It is three years since I landed into this southern corner of France. After having cycled all the way from Scotland and done some voluntary farm work in various places, I had booked myself a place to do the vendanges, the grapepicking (in the next village from ours). It is one of the rare places where they still do hand-picking - most of the vignobles have moved into the 21st century, doing it all with machines.
Very tall and imposing-looking things they are too, especially when you get stuck behind one in the traffic.
So the vendanges have started again, earlier than normally, due to the incredibly hot summer. Picking machines and tractors dominate the roads, as the vinegrowers hasten to collect the grapes and get down to the business of winemaking.
If I haven't said it before, I'll say it now; I think I've come to the right place!
(Google picture, couldn't get one of my own)
The tomato plants in the garden keep giving and we're trying to do our best to do these delicious fruits some justice. Most of them vanish into our tummies as they are, but there's just too many to be eaten fresh.
I found a recipe to make a very concentrated roasted tomato sauce, which is a hell of a lot of work, but in the end you'll get the most delicious, thick sauce, which we add to pizza, bolognese sauce and other tomato-things.
And here you can find my food-guru Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall's recipe, which I interpret very loosely, depending what happens to be in my larder.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/sep/23/tomato-recipes-hugh-fearnley-whittingstall
And here's the finished product, the red gold! You can't see them in the right scale but the boxes are very small. Luckily you need only a little bit of the stuff to make an impact.
Few days ago in the garden, as I was watering the plants, I happened to notice from the distance that one of the still small melons had a bizarre colouring; normally they are green but this one was orange. I went to investigate and to my consternation noticed that the melon was covered in tiny ants, who had made a whole in it and also eaten the stem connecting the fruit into the plant. Aaaarrrggghh!
I was seriously displeased since it takes forever to grow these things and it being still so small I was convinced that was the end of it. Nevertheless, I took it home to make sure.
After evicting the ants we tasted the fruit and to my amazement, it was wonderful! Even better than the full grown ones. Funny thing nature, it keeps giving us surprises, as well as things to eat!
And the brambles keep giving too...I just can't stay away from them. (Why, oh why do I only have a one tiny freezer?)
Which means more jam and more bramble pies! Mon Cheri is ever so pleased.
So he brings me presents, like lavender, from which I can make little sachets that can be hung all over the house to sweeten the air.
The grapes have ripened in record time but some other fruit, like figs, are taking their time. These trees grow just about everywhere, so it shouldn't be too hard to harvest some of the fruit when the time comes. If anybody has great ideas what to make with them, tell me. I've never made anything with figs, except eaten them fresh.
Olives coming along, slowly slowly.
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