Fat Dormouse getting thinner

Hello dear Peeps! Good to have you here.

After the happy news of Mr FD Ihave to report the poor man has been injured. We went out to the International evening and enjoyed meat and potato pie, with mushy peas, gravy and HP sauce, followed by English cheeses and scones with cream-and-jam. A good time was had by all, including the two young children who were racing around, popping in and out, and genertally behaving well, but boisterously. As we were leaving, one of them shot out from behind the door, and got entangled in Mr FD's feet. In a valient, and mostly succesful, effort to avoid crushing said infant under his not insubstantial weight, Mr FD fell awkwardly to the floor. He feared last night that he'd cracked a rib, but thinks now it's just torn muscle. However, despite strong painkillers he is still in considerable pain, poor love.

It was good food, but I think it might have to have been my last "blow out" for a while...

My relationship with food has got to change - from being proud of myself because I'd lowered my cholesterol reading last bloodtest, I had a phone call from the doctor after my most recent test telling me I had to do something about it, as levels of "bad cholesterol" had gone up to a level that one really doesn't want to see.

SO, as I had been fasting when the levels had dropped, I need to go back to 5:2-ing. Boo, hiss. Only "Boo hiss" because I like eating, and dislike feeling hungry. I know it is A Good Thing really. I probably won't completely fast, but certainly will be eating less on Mondays and Fridays.

Other things that have changed: breakfast has gone from toast with cream cheese to a bowl of oat based organic meusli & granola, with added nuts and dried fruit. Still have the Danacol yoghurt, and now adding a slice of melon to my breakfast.

Soya yoghurt has been added to a day's snacking, instead of biscuits. Apparently being naturally low in saturated fat, soya foods help lower cholesterol. The special proteins in soya also appear to influence how the body regulates cholesterol too. Studies show you can lower your cholesterol by around 6% by including as little as 15g soya protein per day. Now, 15g is quite a lot, but I'll be at least adding SOME to my diet with my soya yoghurt snack - I found a peach and elderflower flavour that is lovely!

Sandwich lunches also have to change...Still sandwiches, but the fillings are changing. No more Brillat Savarin (boo!) or paté, but tuna, soya sausages or lean chicken. DEFINITELY no crisps, but more veggies to fill up on.

I'm allowing myself one oaty-type biscuit a day (instead of the several chocolatey-type that I was having!) and, if I have an attack of the nibbles, a slice of buckwheat bread (already sliced & in the freezer!) with some jam, but no spread.

Semi-fasting will mean my Danacol and coffee for breakfast, soup & fruit for lunch and then an evening meal.

So menus are (slowly) going to be reverting to the Hairy Dieter/ Slimming World/ 5:2 diet book recipes. I know it's better, but - Sigh.

I also think I need to face the fact that some more exercise might be required too. Not sure about how to fit that in - I suppose peeling my fat arse off the sofa in the early evening and going for a walk might help! There is a road up a steep hill which I could walk up - round trip about 20- 30 minutes (if that!) The steepness adding to the effort required.

So meals (planned before the cholesterol verdict!) this week:
TODAY: Harissa lamb steaks with cous-cous and salad

TOMORROW: A busy day - I'm poreaching in church, then a quick zip home, lunch then over to Lyon to hear a concert of music from sci-fi films etc. (poster includes a TARDIS!!) We're going with Cathy, and two friends who are staying with her. We're all eating back here, so I'll make a Slow Cooker version of Mary Berry's lasagne.
Because of the quick turnaround, and Mr FD's injury, I'll prep everything today so I can assemble it quickly tomorrow before we go off to Lyon.It's not very cholesterol friendly, but not terrible!

MONDAY: Lemon & thyme cod, green beans and potatoes. And asaparagus.

TUESDAY: Pork with raclette cheese Yes, I know!!! Cheese!!! After all I've been saying about cholesterol! Well, it's only one slice, and I won't have had any cheese for, ooh, at least 4 days! To have with pasta and courgettes.

WEDNESDAY: Oven baked red pepper risotto

THURSDAY: Quick Dijon chicken and pasta

FRIDAY: Spinach & chickpea curry with a small amount of rice.

Hey-ho.

Thank you for your comments. It's always nice when people say something!!

It's even nicer when people say NICE things! And Lovely Grey, Bevchen and Christine were complimentary about my TARDIS Zentangle Art that I did for Kezzie.

Michelle, thank you for being understanding about your horse ZIA. It will get done sometime. Not too distant future.

Did you have pasties, Bevchen? The chicken ones were nice! We had them with baked beans, and peas-carrots-sweetcorn mix. No potatoes as there was quite a lot of pastry.

Lovely Grey did you try the "Scattergory" thingie? It was harder than I imagined - obviously I have got used to going to Google for everything (Foods beginning with "a": - there are indeed many, including aioli, artichoke, alfafa, allspice, apricot, acorn squash, aspic, aubergine and avocado. Yet I couldn't think of one of them!!!!)

So, see you soon, dear Peeps. Don't forget to hop over to The Teapot as well. Things happen over there too!

Hello again, my Lovelies. I hope you are all well, and full of the joys of Spring (well, almost summer...)

Things are okay here. Mr FD has probably cracked a rib, but, thanks to pain killers of various strengths, prescribed by the doctor on Monday, he is bearing up. He will be able to start work on Monday, but has been frustrated by not being able to cycle. Especially as it's the Cyclo Voyage in a couple of weeks and he wanted to be Riding fit for that. He may not be, but he's at least going out for walks (more than I am!)

We had an enjoyable time last Sunday - I was preaching in Clermont, then raced home for a quick lunch before we went out toa concert playing at this event:

We were rather over excited as there is a TARDIS on the poster, but there was no music from Doctor Who. However, there was from Star Trek, Star Wars, Ghost Busters and others that I didn't recognise. The music was good, and there were some people in costume, so when the appropriate music was playing, they stood up, and acted out a bit. Darth Vada conducting the orchestra was a high point for many!

Although there was no music from Doctor Who there was a Sister of Plenitude (who was delighted that I had recognised her as such - having looked up the exact name of the order on Google before approaching her to have a little chat!) and a Tenth Doctor in plimmies and long brown mac. After the concert we wandered round the exhibition, where I snuggled up to a Dalek (Mr FD has the photo on his phone. I must get him to send it to me) It was nice to catch up with Pierre too.

Afterwards we drove home and Cathy, Will and Heather came for dinner - asparagus, and Mary Berry lasagne.

This week has been ordinary - still quite busy, but soon things will quieten down a little over summer - thank goodness for Mr FD's job. I finished with one student, and another wants to wait until September to finish his hours. Still, it's nothing new. It is however a little frustrating that I didn't go to the UK to work over the summer so we could take a holiday, and now Mr FD has a job we can't take a holiday!!!

Football has started. Whoop-de-whoop. Mr FD will be watching quite a lot of it. I will have to find other things to do...which don't involve just staring slack jawed at a computer screen! Tonight there are, apparently, two not-to-be-missed matches. Huzzah!

Appropriate football watching food tonight will be HM pizza - I use a scone base from a Rose Elliot book. It has always done me proud, so we shall enjoy that. There may be a bit of bacon included but it will mostly be vegetables.

