Absence makes the heart grow fonder

......hopefully.

Things have been a  little hectic around here lately.  Between an overly productive fruit and vegetable garden, house guests and the usual daily tasks, I have not had time to post for a while.

The cherry harvest has finally slowed to almost nothing.  In fact after the high winds of yesterday and today I think there will be none left on the tree at all.  Sad, but I cannot help heaving a sigh of relief.  It feels so wasteful to not make the most of the bounty offered up to us by good soil and lots of sunshine, but it is exhausting to try and keep up with.

I did not think to weigh the cherries as we picked them.  A shame, as I am sure we had over 10kgs from our half of the tree.  I will be better prepared next year - and not so naive.....

My rhubarb decided to turn into a monster and overtake the raised garden beds.  A lot of picking and processing was needed to bring it back to a manageable plant.  Luckily I adore rhubarb so I was not too stressed about what to do with all the largesses.

The gariguette strawberries, wild strawberries and the others (type unknown - alright, but not fabulous flavour) also decided to put forth masses of fruits.  A friends' children helped out by foraging and feasting one sunday afternoon.  They were enchanted with the tiny wild strawberries and think they liked them best of all.

There has been plenty of home brewing happening as well.  I have limoncello (second batch - first batch decimated by visitors one sunday afternoon), strawberry ratafia, rhubarb liqueur and rhubarb syrup, cherry pineau, cherries in ginger wine and cherry liqueur all sitting nice and cosy in the cave.

Recipes for all the above will follow this afternoon - or tomorrow morning - depending on time.

Cross Cultural Communication..... or miscommunication

As promised last post, I have some recipes to share.  I am going to start with the latest project and work backwards... just for fun.

Easter is fast approaching and one of the things I really miss living in France is hot cross buns.  The closest thing that we can get to them here is a panettone - yes, before you say it, I agree - not even close.

Try explaining hot cross buns to someone French.  The best translation of the name I could come up with at an instants notice was "petit pains de croix chaud" (small rolls of hot crosses).  Some things just do not translate.

The flavour however, well that is another kettle of fish... or dough.  So far those I have (force)fed the buns have marvelled at how light and tasty they are.  I may not have this cross cultural communication thing down pat, but I surely can cross the cultural divide with a soft, warm, spicy bun spread with local butter.  These are delicious hot with fresh butter, and if you have any leftover I imagine they would be fabulous toasted too.  I need to bake another batch to test this theory though as none left of the first batch.  Gannets, what can I say.

I read a few blogs each morning, dipping in and out of them as the mood takes me.  One that I am especially impressed with is an Australian blog 120dollarsfoodchallenge.  Sandra is a creative cook who is trying to make meals for the family on a tight budget.  There is a whole story about the creation of her blog, and a lot of controversy.  Personally, I think what she is doing is great and kudos to her for encouraging people on limited incomes to feed themselves and their families healthfully and without missing out on treats and flavour.

Anyway, whilst browsing her blog the other day I saw a recipe for hot cross buns.  My heart skipped a beat.  My mouth watered.  The little voice in my head went "Oh yuck, fiddly and complicated".  (Really need to trade the little voice in my head for on a new one someday).

After reading the recipe and thinking about it, I realised that it really was simple.  Rather than the complicated, fussy instructions normally found, Sandra has given a clear and easy to follow recipe with no tricks or extra steps.  Wonderful.

I have given you Sandra's blog link, and will give you the recipe that I wound up creating from it.  Take your pick between them, or adjust again for your tastes.  One great thing with Sandra's recipe is that she gives you instructions for making in a breadmaker.  Still waiting for mine to arrive from Australia with all our goods and chattels, so I made mine by hand.

Thanks to Pestoman and Pamela who gifted me two Historic New Orleans Collection mugs.  The perfect size for an afternoon tea time drink, and lovely to look at as well.


Hot Cross Buns - A Debbie Version

1/3 cup fine sugar (caster sugar if you have it)
2 teaspoons dried yeast (or 2 5g sachets)
1 and 1/2 cups warm milk
600g flour (plain not self raising)
1/2 teaspoon salt
good grind of cinnamon
big shake of 5 spice
good grind of nutmeg
60g unsalted butter melted
1 egg lightly beaten
as many sultanas as you want (no more than 1 cup though)

Mix sugar, milk and yeast in a bowl till well combined.  Set aside 10 minutes till yeast activates and the mix goes frothy

Put flour salt and spices in huge bowl.  Add wet mix, butter, egg and sultanas.  Mix till combined but do not over mix.  Leave in warm spot till doubled in size (can take 30-45 mins).

Once risen, turn onto floured board and knead gently until smooth and elastic.  This may take a few minutes.  Do not knead heavily or you will break up the fruit.

Divide dough into 16 pieces and fashion each piece into a ball.  Place balls in a greased and lined tin with small space between each one.  Leave 10-15mins till balls double in size.
Bake 20 mins at 220C, or till browned on top and lovely and big and fluffy.

