Saturday........shopping hell and non querty keyboards

Having spent some time debating the pros and the cons of purchasing a new laptop, while we were in the city today we decided to take a closer look at some of the current offers here in France.

I find it quite easy not to order something on line and putting it off for yet another rainy day but actually seeing them in person today made my mind up for me.

So I am now installed in front of my new laptop and trying to find my way around the unfamiliar keyboard. I am a touch typist and it is hard to convince my fingers to go  in new directions, m a q w are in different places, there are additional characters and the symbols take some hunting down.

This afternoon was therefore spent downloading my usual software that I use regularly, like picasa and photoscape, getting rid of the pre-installed bits of software that are rubbish like norton and the demo games, and I was going to catch up on my missing blog photos, only to find that the camera battery is dead.

Before we went to town though there was just enough time to weed the flower bed, except as I tried to pull up the ground covering clover that was spreading I found a whole batch of chamomile coming through.  As this is not where I seeded it I can only guess that it has self seeded from the spent compost in the flower tubsthat were emptied into the bed at the end of last year.

In the end I pulled up a few green bits here and there that I could identify as not being flowers, found some trailing ivy and made a quick tripod to give the ivy and the flower bed some height, started weeding the herb garden until I trod in an ants' nest and had to do the slapping my legs dance across the garden to stop them biting me.

Glad there was no camera available to catch that for prosperity.

Gave up on the gardening at that point - it just seemed safer not to continue.

The little things in life...

...that give us pleasure.

I love squared paper.  Call me a little retentive (probably a lot retentive would be more appropriate), but I love to write and make notes on squared paper.

In my teens I went on a French exchange from school and whilst in France bought some blocks of squared paper - which is commonly used here as school note books and scribble pads, and fell in love with it then.  On occasion I have found it in the UK, normally at one of those high street discount shops, or European supermarkets, but now I am here in France I get to use it all the time.

I like the way I can draw out designs on it and how easy it is to scale them up, I like the way I can make my own cross stitch patterns on it and see how they work out, and I like the way I can section it up to remind me of what I need to do, how to do it, and what I need in order to do it, basically I just like it!

Anyway - using my pad of squared paper, yesterday I drew up a pattern for a reversible bag on it, then scaled that up onto some of the glossy publicity paper, and started cutting up the vintage material I bought at the flea market on Sunday.

The hectic pace continues, after Wednesday's flooding of the field, which coincided with a job interview, and Thea's friend coming over, we had guests in the morning, visitors in the afternoon (at least two of the cars have now gone and my garden looks less like a scrapyard today) and went out for a meal last night.  

Typically French, the starter appears at 9.30 after two and half hours of aperos - we all fell on the food like the starving hordes, and it was midnight before we got to coffee.
Now I have to smarten myself up and get ready for work for my first day with my new client - I guess the general disorder 'chez nous' did not put off my new employer on Wednesday then!

With me in the dog house with the tower, I am back to the laptop - so before posting any photos will have to download all the software again first.  Bag photos will follow - although saying that I now can't remember whether I took any 'in progress' shots so it may just be the finished article.

At least the sun is out this morning.  I may even get some gardening done this afternoon - it's either that or a quick power nap when I get in from work.

And the rain continues

Just a quick shot to show the stream that runs across the bottom of Milla's summer grazing field, having now burst its banks and flooded the fields and across the road. The ditches are full either side of the road, and with more rain on the forecast it looks as though it is just going to get deeper.

Another rainy day

With the skies leaking all over the shop again, I thought I might take the morning to sort out the files on the computer, but I am not having great success. I have now backed up everything, I have deleted, de-frag-ed and scanned registry files but the damn thing still will not work properly. It needs to be formatted but without the disks I can't reload the operating system, and I can't decipher enough Dutch to set up the partitions. I am so frustrated by it now, that I just want to commit acts of violence on it.

The frustrating part about it is, when it works it works fine, I have two photo-editing programmes and it will flip between the two, it will upload files, it will even play some music at the same time, but then it freezes and all your work is lost, transferring files are lost, photos are lost and there is no warning when it will happen. Sometimes it works for as long as 45 minutes, then at other times you have to reboot it 3 or 4 times in the space of 10 minutes just to get to the desktop screen.

