As some of you know, I’ve been computer-less
for nearly 2 weeks – as ridiculous as it sounds, I felt like I’d lost a limb –
I was surprised how much I do rely on having access to my e-mail and to the
internet – it was a good break but I am thrilled to be ‘back’!
Sadly, just before the computer died, I’d
finished what I’d hoped would be my next blog – it was titled ‘Snakes, Field
Mice and Housemartins’ – suffice it to say I shan’t try to recreate that
particular blog but it was inspired when Tony came to me one day and said,
‘Promise you won’t freak out if I tell you something….’ To which I responded,
‘You’ve seen a snake haven’t you?’ – It turns out that yes he had – BUT – one
that appeared to be over 50cm long and so my research tells me that it wasn’t
an adder (or viper as they’re called in these parts), although we do get adders
in this area and it’s reassuring to know that all the pharmacists stock the
‘anti-venom’!! With regards to the field mice – I was out
weeding what will be my ‘sunflower patch’ when I caught something moving out of
the corner of my eye – large enough to cause concern and so I shrieked and Tony
came running – this happened a few more times until we realized it was simply a
field mouse (and actually quite cute) but subsequent shrieks from me when taken
by surprise (a few worms have also surprised me when I’m weeding – I’m getting
a little better but still need to toughen up quite a bit if I’m to be taken
seriously as a pretend farmers wife!) have failed to elicit a response from
Tony at all and I’m reminded of the story of the boy who cried wolf and only
hope my future shrieks are only caused by field mice and not adders because
it’s unlikely that Tony will come to my rescue!
Our vegetable patch seems to be progressing
well and we now have,
- 80 sweet corn plants (considered cow food in France and we’ve been warned NEVER to attempt to feed this to a French person who will simply think we’re very strange or English which I suppose is the same thing to them!)
- Lots of tomatoes – about 10 different varieties
- Cucumber (3 different varieties)
- Bok Choy (or pak choy for those in the UK)
- Kale
- Beetroot (3 different varieties)
- Aubergines (including some seeds that were given to us by a friend in Cayman that came from the Brasserie’s garden)
- Courgettes
- Strawberries (3 different varieties)
- Approximately 100 lettuces (6 different varieties)
- Melons (3 different varieties)
- Brussel sprouts
- Cabbage
- Leeks
- Celery
- Red and Yellow onions
And still more to plant……(some photos of the veggie patch below)
We’re trying to do a little exercise every
day (to combat the duck we're addicted to!) and so far this is mostly just walking and in order to get us into the
habit and tempt Tony away from his tractor I’ve had to make the exercise more
enticing and so if the walk takes place in the evening it’s a 4km roundtrip to
our local aperitif spot (so we can stop mid walk for a glass of rose!) and if
the walk is in the morning it’s the 6km roundtrip to the bakery (the one 4kms
away is closed until 11th June) so we have croissants when we get
home – so although I don’t think we’re winning the weight game, I do feel we’re
not losing it as badly as we might if we were instead driving for our aperitifs
and croissants!
It was on one of these evening walks that we
were stopped by our neighbours who asked if we had lettuce in the garden yet –
we told them we did but that it was a few weeks or even months away from being
big enough to eat so they told us that they had some lovely lettuces and
insisted we have some and that they’d leave us a bag on their gate post to
collect on our way back from our aperitif.
When we returned there was indeed a bag of freshly uprooted lettuce
(about 5 heads) and in addition, they came out to present us with 20 beetroot
plants that they’d uprooted from their garden that they wanted us to plant in
our garden and so that is why at 9pm on Friday night I was digging 20 holes to
plant the beets in – I thought they’d be happier getting in the ground
immediately and we were expecting it to be a hot one on Saturday so thought
they’d settle in nicely overnight and be ok.
As I type this on Sunday morning, it seems
I’ve killed every single beet plant – they don’t appear to have any life left
in them at all – admittedly it did reach nearly 100 degrees yesterday which was
tough going for us let alone the baby beets trying to get settled in to their
new home but the biggest concern of all is that in the course of our
conversation with these particular neighbours, I invited them for lunch next
Sunday and so now I’m not only having to deal with the sadness of the loss of
life of these wonderful plants but trying to figure out how to explain to the
neighbours how I’ve managed to kill their lovely beets that looked so alive and
vibrant when they gave then to us with specific instructions on how to replant
them (which I’m sure I followed to the letter!)
On a more positive note – we managed to get
our hands on some fresh asparagus the other day – this is a first for us and it
was absolutely spectacular – we enjoyed it both on it’s own and in this lovely
recipe given to me by my mother which I’ve included below – definitely best
with fresh picked asparagus but would also work with the not so fresh stuff
available in Cayman (I can’t believe the difference though to the fresh – it’s
like the strawberries we get over here – Tony describes the taste ‘like
strawberries that have been injected with strawberry flavouring’!).
Asparagus
with lemon vinaigrette
Serves
4
500g/16oz asparagus, trimmed
5 plum tomatoes, finely chopped
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
½ lemon, juiced
50g/2oz blue cheese or goats cheese or feta,
crumbled
small handful of basil leaves to serve
- Blanch the asparagus in boiling, salted water for 1-2 minutes. Drain then rinse in cold water and pat dry. Divide the asparagus between 4 plates.
- In a small bowl mix the tomatoes, shallots, garlic, olive oil and lemon juice and some seasoning, until combined.
- Pour
the tomato mixture over the asparagus and top with the crumbled cheese of your
choice and the basil.
You can also add smoked pancetta cubes or
crumbled crispy bacon and a poached egg to turn it into a meal – serve with a
fresh baguette.
Bon Apetit!
In closing, I should let you know why Housemartins
were considered worthy of writing about previously – in our absence and since
the hail storm last year, our barn roof has been open and it would appear as
though an entire village of Housemartins have made their home in the barn – we
believe there are now babies waiting for their daily feed as Tony’s been
closing up the barn and around 7pm each evening there’s an enormous amount of Housemartin
activity and they’re all very noisy – so the other night we were sitting out
and Tony said I think they want me to open the barn door – they’re trying to
get back in – I was a little skeptical that Tony could speak ‘housemartin’ but
humoured him as he went downstairs and opened up the barn door – sure enough
only a few seconds after the door was open a dozen or so Housemartins flew
right into the barn through the front door so (at least until the tractor gets
disturbed by this), we’ve taken to opening the barn door each morning and
evening to allow easy access for the Housemartins! How different our lives have become!
