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Archive for the ‘other sides to this life’ Category

Not the slow food movement! (Another demanding family)

Posted in Food, other sides to this life, tagged , , on June 3, 2012| 15 Comments »

A busy morning on the bathroom windowsill.

Meredith’s steady hand catches this extraordinary al fresco feasting.

A Great Tit brings her hungry fledglings to feed on crushed madeleines.

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Allez les Bleus!!

Posted in Food, other sides to this life, tagged , , on June 2, 2012| 14 Comments »

It’s semi-final day–Castres Olympique play Le Stade Toulousain in Toulouse today.

Rugby of course–this is SW France where the game is a religion–and the end of season play-offs for the Coupe de France.

Dominique’s cheese stall is flying the flag for Castres Olympique early this morning and blue pendants are hanging from all the lampposts in town. There’s a special edition of the local paper (a cherished keepsake–if they win!).

Our cheese man is a master conversationalist (bavadeur). He thinks nothing of letting a long queue build up as he pursues a subject that takes his fancy–wrapping a piece of cheese with a lovely flick and fold routine the while.

When there’s no more fun to be wrung out–he reluctantly weighs the beautifully wrapped cheese and takes payment, at last raising the hopes of the next in line.

“Vous allez y aller, ce soir?” [You going tonight?] I ask  him.

“Non, mois je vais rester ici, on peut regarder le match à Place Soult.” [No I’m staying here to watch it in Place Soult.]

There’ll be a giant screen in place for those supporters not going to Toulouse tonight–about a 50 mile drive–and if the atmosphere’s anything like it was when we watched France win the soccer World Cup in 1998, it’ll be a riot–and this is only the semi-final.

Another stallholder dressed in a black shirt and black apron greets Dominique with the ritual “Bonjour!–ca va?”

Dominique looks at his friend’s funereal costume and replies:

“Ah! tu es en deuil pour Le Stade!–tu es en deuil pour Le Stade Toulousain!” [You’re in mourning for Stade Toulousain!]

I doubt the man in black is a Toulouse supporter, more a convenient (and willing) stooge for Dominique’s on-going performance!

On my route home I stop at the roundabout close to the Castres Sapeurs-Pompiers [Fire Station] to let four fire vehicles pass–no sirens or red lights flashing–so clearly no emergency; just blue and white balloons streaming from every opening, some falling and bouncing gaily by the roadside as the shining red convoy proceeds on its circuit round the town.

(At least they are up and running if they get a call!)

Meanwhile the message is clear:-

“Allez les Bleus–jusqu’au bout!”

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Casting clouts and deciding on a sauce for the first green beans

Posted in Food, other sides to this life, Recipes, tagged , , , on June 1, 2012| 4 Comments »

“I’m putting away my winter wardrobe,” Meredith says this sunny morning.

About time–it’s the first of June!

Ne’er cast a clout ’til May be out—my Mother liked  to quote.

(I’ve read that the MAY in question refers to the blossom of the May Tree which would keep the month of May still merry!)

In France–further south–they say:

En Avril, ne te découvre pas d’un fil—mais en Mai,  fais comme il te plaît!

[April’s not to be trusted so don’t  take off a thread ; in May though, do as you please!]

Anyway it was a relief to see the stalls of the organic market in Castres featuring spring vegetables yesterday–at last.  The very cold spell in March followed by a very wet spell has skewed the timing and made life difficult for local producers.

I need a starter for the guests tonight and the small pile of silky green beans I bought will make a perfect prologue to the tangy chicken tagine to follow.

In summer some ripe cherry tomatoes briefly sautéed in garlic and olive oil then squidged in among the beans makes a colorful and tasty first course– but it’s too early for them. The anchovy sauce alternative is a risk as some people cannot abide anchovies!

So I looked for another idea in The River Café’s Pocket Vegetable Book and found a mustard  sauce.

We had a trial for lunch–and both agreed it was a shame to mask the taste of the first green beans of the season with anything but salt and a splash of good olive oil!

Here’s the sauce, though– just in case…

for four

1 lb fresh green beans

3 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

juice of a lemon

1 tablespoon parsley–chopped

4 fl oz/125 ml olive oil

Salt and pepper

  • Make the sauce by whisking the mustard in the lemon juice and vinegar and seasoning with salt and pepper.
  •  Add the olive oil in the manner of making mayonnaise–slowly whisking it into the mix.
  • Cook the beans in boiling well salted water until they are just tender.
  • Put them in a serving bowl and fold in the sauce.
  • Sprinkle over the parsley.

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Trout fillet with cumin and lemon and warm cucumber slices

Posted in Food, other sides to this life, Recipes, tagged , on May 30, 2012| 9 Comments »

I’ve been eyeing trout fillets for ages. They are always on the stalls here.

Pink–like salmon fillets, but not as thick and with the more delicate taste of a fresh water fish.

This morning’s looked very fresh.

