Food is essential to Life...Therefore make it good.
Hello Dear Peeps! I hope you are all well. I am feeling slightly less glum than I did in my last post. I invited Friend Cathy over that evening, and we sat on the balcony, drinking wine and making plans...
So this coming week we are going out for lunch and a walk - maybe a picnic would be fun! The week after we are going over to Lyon to visit the Apple store (for Cathy), the other Cat Café (for me), and to have lunch. Maybe do a bit of shopping, now Mr FD is earning - though not too much shopping as my tax bill in August will be quite high, and I need to put the money aside now. I usually do it regularly, but last month saw a bit of a cashflow problem so I had to empty my Livret A account to bail us out. I therefore need to refill it to meet the tax requirements next month.
We also have our Fete du Coin "Coeur de la Village" next weekend. In France there is something called La Fete des Voisins, - Festival of Neighbours, the idea being that you get together with your neighbours for an apero, for a street party, for a meal...whatever. Here is a link to the Wikipedia article (in French).
The official date was in May, but someone on the Council has arranged for the Fete for our neighbourhood ("Heart of the Village") to be next Sunday. We have signed up for it, and I'm taking a Banoffi Pie. Let's hope I don't have the same experience as I had last time I made one (I'll just say "caramel on the kitchen ceiling". You can imagine the scenario!)
I have also been zentangling more - yesterday saw me glued to my zentangle pens. I completed a couple which I will show you when my camera battery is charged! One is a fairy, one is a Mandala. See here at The Teapot. I'm thinking I may have a stall at the St Just Christmas market, so I'll need to build up stock of subjects that might sell. I have also recently finished a commission...I hope the purchaser likes it
It's harder doing something as a commission for someone, rather than just doing something because you want to do it!
I made a yummy cake a couple of weeks back - Nigel Slater's Marmalade Cake.
Instead of the frosting, I melted more marmalade with some orange juice, made holes all over the top of the cake & poured the glaze over. Lush and sticky!
So, food this week...
YESTERDAY: A version of Sticky Apricot Skewers I didn't make skewers, I added more veggies (onion, leek, mushrooms, peppers) and we had it with rice and (home grown) salad leaves.
TODAY: Slow cooker pulled pork, with sweet potatoe wedges and coleslaw, and salad. I use Frugal Queen's recipe as a base but then changed it. I used some pulled pork spices (not good used by themselves, but good in a mixture), honey, barbecue sauce, sweet chilli sauce, worcester sauce, and balsamic vinegar. So nothing like FQ's recipe in the end!!
MONDAY: It was going to be Rainbow Bulghar Wheat salad BUT the pack of peppers that I bought had gone wet and mouldy, meaning I only had enough for yesterday's dinner. I think I'll have time tomorrow to pop out to get some more peppers. If not I will be improvising with bacon, feta and mushrooms - probably with pasta.
TUESDAY: Coconut-chilli salmon with noodles & leeks. Miam-miam!
WEDNESDAY: Falafel burgers (the recipe is good; you may find the blog post that goes with it a bit near the knuckle) with pita bread/ flat bread & salad.
THURSDAY: Pulled pork (from the freezer from Sunday) with rolls and salad
FRIDAY: Vegetarian stuffed peppers - no recipe, but using rice, courgette, mushroom paté left over from Christmas that needs eating, and feta as the filling.
SATURDAY: Mushroom curry
(I've ordered one for PomPom...It should arrive next Tuesday!)
and Thank You for your comments, which are always appreciated!
POMPOM - glad you liked the Kitten picture. And you're right, the red tape is frustrating! And I haven't told you about my worst experience of "sympathetic (not!) customer service". But I met the Driving License guy who was really laid back and helpful, and my application is in the system.
KEZZIE - the DVLA documents didn't get here in time - but the guy was happy to accept a fax copy, & no official translation (Grr! That's 50€ down the drain) which meant all was okay.
CATHY DANIEL - thank you for popping in! Don't worry about taking a while...Life does have a habit of Getting In The Way...
MAGGIE - Lucky you having a bi-lingual electrician! I sometimes wish I could employ someone to just follow me round and help me deal with all the French I don't understand! Mind you, I think I am improving... I watched this video about a local artist and I actually understood it. ALL of it!
by Nicolas Decoussy
So there's a round up of this week's news. I hope to see you back again sometime soon! Have a lovely week, dear friends
I love your Zentangles they are beautiful. In the UK there was a French series on BBC4 recently called The Disappearance - sorry I forget the french title - it was set in Lyon. I really loved the look of Lyon, it looked lovely. Do you agree or have I just fallen for good photography (again!).
ReplyDeleteI can't wait for my starter kit to arrive! Bless you, sweet mouse friend!
ReplyDeleteThe Zentangle is lovely!! Mmmm, the coconut salmon sounds amazing! My husband likes to cook salmon in the oven with coconut oil and shallots so I guess it's a similar idea!! Ahrgh,so annoying about the DVLA!
ReplyDeleteYes, yes, that Zentangle is GORGEOUS! You are becoming quite the artist; commissions are well deserved!
ReplyDeleteThat commissioned piece you worked on looks amazing! And those falafel burgers sound so good. I love falafel. Thanks for letting me know about the grebes as well, I did wonder which ones they were, and the bit about them bringing grass to each other is so lovely. - Tasha
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