My Cholesterol lowering activities are not going too badly. I was surprised to find that I quite enjoyed the soy sausages in sandwiches, and I managed to successfully semi-fast on Monday. The plan was to fast yesterday, but I didn't feel too good, so decided not to. I didn't go mad during the day though, and we enjoyed a chicken with sweet potatoes dish inh the evening. Fruit has certainly featured more heavily in meals this week, which is no bad thing, especially in place of biscuits. I will continue to reduce food intake.

I'm preaching again tomorrow. If you want, you can read my sermon over at The Teapot

This week's menus are planned as follows:
SUNDAY: Nigel Slater's pork in cider, with mashed potato and broccoli. The observant among you may notice the recipe is for chicken in cider, but I have pork steaks in the freezer, so I'm using them.

This is chicken too.

MONDAY: Lemongrass fishcakes with salad.

TUESDAY: Veggie bean burgers Hairy Dieter style. Made with a mixture of kidney beans & chickpeas.

WEDNESDAY: Pasta Puttanesca. There are many recipes, here is Jamie Oliver's. I think the one I have just uses tinned tomatoes though! Whatever it is, it's quite simple.

THURSDAY:Chorizo and vegetable frittata. If we don't use too much chorizo then this is fine on the cholesterol front. I'm eating fewer eggs now too, but now and again won't hurt.

FRIDAY: Salmon with ginger, chilli sauce, As it's a fast day we'll have broccoli and chicory with this. Possibly a bit of rice.

Next Saturday Pierre is playing in another concert in Lyon - this one is Ska music. As my sister & her husband are staying in Villefranche, not far from Lyon, for the Northern Ireland group matches (football again!) we are probably going to meet them for a meal, and then go to the concert. I'm not sure how much I like Ska but Pierre is a good player (very versatile, it would seem!) , so we'll just go for a bit of fun. If you don't really know what it is, here's an introductory video:

Thank you, thank you for your comments. They are always really appreciated, especially those who commiserated with Mr FD!

MICHELLE reminds me that exercise is important when thinking about cholesterol busting. Sigh. I know this, really I do, but I azm just SO lazy!

POMPOM - the cod was lovely. I really enjoyed it - but I enjoyed your letter more! Thank you so much! How kind you are.

BEVCHEN - I don't actually eat that much cheese, although I do like it. I suppose I just need to keep being sensible. I like the idea of putting sweet potato into a spinach & chickpea curry too. Miam-miam!

The same FB friend who posted the "Just a bit of Fun" post has just posted this one:

Bucket List - UK version! Please play along.
Put an X if you have done it Honesty the best policy !!!!

Been Married X
Fell in love X
Gone on a blind date
Skipped school
Watched someone give birth
Watched someone die
Been to France X
Ridden in an ambulance
Been to America
Been to Europe X
Been to Blackpool X

Been to Liverpool X
Been to Newcastle X
Visited Disneyland /world
Visited Legoland
Seen Grand Canyon
Flown in a helicopter
Been on a cruise
Served on a jury
Danced in the rain
Been to Manchester X
Been to Edinburgh X

Played in a band
Sang karaoke X
Made prank phone calls
Laughed so much you cried X
Caught a snowflake on your tongue X
Had children
Had a pet X

Been sledding on big hill X
Been downhill skiing X
Been water skiing
Rode on a motorcycle
Traveled on a bus, train and coach X
Jumped out of a plane
Been to an outside movie
Rode a camel
Rode a Donkey X
Been on TV X
Been in the newspaper X
Stayed in the Hospital X
Donated blood X
Got a piercing
Got a tattoo
Driven over 100 mph (I've been driven at over 100 mph. Does that count?!)
Been scuba diving

Lived on your own X
Rode in the back of police car
Got a speeding ticket X
Broken a bone
Had stitches X
Travelled Alone X

Hello Dear Peeps. I hope things are good with you. Things are in various spots along a line from ho-hum to good here!

The ho-hum is the joys of French bureaucracy. And the sheer weirdness of it. I am in the process of changing my English driving licence to a French one. I started the process in a bit of a rush because it was pointed out to me that if Britain votes to leave the EU I might be required to take a driving test in France. So I went on the Central Government website, printed off the list of everything required, collected it all together, made an appointment at our Sous-Prefecture and Bob, one would imagine, is your Uncle.

But no, I look on the list of things required by the Local Government and suddenly there's a bundle more stuff, some of which comes from the DVLA (and I don't know how long that will take!) So I may have to cancel my appointment at the Sous Prefecture...unless the DVLA can fax this in the next two days. And - of course - the Sous Prefecture may not accept a faxed copy as being sufficient. But I won't know until I get there!

Also the Loire department requires a translation of one's driving licence - 50€ that's costing me! But in the next door department my friend wasn't required to provide a translation, a justification that she's lived in France for X number of years, or a Certificate of Entitlement to drive from the DVLA. Just the stuff on the Government website.
So when I phoned to make my appontment (having already set wheels in motion for the translation...) I asked "Do I really need a translation of my driving licence?"
"Well...it's not strictly necessary," the young man prevaricated. "We can understand a bit of English ...Maybe...maybe not" Which isn't the most helpful response! I may end up with someone else dealing with my case who thinks most definitely "Yes!"

What strikes me as bizarre is that central Government advice is one thing, but then local government can change it. Just, it seems, because. And even then, the Local Government workers don't seem to be that sure whether one needs the things they said you needed.

Of course all this panic may be for nothing because Britain may not vote "Leave"....And as Mr FD pointed out, even if they do, the rules and regulations won't change overnight, so I probably don't need to panic. But "Panic" seems to be my Modus Operandi at the moment.

We have also had another long and tedious experience with Government bureaucracy over something else, so we are both a bit Fed Up.

Yesterday was a good day, but also a bit "Meh". Our own fault. We went to Lyon to meet my sister - she's over with her Northern Ireland supporting husband for the group matches in the Euros. We wandered around part of Lyon - and went to the Cat Café!!

It was nice, but - sadly - the cats all played at being very aloof, so we didn't see that many. I think Judy and Mr FD thought I was a bit bonkers wanting to go there but never mind! (While looking for photos, I've discovered there's a second Cat Café in Lyon - I'll be trying there too!) We found it amusing that there was no carpet, but there was a floor covering of astro-turf - reasonably easy to wash should there be accidents, one assumes!

After that we drove to a small village not too far away where our friend Pierre was playing in a jazz concert - Judy wanted to see this. We hadn't eaten but thought that we could get a quick meal at a restaurant in the village...We were in at 7.30, but by 8.15 nothing had arrived - Pierre was on at 8.30. Mr FD kept saying "Don't worry...it'll start late and go on for hours..." When we rolled up at 9.30 Pierre's group had finished! We saw him and chatted and apologised; we then stayed for the second part of the concert which was a not-very-good local choir, so after abou t30 minutes we sneaked out. Disappointment all round - although the meal was good! We started with crepinettes which are a sort of pork-and-greens meatball, which was served with a lovely salad. Then beef skewers with a delicious spicy pepper sauce and finally cheesecake. But sorry Pierre!

Today was the church open air service and picnic/barbecue on the Plateau de Gergovie. Although we didn't get wet (surprisingly!) it was cold and windy, so we didn't stay as long as we have in the past. The re-enactment of Vertingetorix's last stand against the Romans (which was apparently taking place at the same time!) didn't come our way.

Vertingetorix would have been welcome to join us if he'd got his invitation!