Glaze with a teaspoon of homemade peach jam and splash of water heated till liquid.  Cool on rack

Eat immediately they cool enough to touch

Notes:

• The original recipe calls for a 30 X 30cm cake tin to bake these in.  I used a small roasting tray instead.  So long as it has high sides you can basically use whatever size tin you want.  Next time I will  put 2/3 of balls in one tin and the rest in another.  I felt they were too cramped and did not rise or bake as well as they could have.
• We do not have plain and self raising flour here.  I used an organic flour (think it was type 65??)
• Yeast comes as sachets of 5g or fresh here in France.  I used 2 sachets of dried which is slightly more than 2 teaspoons.
• Caster sugar is not available here, so I used a fine grained sugar instead.  It is being melted into the milk and yeast mix so it is not a huge stress if you don't have caster sugar.
• The original recipe called for precise measurements of cinnamon and mixed spice.  I love nutmeg and did not have mixed spice, so went with my own pantry spices.
• Original recipe called for 1/3 cup of currants.  I put in the same amount of sultanas (currants not available here) and it looked paltry, so I added more till it looked right for me.

Normally these buns should have a flour paste cross and a clear glaze on top.  Personally I think the flour paste cross is a tasteless, nasty addition and the clear glaze the same.  Why ruin a delicious treat with things I do not like.  So I glazed with homemade jam instead and it looks pretty as well as tasting great.

Blossoming in Buxerolles

Long time no news.  Sorry.  The move has taken a lot of energy and time and I have had nothing left for other activities such as blogging and emailing.

We are all moved in now and awaiting the arrival of our possessions from Australia.  It will be so good to have our "treasures" around us.  I will never again take for granted photographs, books and the assorted memorabilia that makes a house a home.

The past month has flown by.  When we arrived it was still very wintery and cold.  Heavy frosts each morning and the trees were completely bare.  Within the month spring has gradually forged its way into being and we are seeing more sunshine each day (and more rainy days.... but that is another story) and an increase in temperature.

We are lucky enough to have three forsythia in the garden, which heralded the arrival of spring with a profusion of bright golden yellow blooms.  So bright that it almost hurt your eyes to look at them after the long grey and bleak days of winter.

I have discovered wild strawberries, violets and cyclamens throughout the garden.  In fact, our lawn is more of them than grass!  Oh well, at least they are pretty.  I have given the lawn a good feed, weeded and added grass seeds.  Hopefully by summer we will have a nice lawn to enjoy.  The scent of the violets has been amazing and the lawn has more purple flowers than green at present, so I am not too stressed.  Yet.

The native annuals have popped up everywhere in the edges of the garden and it is a very pretty sight.  I have been holding off on cutting the grass in certain patches so that they can flower and seed for next year.  It gives a sort of wild meadow effect, which is not tidy and groomed, but a haven for bees and other insects and attracts the birds.

Our neighbours have many fruit and nut trees which overhang our boundary.  We are going to enjoy almonds, hazelnuts and cherries courtesy of them.  The picture above is of the cherry tree in full bloom.  Really beautiful against a blue sky and with a lovely perfume too.  It overhangs our terrace area, so will be convenient for sitting around and plucking fresh cherries for dessert after a bbq.

The vegetables are planted in raised garden beds and are flourishing.  I have picked my first crop of rhubarb and made compote to eat with homemade yoghurt.  A herb bed will be going in this week, and tomatoes after the weekend.  There is still the occasional frost so cannot go crazy with the softer, less hardy plants yet.

We are really enjoying our new home and the area.  The neighbours are all welcoming and kind, and it has been a pleasure interacting with people in our day to day lives.  None of the stress and angst that you face in Paris.

More photos and posts will follow.  I am in the midst of brewing strawberry ratafia, limoncello, and other goodies.  A set of six art deco dining chairs is also in the process of renovation.  Lots to do.  Will try and keep you up to date with it all.

Art in Montmartre

The countdown is on for our move and, as you can imagine, we are frantically busy and stressed....but organised.  Believe it or not.  Only 2 weeks to go before we are country mice.

Our departure date from Paris is set as 23 feb.  There is farewell drinks on 18 feb.  Email me for details if you wish to join us.  As it is highly unlikely we will have internet immediately upon moving into our new home, please be patient and I will update as soon as we are connected.  In this case no news will be good news.


Thank you to everyone who has emailed with concerns about our family in Australia.  Everyone is ok.  A bit soggy and sick of the extreme weather, but ok.  Torrential rain, flooding and cyclones up north... extreme heat and bushfires - and flooding (!) - down south.  Crazy times.

One thing I did not want to forget to tell you about in all the rush to move is a friends art expo that is coming up.  If you are in Paris at the time, it will be worth going to.  Who knows, you may even pick up an original piece for yourself.  I am going to try and be back in Paris for the expo as it promises to be fabulous.  Am also hoping I can pick up one of the pieces to grace the walls of our new place.  The link to the website is here .emmapauline.com   It is under construction, but you can already see a few paintings and all the details for the expo.  One of her paintings is below.

