Veggie patch envy!

We went for a tromp through the fields (photo of our house taken from the top of the fields) searching for more mushrooms the other day with Oona, Mark, Isobel & Eleanor - sadly only 1 mushroom could be found in our fields but we did pick copious quantities of pears and plums and then as we walked back home via the ‘chemin rurale’ (the comnunale road that runs between our field and the neighbours field and returns us home via the road that runs through the hamlet), we passed the house of our good friends Michel & Simone who had her sister and sister’s husband and their daughter and her boyfriend staying with them and they stopped us to try and tempt us in for an aperitif but as it was the lunchtime hour and Isobel was a little shy and possibly intimidated by being surrounded by so much french we respectfully declined at which point they insisted that we at least take home some vegetables from their garden and so Michel went and fetched 6 aubergines, 4 enormous marrows, about 6 tomatoes and a strange looking squash which is apparently best stuffed - my sister tells me it actually looks more interesting than it tastes!

Photo above of some of our winnings!  This prompted Tony to remark that perhaps we needn’t bother with our own veggie patch and should simply rely on the generosity of our neighbours!!

Last night we went to a night market at one of our local villages just a couple of kilometres away - it was great fun - we all enjoyed “duck butties” (for EUR 3 each) and rose wine (for EUR 1 a glass or EUR 5 a bottle!) and then danced the night away to french accordian music!  Photo above of “Uncle Tony & Aunty Tara” with Ellie.

The previous day we’d been to the beach and shall probably be returning there at some point to take out a pedalo or even have a go at the tele skiing or wakeboarding - photo above of Isobel at the beach (in a very stylish outfit looking like she’s doing a spot of yoga before building a sand castle) and also one of Isobel below at the park we discovered on our travels yesterday morning.

Not sure what today will bring - we’re still waiting for the sunflowers to flower (soon come) and we’ve definately got another couple of cucumbers to harvest - the melon is still growing daily and we hope to harvest that before our visitors leave us next week - more photos to follow..

Recipe of a lovely courgette soup Oona made with the marrows the neighbours gave us - very simple and very yummy!

Roasted Courgette and Garlic Soup

2 lb / 900g courgettes

1 onion

3 garlic cloves

1 tbsp olive oil

2 pints vegetable stock

4 oz / 125g frozen peas

3 tbsp creme fraiche

Salt & Pepper

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C.  Cut the ends off the courgettes and thickly slice them into chunks.  Peel the onion and cut into 8 wedges.  Put the courgettes, unpeeled garlic, onion and olive oil into a roasting tin and roast for 30-35 mins until tender.

Pour the stock into a saucepan and bring to the boil.  Add the frozen peas to the stock and bring back to the boil.  Cook for a couple of minutes until the peas are tender but do not overboil - you want the peas for their colour.

Take the roasted courgette, onion and garlic out of the oven.  Peel the garlic cloves and pop them in a blender with the courgette, onion, stock and peas and blend until the soup is smooth.  Season with salt and black pepper.

Stir in the creme fraiche and reheat gently.

Bon apetit & Bon weekend!