I haven't got my menus handy for this week - I know there's salmon and chilli planned as we didn't have it on Friday and I think chicken is also on the menu, but other than that I can't remember! Sorry...

On comments made on my last post, yes, Ang, I'm sure giving birth yourself counts, so you can cross that off the list! I wonder who put this list together in the first place...

Pompom, my cats are purring just for you. They think you're lovely!

Super cute LolKitten just for Pompom!!

Goodness me! I'm feeling glum today. I think it's because I'm rather regretting my decision not to work in the UK this year, and I know that today is the day when everyone will be gathering at Lines to start preparing for the weeks ahead. I hope I will be able to find a way to stop mulling over "what might have been" and enjoy the time I have here over the summer. I should plan a trip or visit each week I think, to look forward to, and try to find other stuff to do too. I've got students every Monday and Tuesday through July, so that will keep me busy, but I should do other things too. Any ideas, anyone?

I'm sorry I haven't blogged for a while - almost two weeks: Bad Dormouse! TBH after the (what I consider to be disastrous) referendum I wasn't really in the mood. But we had the Cycle Club Voyage to look forward to on the Friday, so we didn't have much time to mull over the results. Let me tell you what we did...

FRIDAY:
We left here at 7.30 am to drive to the VVF holiday village in Semur-en-Auxois in Burgundy. We took Brigitte and Yves, and stopped in Givry for coffee on the way up.

Givry is a pretty town - not that we explored much of it - but here is one view of what I think was the old market:

We arrived in time for lunch, which was a seafood salad, followed by hoki in a cream sauce, with rice. There was a red fruit pannacotta for dessert. After this, the cyclists gathered ready for a ride:

Mr FD hadn't been sure that he would ride, as he was greatly out of practise after his broken rib. He'd only cycled once in three weeks. In fact he nearly didn't take his bike! But he did, and here he is (far right) checking his odometer, ready for the off. He did 68 km on this afternoon's ride, and kept up with no problems.

Some of the hangers-on went for a long walk, but the others (including me) visited L'Abbaye de Fontenay. (Site in English, with some beautiful photographs) Here are some less beautiful photographs taken by Yours Truly.

This is the gatehouse:

There was some beautiful, deceptively simple stained glass:

This next one would make a great zentangle pattern if I could deconstruct it:

A view of the Abbey church from the cloisters:

The monks had built themselves a forge, and this became their "claim to fame":

The Abbey is now privately owned and the owner lives in a rather splendid building in the grounds. She is, apparently, 94 and was out for a walk with her dog, a rather charming labrador who came gambolling up to our tour group to show us his favourite toy:

As we left there were some rumbles of thunder, and we feared the cyclists might get wetr, but they all escaped a drowning. Unlike the walkers who got drenched!

Dinner that evening was something I can't remember, followed by chicken in a spiced sauce, with pasta and courgette gratin. There was cheese - and some disgruntled grumbling that we came all this way to Burgundy to be served a local cheese from home (St Nectaire) instead of the local Epoisse cheese. Dessert was a raspberry Vacherin:

After dinner Mr Fd and I went back to our little appartment to listen to Kermode & Mayo's podcast. We missed most of it as we both fell asleep!

SATURDAY:

It was pissing down with rain, and while the intrepid walkers went out, the cyclists did not. Instead we went to Alésia. From its site:

Alesia is where, in 52 BC, the famous confrontation took place between Julius Caesar’s Roman army and the Gallic tribes led by Vercingetorix.

The summer is drawing to a close and it’s already been six years since Caesar conquered the Gallic territories (the Gallic Wars). Vercingetorix, heading up the Gallic coalition, is trying to halt the advance of the Roman general. After an attack to no avail, Vercingetorix seeks refuge in the oppidum of Alesia, the stronghold of the Mandubii people. The Romans pursue them and launch the siege of the stronghold. They set up their camps on the hillsides around and build two fortification lines with ramparts, towers and traps. The first fortification line, 15 kilometres long, surrounds the oppidum, making it impossible for the Gauls to leave. The second one, 21 kilometres long, protects the Roman camps from the imminent arrival of an immense Gallic relief force. After a long wait, battle is eventually waged on the plain. The Romans are caught between two lines of fire. Projectiles rain down from their war machines and Caesar calls on his legionaries and auxiliary forces, archers, slingers and German cavalry– who deliver the final victory into his hands. Vercingetorix is taken prisoner and carted off to Rome. A year later, in 51 BC, the Gallic War is over, and the Gauls set to become Gallo-Romans.

The Visitors Centre

I thought that the plateau of Gergovie (where I had been the Sunday before) was the site of Vertingetorix's last stand, but no, that was where he'd routed the Roman army.

It was a really interesting site, and the Visitor's Centre was well done. It was a shame that due to the rain we couldn't go to the outdoor part (and also because we had to get back for lunch. Mr Fd was a bit pissed off about that) but I would recommend it as a visitor destination if you are in the area.

We had a picnic lunch planned - again very well organised by the village. After breakfast we had all gone to a big room where lots of different things were laid out - meat, cheese, salad, bread, crisps etc. We were given a little isothermic bag and picked what we wanted to have in our picnic.Due to the rain we all took our bags into the dining room and ate them there!

After lunch, I left Mr FD in the room, saying he'd watch the football. But as it was, the sun came out and after I'd left, he decided to go out with the cyclists after all. I went out with a small group to Le Maison de Pays - a craft/food/wine shop with local produce.

It was a bit bizarre that, because I had the GPS, and had been in the lead car, I was expecyted to be Group Leader. We arrived in Pouilly, not quite knowing where the place was, and

"What shall we do?" I was asked. After finding it, and shopping, everyone turned to me and said "What are we doing now?"

Well, I decided that we should then go for a walk along the canal at Pouilly-en-Auxois.

As you can see, the sun was shining for us! It was very lovely and green.

After this I wanted to go to the local biscuit & cake factory shop. The others thought I was a bit mad, I think, but as I was Group Leader, they had to obey me! (Oh the power!!!) They soon changed their tune when they saw the boxes of cakes on bargain offer!

Yes. I did buy some! We got back quite late, but were concerned that no cyclists had arrived. We waited for about half an hour in the bar, before Mr FD whizzed past us. In fact he was the first home, having got a bit fed up of the endless discussions about which way to go (this is a bit of a habit of this group!) Finally he pointed them in the right direction and set off!! He beat the rest back by about 15minutes.

Dinner was escargot vol-au-vents, chicken legs and duchesse potatoes, with more (yummy) courgette gratin, cheese (with Epoisse this time!!) and something ice cream-y for dessert.

Most people went to Semur after dinner, but Mr FD and I stayed behind and we went for a stroll in the gloaming. We didn't make it down to the lake as it was getting a bit gloomy and I didn't want to fall over coming back up through the woods.

SUNDAY: Mr FD and I went to Semur - I forgot to take my camera out of the car! Here arte some pictures from t'Interweb:

Then we drove to Epoisse - to buy some cheese! Here's a photo of the chateau walls first though:

source

When we got back it was time for lunch - paté Forestiere, beef cheek (delicious!!), and chocolate pudding. As I don't like chocolate pudding, I had an orange. Then we all said our Goodbyes to each other and set off for home. We paused in Villefranche for a quick coffee and were home by about half past five. It had been a lovely three days away.

