What's Cooking in My Kitchen?

I like baking, but the planned thing in my head doesn't always come out as I imagined it. Like the carrot bread here. I was so excited; the carrots I'd grown in the garden and making my own bread with them and using apparently a fool proof recipe...Well, it didn't really work out, so I don't know what that makes me. What's worse than a fool? An imbecile? Or maybe I just need some practise until I get better at it, n'est ce pas?

The carrot bread was a bit hard and lacking salt, though otherwise quite tasty. But somehow it just wasn't get eaten. We munched couple of slices of it, then I put the rest in the freezer and I think it might just end in the poubelle one of these days. Sigh! I'll try again another day.

Moving on to the confiture department. We got some apricots from Mon Cheri's dad; from his garden in the south where it's hot hot hot and the fruits are sweet and delicious. And we made lots of jam, my favourite one! We've also made blueberry, rhubarb and bramble jams but the apricot one is really the best, in my opinion. Mon Cheri prefers blueberry jam, so that's perfect; no fights at breakfast table then.

This will last us for more than a year!

This one is not about cooking but I'll tell you anyway. One morning we were talking with our neighbour Marie-Therese about lavender and how lovely its smell is, and what-do-you-know, in the afternoon she brought us a big bunch of it. Merci! Now I could use in my homely crafts what would have otherwise ended up in a compost.

I took the stalks off, made little bag-things and stuffed them with lavender. These will go into the cupboards with towels and linen and keep them smelling sweet.

In Finland we make this thing called kurkkusalaatti, a kind of cucumber relish, with vinegar and spices, which goes well with meat, for example, and is absolutely delicious. I don't have cucmbers but I do have courgettes galore, so I used them and it worked out just fine. Maybe not quite as delicious but a good substitute anyway.

Suddenly I'm craving for a hamburger.

Another neighbour, Sylvette, gave me several kilos of rhubarb, since she's got way too much and she doesn't really know what to do with it anymore. Throwing it all into a compost is not really an option. So, I have made several crumbles and here's some jam coming on.
Mon Cheri was rather dubious about my rhubarb crumble but after the first taste, all crumbles have vanished in record time.
The proof is in the pudding!