A Very strange City Indeed

Arriving to a delicious, welcome  wall of heat after a cold night on a plane feels just like we are on holidays in Asia.  And what a relief to be met by our own taxi and immediately on our way....ahh

Traffic.  "we're not in Kansas anymore Toto"

The jaw dropping chaos, the honking horns make my head spin. There is no need of "lanes" and the "correct side of the road:- in this case right, is a mere concept, a philosophical idea.  Glad I am not driving.  In fact, I may never drive again. The roads are full of scooters. We learned later that the government encourages motor bikes:- laws permit two adults, and one child under six.  And to discourage car? How about a 200% tax on car registration.  So a Toyota Camry would cost $85,000 US. 

En France ooh la la

Hi folks,
We are in France now.
This is the land of minuscule. We have just completed our seven-day canal boat trip.  All aboard survived.  It was fun.  We cooked our own evening meals and made up the most delicious baguette rolls for lunch with rillette or pate , tomato, cheese.  Bread, cheese and tomato sounds pretty ordinaire, but the bread and the butter is so extraordinarily good, that it is a feast. My mission is to try every cheese in France.  There are 380.

The countryside is exquisite.  There is normally a path beside the canal.  We have a botanist traveling with us.  She picked a bouquet of wild flowers for our dinner table, made up of red and white clover, ragweed and fleabane.  She pointed out hazelnut trees just in bud and huge walnut trees with young fruit, which could be pickled immediately. However, the winner was cherries.  There were cherry trees in EVERY backyard absolutely loaded with fruit in all stages of maturity.  We were able to forage for some on the canal bank.  We tasted white ones and maraschino but best of all were the black cherries.  We were able to use the boat hook to reach the higher branches so we had cherries for supper that night.  Sounds just like the "famous five"


We are off to Dijon by train. Yes Dijon mustard.  We will have to sample, naturellement.

An echidna in the garden

This little guy turned up in the garden today.  He did not seem to take the least bit of notice.  My neighbour said they might be deaf.  He was very busy looking for ants. About the size of a rockmelon.

tamarillo - an autumn tableau

Tamarillo are the small red fruit.  Inside is a strong orange/red coloured flesh with seeds you can eat like passionfruit.  They have an interesting semi sweet flavour when ripe, the flesh near the skin is bitter, though.  It is easy to peel, just blanch in boiling water.  It keeps forever in the fridge.

It makes nice chutney, or it can be roasted with root vegetables.  This gives a sharpness and brilliant colour. 

tamarillo - a recipe

Autumn's bounty.
"Seasons of mists and mellow fruitfulness"  (Keats) has arrived.  This is the harvest so far.  The small red fruit are Tamarillo.  Tamarillo are plentiful and make a great chutney which goes beautifully on a cheeseboard.


Tamarillo Chutney

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 kg tamarillos, peeled (3lb)
• 1 1/2 kg apples - peeled, cored and chopped (3lb)
• 500 g (1lb) onions, chopped
• 1 Cup sultanas
• 1 kg brown sugar (2lb)
• 2 Cups vinegar (white or cider)
• 1 tsp ground allspice
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Place all the ingredients in a large pot and bring to the boil,
   Stirring (making sure the sugar is dissolved before it boils).
   Simmer uncovered for approximately 2 hours, stirring often.
2. Pour into warm sterilised jars and seal immediately.

A Beautiful Meal last winter

Even though it is winter, we can have a long lunch outside.  The patio offers a view of the countryside, and we are alongside our pool.  Much too cold at the moment to swim, though.

Una Lezione Speciale

La settimana scorsa abbiamo avuto una lezione d'italiana, molto speciale.  

Invece della grammatica, le due ore le abbiamo passate in cucina, e a tavola. L'atmosfera della cucina era piacevole, noi studenti eravamo molto eccitati and socievoli.

La prima cosa che la signora ci ha offerto è stato 
“Ferro-China-Bisleri”, un aperativo italiano per la nostra salute. 

Gaia ha portato un’insalata Caprese chi lei aveva già fatto a casa. 
Che sorpresa!  Silvia, la figlia della signora, Lita, che insegne italiano anche, ha passato la serata con noi.

La prima cosa che abbiamo fatto è stata “La Bruschetta Al Pomodoro”. Gli student hanno tagliato  i pomodori e quando hanno aggiunto l’olio di oliva, la professoressa li ha rifiniti aggiungendo più olio dicendo:-
“I pomodori devono essere lucidi”

Roberto ed io abbiamo avuto l’incarico di fare il Ragù alla Bolognese.  Per il ragù, ci vuole molto tempo.  La signora aveva già preparato gli odori prima: le carote, le cipolle and il sedano erano già tagliati.
Noi due abbiamo soffritto la carne. Poi abbiamo aggiunto i pomodori, il pepe nero e il basilica.  Il ragù ha continuato a cuocere per quasi due ore.


La lampada della cucina emanava una luce molto colorata creando una bella atmosfera.  Io ho fatto delle fotografie della bella serata, le due professoresse e gli studenti.  La storia continua settimana prossima.