Hello Dear Peeps! I hope you are all well. I am feeling slightly less glum than I did in my last post. I invited Friend Cathy over that evening, and we sat on the balcony, drinking wine and making plans...

So this coming week we are going out for lunch and a walk - maybe a picnic would be fun! The week after we are going over to Lyon to visit the Apple store (for Cathy), the other Cat Café (for me), and to have lunch. Maybe do a bit of shopping, now Mr FD is earning - though not too much shopping as my tax bill in August will be quite high, and I need to put the money aside now. I usually do it regularly, but last month saw a bit of a cashflow problem so I had to empty my Livret A account to bail us out. I therefore need to refill it to meet the tax requirements next month.

We also have our Fete du Coin "Coeur de la Village" next weekend. In France there is something called La Fete des Voisins, - Festival of Neighbours, the idea being that you get together with your neighbours for an apero, for a street party, for a meal...whatever. Here is a link to the Wikipedia article (in French).

The official date was in May, but someone on the Council has arranged for the Fete for our neighbourhood ("Heart of the Village") to be next Sunday. We have signed up for it, and I'm taking a Banoffi Pie. Let's hope I don't have the same experience as I had last time I made one (I'll just say "caramel on the kitchen ceiling". You can imagine the scenario!)

I have also been zentangling more - yesterday saw me glued to my zentangle pens. I completed a couple which I will show you when my camera battery is charged! One is a fairy, one is a Mandala. See here at The Teapot. I'm thinking I may have a stall at the St Just Christmas market, so I'll need to build up stock of subjects that might sell. I have also recently finished a commission...I hope the purchaser likes it

It's harder doing something as a commission for someone, rather than just doing something because you want to do it!

I made a yummy cake a couple of weeks back - Nigel Slater's Marmalade Cake.

Instead of the frosting, I melted more marmalade with some orange juice, made holes all over the top of the cake & poured the glaze over. Lush and sticky!

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So, food this week...

YESTERDAY: A version ofSticky Apricot SkewersI didn't make skewers, I added more veggies (onion, leek, mushrooms, peppers) and we had it with rice and (home grown) salad leaves.

TODAY: Slow cooker pulled pork, with sweet potatoe wedges and coleslaw, and salad. I use Frugal Queen's recipe as a base but then changed it. I used some pulled pork spices (not good used by themselves, but good in a mixture), honey, barbecue sauce, sweet chilli sauce, worcester sauce, and balsamic vinegar. So nothing like FQ's recipe in the end!!

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MONDAY: It was going to beRainbow Bulghar Wheat saladBUT the pack of peppers that I bought had gone wet and mouldy, meaning I only had enough for yesterday's dinner. I think I'll have time tomorrow to pop out to get some more peppers. If not I will be improvising with bacon, feta and mushrooms - probably with pasta.

TUESDAY: Coconut-chilli salmon with noodles & leeks. Miam-miam!

SOURCE

WEDNESDAY: Falafel burgers (the recipe is good; you may find the blog post that goes with it a bit near the knuckle) with pita bread/ flat bread & salad.

THURSDAY:Pulled pork (from the freezer from Sunday) with rolls and salad

FRIDAY: Vegetarian stuffed peppers - no recipe, but using rice, courgette, mushroom paté left over from Christmas that needs eating, and feta as the filling.

SATURDAY: Mushroom curry

(I've ordered one for PomPom...It should arrive next Tuesday!)

and Thank You for your comments, which are always appreciated!

POMPOM - glad you liked the Kitten picture. And you're right, the red tape is frustrating! And I haven't told you about my worst experience of "sympathetic (not!) customer service". But I met the Driving License guy who was really laid back and helpful, and my application is in the system.

KEZZIE - the DVLA documents didn't get here in time - but the guy was happy to accept a fax copy, & no official translation (Grr! That's 50€ down the drain) which meant all was okay.

CATHY DANIEL - thank you for popping in! Don't worry about taking a while...Life does have a habit of Getting In The Way...

MAGGIE - Lucky you having a bi-lingual electrician! I sometimes wish I could employ someone to just follow me round and help me deal with all the French I don't understand! Mind you, I think I am improving... I watched this video about a local artist and I actually understood it. ALL of it!

by Nicolas Decoussy

So there's a round up of this week's news. I hope to see you back again sometime soon! Have a lovely week, dear friends

It's the evening of the Euro Football Competition final - Portugal vs France. We are in for a not-so-quiet night, I fear. When Portugal won their semi-final there were some Portuguese fans who drove their car through the village several times hooting their horn. At 11 o'clock at night we weren't amused; even less so at 11.30. So there are obviously some Portuguese fans around.

There is already quite a lot of noise (whistles, horns, singing) emanating from the bar across the square, as they gear up to watch the match. If France wins, I don't think there is much doubt that there will be some noisy celebrations going on deep into the night. Windows closed (in 30° heat!) and earplugs in!!

Today we had our Fete du Coeur du Village - there weren't too many people there that we knew - we'd hoped our friends Monique & Michel would be there, but they weren't - but it was good to be involved. I forgot to take my camera so no photos. Apèros started at 12.30 and at 2.30 were still going on! I was preaching in Clermont at the evening service, so couldn't drink much: one glass of rosé-grignotte and that was it. My drink was water bright. There were lots of nibbles - cheese squares, savoury cake with ham and olives (here's a recipe in French), grattons (pork scratchings), crisps, saucisson etc etc.

We were a bit shy, but spoke to Mi-Jo who is the mum of one of our friends, and to Dominique who organised the event. Then the baker, André, started to talk to us too, which was nice. We discussed the referendum (of course!) and learning languages, and travel. When we sat down to eat we ended up at the "young people's" end, so there was a lot of drunken shoutiness going on, which meant we really didn't understand very much of what was being said! Still, it was nice to be included.

Lunch was quiche, cold meat, salad - with yet more wine flowing! - then cheese, and then pate de pommes (a sort of apple pie) and my Banoffi pie. I was worried about whether people would like it, but it was quite popular - one guy had three helpings! André (the baker/ patissier) thought it was good, but a bit too sweet - I agree. I don't actually like it as it's too rich and sweet for my taste. Perhaps making the toffee with unsweetened condensed milk would be better. I use chocolate digestives in the base, so maybe plain ones would cut down on the sweetness too. Anyway, we left before anyone else, at 3.30, to get a shower before I drove down to Clermont...I got back at 8.00 and there were still quite a lot of the people still drinking, and chatting (and possibly eating too!)

Everything has gone quiet. I assume the match has started.

Food is only half planned for this week...
TOMORROW (MONDAY) - pasta with aubergine sauce

source

TUESDAY: Salmon with salsa verde, rice and green salad

WEDNESDAY: Not sure as we had Wednesday's dinner on Saturday. Maybe Saturday's dinner (Mushroom curry) but maybe something else. Mushroom risotto is a possibility. If the mushrooms have lasted. If they're looking dodgy we may have this on Monday.

THURSDAY: It's bank holiday in France, and our friends who run a restaurant are having a hog roast

Here's a picture taken at another of their méchoui

We are thinking we might go to support them. It's a bit pricey, (15€) but we haven't been out for quite a while, and that covers the main course, cheese and dessert. So it's not TOO bad.

FRIDAY: No idea. I'll decide before I go shopping on Wednesday.