Lunch I thought and bought a cucumber to go with.

for 2

400 gms trout fillet

salt and pepper

half a teaspoon cumin powder

juice and zest of a lemon

1 cucumber–skinned and sliced thin–a food processor with a slicing appliance works well for this.

a few leaves of mint–chopped fine

2 tablespoons of olive oil

  • Wash and dry the fillet(s).
  • Run your index finger over the fish and remove as many of the pin bones as you can before you tire of doing so.
  • Sprinkle pinches of cumin from the spoon over the fillet(s) with the lemon’s juice and zest.
  • Cover the fish with a plate and leave to marinade for an hour or so.
  • A few minutes before you are ready to cook the fish, heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a medium size pan.
  • Spread the cucumber slices over the base and sprinkle over the mint.
  • Turn the slices carefully in the oil and the mint and season well with salt and pepper.
  • Let the cucumber gently heat through while you cook the trout.
  • Heat a largish pan to hot.
  • Season the trout fillets with salt and black pepper.
  • Cook skin-side down on a high heat for 3 minutes.
  • Flip the fillets over boldly and cook them about a minute longer–the time depends on the thickness of the fillet.

Meredith–not overwhelmed by this, but I liked a change from salmon.

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Large brown eggs and a return to normal…

Posted in Food, other sides to this life, tagged , , , on May 28, 2012| 18 Comments »

After a rewarding but hands-on week of guests from breakfast to dinner time, we awoke this morning in an empty house.

The only sounds were familiar ones: Beau’s bells and his pleading cries for food–poor starving mite!

The golden Orioles flew hither and thither warbling bonjour. Good to have them back–heralds of the beginning of something–though these days the weather is so changeable you cannot be sure what season it’s trying to be.

The Hoopoes spotted up the road would confirm it’s summer that approaches.

(How amazing that this pair of eccentric-looking birds [or their offspring] return to the same spot each year–how discerning of them to pick our neck of the woods!)

Our neighbor, Serge, called by at 9am with a box of his hens’ very brown and very large eggs–as he had promised to do a couple of weeks back, even before Meredith presented a pot of honey  to him on her diplomatic honey run.

They are extraordinarily brown and made deeply yellow and satisfying omelets for lunch under the greening fig.

The tree’s first fruit crop is fattening fast after so much rain.

These early figs always promise more than they deliver. We have to wait ’til  August for the second crop.

A whiff of donkey dung challenged the senses at lunch under the fig tree and reminded us of the party on Saturday in the courtyard.

It was graced by Sybil, who demonstrated her initial doubts about attending by marking her patch with a pile, almost green as the figs above!

Later, after all the attention lavished upon her, she startled everyone with an enormous HEE–HAW of appreciation, which won her even more pats and plaudits.

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Roasted vegetables

Posted in Food, other sides to this life, Recipes, tagged , on May 24, 2012| 6 Comments »

The weather has been difficult–either too cold or too wet–for  local growers the last couple of months, reducing  the availability of seasonal vegetables.

Looking for something to cook a couple of nights ago I found some courgettes and peppers from a trip to the supermarket and remembered a recipe inspired by Delia Smith and featured in my cookbook, Delicious Dishes for Diabetics.

Delia calls it Roast Ratatouille and includes cherry tomatoes and aubergines [eggplant]–but a simpler version is worth a go, I thought….

It was a tasty and healthy supper–served it on a bed of quinoa with a yogurt sauce.

for four

3 courgettes

3 red peppers

3 sweet/red onions–quartered

2 garlic cloves–chopped

2 tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper

set the oven to 240C/460F

  • cut up the vegetables in largish chunks.
  • Put them in a bowl, add the oil and sprinkle  over the garlic.
  • Turn everything over carefully to coat the vegetables with the oil.
  • Line a shallow oven tray with foil.
  • Brush the foil with olive oil.
  • Empty the bowl onto the tray and spread the vegetables evenly over it.

  • Put the tray on the top level of the oven.
  • Roast for 20minutes or until the vegetables are nicely charred–(not burnt!)

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Beekeeping in the South Tarn (part 3)–Honey potted!

Posted in Food, other sides to this life, tagged , on May 20, 2012| 13 Comments »

Last scene of all that ends this strange eventful history, 

Is second childishness… (Shakespeare: As You Like It) 

…from mere DELIGHT to see this GOLDEN TREASURE potted–(not Shakespeare)!

obviously meant for each other!

Meredith set off yesterday evening to make the rounds of our neighbors with a basket of pots.

She calls it Honey Diplomacy or HD  (HD is in our minds as we’ve just bought our first high definition TV after 12 years).

She returned an hour later light on honey but weighed down with compliments and the promise of the loan of Sybil, our young farming neighbors’ pretty donkey, for an event here Saturday afternoon.

Sybil pricked up her ears on hearing about the party this Saturday!

