early morning joy

Just back from the UK

Too weary from the journey to write anything intelligent

I'll just share these shots from an early morning walk,

the pleasures of the english countryside before breakfast!

My apologies to some of my lovely readers who leave comments under "anonymous".  I'm afraid that I have been  targeted by one extremely annoying person who is using my blog to leave hateful messages that I cannot condone.  Because of this individual I am obliged to block all comments from any one 'non-identified'.  Hopefully I'll resume to normal service in a while!  And to the person causing the trouble I suggest that you get a life, and spend your time and energy in a more positive manner.

le fromage normand

Some of you may know that I live in cheese country.  Not far from us in Normandy there are towns with evocative names like  Pont l'Eveque, Livarot, Brillat Savarin or  Camembert.

Besides their delicious flavour I always enjoy their packaging.  Bright labels stuck on the lids of small  wooden boxes, some round, some square.  Many of the designs haven't changed for years - why should they?

Le C-R-U-N-C-H

We have come to a tricky moment in the year.  Le Crunch.  Le what?!

We are a rugby family,  my husband played, my sons play, we girls cheer... loudly.  Any balls we kick around here are oval - even the dog's!

Any rugby fan will know that this is the season of the 6 nation Rugby tournament, played out between Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Italy, France and England.

All the matches in this tournament are pretty heated, but when it comes to France versus England, there is SO MUCH more to fight over.  Where shall I start?.....  William the Conqueror and the 1066 Battle of Hastings?  .... the delicate episode in 1431 when  the English burnt Joan of Arc at the stake .... I could continue for hours but it's not good for the entente cordiale.

So today, at 5pm London time there will be singing of anthems, drinking of beer and a stadium packed with healthy competitve spirit.  So far in this year's tournament each team is unbeaten, stakes are high.   It's always a delicate moment for me, I've never forgotten I'm British, but my sons root for France and look askance when I yell my encouragement to the boys in white.

I leave you with these pictures of a player appreciated as much on both sides of the channel (not hard to understand that one) the gorgeous Johnny plays for England during international tournament sbut for a French team during the year.  The boy has it all, the looks, the brains, the talent and the charm.

Need I say more?!

an improvised lunch

When two of my favourite girlfriends asked themselves to lunch here yesterday, I was very happy until I realised that my fridge was empty, I had no time to shop, and I didn't even have any flowers to stick in a vase!!

A closer inspection of the fridge revealed the presence of eggs, cream, bacon and cheese.  In my books that makes a quiche lorraine and lurking in the bottom drawer I found a suitable salad, to accompany.

A check through the deep freeze produced a bag of plum halves from last autumn, easily transformed in to a plum tart.

Still no flowers to put on the table or in the sitting room.  When all else fails turn to the garden!  No cutting flowers to speak of at this time of year but  I do have an abundance of snowdrops - or galanthus nivalis as a kind friend in Baltimore calls them.  Trowel in hand, I dug up a few small clumps from where the snowdrops shouldn't have been in the first place,  and grabbed some equally illicit moss.

Searching for  a way to bring my outdoors indoors, I avoided the traditional pots and planters and used some old cake moulds I had in the back of a cupboard.  What my arrangement lacked in professional finish it made up for as a talking point!

What's your favourite flower container?

crossing the channel

Off to the UK for the weekend to visit family.  While I'm gone I shall leave you with a new post to enjoy - I hope! - each day, but won't be able to reply to any mails.

It won't be the greenest time of year in Kent, but I still look forward to seeing some of my favourite spots.  Friendly architecture, narrow lanes, warm pubs ... relax!

ce mercredi je mange ... une tarte au citron

LEMON TART - most people like it, I love it.  Preferably not too sweet, preferably without a meringue topping,  Just good pastry, and a VERY lemony filling.  For years I made my friend Martha's (not that Martha, my Martha!) great lime tart with  simple lime curd filling, no baking required,  great for parties because the curd could be made a couple of days ahead.

This winter I've been experimenting with different baked lemon tarts.  I wanted a lot of flavour and a quick easy recipe.  Here is the one I prefer, no grating of rind ( I hate that job!), no eggs to be separated, child's play!  In fact my daughter loves to make this herself.

To make the tart you will need  a pre-baked pastry case, using your favourite recipe, or using store-bought pastry (I won't tell!).  Pre heat your oven to  350°F (165´C.

For the filling:

1 good-sized lemon, rinsed and dried (I try to use organic because the rind is eaten here)
1 1/2 cups (300 grams) sugar
1 stick (4 ounces or 115 grams)  butter, cut into small  pieces
4 large eggs
2 tablespoons (14 grams) cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon table salt

 Slice the lemons into fairly thin rounds, this is just to remove any pips.  Pop all of the lemon except for the pips, into a food processor along with the butter and sugar.  Pulse and mix until all of this is really smooth and totally mixed together.  Now simply add the eggs , starch and salt and mix again.

Pour into the pastry shell and bake for about 40 minutes.  It will still move a little when you take it out, and will just begin to turn golden brown on top.  Let the tart cool then remove from the mould.  I forgot to say that I prefer to use a loose bottomed tart mould for this recipe, the tart looks so pretty on a plate.

You can eat this one warm, but I prefer cold, sprinkled with a little icing sugar.  This of course means it can be made ahead, Yay!

Bon appetit!

Recipe thanks to Smitten Kitchen

correcting the King

How many of you have seen the King's speech?  We went on Sunday evening, loved it.  Great story, perfectly cast, beautifully acted, wonderful décors and costumes.