Some singing and whistling, but no loud cheer. I'm guessing there is still no score.

I've spent quite a lot of the weekend zentangling - completing a dolphin and another fairy, and working on a celtic knot pattern too, although that is turning out a bit messy. Work tomorrow - two lessons - and Tuesday - 4 lessons- so it keeps ticking over. Mr FD is enjoying his work, after a shakey start, although the getting up early is taking it out of him a bit! He is doing stuff that he's asked for and seemingly impressing people. It's sad that there is unlikely to be a permanent position at the end of it, as he has been hired to complete a specific project.

Thank you, as always for your lovely comments...

CAROLE - we enjoyed watching "The Disappearance" too, particularly as it was set in Lyon, which isn't far. Lyon is a lovely city, and I think the series showed quite a lot of good views. I think it would be a great place for a mini-break. We went there with my mum, my brother and sister a couple of years ago. You can read about it here at The Teapot

POMPOM Did your Crazy Cat Lady Starter kit arrive? I thought you might like this:

KEZZIE: I'm glad you like the Zentangle. I hope your mum does too.

MICHELLE: Thank you for your kind comment. I'm not sure about taklented, but certainly getting better!!

NATASHA: If you make the felafel burgers do let me know if you enjoyed them. Happy to help over the Grebes.

source

Here's a great photo of two waving weed at each other.

Well...It's half time and there's no score yet, but there's still another 45 minutes to go. Who knows what will happen! Lord, if it goes into extra time the cheers will start even later!! Hey ho.

I hope everyone has a good week, whatever you are doing. I look forward to catching up on your blogs and finding out what you've been up to.

Hello dear Peeps. I am happy to have your company - thank you for dropping by.

Like much of the world, we are in a subdued mood here in Dormouse Towers: with the turmoil and instability in the world at the moment I find it difficult to be optimistic. The events in Nice, the effects of Brexit, the failed coup in Turkey...these are just the big events that are going on. Around the world there are other less "news worthy" events happening. When searching for information to add into my post over at The Teapot I came across a site listing all the terrorist attacks that have occurred this year. It is truly shocking. Many of them we never hear about on the global news, but every day in several countries there are attacks, and deaths. For example, on just one day, 12th July, there were 6 different attacks, in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Nigeria resulting in the deaths of 59 people. This is our world.

We feel hopeless and useless - at least, I know I do, - but I suppose all we can do is resolutely continue to live our lives normally, and try to bring light and love into this world of darkness.

So in the face of fear, and pain and evil I can only pray that I will be one who can bring light, love and compassion to the world. Hold your loved ones a little closer and appreciate them today, for there are many who can no longer do that.

So now, a couple of cute LOLcats to bring some fluffy loveliness to your heart

And on with the mundanity of life here in a small village in France...

The planned hog roast was a bit of a disaster - Mr FD thought it was an all-afternoon event, so we turned up at 6.00 to find it had closed down! So we had Friday's planned sausage, aligot and green beans on Thursday, while watching "What We Did on our Holiday" - a really amusing film. Great fun, and well recommended

It has David Tennant in too, which is a bonus!

On Friday we had the meal I'd planned for Wednesday, as on Wednesday we'd had the impulse buy of spare ribs.

TODAY: Friend Cathy and I are going to see a Sting tribute this evening, so we thought we'd make an evening and have a pizza out. Mr FD is going to cook himself liver and bacon. Yeeuch.

SUNDAY: Cottage pie - not made from a recipe. Just mince-y mixture with mashed potato on top.

MONDAY: Pork and peanut noodles

I'm not quite following this recipe, as the one I have uses peanut butter - which has made Mr FD happy. VERY happy...He has a penchant for crispbread with peanut butter and cheddar. A friend at church gave me a huge block of cheddar from their trip to the UK, so Mr FD is having slabs of the stuff on peanut butter. I am trying to be more restrained, as cheese-eating needs to be reduced on my cholesterol-busting regime. TBH, it's hardly "busting" any cholesterol, but I am making an effort to restrict myself to one helping of "baked goods" a day, and my lunchtime sandwich fillings have changed to less processed meat and cheese.

TUESDAY: The rest of the cottage pie.

WEDNESDAY: Mexican bean burgers, salad, potato wedges

THURSDAY, FRIDAY, SATURDAY - no idea! We're going away on a little break! We have tickets to see David Gilmour in the arena at Nimes, so we are staying with a friend on Thursday night, and then in a B&B near Aix en Provence on Friday and Saturday nights.

We want to have lunch here

on Thursday. We've eaten here before and it is very good. It will give us the opportunity to buy a little something for Isabelle to say "Thank You" for putting us up too. They sell lots of delicious things to eat and drink.

We may also slip a little something into the basket for ourselves. We love their balsamic vinegar and fig salad dressing!

Other than that we don't know where or what we'll be eating, but I'm sure we'll find nice places!

Thank you once again for your comments.

CAROLE R - definitely Lyon for food! And there are lots of places serving fish. In fact quenelles de brochet (pike quenelles) are a speciality of Lyon. My MiL doersn't eat meat and she has always eaten well in Lyon. One of our favourite places to go with her is Le Sud which is right near the centre of the city. Let me know if you decide to go - I can give you other recommendations too.

SWEET THINGS CREATE: Thank you too for your comment! I always wonder what to do with things I create - I try to give them away mostly - but it's comforting to know others have the same problem!!

I hope you all have a good week, full of light and love and peace. Take care, and I'll try to post sometime soon after our break away.

Hello dear Peeps. I know it's been a couple of weeks since I last posted here (but you can read about my cat herding adventures over at TheTeapot). We had a lovely time in Nimes, at the David Gilmour concert, and Aix en Provence.

THURSDAY - we travelled to Nimes, not using the motorway very much, but pootling through the countryside. We stopped for lunch at one of our favourite spots (Aix & Terra) where I had Terrine Black-and-white (goats' cheese and marscapône with a fig chutney) followed by an enormous salade Niçoise, full of olivey, anchovy-y goodness. In fact it was so big I couldn't finish it! But, of course, I have a "pudding stomach" and managed to fit a tasty little Café Gourmande in - a coffee with a few tasting size desserts. There was a pannacotta, some tiny madeleines and a palmier biscuit smothered in Speculoos/chocolate spread. Miam-miam.

We reached Isabelle's where we were staying overnight, and hazd a dip in her swimming pool. Then we went into Nimes for our concert. We weren't sure where to park, and of course there was a lot of traffic, so we decided to park about 2 km from the centre (free parking!) and walk in. it only took about 20 minutes so it seemed like a good idea. We bought a sandwich for our tea and then went into the Arena. It was amazing!

Here is the arena as it was filling up with people

And here it is during the finale of "Comfortably Numb"

After the recent events in Nice I felt a little insecure, but really it isn't possible to think like that. There were plenty of police and security in attendance, so I had to trust to that, and remember that, in fact, Europe is a safer place to be now, in regard to terrorist action, than in the 80s. It was a superb evening, and quite honestly I was so involved in the music that I forgot my misgivings.

I think our car parking idea paid dividends now, as the Arena seats upward of 16,000 people. Now I know that about a third was taken up with stage, but that still leaves about 10,000 people all leaving (and probably trying to leave the car park) at the same time. We scooted out of the arena as soon as David Gilmour had finished his encore, so we were already ahead of the crowds, (I'm glad about that as I'm not too stable on badly lit, uneven stone steps!) and I think that by parking out of the centre we probably got away before many of those who had parked closer - even after our walk back to the car!