I feel that I have just wasted a couple of hours on nothing.

At least I spent the 30 minutes while it was trying to upload some photos drawing up plans for my next attempt at a maxi dress.  ( I hope Thea does not notice that I ripped a page from her magazine for inspiration -  Glamour is her bible at the moment.)

I have an idea of how to fix a dress that I butchered last year, but before cutting it up I am experimenting with the theory on some pink voile that used to be curtain material for Thea when she was into pink, and hope to continue with this once I get home from work this afternoon.

New bags and embellishments

It has not just been busy here the last couple of days it has been absolutely manic.

I think every one of our neighbours has been round with something that needs fixing, we have some friends over from the UK on holiday too and are trying to spend some time with them, as well as trying to get as much done as we can in the garden and house in between showers.

On the basis that we all have to draw a breath every now and again and take some zen time, I managed to find a couple of hours yesterday in my studio to draw up a new bag design and get the first prototype sewn up.  It took a bit longer than expected because of having to think everything through before committing my scissors to the cloth - what's that old adage, measure twice, cut once.

If I thought yesterday was busy today was relentless.  The current fix-it list for Brendan is: Polo, Clio, John Deere, seized tractor water pump, a dead VW 4x4, leaky tap, a broken rotavator,  and a non-running Renault tractor - this is all because he is off to the UK for a few days himself next week so of course everyone wants things done before he goes!  Oh well, looks like painting the bathroom will be a project for me then.

Earlier, while he sat cruising on the internet for a cheap car stereo for another one of our neighbours I ran away to my studio so I could get the trimmings onto the finished bags, one denim bag done, two cotton bags with embroidery and crochet flowers done, one cotton bag with felt flowers finished, now I just need Thea to model them so I can get them listed on Etsy.

Photos to follow when I can get the computer tower to work - I guess my Dutch is still not up to scratch on Microsoft gobbledegook!

Edited: Wednesday - as you can see I managed to get a couple of photos up.

I went to the market and I bought ....... some aubergines

I went to the flea market this morning and apart from some more material, some shoes for me, some shoes for Bren, some shoes for Thea (my - that's a lot of shoes!) I also bought a couple of kilos of aubergines.

I like aubergines, but not everyone else does, so I have to be creative in how I use them.

One of our favourites is Moussaka - just like lasagne but different.

Here is my quick and easy recipe - I normally make enough for two, freeze one and eat one.

Moussaka

For the base:

2 chopped onions
4 crushed garlic cloves
2 generous glugs of olive oil
1kg lean lamb mince - or whatever you have, but lamb is more authentic
1 glass red wine
2 tbsp tomato purée, or one of those little 40g tins
400g can chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp chopped fresh oregano
3 large aubergines

 OK - this is not exactly one pot cooking - but almost - 1 frying pan and an oven proof dish.

Slice the aubergines and fry for a couple of minutes each side in olive oil, place in the bottom of the pan and ditch the oil.  In fresh oil fry the onions and garlic then add the meat.
If your mince is fatty, drain some of this off as it cooks - I know my dog loves a bit of extra fat on his boring biscuits.
Layer the meat onto the aubergine, then in the frying pan add the red wine, tomato purée, canned tomatoes,  and oregano, just heat through, stirring to mix it all together then pour over the meat and aubergines.
If I have a couple of soft tomatoes in the bowl I normally slice them in now as well.
 

For the topping:

75g plain flour
600ml milk
50g Parmesan, finely grated
pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
2 medium eggs, beaten

Melt the butter over a gentle heat, then add the flour, stirring all the time with a whisk until you get a thick paste, turn off the heat and pour in the milk a bit at a time, whisking all the time, add the parmesan, and season - I normally chuck in a couple of pinches of dried oregano too, just because I like the green flecks in the sauce.  When the sauce has cooled slightly and thickened, add the eggs, then pour over the base.

Bake at 180C for an hour.