And my favourite detail of the true story is that this very proper royal problem was treated and corrected by a wonderfully laid back, warm hearted  .... Aussie - Good on ya' mate!

longing for spring

We're fed up with the cold,

our horses are fed up with the mud,

we want green trees,

they want green grass,

we all need to get back out into that forest!

By the way, for all those of you worrying, yes, these are my girls, and yes, we normally wear hard hats to ride.  They took them off on this occasion because I wanted to do a series of pictures of them both in the forest!

ideas for monogrammes

Still thinking about my monogrammes.  What a shame I'm not clever enough to re-upholster a little bijoux like this sweet canapé found at Baucis et Philemone.  Some people are so talented.  SIGH! ...

photos thanks to Baucis et Philomene

beds and monogrammes

Brocante atmosphere here, what with the bed and a load of monogrammed sheets I got my little greedy hands on today.

The bed first, (I showed it to you this week)  there is progress, but slower than I had hoped for.  I'm using a flame thrower thermal paint stripper and good old fashioned sand paper to take off the paint.  The bed is not that old and the wood underneath is a very ordinary beech.  So either I sand it down completely and re-paint, or I half finish the sanding to achieve a sort of chippy shabby effect.  For the moment I'm sticking to the second idea, half sanded then waxed.

Here is a detail before and after 

and these are two side bars, one sanded, one the original version

Now I just have the rest to do!

I'll soon be ready to re-upholster and, having found a load more monogrammed sheets, I am seriously tempted to use their beautiful creamy colour to upholster the bedhead and foot.  I'd probably place the monogramme centred on the foot of the bed.

Look at the choice I have!!

and most exciting of all a perfect pair with a stunning huge  RM on each, these are in perfect condition, I love them, and I also have a third RM in a slightly more simple style.

Over to you now, I love it when I get feedback on my renovation ideas.  

What would you do for paint finish and upholstery?

advice to Daphne - "tu" or "vous"

My second letter to Daphne, my imaginary friend,
newly arrived in France and in need of advice.

My darling Daphne
So glad to hear that you appreciated  my tips for your dinner , well it obviously went off well  if they were still there at 4am!  You must be the talk of the town.  I'm sure that your hubby's  remarkable wine cellar was a help too, were there really that many empties to evacuate in the morning?!  Oh la la!

So now you're worried about when to say "tu" and when to say "vous" to people around you.  This polite and familiar form of "you" is a pain in the derrière until you've cracked it.  But really Daphne my dear, as pleasant as your butcher may be,  you shouldn't have said "tu" to him!   I would have loved to have been there though ,  the poor man probably nearly keeled over face down into his fresh meats.

Of course the basic rule of  thumb is that "tu" is for animals,  children and close family, for everyone else it's "vous".  Mon Dieu!, if only life were that simple.   Maybe this will help:


When introduced to someone at a posh dinner you'll say 'vous' until the atmosphere melts a little - then someone  will suggest saying 'tu'.
In a professional situation, or in a shop or at school it will always be "vous".
In sporting and  artistic circles 'tu' is almost always de rigueur from the outset.  This makes sense, no point trying to put on airs and graces when your wearing outlandish sports gear or covered in paint!
When children and teenagers come to your house, just say 'tu' to them.  They'll mostly say 'vous' to you, until you invite them to switch to 'tu'.  Not all of them will manage,  don't take it badly sweetheart, it's just their education.

I'm not at all surprised when you tell me that you know couples who say "vous" to one another.  As I mentioned before you are living in a very smart and bourgeois world darling, Versailles hasn't forgotten that it's home to a royal palace you know.  In certain  circles of society, couples say "vous" to each other, but quite happily say "tu" to their close friends.  Go figure!  In this sort of family the children will say "vous" to their parents, grandparents and any other adults they meet.

On the whole, until you're really at ease with the language, it's best to take the lead from others.  Between you and me it will always be "tu" !


Ton amie
S

upholstered bedhead

There I was wondering what to do with myself (trying not to think about facebook!), when I stumbled upon this little beauty at a brocante yesterday.

It's exactly the size and shape I wanted for a project I'm working on, so now I just have to scrape off 50 layers of paint, re-upholster and hey presto!

I'll try and be quick so I can show you the finished pictures soon!

Thank you for your helpful comments and words of advice about facebook - I am told I must go there but feel more like I am being dragged!  I'll definitely follow your advice on privacy, in fact I'll probably just use it for the blog.  In fact I think I need a few readers on fb to get this page networked - if anyone has the patience to click and build up my numbers I'd be vey grateful.

Merci !

struggling with fb - aaargh

I am so sorry to be rather pathetic, but I am sitting at my desk struggling to understand the (for me dreaded) facebook.

Why do I have such hostile feelings towards this site that most of the world's population, including, many of you,  adores?   I guess it's just the mother in me, who has always been worried by my children divulging too much of themselves on fb.  In actual fact of course, they are more worldly wise than I care to admit and certainly are a lot quicker than me to catch on to how the d..... thing works!!

I hope to start the page today but, in the meantime, if any of you have your story of fighting with fb that you'd like to share, or if you simply want to tell me to grow up and get my act together, feel free.  I need encouraging and I need convincing.

I would also love it if some of you came over to say hello!!

Thank you all !!  XOXO

majestic staircase

I will obviously never have a staircase like this, which is fine, but whenever I see these pictures I am amazed by the gracious lines and the gentle light on this staircase, part of a 17th and 18th century private home in Paris.

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Photos thanks to Mires Paris