FRIDAY: The plan was to go for a walk and then have another dip in the pool before leaving, but it poured with rain. Instead we sat and chatted with Danièle (Isabelle's mum, who is a good friend of ours) and then went and bought some wine.

As you can see, it's not quite swimming weather!

Danièle prepared a lovely meal, of tomato and mozzarella salad, daube with red rice from the Camargue, and then peach sorbet. Very enjoyable.

We drove down to just outside Aix to the B&B that we had booked. I'd been a bit dubious,as the website wasn't very informative, but in fact it was very comfortable (except for the fact the toilet was in a tiny room that neither of us could stand upright in, and it didn't have a door. There was only a curtain separating it from the bedroom. Not very comfortable.)

We only wanted a snack for dinner, but actually ended up with something a bit bigger...

Very yummy though!

It was at a little shack-like snackbar called Le Boomerang.

But it was very clean (the toilets were immaculate!) and served good beer

Here's me!

(looking like I've had one too many beers!!)

SATURDAY:

We went for a walk in the forest around the B&B - it wasn't a great walk, being a bit same-y, but it was good to get a bit of exercise...

Mr FD looks very severe in this photo!

The highest village in Bouches-du-Rhone: Mimet

Get a move on, woman!

After the walk we drove to Aix, and bought a sandwich for lunch. The plan had been to walk round the town, admiring fountains (there are over 100 in the town) but it started to rain again...

I liked the wine cooler carefully placed to get the benefit of the cold water!)

Finally it got so wet we decided to go to the cinema!! We saw "Florence Foster Jenkins" which was very good.

After the film we went for a stroll, trying to be upbeat about the weather, but we gave in finally, stopped for a coffee, and then decided to go back to Mimet to book into the restaurant there for dinner. Though we did pause to take a photo of this street sign

I'd quite like to live on Rue Rifle-Rafle!

However, continuing our luck, the restaurant was fully booked for a wedding party, and we couldn't find anywhere else in the vicinity (bizarrely!) However, we finally stumbled on a reasonably pleasant looking restaurant, where I had...

Baked camembert with honey and walnuts.

pumet de cochon - not sure what cut of pork this is, but it was certainly good!

then Carpaccio of pineapple with a mango ice cream.

SUNDAY: We had an enjoyable breakfast, sitting in the sunshine, and chatting with the owner. Then we said Goodbye to the blind dog

(who didn't seem too bothered!)

And we drove home. We bought some picnic food on the way back;, which we ate in a motorway service area, but we were home by about 4.00. It had been a lovely break.

This week I don't have any work. In fact I have practically nothing in August, but that's okay, as I am going to the UK next Monday for a week, and then my mum is coming back here for 10 days or so. Mr FD is staying here as he is working for part of the time. We are going to take mum away for one night to Salers, to what looks like a very nice B&B, called Aux Berges du Lac

It looks rather lovely and peaceful.

She will also have the pleasure of being here while I prepare for (and have!) a colonoscopy. Yay! I'm looking forward to that! Still, needs must.

Anyway, that's all in a weeks' time. Meanwhile, what's planned on the food front this week?

Yesterday our friends took us out for dinner. Mr FD had done lots of work for them on computers and other tech, so this was their way to say thank you. I benefitted because they felt they couldn't just take Mr FD and leave me at home. Huzzah!

We went to La Murette, a Belgian restaurant nearby.

I had a mixed tomato salad with anchovies and hard boiled egg - there were lots of different varieties and colour of tomatoes. It was light and refreshing. Then I chose spare ribs - which were delicious and packed with meat! In fact I couldn't finish mine, which was a real shame. This came with a baked potato and spiced cayenne butter, and ratatouille. I was so full that I'd used up my "pudding stomach" and just had a coffee! This morning I haven't wanted much breakfast at all!

The rest of this week's plans look thusly:

TODAY: Roast beef, yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, carrots, green beans. I'm probably going to church, which is at the inconvenient time of 5.30 during the summer. It means I get back at about 7.45, which is too late to start cooking. So I'll prep everything and Mr FD can put it in the oven. If I go.

MONDAY: Aubergine, mushroom & chickpea curry. I don't have recipe, but I do have curry paste, which I will use. I may throw in some spinach if it hasn't gone slimey. I think we have some naan bread in the freezer.

TUESDAY: Cold roast beef, chips and salad.

WEDNESDAY:Cheesy pasta and ratatouille. As I've said before with these links to Two Chubby Cubs, the blog post before the recipe can be a bit "racy" but the recipes look good! You can skip direct to the recipe if you prefer.

THURSDAY: TCC's Orange glazed salmon - but I can't get excited by a spicy butterbean salad so we're having it with rice and broccoli.

FRIDAY: Hunters' Chicken, potatoes and vegetables. Probably carrot. This uses a Slimming World barbecue sauce recipe, which may be yucky but may be quite nice. Who knows?! It certainly looks okay...except I won't be using sweetener. Just a pinch of sugar.

Hunters Chicken is basically chicken cooked in the barbecue sauce, with cheese and bacon on top. I'll probably use lardons, as bacon is difficult to get here. Here's a "proper" recipe.

SATURDAY: Back to the Chubby Cubs, and theirRainbow Bulgur Wheat salad with feta and bacon.
We've had this before and it is delicious!

Low calorie cooking spray

1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped

1 tsp mild chilli powder

225g passata

3 tbsp sweetener

4 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

½ tsp mustard powder

- See more at: http://www.slimmingworld.co.uk/recipes/barbecue-sauce.aspx#sthash.1UQxGOWS.dpuf

Thank you, thank you, thank you for comments. I love reading what you write.

I have my ears forward like in "Happy" mode when I get comments!

KEZZIE - thank you for your several comments! It's interesting how different people react to the hightened alert. I try to be sanguine like you - if it's going to happen, I can't do much about it. I hope you hads a good time in Sarlat; I really enjoyed our stay in the area, though I agree with you about the lack of veggies - and what there are have probably been cooked in duck fat! We thouyght the peanut noodles were a bit "meh" in the end. Sadly.

MICHELLE - thank you for your good wishes. As you may have read, we had a lovely trip, despite the rain.

POMPOM - you're welcome to come and cuddle cats whenever you wish! What day are you coming this week?!

TRISH - I have seen the Lolcats on your blog. Some excellently relevant ones!! Your kitchen is looking good too.

MAGGIE - I'm glad your friends enjoyed the concert too. Aix is lovely, and it's worth visiting. And I'd like to have spent more time in Nimes too.

Low calorie cooking spray
1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped
1 tsp mild chilli powder
225g passata
3 tbsp sweetener
4 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
½ tsp mustard powder

method

Spray a pan with low calorie cooking spray and sauté the onion and chilli powder over a high heat for 5 minutes until softened.
Stir in the remaining ingredients, bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes, until thickened. Check the seasoning before serving hot or cold.

- See more at: http://www.slimmingworld.co.uk/recipes/barbecue-sauce.aspx#sthash.1UQxGOWS.dpuf

Low calorie cooking spray
1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped
1 tsp mild chilli powder
225g passata
3 tbsp sweetener
4 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
½ tsp mustard powder

method

Spray a pan with low calorie cooking spray and sauté the onion and chilli powder over a high heat for 5 minutes until softened.
Stir in the remaining ingredients, bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes, until thickened. Check the seasoning before serving hot or cold.

