Food & creatures

An odd title with this post!

The cherries have now all gone but I thought I might share this photo with you of a delicious 'clafoutis' that Tine made - a bit calorific for healthier eaters, but scrumptious.

Next to prove there's a bit of home here: Yorkshire puds that accompanied a wonderful roast beef we cooked last week. Some of you might not know that just as we call the French 'frogs' we Brits are known as 'ros-bif'!

The 3rd photo shows our one and only artichoke which is now no more. Fingers crossed we can keep the plants safe from next winter's frosts so that we can grow more - we've got enough plants!

Outside we have our first aubergine flowers which hopefully will transform into one of my favourite vegetables. Next, a strange photo - we saw hundreds of tiny snails (with parents?) on our neighbours wall. That's why we have to put pellets down.

And finally the return of our fluorescent green friend (is it a gecko?) who is much less timid than the many lizards in our garden. He seemed to have made his home under the ex-tent.

We have a shed!

Perhaps not the most exciting of subjects but we are VERY happy to have our new shed, made from scratch within a week by our good friend Hugh with able support from Jeanne, Tine and even me.

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Tine's expertise was obviously climbing on top of the structure at any opportunity - well she is the youngest and lightest!

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We're happy as at last we have some storage space. The tent has finally gone before it fell down of its own accord, and the dining area on the patio is now nearly clear and ready for development.

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A big thank you to Hugh. I reckon he's already thinking of the next project.

Le Marais Poitevin

We had a fabulous day last week on Tine's day off, finally visiting le Marais Poitevin (the Poitevin Marshes). It's also known as la Venise Verte (Green Venice) and these photos show why!

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Our good friends Hughie & Jeanne accompanied us and we started with a scrumptious savoury pancake at Damvix not knowing that Monique's cousins once had this restaurant. Will definitely call there again!

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On to Arçais where we hired a flat-bottomed boat and guide and silently and peacefully meandered our way for a couple of hours through the man-made canal system, spotting all kinds of wildlife, including a snake (sorry Jeanne who missed it!), everything explained by our lovely guide.

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She even tried to light the gas that emanates from the sludge at the bottom, but sadly she wasn't very successful. Mind you it could have been us not too keen to lean too far over to watch! As you can see there was also a very low bridge that we had to duck to avoid banging our heads.

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As you can see all this exertion took it's toll and there's Hugh & I having a crafty 40 winks whilst the girls were visiting art-galleries.

The outdoor life

Apart from the occasional day we've been spoilt by fantastic weather in recent weeks and any spare time we have is spent outdoors. I hope you're not bored with all these garden photos but we are pleased with our efforts this year. Yes we're still battling with marestail (not sure how to spell it) but they don't seem to choke the other plants.

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The garden boxes we bought in early spring have been a great success with splashes of vibrant colour adding interest to the patio. We have several lemons on the tree that Joel and Martin gave us last summer, and they are delicious.

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And look, our first carrots, dug up to thin between plants. We had a few more the other day and they are getting bigger. Our crop of cherries this year has been magnificent and we have shared them with neighbours and family. Tine even made a bit of jam last week. We're just pleased that the birds left us some this year!

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The front of the house tends to be rather barren as the soil (sand!) is very thin there. However beautiful red and California poppies seem to love these conditions and their colour is so strong. They spread very easily so we might just leave them to it!

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We've been on a bit of a health kick recently, successfully losing quite a few lbs (kg!) This tasty courgette and mushroom salad is courtesy of my food guru, Nadine. We've been using this little table for our lunches of late, the parasol shielding us from the sun. Hope you notice the rosé - some habits die hard!!

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Finally Martine had a go on our new pressure washer last week. It works very well but it's a bit laborious. Must get back to it...

Birthday celebrations

I bet the postman doesn't know what's happening at our house as he has delivered quite a bundle of birthday cards for Tine which she opened this morning. The French don't really do birthday cards, or at least not to the same extent. (Yes, Kate, yours won as the funniest!)

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Yesterday was even more exciting as Matt had organised a gift from him, Nad & Phil: a piano! He asked Tine if she would look after the bar for 20 minutes as he had to go to the bank. In reality he was here with the special delivery. Sorry about the poor quality of photos but I am sure you can see how surprised and overcome Tine was when she returned to discover the truth.

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We invited Hugh and Jeanne round for lunch today - lovely home-made kebabs with salads, followed by apple and garden blackberry pie with custard - not very healthy after recent efforts! Hugh has been busy constructing a shed for the garden as we are desperate for storage space. He's even had me drilling holes as his apprentice. I'll be DiY king soon!

Long time no blog ....

.... but here we go again with a random selection of photos.

I've been busy helping Matt each morning, but now the main chef has started at la Paillote Tine has reduced her hours a little as there aren't many people around at the moment. There are signs that business is picking up however, and French school holidays start in a couple of weeks. Fingers crossed then.

I'm sure climbing on the roof is not part of Tine's contract, but that's the only way to put those long blinds on, otherwise it can become stifling inside the restaurant. Cousin Charles climbed up to do the last two thankfully (and is still in one piece)!

The second photo is really for 'er in Brittany who asked what the orange was in the webcam at by the jetty - here's the answer, dear. Shame you won't read this until you return to Morbihan! It's good that there is more activity on the sea these days. Here are some beginners learning to sail. There's another race from La Tranche to the Isle de Rez and back tomorrow if I get up on time to watch the departure - not very likely, I fear!

Charles and Stephan dressed up Matt's car one day - I'm not sure if it went faster, but the business card hanging from the aerial looks very effective. And finally there's Tine and yours faithfully, staunch members of the Laruso fanclub in France. Their new single ('Plain Paper Napkins') is out shortly - Si was shooting the video with the lads last week.

Fruit and flowers

To continue yesterday's theme I hope you are impressed by these photos. Our strawberries have been a fantastic success, lots of them and very tasty. Sadly we're now coming to the end of our crop, but last year there was a second flowering on some plants so fingers crossed.

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Instead of strawberries we now have delicious blackberries (isn't it too early?), cherries and blackcurrants which make an impressive bowl in Photo 2.

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Photo 3 shows a passion fruit flower on the terrace at La Paillote - will keep a look-out for the fruit later. And finally one of the crates on OUR terrace with shop-bought geranium but marigolds raised from seeds - oh, the proud father!!

Produce update

After a few weeks of fantastic weather we have recently suffered a lot of rain and wind. The sun is never TOO far away in La Tranche though - the last two mornings have been atrocious, but afternoons and evenings have turned out very pleasant indeed!

So the gardens need water and at least if it rains I don't have to my nightly duty! As you can see from above our produce is coming along famously. Tomorrow I will sample our first home-grown Batavia lettuce of the year (Photo 1). We weren't going to grow potatoes this year but our neighbours kindly gave us some to plant so we just managed to squeeze them in! (Photo 2)

Tomatoes and carrots are looking VERY healthy. As we've not grown carrots before we're not too sure about them but they look happy! Hope you like the ruler (courtesy of Parkland MS not DHMS or Queensbury, for those in the know!)

Sadly photo 5 shows our one and only artichoke. We think the frost must have got the other plants earlier in the year, but we promise to take more care of them next winter...

The cherries are magnificent but it is a 'bataille royale' to get them before the birds do - more fruity pictures next time.

Next look carefully and you will spot our first broad beans. I sampled a couple of pods the other day. They weren't quite up to size, but boy were they sweet, just like peas. Finally our favourites: courgettes. There are plenty growing so keep those recipes coming!