 2 hours in Leroy Merlin...yes, it's back to the renovations! No time for food shopping so it was back home to eggs and home-grown asparagus, with baguette and a glass of red wine! It can't be beaten!
This morning Geoff went off to do some lawn-mowing for friends with a holiday home, dropping me & Batty at the 'aire de loisir' in Asnois. We walked along the banks of the River Charente...it's very high at the moment. Although there have been constant showers and a horrible dip in the temperature, the 'Departement de Vienne' is on water shortage alert, so I can only assume that the sluices have been closed!
It made the river look good...flowing fast...( hopefully we may yet see the elusive kingfisher this year!)......with green grassy banks and wildflowers popping up everywhere.
I carried on along the pathway, past Mont Lorier and in the direction of Maureville where I  passed a large clump of snakeshead fritillary. These were the star of the morning, but now celandines, lungwort, cowslips, lord's & ladies, and ladies smock, to name but a few of the flowers,can be seen in abundance! I only wish I could identify the birdsong as easily as the flowers. The cuckoo, who was calling  a couple of weeks ago couldn't be heard today...perhaps he's sulking because of the poor weather, but everything else was singing away loudly! The hoopoes have been spotted...but not by me!...and the ever faithful swallows and black redstarts have made nests in the old pigpens in the front garden. Our noisiest 'lodger' is a young kestrel. His parents have nested in the stonework under the eaves of the farmhouse here at Maureville for the last 4 years. They regularly rear an offspring or two & complain noisily at our presence in the garden, whilst the youngster complains noisily for his next meal!

blogs and blanquette!

There are numerous blogs describing life in France! Many are quite innovative and entertaining. I am now going to poach an article from 'Living the life at Saint Aignan'...with many thanks & apologies to Ken Broadhurst. In all honesty it's not complete plagiarism, rather the fact that, in googling for a 'blanquette de dinde' recipe, not only was this the best,but also bought in very similar conditions!
Early yesterday morning I popped into Netto...probably the cheapest supermarket in Savigne (give or take Leader Price and Lidl) for a few bits & pieces & found a large pack on the well-stocked meat shelf ( I really should make a habit of this early morning shop!) that was labelled .........
'8 osso bucco & 3 blanquettes'
As stated in the Saint Aignan blog, the price was low ( 3.49 euros per kilo, compared with 2.50 euros...but this is 2012, n0t 2010!)...BARGAIN....I thought...and shoved it in the trolley!
I saw Michel Roux jr. cook 'blanquette de veau' on Saturday Kitchen a couple of years ago and have fancied it ever since, but done nothing about it....as you do! 'Now's my chance' I thought.
This afternoon is the last afternoon of the 6 nations rugby competition. After a week's wonderful spring weather, all has changed. It is dull and grey and very cool without all that lovely sunshine that had me out in the vegetable patch. We've been invited out for supper tonight (which has rather upset Geoff as England don't kick-off until 5.00 pm GMT......which is 6.00pm French time & when we've been asked to turn up for 'aperitifs'!) so I thought I'd check out some recipes as our favourite B&B's come next week & will want to join us 'table d'hote'!
Meg & Harry were our first ever customers for B&B in France. They stayed with us when house-hunting. Then they came back to sign the 'acte de vente'. They've a holiday home about 20 minutes drive away and they stayed with us during the initial renovations. Nowadays they come over to France every summer & stop with us on the first and last night of their visit!
Voila! I thought.... I can cook 'blanquette' or 'osso bucco'...either of which will make a super main course!
I google recipes & started reading them. Then I went & had a look at the tray of meat in the fridge.
Quelle horreur!
How did I miss that word 'DINDE' written in red capital letters at the top of the label! No wonder it was so cheap!
Oh well..'blanquette de veau' will have to wait for another day. I've now studied all the 'blanquette de dinde' and the 'osso bucco..dinde' recipes. I'm sure it will be delicious......and I've found a lovely blog about life in the Loire.
(ps...I didn't really poach Ken's ' blanquette de dinde' article.....but I AM going to use his recipe, and I might just write it out here after I've cooked it! Having written this blog though, with a TV background of Scotland getting the wooden spoon after losing to Italy, I've abandoned all thoughts of cooking & shall now watch Wales beat France & win The Grand Slam 2012.........I hope!)