- See more at: http://www.slimmingworld.co.uk/recipes/barbecue-sauce.aspx#sthash.1UQxGOWS.dpuf

Aril, over at Wonderings & Wanderings from Gnat Bottomed Towers posted this. I wanted to share it with you in case you hadn't seen it!

I'm not sure how much I approve of using cats in this way - but I love it!

I like this Ikea one too...

And if you follow this link there's an explanation of how they made that advert, and here's a rather amusing parody of that explanation...

Yes, okay, so Cats aren't exactly "Food" related, but I've just posted something else over at The Teapot so I came here with the cat videos!

I am all tidied out! Because mum is coming back with me when I return from the UK, I wanted to give the house a really good clean - this is something that isn't undertaken lightly!! So the order of events has been...

Monday - my study got a tidy and vacuum and the spare bedreoom got tidied, vacuumed, cleaned. Then used as a dumping ground (d'oh!) so I still have to give it a bit of a going over. Maybe.
Tuesday: Our bedroom really got sorted. All the books off the shelves, dusted, moved, polished, vaccumed. Oh the dust and fluff! I could have knitted another cat from the cat hair that was flying around!!!

Wednesday: The bathroom got done today.
Thursday - I had to go to Roanne for various appointments and the shopping, so no cleaning today.
Friday - all the kitchen cupboards were emptied, wiped, cleaned, tidied...The top of the fridge...The most DISGUSTING cupboard-under-the-sink ever got cleaned, wiped, reorganised. I got severely poked by the bristles of a very vicious scrubbing brush that I didn't know was in there.
Saturday (today) - The dining room cupboards were emptied of crockery, glasses, etc and cleaned and reorganised...Sentiment had no part here and various things that I'd kept because they reminded me of someone/some time got thrown out. Jars of jam that had mouldy tops went out. I may have wasted some that was still okay to eat, but I wasn't sure about it, and I knew Mr FD (the main jam eater) wouldn't touch it. Meanwhile Mr FD did a bit of vacuuming and washed the floors.

Tomorrow I'm ironing, packing, printing off tickets etc, so no cleaning then. Mr FD has instructions to clean stairs and landings and the downstairs salon before we get back on the 15th. And to give the houise a final vacuum. As I've done every other bloody room I don't feel a bit guilty about asking him to do that, especially as he's at home for two days of that week (Yes, he has some work to do, but it's still officially holiday for him) The one room I haven't touched is Mr FD's study - his study, his mess.

As I'm leaving on Monday I've not really planned much food...I am missing an ingredient for the planned bulghar wheat salad tonight so I'm going to do jacket potatoes with a vegetarian chilli (topped with bacon bits, sour cream and cheese) instead. Just as healthy (yeah right!!).

There are various things in the freezer that Mr FD can have during the week, so he doesn't need to think about cooking when he gets back from work, just dinging in the microwave. It means he won't have to go shopping either.

So I'm off-line for one week definitely, and then maybe for the weeks after when mum is here. I may have time to pop in, but don't worry if I don't.

Nothing yet.

You can read the story so far at The Teapot

We are all so sad without George.Millie is particularly missing her brother...

The last few weeks I have been pre-occupied: first going to the UK, then losing George and having my mother to stay.

Mum has gone home.
George has not come home.

We are sad, and I cannot bring myself to write cheery posts about food and so on. Later I will tell you about my beautiful niece's wedding, and our short trip to the Cantal; later I will return to giving you recipes and menus.

But for now we are still pre-occupied by George's disappearance and fearing we won't ever see our lovely boy again.

...As you may have read over at The Teapot, we have (sort of) decided it's time to say our goodbyes to beautiful George cat. We still keep our eyes open as we go round the village, we still call from the balcony, but we are scaling down on the searching. If he should stroll nonchalantly back into our lives we would be delighted, but we think George has left us.

So, things must move on.

When mum was here we had a lovely time (albeit overshadowerd by George's disappearance) and we spent an enjoyable couple of days in the Cantal region. As this is more the food blog I won't tell you much about it, you can go to The Teapot for that (when I've written it up!) but here's a couple of pictures.
First, Mr FD with our picnic:

We were lucky enough to find a sun drenched picnic bench on a tiny village green, a couple of kilometres off the main road. We sqhared bread, olives, tomatoes, cured ham and cheese, with flat peaches and some buttery gallette biscuits for dessert.

The second is a little puzzle for you.

We ate this traditional Auvergnate meal one day...

On the plate you can see (and easily identify) some green salad, and a slice or two of Cantal cheese. What do you think the other two items on the plate are? Have a guess in the comments section. They were both rather enjoyable!!

Tomorrow is Mr FD's birthday! Happy Birthday, Mr FD!

No party, but there is a Cycle Club outing with lunch in a restaurant. I am going to the lunch with Friend Cathy and Sylvie, the girlfriend of another of the cyclists. We may go here for a walk beforehand (or afterhand, depending on time)

So Mr FD will have a birthday treat!! The Cats have "bought" him a box of choccies. I haven't got him anything but I know there's things he wants to buy, about which I haven't got a clue, so it's better if he buys those for himself!!

I have made him a card though, with pictures of him cycling...

Here's a close-up of one of the photos:

That's Mr FD & Louis at the top of Mont Ventoux

And inside:

a bike we saw in Salers, decorated for the TdF and a Maillot Jaune

So, back to the food that has been planned for this week:

YESTERDAY: we had Spicy Butternut Stew - which was much nicer than I expected!! I added some chicken when I was sautéeing the squash, and used some chicken stock as well as the coconut milk. Finally, as I found half a packet of chicken noodle soup I threw that in too, to thicken it up. The leftovers will be zuzzed up to make a spicy soup for Saturday tea.

FRIDAY: (today) - Some vegetable curry from the freezer, with some spinach, mushrooms and chickpeas added to bulk it out. Served with naan breads.

SATURDAY - out for lunch (see above); spicy butternut soup for supper (see above!)

SUNDAY: Chicken and Lentil one pot dinner (WARNING: some of the language oin the preamble to the recipe is a bit "fruity") This is a Slimming World style dinner - due to having a "foie gras"- that is, fat around my liver - I have to start trying to slim down a bit. And try to eat more healthily...With that in mind, I have bought some tofu sausages and tofu-substitute-cream-cheese-like spread for my sandwiches. No more cured meat and cheese for me. Meh.

MONDAY: I'm teaching about 45 minutes drive away, so this is one of the days Mr FD is going to be cooking. I don't have to make it easy for him, as he's perfectly capable, but I like to try to choose relatively easy merals, erspecially as he's still working (though we don't know for how much longer.) So, today I have planned: Roast mediterranean fish, and carrots and broccoli.

source: weightwatchers.co.uk

Here's the recipe:

Cook 500g new potatoes in a pan of lightly salted boiling water for 10 minutes or until just tender. Drain well and tip into a large roasting tin. Meanwhile, spray a frying pan with low-calorie cooking spray and sauté the onion for 5 minutes or until softened and beginning to colour. Scatter the onion over the potatoes along with 2 quartered tomatoes, 1 sliced courgette and 6 olives. Arrange 2 white fish fillets on top of the vegetables. Cut four slices from the lemon and place one slice on each piece of fish, then squeeze the juice from the remaining lemon over the fish. Pour over 3 tbsp veg stock,(or wine/water) spray with a little low-calorie cooking spray and roast for 20 minutes.

