ALOUD

I had the lovely surprise a few weeks ago of being contacted by a sweet french girl, Laure, living in Australia.

Laure has created a little known blog ALOUD,  with an interesting theme, captured in her title quote:

“The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.”

Laure is much younger than me, and I am touched by her candid attitude, sthinking about her life to come.  She sets out to find and interview women who seem to be getting on with life in  their own self-defined manner

"I often wonder how I will make my life be the one I imagine. I don't want to wake up and have regrets about the risks I didn't take, the things I didn't do, the thoughts, hopes and dreams I was too scared to speak. Aloud. This blog is for women who can think for themselves. ....... ALOUD."

While I don't quite fit the mould of her usual interviewees with their clearly defined career and talents, Laure kindly  insisted she still wanted to ask me about how my life took it's present direction, and whether I have any regrets.

Unfortunately Laure isn't making herself widely enough known.  So today, my friends, I am inviting you to pop over and check out ALOUD,.  Read my little tale if you curious, but also take a peep at the interview of  Catherine, a talented architectural artist, Sandra a dentist on a mission,  Rosa, food writer and cookery expert; Lily a fashion designer or many other interesting interviews.

With all the determined and motivated women circulating on this blogosphere, Laure is sure to resonate.  I wish her every success.

images from my weekend

an important guest

a beautiful gift

 stunning new  blooms in the garden

I hope you're also enjoying a fragrant weekend

my wisteria

Timid for the moment, the wisteria is showing up early this year.  Just love the perfume wafting in through bedroom windows.  Such an exotic looking plant for our humble Normandy.

quality time

It's the weekend, and for the two youngest members of our family it's the start of the Easter break.  That's good.  We're all a little weary here, busy weeks behind us, school pressure for some, work for others, blog pressures for another  - ?!  LOL!

One thing's for sure, the girls and I will be spending some quality time with and on our horses.  Climb onto a saddle and you just forget about the rest - true therapy on our doorstep.  

I wish you all a relaxing and re-energizing weekend.

mon bouquet du jour

Would you be shocked if I told you that I consider my neighbour's property as my cutting garden?!  Don't worry, I don't tie Madame up and gag her while I raid her flower beds,  no, the house is empty and has been for years now.

This happens a lot in France, inheritance laws and taxes can be so complicated that houses are often left untended for long periods of time before the paperwork is sorted.

When Madame was still alive, she was a good neighbour to us, and I like to think that we helped her out too.  She often invited me to pick flowers or fruit from her garden and orchard, she hated any waste.  So today when I climb the wall and put together a bouquet for the house,  or bring back baskets of cherries, I always think of her.  

I remember the children helping feed her rabbits,  how she showed me the best way to grow mange tout peas.  And sometimes, to say thank you, I return with gardening tools and prune or weed a little.

Here is the bouquet I put together today, lilac and ornamental cherry - my idea of heaven!

enfilades de portes, layering of rooms

Our house isn't large enough to enjoy a real 'enfilade de portes', but I am always careful when painting a new colour in a room to stand back with the doors swung open to see how the colour will layer against that of the walls in the room behind.

Just as well really that the house isn't that big - if I had enfilades like these to admire, I'd never get anything done, just sit around admiring the view!!

photos thanks to marie claire maison and mires paris

Paris bar snack

Few edibles can be more traditionally Parisian than an "oeuf mayo", - hard boiled egg served with a dollop of mayonnaise.  So easy, so straight forward but divine when it's just right.

For ever, Paris bars have a had a little 'presentoir'of eggs, complete with the salt.  Clients take an egg, roll it on the zinc-topped bar counter and peel directly, sprinkle with a little salt and in two gulps it's gone!  In today's super-safe, ûber-worried world, health and safety experts fret about salmonella and bacteria, but I think life is too short for that!

So here is my ode to a good oeuf mayo, along with the simplest recipe for a proper home made mayonnaise, which of course is so much better than shop bought.

If you want to be parisian, then put a few eggs on to boil, and while they are cooking ...

 make your mayonnaise ... simply take the yolk of an egg, 

mix it in a bowl with a teaspoon of Dijon  mustard , some salt and pepper

 start drizzling oil into the bowl, mixing it well after each dose

(sunflower seed, vegetable oil,  whatever, best not olive oil though, the flavour will be too strong)

as you put more and more oil into the mixture it will become paler and firmer.

Keep beating all the time.  You can use a whisk for this, I just use a spoon

When your eggs are hard boiled, cool them in water and peel

serve your eggs with the mayonnaise, fresh bread and a little parsley

A Parisian snack - bon appetit!

Photo 1 thanks to le pieton de Charonne, others me