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The newly updated memoir “Making Poldark” is now available in Europe…

Posted in Diabetes, other sides to this life, Poldark, tagged , , on May 19, 2012| 16 Comments »

…from the local Amazon service in the UK, France, Italy, Germany  and Spain!

The postage and packaging charges should be significantly cheaper than when ordering it from the US.

The revision is 9000 words longer and tells the sad story of the how the promising third series of Poldark failed to materialise– plus further stories of life after Poldark, including our move to France and how a passion for cooking and a diagnosis of Type Two diabetes had very positive consequences…

There are many more photos, some from Winston Graham’s private collection, taken when he and his wife Jean joined us on location in Cornwall during the filming of the second series.

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Beekeeping in the South Tarn (part 2) or “…is there honey still for tea?”

Posted in Food, other sides to this life, tagged , on May 17, 2012| 9 Comments »

We were as busy as our bees have been–yesterday.

Well Meredith and Alice were–my role was to snap the event as best I could, in the buzzing zone.

I did get to wear the same protective clothing this time.

It may look silly but it gets you to the coal face or rather the hive side.

Alice had promised to bring the costume for me, so there was no escape.

After enduring peels of unkind laughter from the two campaign veterans as I struggled–without breaking my  glasses–to pull the slightly-too-small hood over my head;

we all made our way to the hive at the end of the garden.

The bees were hard at it–an impressive sight–milling round the hive entrance, anxious to make their deliveries.

Bees just visible–top centre

The smoke gun was smoking and the two intrepids–brushes at the ready–were quickly at work.

The third intrepid–camera at the ready–found being in the danger zone quite exhilarating, now that the astronaut-like look gave him license to roam!

No need to swat or duck and dive this time, just smile benignly from the safe side of the veil.

Click-click-click-buzz-buzz-buzzzzzzzz-swooosh-swooosh-swooosh (smoke gun noise)–a hive of activity in fact!

“Rich pickins!”

Soon Alice and Meredith were taking the “rich pickins” off up the garden away from the aggrieved bees

and after de-robing themselves, to Alice’s work place chez elle, to scrape off the honey and admire the recolte (harvest).

Meredith came into the kitchen about an hour later a broad smile on her face saying:

Home is the hunter home from the sea and the bee-keeper home from the hive–

and carrying, with some effort, a large white tub containing seven and a half litres of honey!

And then there’s the matter of the three new chicks…

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A food/cooking weekend in Lautrec in October

Posted in Diabetes, Food, other sides to this life, Recipes, Robin Ellis, tagged , , , , , , , , on May 14, 2012| 21 Comments »

I’m planning a cooking workshop in Lautrec the first weekend in October, based on my cookbook, Delicious Dishes for Diabetics and healthy, simple recipes in the Mediterranean tradition.

Lautrec

What’s on the menu?

  • A three-and-a-half day workshop in Lautrec (department of the Tarn in southwest France), in a charming small hotel with a magnificent garden and lovely views.
  • We’ll make our meals and eat them together.
  • All meals and wine are included.
  • Group size limited to about six people (non-cooking partners or traveling companions are welcome to come along and enjoy the meals we prepare for a supplement).
  • Excursions to local markets.
  • All participants have their own private room with en-suite bathrooms.
The focus:
Preparing (and enjoying) healthy recipes based on the Mediterranean way of eating.
My cookbook and blog will be the springboard for the recipes–depending on what is in season.
Dates:
Starting Thursday afternoon, Oct. 4th and finishing Sunday night, Oct. 7th with the farewell meal;
Departure the following morning, Monday, Oct. 8th 2012–i.e. four nights, three full days and a half-day on arrival.
Who might come:
Anyone interested in developing a wider repertoire of healthy recipes that can be enjoyed by the whole family.

What’s the venue?
A beautiful new demonstration kitchen in a charming small hotel in the centre of Lautrec:

With Dominique, the owner of La Terrasse de Lautrec in the special workshop kitchen.

La Terrasse de Lautrec

Many more photos of La Terrasse and Lautrec here: http://tinyurl.com/LautrecWorkshop

Lautrec is a medieval bastide–a fortified hilltop village with a population of about 1000 people.
It enjoys the official recognition as Un des plus beaux villages de France [one of the most beautiful villages in France].

Lautrec

It is famous for it’s pink garlic (l‘ail rose)–one of the staples of Mediterranean cooking.
The nearest airports are Toulouse Blagnac (about 1 hour 20 minutes drive) served by BA, Air France and Easy Jet amongst others.
Carcassonne Airport (served by RyanAir) is about the same distance.
Castres also has a small airport with a limited service from Paris.
The nearest train station is Castres, about 15 minutes drive.
Cost: 1000 euros
(as of today’s currency rates, in dollars that is $1288 (US) or in Sterling,  £800)
Transportation from airport to Lautrec can be arranged for an extra fee.
Note: the venue is not suitable for people with mobility problems–i.e. there are stairs to the first floor and no elevator.
To book or for further info, contact Meredith:
meredithwheeler1@gmail.com

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