Easy BBQ salads, Chinese 5 spice mix and a Chinese Marinade

With Saturday another lovely sunny day before the storm due on Sunday afternoon, we had another impromptu BBQ with friends.

After a morning spent weeding and pottering around the garden it seemed a really good idea to kick back and relax with a cocktail and plenty of food.

I whipped up a couple of salads - really easy and quick.

Pasta salad with french beans

Cook up a generous pile of pasta (about 500g) - for this sort of cold salad I just use the cheap twirl pasta and boil for 2 minutes less than the recommended time, for the last couple of minutes, turn off the heat and leave the pasta in the hot water to continue cooking, test to make sure the pasta is still firm then drain and immediately pour over some cold water to stop the cooking process. You want the pasta to be firm and not soggy.
Cook 250g of french beans (or cheat by using a tin!), drain and leave to cool, then mix with the cooled pasta
In the meantime, take 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise, add a tablespoon of wholegrain mustard, stir together then stir through the pasta and beans, then grind over some sea salt to season.

Whole grain wheat with sweetcorn

I buy this here in France in the dried pulses aisle along side rice and cous-cous, just boil up for 10 minutes, then drain and rinse with cold water, leave to cool. Add a tin of sweetcorn, stir in a tablespoon of olive oil and season with salt and pepper.


My pork I decided to marinade in a Chinese flavour for a change.
Chinese marinade:

2 tablespoons of honey
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of sherry (or sweet wine, or port, or some red wine with a pinch of sugar - whatever you have to hand)
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil - I normally use sunflower as that is what is normally in the pantry as a back-up, don't use olive oil, the flavour mix is not right
1 tablespoon Chinese 5 spice mix
1 generous pinch of salt

Massage well into the meat, leave in the mix for at least two hours in the fridge before cooking., the oil will help it cook on the BBQ without sticking to the grills.


Chinese 5 spice

As this mix is not readily available here in France I make my own in large batches to use when I need it.

My recipe is:

2 teaspoons of black peppercorns
4 cloves
8 star anise
1 stick of cinnamon
2 teaspoons of fennel seeds

Either grind in a mortar or whizz up in a blender - I have a mini blender for this sort of thing but sometimes it can leave the bits too big and not grind them down into a fine powder so normally I whizz it then grind in the mortar to just make sure I get a fine powder.




Lovely evening sat outside in the garden watching big beetles flying into the studio light.

Thank Crunchie it's Friday

The weekend starts here - well actually the weekend starts a few kilometres up the road with a birthday BBQ in the sun this afternoon.

In the meantime - a bit of greenhouse potting on again- I found more tomato seedlings and I just can't let them go to waste.
I keep finding these random little strays from last year, peeping out from the edges of the weed suppressant and so I keep pulling them up and replanting them.

  I grew cherry and plum in the greenhouse last year so they could be either - but most likely cherry as we lost a few fruit here and there collecting them in.

I have started using my new cutting table, I have a dress on the go, and also a couple more bags done, they just need the embroidery finished.

As you can see the table has four handy little cubby holes underneath it - which I have obviously already filled up.

I also managed to finally get my patterns sorted out this morning, having been stuffing them willy nilly into the pockets of the room screen and running the risk of damaging them, I got them organised into a folder neatly - not sure how long that will last though.

Unfinished bag embroidery - first layer of beads done yesterday, now just the crocket flowers and large sequins to go.

Well this is a bit embarrassing....

.... I changed my status on Facebook today to say that I was celebrating 10 years of marriage......unfortunately our wedding anniversary is actually tomorrow. Not the first time I have got it wrong, but what is really embarrassing is that I went and checked the date on the certificate, and still got it wrong!


As a special treat my lovely husband took me to the scrapyard. Ostensibly to collect a table he had spotted there the other day that he wanted for his workshop, but in reality, once there he was trying to palm me off with all sorts of other rubbish, because once I spotted the table I knew I had to have it.

It has come out of a local school, Thea says they have similar ones in her science lab, it is waist high and has a laminated top, so I have commandeered it as my pattern cutting table for my studio. What did he expect with a trip to the scrappy as an anniversary gift. Still for 10 years it is supposed to be tin or coal.

