After the nasty storm on Wednesday, we had a
glorious day yesterday and thankfully the roofers got nearly a full day in but
had to knock off a little early to help a neighbour who had some fallen trees
on his land from the storm so the roof work will continue next week however we
shall be seeing the roofers again on Sunday as they’ve invited us to Sunday
lunch to meet their new grandsons, twins born to their eldest son and his wife
in February of this year – we’d sent them a bottle of champagne at the time to
congratulate them and they’ve kept it to share with us upon our return which is
what we shall be enjoying with them on Sunday!
Their second son is a chef and works in a one Michelin star restaurant
in our nearest big town – we’ve been to their home for lunch once before a few
years ago and I have to say, the quality of the food and presentation does
indeed help us to get over our fear of having to speak French throughout – bear
in mind these ‘lunches’ usually start around noon and go on until approximately
7pm! I find after limping through the
first couple of hours once we’ve all had a glass of champers and a few glasses
of good local red, the conversation does seem to get easier…..or perhaps we’re
simply the entertainment!
In the
meantime, today (Friday) dawned a little gloomy but initially dry and so having
made a big batch of cherry preserves on Wednesday after our cherry picking fest
(we have given cherries to all our neighbours, made a batch of cherry & red
wine sauce to accompany future duck breasts and made a big batch of preserves –
I didn’t have enough sugar to make jam so preserves it is!), I decided to jog
to the ‘boulangerie’ this morning to buy some croissants so we could try the
cherry preserves – it was well worth the fast jog/slow run and the fresh cherry
preserves goes far too well with the fresh croissants so we are only allowing
ourselves this indulgence if it’s obtained by walking/cycling or jogging! Photos of the scene whilst we were picking
cherries yesterday – very lovely indeed!
And so what to do with the rest of the day –
it’s far too wet to pick cherries so I bottled my elderflower cordial and set
about making Ina Garten’s beef bourgignon – we’ve promised lunch to our nearest
neighbours next week and so I thought I’d get a start on those preparations…if
you haven’t tried Ina Garten’s recipe – it is a good one – but what’s not to
like with beef, cognac, red wine, onions, carrots, mushrooms and fresh
thyme?! Link to the recipe below…
This is especially good made with local beef
– I do love going to our local butcher and although they don’t have their own
abbatoir anymore they do have a sign in the butchers entitled ‘Provenance’
which lists each type of meat they sell, the name of the farmer and his or her
telephone number – very nice to be able to trace where your food comes from!
If this weather keeps up the beef bourgignon
will be the perfect thing to serve over a long leisurely lunch – if the sun
comes back out I shall simply freeze it for a few meals in our future and
rethink what to serve the neighbours – on a previous occasion, we fed them
Julia Child’s Chicken Fricasse, and so perhaps we should try something less
‘french’ and see what they make of a traditional English Sunday roast……will
have to report back once a decision has been reached but given these particular
neighbours are in their 80’s and we still have piles of tiles in the courtyard,
I think our invitation to them will have to wait until the roof over the main
house is finished and the courtyard isn’t such an assault course!
On a completely separate note, many of you
know we recently raised funds to provide 200 Cleanwater kits (and replacement
filters) which will provide every family in the Mngolongolo village near Mbeya
in Tanzania with access to clean water in their homes – I’m pleased to report
these kits have just arrived in Mbeya and will be taken to Mngolongolo village
in approximately 2 weeks time when Arthur promises to send photos of the kits
being delivered and installed – I shall provide an update as soon as I’ve heard
more from Arthur. In the meantime, please
see below photos of the buckets and cleanwaterkits currently being stored in
the church in Manga in Mbeya. Thank you
to everyone who so generously donated to provide clean water for 200 families
(approximately 1,000 people) in this area.
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