One of the things I love about France...in addition to the food, wine, weather (on the whole), landscape, villages, wild flowers, churches...I could go on, but won't...is the markets.
In reality they're probably not that different from our own local ones, it's just the unfamiliarity of some of the produce. And the colours...all those fruit and veg...the brightest and most intensely flavoured tomatoes and strawberries. Of course, the fabric stalls are like a magnet.
I could only buy a bit of fabric, funds being rather limited, but did get some pieces that will be good for patchwork...and some for Noreen for another cushion...as if she hasn't got enough to do already.

Today has been grey and misty, and for some reason I kept thinking of cake and tea. Not just any old cake...it had to be ginger cake and it had to be homemade - of course. Apart from the eggs which I got from Mary's stall in the Buttermarket I had everything else in, so it was easy. I think it's a bit of a disgrace that we have loads of geese who don't do an awful lot (apart from needing regular cleaning out -and that's another story!) and no hens. We really should do something about it...especially now the markets are open again after the Foot & Mouth scare, which thankfully seems to have abated.

I grew these two peppers in pots; and waited until one became yellow. It isn't exactly going to cause a food mountain, but it was pleasurable to watch them grow and change colour - must be patient with the others until one goes red. Anyway, they tasted fine in the chilli I made. Small sweet peppers like these need sunlight (a tough one, this summer) and enough water - they seemed to soon dry out - oh, and you need patience.

Oh, so we've been swanning around France, have we, while Noreen's been doing all the blogging work! Anybody would think we've been enjoying ourselves!

Hi, we're back - but only slightly tanned...I think some of it might be rust. The photo is of St-Cirq-Lapopie in the Lot...it was very hot that day.
Now there's nothing more boring than other people's holiday snaps - so the next 299 have been carefully edited for your delectation from the thousands taken.
Joke!

Noreen's done a fantastic job with the blog...I've so enjoyed reading it all...sure you have too.

These are the very last of the peaches from the greenhouse. You do not have any time to waste once you've picked them as they soon go bad, and that would have been a terrible waste. Brian said he would really like the taste of this on Christmas day (we did some last year) so I just poached these for about 15 minutes in water and sugar. Having warmed the kilner jar in the bottom oven I put the peaches in and
topped with brandy. You can buy these sorts of preserve in particular shops...but they usually cost a fortune. Margaret's back from holiday...I've been updating her on blogland...

Well, Margaret reckons that anyone can sew - they just need practice...and I certainly need practice. However, I enjoyed doing this and will keep at it. We rescued this old chair which was languishing in the junk room, tore the old seat off, gave it a few coats of paint and did some very rudimentary upholstery on it...these chairs can still be found in charity and secondhand shops and look great when given a little attention.

We read a lot about how good for us these are, but I have noticed that the ones I have bought didn't taste so nice...a bit "woody". On the other hand, Mick from the farm next door has grown these and they were much nicer. I'm sure our Canadian friends are well acquainted with blueberries but they have only recently become popular here. Certainly, the idea of growing them yourself is fairly new. He told us they have done very well, the shrubs growing to about 4ft high and bearing abundant fruit. At our recent local farmers' market I have noticed these more unusual plants for sale...including cranberry plants - has anyone grown them successfully? Margaret is back tomorrow - I hope she thinks I've kept this blog going reasonably well -it will be nice to share it again. Must go and do some sewing (!) now.
Noreen

These seem to have taken for ever to grow - they are from seed. The trays I grew from plants have been much better.

Yesterday we brought in the last of the small bale hay, and stacked it in the loft I showed you. It was not only hard work, but good fun too, as we were helped by 2 friends (we will pay them by giving them some hay for their sheep...you see barter is still alive and well in the countryside) It seems fitting that my minute little harvest of salad leaves was ready to have at lunch time - with some more substantial food obviously...hard work is a good excuse to sit down to some real food.

These tomatoes are beginning to grow - but it has been a poor year for them, because of the lack of sunshine.

By a strange coincidence I was reading this morning(in my current crime novel, of all places!) that tomatoes were first brought to this country in 1597, but were initially grown for decorative purposes, until people realised that they were good to eat.

Heard from Margaret yesterday. She is still in France & having a good time, though they have had a lot of rain. I have got to get some sewing onto this blog before she gets back...otherwise she will think all her efforts have been in vain. Help.