While I was there I did find some other treasures, a metal bucket for my wood store in my studio, some saucepans to use in the cages for our ever expanding rabbit population, a waffle iron and a night potty bucket. All of which the scrap man gave me for free - as my anniversary present!

I am not quite sure what that says about my life here in rural France, that my local scrapman gives me an anniversary present? Nor am I sure what it says about our marriage, that my husband thinks a trip to the scrappy is appropriate? What does it say about me? Am I taking reduce, reuse, recycle a step too far?

On the other hand a bucket of bits and bobs or a bag of coal - good practical presents both of them, better than some overpriced flowers, although I wouldn't necessarily say no to chocolate.

While in the scrapyard we visited our lorry. We moved to France in winter 2006, with all of our wordly goods crammed in this 7.5 tonne lorry, bought for one trip only, then sold to the scrap man once we had cut the body off it in order to transport our 2 pig arcs, and run several trips to collect hay and straw in it while it was a flat-bed. Then eventually it died and it was time for it to move on. All that is left now is the flat bed base and the roof - still with the hole cut out from the caravan window that had been set into the roof while it was a horse box. I cut the window out to make a cold frame for the garden - waste not want not!

The big plus side of a visit to the scrap man and scrap yard are the photographic opportunities. Scrap metal and cars are one of my favourite things to capture - well they don't move around for a start.

Tomorrow's project is to collate and process the photos I took today, having installed my table under the window in the studio today, taken a couple of quick shots of the kittens - as you can see from the photo above, Fergie is happily installed on my shoulder as I type this, and a quick dinner of pork chops and dauphinoise potatoes.


Recipe - dauphinoise potatoes
Peel some potatoes - any old softening ones in the bottom of the veg basket or what's left of last year's harvest are perfect for this.
Slice about half a centimetre thick and layer in an oven proof dish - I like to add some thinly sliced onion in as well.
Sprinkle on some garlic powder and season as you build the layers.
Pour over a litre of stock and leave to cook in the oven at 180C for about 45 minutes.
By this time the stock should be pretty much gone, but the potatoes nice and soft, then pour over a carton of thick double cream (about 150 ml), sprinkle with some paprika and some parsley and leave to cook for another 20 minutes.
By cooking in two stages like this the cream won't split and you need less cream so it is slightly healthier.

Back out in the garden again between showers

Considering today is the first day of summer meteorologically speaking it is not very warm and really quite wet.

After another morning spent on the computer I had had quite enough, so promised myself some gardening time this afternoon. 

Kittens are settling in nicely, Thea's kitten is very good and mine is very naughty.  They are both eating and drinking well, but are missing the litter tray every now and again, you need to grab them quickly and deposit them on it, still for 6 weeks old they are pretty clean.  The dog loves them, and Mr Pink quite frankly doesn't give a damn as long as he can steal their milk and eat their kitten food.

Typically though it started to rain just as I got home, nonetheless I planted out the last of my courgette seedlings, weeded my salad polytunnel, my kohl rabi plot and then planted out some plum tomatoes in the greenhouse - where I found another couple of stray seedlings from last year's tomato plants. I stuck a couple of stakes in to remind me they are there and I think they will prove to be cherry tomatoes.  Free plants.

You can see in the photo, my very green and overgrown, spilling over the edges herb garden, behind it my strawberry patch, then the blue tubes of my salad poly tunnel.  To the right are my bean canes, broccoli, cabbage, onions, carrots, parsnips, beetroots with my two new rows of courgettes on the left, just in front of my wibbly wobbly pea canes.  You can also see just next to the poly tunnel that there is a square bed, this is full of  French black raddishes, then a square kohl rabi bed, then to the far right is the start of my patch of red weed (red Chinese salad leaf, interspersed with some self seeded raddishes).  At the end of the pea canes is the first of my apple trees.

The veggie garden then continues beyond the apple tree, about the same size again, perhaps a bit more, because it is wider at the bottom than it is at the top.  At the bottom there are pumpkins, potatoes, cassis, redcurrants, raspberries, onions, more beets, and more cabbage.