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Rainbows and Renovations
Welcome to February, where did January go? On the other hand one more step towards warmer temperatures in the house! I love seeing the evenings gradually getting longer, knowing Spring is on its way. It is so nice to look out of the kitchen doors and see it is still light after 6pm now. The weather has felt a little more like Spring for some of this week, although we have also jumped from one extreme to another. On Sunday we got caught out in very heavy rain showers, whilst walking Bear – we got soaked and he was not that impressed. He is not a big fan of the…
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Making Marmalade
As promised last week, a little later than intended, but finally here is a great marmalade recipe. Marmalade This is an easy marmalade recipe that works well with any of the suggested fruit. I have made 5 fruit (using blood oranges, bitter oranges, lime, lemon and bergamot), blood orange and a bergamot marmalade. All three are delicious. Makes about 3kg (6 ½ lbs approx.) Ingredients About 1.5kg oranges (eg: Seville, bitter, blood orange) or a mix of citrus fruit in any combination, eg: oranges, clementines, limes, lemons, grapefruit) Juice of 1-2 lemons (1 if you add a lemon to the fruit mix) (For lemon marmalade you don’t need to add…
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Marmalade and Moodboards
Welcome back, or welcome to the blog if this is your first read. How has everyone’s week been? We have had a marmalade filled week – more on that shortly. The weather has warmed up a bit outside but with it we have discovered a new characteristic of our French home. It is so cold inside that the windows steam up from the outside! Quite funny really. What with that and experiencing chilblains for the first time in my life – we are truly living the dream! I did, however, find our first hellebores and primulas have flowered – a lovely sign that Spring is on its way. This week…
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Pawprints on Placemats
Hello from a very rainy Tarn today. I hope you have all had a lovely week and enjoyed the introduction to our local town Cordes sur Ciel on Wednesday? Yesterday was my eldest son’s birthday. He is staying with us at the moment, studying for his degree online due to the ongoing pandemic. As a surprise we had a Zoom meal with his younger brother Alex and his grandmother. Alex cooked the exact same food at his flat in Manchester – great fun. We also realised it was the 21st day of the 21st year of the 21st century – quite a day! The house is still really cold, but…
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Places to visit: Cordes sur Ciel
A new series – snapshots of some of the gorgeous places nearby. On the third Wednesday of each month I will feature a town, city or village in our area. There are so many wonderful places to visit not far from us – this, like so many areas, is a stunning part of France. We are quite spoilt for choice. It has to be said that over the last year, we have not really been out and about that much, so we still have lots of places to explore. The first place I want to introduce you to is Cordes sur Ciel, our local town for shops and the market.…
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Up to the belvedere
Bonjour everyone What a week of contrasts weather-wise – hard frost, snow, rain, mist and sunshine and so cold. Winter in the Tarn, so many beautiful and differing views each day whether out on walks or from the kitchen windows. I have it on good authority from locals that it hasn’t been this cold here since 2014! A good time to have no central heating. We are racing through all those logs we neatly stacked for the winter. It will be a miracle if they last this month! More wood stacking to come I suspect – at least it keeps you warm. We have been treated this week to lots…
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2020 Vision: a quick look back.
Hello Everyone I am posting a little later than usual, as last week there were a few unexpected events that slightly overtook us. Sadly a lovely local lady died very suddenly and unexpectedly. Such a huge sadness and loss for her husband and family, and for our little community. Of much less importance, the weather was and is so cold it is hard not to just sit as close to the woodburner as possible all the time. Even the pool froze over, so we had to install a flotteur – a string of floats that prevent the pool from icing over completely and thus potentially damaging the liner – a…
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12 Days of Christmas Recipes: Day 12
As the Christmas decorations come down, so the challenge to share 12 recipes with you over the 12 days of Christmas has come to an end. For the last recipe, given how cold it is, I thought you might like a lovely warming soup. This goes well with the Walnut Damper bread from Day 10. My lunch today in the hope that we warm up a bit – the house and weather are a bit chilly (-4 last night!). Roasted Butternut Squash and Chickpea soup Serves: 4. Prep time: 15 mins. Cooking time: 1 hr 15 mins + heating time Ingredients 1 butternut squash Olive oil 1 medium shallot (or…
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12 Days of Christmas Recipes: Day 11
The penultimate day of my 12 days of Christmas recipe collection. I hope you have enjoyed them – let me know. I love making jams and chutneys – there is something so satisfying about rows of jars full of lovely preserves. I also find it quite therapeutic for some reason. Over the coming months I will share some of my favourite jam and chutney recipes. Today, although not quite in season (but early rhubarb will be along soon), one of my favourite chutney recipes, courtesy of the lovely Steve who Max and I met in Birmingham in 2018 Steve’s Curried Rhubarb Chutney 1kg Rhubarb – chopped into small pieces 2…
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12 Days of Christmas Recipes: Day 10
Something delicious to cheer up a chilly January day – a bit of a change from mince pies. Oaty mincemeat slice Makes 16+ pieces. Prep time: 10 mins. Cooking time: 45-50 mins Ingredients: 175g oats 150g plain flour 160g muscovado sugar ¼ tsp baking powder 170g vegan spread (or butter if not baking a vegan version) ½ -1 tsp ground cardamom (depending on taste) 1 450g jar mincemeat (recipe for this is on Day 2 of this series of recipes) Method 1: Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas 4 2: Line a 20cm square baking tray with greaseproof paper. 3: Place all the dry ingredients in a bowl, and mix well…