I thought you might like to see this before it is (hopefully) filled with hay. This loft is very old - the date either 1660 or 1680 is etched into the mortar. The roof timbers (known as ships' timbers) are held together with wooden pegs. I suppose there are many buildings this old - but a lot would have been taken down, or converted - this is still used for storing the winter fodder.

On a very different note, a few people have asked about the lamb & plum casserole. I just cut some nice lamb into cubes, coated in seasoned flour, fried in a large pan, in a little good oil with garlic and some chopped bacon rashers. I then added everything I could find (not quite!) a small tin of plum tomatoes, about 7 stoned plums cut in half, a very large glass of red wine, some water, a dash of Worcester sauce, some tomato puree, mustard, a little dash of teriyaki sauce. I then put in a large casserole dish and cooked on a lowish oven for about an hour and a half. You must check and add a little water if necessary. It was nice with some mashed potatoes and carrots and peas.

I used some of yesterday's plums to do this casserole last night...with lamb and a little bacon...it was pretty ok. As we were eating it, a neighbour called with some information for the newsletter ( I put together the newsletter for our village). She caught sight of the basket of plums and...well what can you do? I'll have to get some
more today. Brian is happy....for the first time in many years the dairy company has announced a price increase. Not life-changing, but a step in the right direction. He is transformed - I haven't seen him so fired up about the job for a long time.

I was thinking this morning as I was picking these...while trying to avoid the nettles; thinking about why we look upon some activities as leisure and some as work. Some people have to write a lot at work, whereas other people love to write in every spare moment they've got; the same goes for woodwork; gardening, sewing and I'm sure many many other activities... Is it work when we get paid for it? (surely not, as some people get paid for doing what they love) or is it when you have to do something within specified hours. What do you think?

Anyway, I wanted to pick these for cooking, but I had a peaceful, pleasant interlude while doing so.

That's what's so nice about this time of year...nature's bounty. You really do feel it's incumbent upon you (that sounds like a sermon!) to make the best of it...and do something good with the produce. Even if you don't have a garden, (I lived without a garden for several years) the markets are full of fruit now, and will be for the next few weeks. Also, there is great satisfaction in putting jars and bottles on the shelves for winter. After all my pontificating I'd better go now and do something with these.

The particular beauty of growing vegetables is, I think, the marriage of the functional and the aesthetic...anyway a row of something the gardener has sown and cared for represents something creative about the human spirit. This all seems a bit heavy for a Monday morning!

Brian grows the vegetables really, apart from the salad leaves & tomatoes which I look after in a rather haphazard fashion. He used to get really frustrated in the summer months as the demands of the farm had to come first and the vegetable patch was neglected. The answer was simple. He just halved it - we still have a vegetable garden, but one of a much more manageable size.

Very early this morning Brian remarked that autumn must be approaching because the robins were singing; a sure sign of the change in season. But, it is still August; still summer in the garden. These are not so much arranged as shoved in a vase, but they are to say I hope everyone who looks at them has a happy Sunday.

This, to me, epitomises the taste of this time of year. The sweet, sharp fruity mouthful speaks of mellow days and ripening fruit.

It also happens to be probably my favourite pudding...preference shared by Mr Flighty! For a person who is unsure about cooking it is a great place to start - nothing difficult or fancy and you cannot really go wrong...and everyone will love it.

Both Margaret and I seemed to have fond sweet memories of picking blackberries when we came to discuss this for the book. Mine involve a dusty country lane which hardly ever had any traffic, and of course cow-pats and purple hands and faces. Funnily enough for such sweet evocative hours there is also a very vivid and not so nice memory...Getting stung. On the head. By a wasp. I can almost feel it now!

But the time for picking the blackberries has just about arrived and now is the time for making the most of it. Apple and blackberry crumble next.

This is what is known in Ireland as a porter cake. Why porter? Well, porter is one of the many, many names for stout...or the black stuff...or...you get the picture. I believe Nigella makes a version using chocolate, and I can sort of imagine it. Guinness or whatever stout you use adds a particular taste, far nicer than you might imagine. It can also be used with beef in a slow-cooked casserole...adding depth and richness. Or, you could just drink it!

Neither of us is a stranger to being a bit skint. But, arguably, this can be good for you and it can make you resourceful. So, we haunt sales, charity shops and other sources of cheap treasure. A bit like making a cake instead of buying it...it is the finding of the bargain, and in some cases the restoration of it...that brings the pleasure. This quilt, and the 2 exquisite pillowcases were bought for just under £5.

