le potager continued

ready to be dipped and battered, and lightly fried, stuffed with lightly seasoned goats cheese

Hopefully i am not boring my readers, i was so excited by my first produce as well as my first batter and also my first battered courgette flower.... that i felt it essential to share this with you.

the finished result with a Provencal tomato, and a glass of tomato and olive dressing

delicious, bit of effort but worth it

Cycled this week, played some tennis and obviously cooked up some dishes in the kitchen.

it  has been very hot this week, and we have either been sheltering in our nice cool cellar or swimming in the local lac...not the one next to us yet, it is still to be tested, this could take a while, mañana, mañana, We are so near the Spanish border i think i should be allowed both languages at my fingertips, that will give me five words in total!!

Midweek i bought some sea bream, and Marc cooked them on the BBQ, they were so fresh they were absolutely fantastic, also i thought at a very good price (it was cheaper than Moxon's....sorry boys) i get a very fast lively french banter from my french fish lady that i cannot always keep up with, but she does not make me blush, unless i can't remember the french for something very obvious.

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On Saturday night, the heavens had opened on Larroque and shortly after at Castelnau, we have never seen anything like  it. There was a river running through our hall with a torrent of earth from the garden….big clearing up op tomorrow.  I can't believe looking out of our back door it is about 5ml off from flooding right through the lounge to the bedrooms the water is three inches up my ankles, scary. It actually did some damage but not nearly as bad as it could have been if it had run through the lounge. Our old bedroom dresser will be hacked up for arty salvage via Marc and a few other things including my bike, helmet and gloves left to dry out in the sun. We will need a humidifier, Marc tells me to dry out the hall and sandbags for any future torrents.

Sunday 14th July Bastille day, did some clearing up and surveyed the devastation, did not last long, before you could say flood we were in Joe's bar drinking coffee with a largely cheerful English contingent all with various flood reports. after that we did a swift cheese lunch and headed to the weekend antiquities in Lannemezan some interesting stuff at interesting prices  but found a prize right at the end, some knobs at last for my pine chest at 2.50 each, bargain. 

Headed out at 8 ish pm for walk June and oz in the bar beckoned…joe bought the first round as he had done in the morning re coffee's which was very kind of him. Later were joined by Annabelle and clan, boyfriends , girlfriends, of James and Georgia, the Irving's, Piers and Hannah, and a host of the usual suspects, a couple were playing and singing the double bass and clarinet. A very pleasant evening, ending in fireworks let off in the square. Rumour has it that the pharmacy was practically set alight last year, but this bastille day ended loudly, but no damages. I left at 12.30 time for bed said Zebedee and left the hardcore to it.

au petit bonheur
olive oil infused with rosemary and new season garlic

looking for the marrow, it has put on amazing growth in the last few days
so pretty hard not to miss 

....and that will do very nicely for two greedy persons

once more held aloft, this is our first baby (sorry about the undies in the background
you cannot get the staff)

finished result, pork mince, onion, garlic, Dan's paprika, a few herbs and a dash of chilli flakes
baked in the oven and topped with parmesan for the last ten mins

one of my three mouseketeers....D'Artignan with Marc