The house-hunting/buying season has arrived with a vengeance!
I've just waved good-bye to Anne & Bob...... ex-B&B's and now they are our new neighbours! They have bought an old farmhouse along the chemin, en-route to Asnois where, for the next few months, Bob has a full-time renovating job!
They stayed with us for 4 days..which meant organising dinner every night. I haven't done a lot of cooking this year, and these days I find it very easy to get out of practise.
On the whole it all went quite well. We have a lot of fruit and veg from last year's garden produce, whilst fresh produce at the moment is only leeks and parsnips.
The 7-month old sheepdog pup(not ours!) who has been running around the farmyard across the road, chased one of my 2 surviving chickens, caught....and destroyed it, leaving the old red hen, who then survived all the cold weather on her own, only to be found dead beneath her perch a couple of weeks later. I don't know whether, at 4 years old, she died of old age, loneliness or boredom....but no more homegrown, free-range eggs until we get some more!
Anyhow, back to my suppers!
The first night I made a huge tagine of pork.... a sweet (dates & apricots) and mildly spicy dish, which I love. There was sufficient to freeze the leftovers for another supper ....always handy when people ask to stay for dinner at short notice. For pudding I used up some of last year's peaches in a crumble with creme anglaise. I'm not too impressed with frozen peaches. The are a bit insipid, so I added a small amount of crystallised ginger to pep up the flavour. Freezing is a simple way of preserving excess fruit, but I think I'll try bottling some of the peaches this summer.
The following night we started with home-made parsnip soup, garnished with grated apple..as instructed by Delia! Then we had confit de canard.... and I was chuffed to find a sauce recipe..50% mustard mixed with 50% grape jelly. I made grape jelly in 2009. It is too runny, never set properly, but ideal for a sauce. It also made a great substitute for orange sauce that one usually does with duck ( & Geoff dislikes!)
Roasties cooked in duck fat are also dead yummy!
Thursday's supper started with fishcakes. I adapted the leftover grape/mustard sauce with some mayonnaise as a dressing! This was followed by chicken pie with leeks and cauliflower and dessert was elderflower jelly with some of last year's cherries..these do freeze well!
The final supper started ok with deep-fried calamari, but, after that wasn't quite so inspired as the previous nights! The main course of shepherd's pie was followed by creme caramel on a bed of meringue! It sounds ok, but the creme caramel should be turned out onto a flat plate in order to hold its shape. With hindsight, I also realise that I was too faint-hearted when making the caramel. In being afraid of burning it, I took it away from the heat too soon. Some of the sugar hadn't completely caramelised and ended up sticking to the mold! This meant that, what with fighting with the caramel & then landing on broken pieces of meringue, it rather landed on the plate with a 'splat'...not a good look!
Oh well, I shall do better next time!
More house-hunters expected next week...it's not helping the 'regime'!

Broadband by satellite!

Hooray!This is quick!

We've spent the last week fixing and installing a Tooway satellite system.

It was ordered online last week. Arrived within 3 days, constructed and erected at the week-end!

At that point things got tricky and we are.... oh so lucky... in having friends Mike ( & Jenni)...who enjoys tinkering with computers ( I'm trying...and failing...in describing him as a computer nerd!!...which sounds like an insult...but no, he's a hero!) Anyhow, Mike & Jenni came over, had a bite of lunch and sorted the parabola inline with the satellite.

I now have a phone line that is still free whilst I'm online....no more friends complaining that they can never get hold of us as somebody's always online!!

And, of course, it's so much faster!

Next step..'Skype'...and 'routers'!

February 2012...& a belated Happy New Year!

Well, goodness gracious me! What a game I've had trying to re-connect with my blog! I'm not 100% sure how I've now managed to find the right page in order to compose new articles, but here I am with a quick update of events since Christmas. ( & apologies to everybody who thought I'd dissappeared off the face of the earth!)
The maire of Asnois gave his annual address in January. Nothing terribly exciting...except news that the white elephant of a doctor's surgery...built for a Romanian doctor to come & start up his medical practice 2 years ago...& which fell through after the gentleman in question did a runner, now has a new use! Our commune sponsored him (the doctor) and entertained him for 18 months whilst he upped his French language skills in hospitals in Poitiers. By the time the Vienne medical boards considered him satisfactory to start a GP unit here in Asnois, he & his wife decided to head for more exotic parts of France...leaving a lot of unhappy councillors here. Anyhow..the new surgery is now to be for a dentist!
The winter weather didn't arrive until last week. After 2 weeks of snow & ice the thaw has arrived. I can't really say we were badly affected, but many local folk still have frozen or burst pipes.
Geoff has been building all this winter in a bid to break the back of the gite renovations. We stopped for a couple of days partying over the Christmas break...and for a couple of days last week when it was just too cold. Otherwise he has worked steadily onwards. Progress seems slow..deadlines to finish this, that & the next job, come...&....go!...but I suppose we are getting there! When you are not a professional, some jobs take an agonisingly long time!
The latest digression is the arrival ( this morning!) of the 'Tooway' satellite dish. This will take a day or 3 to erect, but we have decided that we can no longer carry on without 'broadband'. Friends & clients complain because they can't get us on the phone...and we spend a long time online, which is VERY slow! So, all I can say, is...watch this space!

Autumn fairs and picnics

We thought the summer jaunts and outings had come to an end. Very few B&B bookings, so back to the 'renovations'...but no...... suddenly we found all sorts of entertainment on our doorstep.

The grandchildren came for their autumn visit..and the weather stayed warm enough for a couple of dips in the pool!