Ha! Can you believe her...swanning around France with her husband...if you please...leaving me here all alone in blogland...lonely...holding the fort. To add insult to injury Brian & I were meant to be going on an NFU trip today - and our relief milker failed to turn up...most unlike him. So I'm at home.

Hope you like these sweet peas. Though we have a row which are fairly well on, these have just begun to flower - I think most of them I've grown from seed. Brian cut back a pear tree earlier in the year and we used the branches to create this very home-spun wigwam type contraption. They smell gorgeous.
N

The agapanthus is in full flower at the moment. Normally we miss this because we're away but this year we're having our holiday a bit later then usual...so we're able to enjoy them in their full glory (not that we would miss our hols just to see them).
Well, we've just packed the car and the boot lid is groaning under the strain (and this year we vowed to travel light...failed!) Noreen will be blogging as usual while we're in France. The garden and greenhouse are left in the tender care of Steve (eldest son)though we agree with everybody that the tomatoes are'nt very good this year. Will be back all too soon, Mx

Blackberries are rapidly ripening - mellow afternoons of fruit-picking and evenings over a bubbling pot (no not a cauldron!) beckon. Victoria plums noted on the market this weekend. I took a look at the pantry shelves and saw there were still a lot of jars of last year's damson jam. Apparently this is the best type of jam for jam tarts (thanks Nigel Slater), so I made these. Easy to make, and all too easy to eat.

Another break...for a late lunch.
This is our favourite summertime food...juicy vine tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, olives, all drizzled with good olive oil, some torn leaves of basil from the plant on the windowsill and some crusty bread. Didn't make the bread...but it was really malty and crusty...just right for dipping in the tomato juice and oil.
We're fortunate to have some extra virgin olive oil direct from the Veneto. A local market town is twinned with a town in Italy and my sister is part of the twinning committee...so she gets to visit on a regular basis and was given the oil...which she shared with us. She's good like that.

What could be better...a brilliant sunny day, the newspaper and mid-morning coffee...especially when Les has gone off to Leeds to help a friend who's bought a house there with some joinery? I have the place to myself...bliss!
Lots to do as well though as we're on holiday soon, so I'm writing endless lists...I find it helps, even if I only complete one or two things The whole list never gets done anyway...it's too hot for ironing, that's for sure...but some weeding will have to be done if we want to find our way into the house when we get back.

Some of the pots are looking OK at the moment...they should really be in their prime right now...but somehow I'm never completely satisfied with them. I think the plants have suffered a bit because I've stopped using slug pellets and didn't devise alternative methods...beer traps for example. We've a dahlia, Bishop of Llandaff, that's much smaller than usual and one delphinium was eaten off completely.
Still, isn't this the lot of the gardener...always thinking how much better it was last year or how much improved it will be next. I must take time out to appreciate the now...bright pots of annuals and lots of colour generally...relax a little and enjoy.

Isn't it always amazing what can be made from a litle scrap of fabric? Whether it's used in patchwork, or to make something for ourselves,(bag, purse etc) or for a child.
I've had this bit of material for ages, left over from making pillowcases I think - but it's grand for a child's apron - what used to be called a pinny...remember them? I'm sure I've seen old (black and white) photos of when we were children, wearing pinnies to keep our clothes clean. I guess washing clothes was much more of a drudge then...no way we'd give up modern washing machines...it's horrendous if they break down.
I might make one for Georgia though (this one's too small) because she loves baking, especially chocolate cake, and there's an awful mess, as you can imagine.

You know how people seem to be divided between hoarders (collectors is more kindly) and discarders, guess which we are!
We just can't resist searching out fabric bargains. The latest addition, a remnant of fresh red gingham, found today for a 99p, is about to be added to the store cupboard. Well, there's plenty of room left yet. Mind you, this is only one of the stores. A kind friend gave us a large pine mule chest that is now full of all kinds of fabric and sewing stuff.

Now I'll give some thought to what I can make. I've been doing a lot of sewing, making a dress for the holidays...but it's turned out rather more tricky than I'd envisioned...a very complicated pattern...bad choice. Something from gingham really appeals.

Sometimes the food needs to match the mood and the season - if that does not sound too pretentious. This was simple - just poached the peaches in some sugar and water. Then I heated the raspberries, pushed them through a sieve with the back of a wooden spoon and stirred in some icing sugar. The taste was sharp and sweet and somehow...of summer.