There will also be an exhibition of some of my photographs at the BCWA in Paris during april and may.  Details will follow closer to the date.  If you are a woman of British or Commonwealth nationality (or married to someone who is) you should know about this organisation in Paris.  I have had some great times there and have some wonderful memories thanks to the BCWA.  As you all know reading is one of my passions, and without this club and its english language library I would have gone bankrupt buying books whilst here.  Please check out the link here http://bcwa.paris.online.fr/


Whilst I am sharing links and favourite things, I must mention the Musee de Montmartre.  It is my favourite museum in all of Paris.  I will miss this place more than you can imagine.  It is constantly evolving with the needs of the quartier and is always interesting.  If you are in the quartier, please make sure you visit.  For more details see the website http://www.museedemontmartre.fr/

Well, after all that I feel a little like an infomercial....

The photo at the top is of a "tutti frutti" frangipangi in the neighbours garden at Nelson Bay.  I thought we could all do with something fresh and sunny and bright to look at.

Christmas time is here

... and hopefully the eurostar is running.....

Just a quick message before the last minute rush.

We are supposed to be going to London for Christmas.  I say supposed to be, as the eurostar has been running a very limited service due to all the snow we have had in France and England.  Not only has it affected the airports, but the trains have been hard hit as well.

As of this evening the website was saying we will travel, but then we have had more snow since that update.

Who knows what will happen.

What I do know is that whether we are in London or Paris we will have a lovely Christmas.  There is a good chance it will be a white Christmas, and that is something special for these little Aussies.

The boys are going to the cat sitter tomorrow, I will miss them enormously.  It will be a huge change for Eric who thinks he is so big and brave and fearless.  A real character.  He is growing at a great rate of knots and is becoming more and more acrobatic with each day.  Learning new tricks - when he wants to (he is a cat after all - not a goggie), and being so cute it is hard to punish him when he is naughty.  His latest trick is to bring me his stuffed toys whilst I am sleeping.  I wake up in the morning with a collection in bed with me.  Adores his stuffed skunk and lamb, carries them around the appartement and keeps them near him, and thinks his bilby is the perfect toy to bash up.  The Loch Ness monster he just washes and fusses over.  Plays fetch when he is in the mood and there is nothing better to do.

Guy is getting a bit muscular now.  All the playing chase around the appartement is doing him good.  Still a gorgeous snuggly boy though. 

It will be good to have a big house for them to play in.  I can imagine the games of chase up and down all the staircases...... and they will learn all about basking in front of an open fire.  Something which I am sure they will excell at.

No pics of decorations.  Due to having a teenaged kitten/cat and being about to move house, I have not done any lighting or decorations at all.  Must say I do miss the smell of pine boughs in the house. 

The pic above was taken by Wayne in Beaver Creek USA last winter.  Kind of appropriate for here this winter.

I hope everyone has a lovely Christmas with family and friends.

Christkindelmarik, Strasbourg 2010

Just a quick post with an update on the trip to Strasbourg.....

Yes it did go ahead.  The TGV was running, albeit at a much slower speed than usual.

We had a fabulous day wandering around the city and exploring the little markets scattered throughout it.

Lunch was sauerkraut (for C.) and Civet de Biche (venison casserole, for me).  

The whole city smelt like Christmas.  Spicy, warm and enticing.

Lights and decorations abounded, and the whole city felt very welcome and a bit like Santa's grotto....

 More pics in the album to the left.

The angel picture is specially for two lovely friends.  Firstly to Joan.  Her Christmas angels are glorious affairs.  Hope you like the ones at the top of the post Joan.

 

 These ones are for Barbara.  Well wishes and hope you are not having too rough a time with chemo.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow....

What a whirlwind the past month has been.  We have had many things to do and I have not been able to update via posts.

First news, in february we are moving house.  We will still be in France, but are moving to a different part of France.  Our new home will be in the Poitou-Charentes.  More on that as it happens.

As part of the move we have been making visits to find a new home, looking at the logistics of the move, researching what is required to furnish the new home, and also researching what type of car to buy (something which will be essential in the new city).  

At this stage I have done all I can, and now have to sit back and let things run their course.

Meanwhile, life is busy here with the wind up to Christmas and the party season.  I must thank all of you who sent birthday greetings.  It was really appreciated and I was touched that so many thought of me on this milestone birthday.

My plans for this week included a trip to Strasbourg to visit the Christmas markets.... as with all the best laid plans, there has been a slight glitch.  As in over 15cm of glitch called snow. (I gave up measuring at 15cm and went inside, but it continued to snow for a while longer so possibly it reached 20cm here on the hill).  I am monitoring the train website and we shall see if the trip goes ahead or not.

A simple trip to exchange my library books today turned into a 3 hour saga to get home.  Living on top of Butte Montmartre may be charming and picturesque.... but it means you get cut off by transport and cannot walk up the hill in the snow.  All good fun in the end though.  

I have added a new photo album to the sidebar and you can see some pics I took this afternoon when I finally made it home.  The cute puppy is called Pauline, and she was so excited to see snow.  It was the most adorable thing to watch her playing.  Pouncing at snowdrifts, biting at the flakes as they fell, and sneezing when she bit a huge pile of snow and it went up her nose.  Hope you enjoy seeing our quartier as much as I enjoyed taking the photos.

Oh, and yes, I did go out and have a good old fashioned snowball fight with everyone in the neighbourhood whilst taking the pics........ of course.