We also took them to the wonderful 'Mediaeval fete' at Chateau Larcher...entrance free.... apple donuts and mead and knights in armour! The whole village participates, dressing up as peasants, knights, orcs (?--obviously around in France in mediaeval times!) and nobles. The highlight of the afternoon was the rescuing of the maidens from the wicked ( English!) knight's castle. First they were bombarded by umpteen schoolchildren... but then the siege warfare started...a great piece of wooden machinery...firing water-filled balloons at the baddies. 43 shots & they hit their target...but we'd all got soaked too in the process!

Our next outing was in our own village of Asnois. A picnic was being organised at the old mill at Roussille to show us the renovations being carried out there.

This time we were asked to dress up in nineteenth century peasant costume! A 'randonnee' was the morning's task...followed by the picnic at the mill... a guided tour of the mill and then songs, dancing and poems, and plenty of chat going on into the evening when omelettes were cooked for all! Of course, the alcohol flowed...we were surprised how much home-made wine and liqueur was present. Pierre came around with a bottle of clear liquid...many said......no-no-non....& covered their glasses with a hand! I said 'oui, merci!' ...one has to be daring occasionally...and was thrilled to taste a smoothe mellow drink. I was told that he'd taken sacks of windfall plums to the distillery in Availles Limousine and came back with 16 bottles of spirit! So that's how you do it!

It was lovely warm day...Geoff & I were the only English who turned up...which was quite a strain on our language skills!!...fortunately we were saved by American Dan, who, previously unknown to us, lives in the commune, works at Poitiers university.. and speaks perfect French and took a lot of stress out of our day!

Since then we've had house-hunters staying, and a little holiday ourselves..but more of that later!

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness

As September arrives so the B&B numbers go into decline. The rush of August seems like an age away!

We've had a long hot summer with plenty of visitors...some just visiting the area..some passing through (invariably on bicycles) and some house-hunters.

The pool has been a great success and we are pleased with the paving and landscaping that now finishes it off nicely! The gazebo has been fixed within an inch of its life as it is necessary for those wishing to avoid the sun's rays during the heat of the day...but also has to stay standing during winds and storms, which we get quite regularly in the peak of the summer. Of course the snag is the grass inside.........I think I'm going to have to invest in a small electric mower with grass collection box!

The hot spring and early summer has meant tons of watering...and even though we have had rain since the beginning of August...some of the vegetables have not gone according to plan.

The colorado beetle on the potatoes was the biggest disaster..but the raspberries and the sweetcorn haven't been good, the tomatoes, although prolific have not been as tasty as usual and the onions were small .....or non-existant!

On the other hand, the rain arrived in time for us to have the best crop of runner beans since arriving in France, the French beans were superb and the brassicas--savoy cabbage & cauliflowers are enormous!

So, harvest time has arrived and its jamming and bottling...pickles and chutneys... and soups & juices... and thank heavens for the freezer, where everything is dumped if I run out of time.

So far I have made.......apricot jam, mirabelle jam, blackcurrant jelly and redcurrant jelly, pear & ginger jam, bramble jelly and bramble cheese. In the store cupboard I've 'Maureville'chutney..made from the mirabelle plums in the garden, green tomato chutney and...a first for me...piccalili! This proved to be a bit traumatic..I needed more cider vinegar than I had in the cupboard, so substituted red wine vinegar..big mistake...the piccalili has lost it's wonderful vibrant yellow colour and the sauce is a sludgy brown. Nice & tasty, but a bit disappointing!

And I've bottled pears.This year I've reverted back to the 'Belgian' pear recipe. Bottling pears in a light sugar proved to be rather dull............easier to buy a tin of pears from the supermarket! The Belgian pears have been simmered for 6 hours in white wine vinegar and sugar & the luxurious thick syrup gives a very superior pud, served with a dollop of creme fraiche!

The big problem this summer has been the plague of flies that we've had to tolerate. We've put mesh on the back door & windows, but it's been impossible to eat outside without them invading every glass or plate, so barbecues have been fewer than usual this year. It's been quite frustrating but I understand we're not alone. A long chat with our maire at the Asnois picnic this year, & he said it was the worst he'd ever experienced...even worse than 2004. I just hope we don't have another bad year for the next 7 years!

So the busy season is over...last year we had 3 or 4 lots of cyclists en-route to Santiago de Compostela in September. This year they seem to have passed through earlier in the summer. I imagine some must have suffered during the hottest days.

Never mind, it's only a matter of time before we hear from the serious house-hunters. Our friends Gill & Mike have started up a house-hunting service .....www.poitou.charentes.kerizac.com.............. and send a lot of their clients our way!

Meanwhile Geoff is back upstairs...the plasterboarding is finished and the plastering will start as soon as the family...next week's un-paying visitors...have been & come & gone!

So, tomorrow we're having a day off for a trip up to the Loire on a wine tasting/buying trip... then the grandchildren arrive!