Final French Food Fling

Well, we're back in the real world but thought I would do a final post about our french food adventures.

I present to you........the raclette. This ingenious contraption grills and melts cheese which you then scrape onto cooked potatoes and typically eat with a platter of meat. And of course, wash down with some chilled white wine. I can't remember which cheese we used except that it was a combination of gruyere and something else. Another lovely evening on the balcony watching the world go by.

Our last cooking on the balcony extravaganza was to use the pierrade which is basically a hot plate on which you cook some meat. We cheated and bought some ready marinated kebabs with pork and vegetables. There was an element of risk with this one because you have to make sure the pork is cooked through. This pierrade didn't have any controls other than 'off' or 'on' so there was no way to adjust the temperature. We just sat and chatted whilst occasionally turning the kebabs to make sure they were done on all sides. Very convivial, although it was quite smoky and would definitely set off smoke alarms if cooked indoors, as well as making everything smell of barbeque!  Absolutely perfect for the balcony though.

I love shopping in the big supermarkets in France because the fruit and vegetable sections have such tremendous variety. For example, I just had to take a photo of the tomatoes in the Intermarche in Sallanche. There was a whole refrigerated section just for tomatoes. At home it's pretty much a choice of 'salad'or cherry tomatoes, and usually just red ones at that. I'm quite determined to have a greenhouse again when we move into the barns as I really miss having a selection of heritage tomatoes to gorge on......err, I mean *enjoy*. 

Bastille Day fireworks

After our mini epic up Mont Joly we settled to a relaxing evening on the balcony with the inevitable glass of wine and a cheese fondue - ooh la la. Our apartment has several gadgets for cooking French style so you've just got to try it. The plan was to be eating when the Bastille Day fireworks were being set off. We were hopeful that we would get a good view from the balcony because my legs just wanted to stay where they were. In the end we were too hungry to wait for the fireworks.

The view as the sun was setting

And finally, the fireworks.....err, will upload a picture when I can get it off the camera.

Les Randonees des Alpes

.......or walks in the Alps (so far). Having been here before, we have done quite a lot of the local walks, particularly as we didn't have a car last time, so we thought as would try a walk recommended by our hosts. This entailed a drive to Les Contamines, parking by the church of Notre Dames and then taking the footpath up and up and up to eventually reach the lake - Lac Jovet. It was a beautiful day with temperatures forecast for 35°c in the valley, so a good day to go into the mountains where it would be a bit cooler. Now I have to say it was a really lovely walk, but OMG it was hard! Having done very little research beforehand, when I looked it up on the internet when we got back it was described as 'difficult' and 1020m ascent. No wonder I was cream crackered. I'm glad we did it though!

After a day of rest (and shopping), we tried another epic walk - the summit of Mont Joly. We walked up it last time we came but the started clouds came over at the last minute and we saw nothing. Cruel, cruel weather. This time, again it was forecast to be very warm in the valley, so off we set up the mountain behind us part way by car and the rest by cable car. And this is just to the START of the walk. The rest was again up and up and up, followed by even steeper up. The last scramble was not my favourite bit, but the view at the top was amazing. This walk, though pretty hard, was not as arduous as the previous one, and you see kids AND very senior people walking it so you can't chicken out. Again, I'm glad we went, but I certainly knew that I'd walked. 

Photos to be uploaded later

Hexagon quilt

How many people spend as much time planning their holiday sewing as they do the holiday itself? (substitute 'sewing' with craft of choice). My cunning plan was to make a hexagon quilt. Ambitious eh? It all began when I saw a demonstration of a sizzix template cutting machine and saw how easy it would be to cut hexagons, and then I thought that hexagon hand sewing  or 'english paper piecing'  would be the perfect travel companion. A long story cut short - I bought a cutting machine and had some hexagon die cutters for my birthday. If i needed further justification, I would be making a quilt for us, which is something I haven't yet managed. I could imagine myself sitting on a balcony in the Alps with a glass of wine and some hand sewing, occasionally glancing up and marvelling at the mountains. All this of course after climbing every mountain and fording every stream (singing as per Julie Andrews).

hexagon and mountain view

We didn't manage a long walk today, but that's because we did an epic one yesterday and now we're having a day off. Instead we drove up the mountain for a coffee and a fantastic view of Mont Blanc

Then we had lunch back at the apartment and then drove (not walking) to Sallanches in search of a sewing shop as don't like the sewing needles I brought with me - a good excuse I thought. Anyway, we found a lovely shop called 'Tissus de Savoie' which had a fab range of Savoyard tea towels and tablecloth type things, but also a little sewing section. I couldn't resist some Savoyard patterned quilting material for a future project, although it might make it into the hexie quilt. I did buy some aguilles too!

What a view

How about a view of Mont Blanc from your balcony😁 After an eternity of driving, we finally arrived at St Gervais in the French Alps. It's nice to be sitting outside in the evening sun listening to the crickets and birds. Ok, so you have to ignore the road noise, but we wanted to be in walking distance of the town and the cable car so that we can have plenty of car free adventures and wine! We've been before, but not for a few years so thought it would be nice to come again. It makes it easier to relax when you know your way around and there are plenty of places to go and things to do. We actually ski-ed near here a couple of times as well, but that's a different kettle of fish.

Birthday baking and sourdough mojo is back

Another family birthday so another birthday cake. Since I'm finding the little oven (in the little kitchen in the little flat) a bit temperaturemental (I slightly over-browned (burned) my Dad's birthday cake last week), I decided to try something a bit different for daughter R's birthday. I had a mad pancake making session one evening last week as I just mixed far too much pancake batter (using freshly ground buckwheat flour), so froze the surplus pancakes. I then made some homemade Nutella from the Deliciously Ella cook book, defrosted the pancakes and made a layered pancake cake with pancake spread with nutella, then whipped double cream and then repeated with about 6 pancakes. I melted some dark chocolate and drizzled this on the top in an appealing swirly way. Then I added single cream to the remaining melted chocolate with some maple syrup to make a thick and sweet chocolate sauce. Mmmmmmm. It looked good (or interesting  as described by R) AND tasted really good. 

The baking session was not over as I made a sourdough loaf and some sourdough cheese scones. I was really pleased with the loaf as for some reason my more recent loaves have been a bit undercooked and doughy. Definitely disappointing. I've no idea why, but changed the recipe a bit to put in slightly less water and then baked at 220c for 1 hour in the cloche instead of the usual 45 at 200c and 15 at 200c. I managed to get the rising timing right as well, including overnight in the fridge, which is a bit challenging in the recent warm weather. 

I'll add some photo's when I get organised!

Last #C25K run and onwards

I've done the last run in the C25K programme. Hoorah. It was a bit delayed because it's been too flippin' hot, but I managed it on Friday morning when it was a bit cooler, running 3.5 laps around the field, which incidentally is now a very bare field. The farmer cut and bagged it last week and it's looking very empty and open.

Now for the nitty gritty. How far have I been running in 30 minutes? Well, somewhat predictably, it has not been 5k (3 miles). The trusty GPS measures my laps at 0.6 miles so I've only made it to 2.1 miles. I need to run 5 laps to make 3 miles. So, armed with a new target, I ran 5 laps on Sunday *applause and cheering*. I listened to an audio book instead of the motivational music supplied by the podcast, and found it really quite do'able. Of course, it wasn't fast - 43 minutes altogether, but never the less, I did it! *rousing fanfare*. Bit tired today now *sigh*.

Wood pile @30DaysWild day 29

A haven for wildlife! Day 29 of @30DaysWild.