TUESDAY: Beef and broccoli (another fruity language warning!) with rice

WEDNESDAY: Here's another innovation I'm trying. Have you heard of "Buddha Bowls"? These are sometimes referred to as glory or hippie bowls; they are hearty, filling dishes made of various greens, raw or roasted veggies, beans and a healthy grain like quinoa or brown rice. Sometimes they also include toppings like nuts, seeds and dressings for added texture and flavour. I am trying one a week to see how they go down... This week's is:

1 large sweet potato, chopped into 3/4-inch cubes
1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed (about 1.5 cups)
1 cup uncooked quinoa
1 large carrot, peeled & julienned
purple cabbage or vegetable of choice, shredded
couple handfuls of greens for the base (optional)
lots of hummus
sliced avocado
hulled hemp seeds.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F and line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. Spread out the chopped sweet potato on one sheet. Drizzle with 1/2 tablespoon of oil or so and toss the potatoes until coated. Sprinkle with fine grain sea salt.

3. For the roasted chickpeas: Drain and rinse the chickpeas and then place on a large tea towel and pat until completely dry. Discard any skins that fall off. Transfer the chickpeas to the baking sheet and drizzle with 1/2 teaspoon oil. Rub them around with your hands until lightly coated. Generously sprinkle with fine grain sea salt and your favourite spices. I like to use garlic powder, chili powder, cumin, cayenne, and salt. Toss gently to combine.

4. Place both the sweet potato and chickpeas into the preheated oven. Roast for 15 minutes at 400F and then remove both. Flip the sweet potatoes and gently roll around the chickpeas. Place back in the oven for another 15 minutes or so, watching closely during the last 5 minutes. When the chickpeas are golden and the sweet potatoes are lightly browned on the bottom and fork tender, they are ready to come out.

5. Meanwhile, cook the quinoa while the roasting is going on. In a fine mesh sieve, rinse the quinoa and then place in a medium pot. Add in 1.5 cups of water and stir. Bring the mixture to a low boil and then reduce the heat to low/medium and cover with lid. Simmer, covered, for about 14-17 minutes (you can check after 13 minutes), until all of the water is absorbed and the quinoa is fluffy. Remove from heat and leave the lid on to steam for another 5-10 minutes or longer if needed. Fluff with fork.

6. Assemble the bowl: Add a couple handfuls of greens into a large shallow bowl. When the roasted veggies and chickpeas are done, allow the chickpeas to cool for 5 minutes and then add them on the salad followed by the sliced avocado, hummus, shredded veggies, and hemp seeds.

Because I have no quinoa I'll probably use couscous, or bulghar wheat. I don't have hemp seeds, so will use mixed seeds instead. My "vegetable of choicde" is broccoli, and the greens will be steamed savoy cabbage. I'll make my own houmous OR just use a tahini dressing instead.

Thank you for your comments about Lost George...

(an appropriate picture as it looks rather like George)

People have been very kind and sympathetic.

^à)àp=

This is Bib's comment, as she rolls over my keyboard. Thank you Bib.

We hope he will return.

Thank you for returning to read this after I have been a neglectful blogger. I will do better from now on.

On Saturday Mr FD went on a 130-odd kilometre cycle ride with his cycle club, and various cyclists from two other local clubs. It took them into the Lyonnais mountains and a restaurant had been reserved for lunch. Some of the "hangers-on" arranged to meet them for lunch, so later on in the morning (they left at 7.30) we drove over to the Lac des Sapins. We being...

Friend Cathy, and Sylvie (another Cyclo's partner)

and

me.

We had a nice walk up one side of the lake, mostly talking in French, but speaking a bit of English so Sylvie could practise. It was getting very warm, so we were glad to get back to the car to have a drink of water before setting off to the restaurant.

From the outside, it really didn't look very prepossessing at all - in fact, I think most people would've just driven by - but the food was excellent! I believe that the chef had worked at Trois Gros, a 3* Michelin restaurant in Roanne, and I was very pleasantly surprised by the standard.

We started with an apero and little tiny sausage rolls. Then the starter was

a vegetable terrine, with confit de tomates and morsels of ham. The salad had a three-oil dressing on it.

Main course was...

sea bream in a ginger-butter-lemon sauce, served with tagliatelli (and four pieces of carrot!)

Then there was a choice of cheese or fromage-blanc

I had fromage blanc, with cream and sugar. I didn't eat all the cream (actually, if I'd thought about it, I'd have requested one without cream. But it was too late!)

Finally dessert was a Flan Patissiere with caramel sauce

With wine included, coffee and as many chocolates as you wanted afterwards - the restaurant makes their own chocolates! -

this meal cost the grand sum of 20€ (just under £17) It really was good value...and it meant I didn't have to make a birthday meal for Mr FD, as it was his birthday!!

After the cyclists had set off again

we drove back to Roanne, where Sylvie insisted on taking us for an ice cream. We were utterly stuffed, but didn't want to appear rude, so we agreed, thinking we could just about force down a little cone....Ah, but...

She took us to a patisserie that prepares their own "coupes" - so I had raspberry sorbet with lemon ice cream, with meringues on top, while Cathy had red fruit and violette. I couldn't finish mine, but it was delicious! I bought a couple of their cakes for Mr FD & I as a birthday cake

How do you choose which one you want?!

Hello to all my Lovely Peeps! Thank you for coming to read this. Don't forget there's always The Teapot too - I recently posted about our day out in Lyon.

I have just spent two hours cleaning - yuckity yuck. Eight litter trays, vacuuming, washing the floor, tidying. Now I feel I have the right to stop, blog a bit and make cards this afternoon. Clare, who is a district nurse, has asked me to make some more of what we call Sorry-You're-Dead cards. Typically black humour from Clare - she gives condolence cards to the families of patients who die. As most of her patients are elderly, or seriously ill, she needs a constant supply of these cards. I also have promised a pack of 10 Christmas cards, and a pack of 10 other occasion cards to the Church auction next week. As well as a couple of "Little Boxes of Surprises" - these are boxes of gifts, which are all wrapped up. So you bid on a box without knowing the contents.

Here's one of the boxes I made last year:

This year I have a pretty box that doesn't need covering (hurrah!) - so far it has been packed with some soap, a book (second hand but in good condition), a picture frame, some sweeties, a little pot (re-gifted), a pair of ear-rings and a necklace (re-gifted). There's room for a few other things, so I may have to make a quick visit to Noz to find a few more gifts. I have a smaller gift box which I'm also going to fill.

I made a card for our friend Richard, who will be 70 this week. This one is for Friend Cathy to give him (which is a shame, as I really like it!) I will have to make another for us to give him:

Cathy asked for an African vibe as Richard has spent many years in Africa, especially in Zambia, and supports many small businesses and individuals out there.

Michel from across the road has just visited with a large courgette/small marrow and a round squash for us. As we stood in the courtyard chatting, he pruned our squash plants (which are happily producing leaves and flowers but absolutely no fruit). I picked a grand total of 5 green beans to offer in return! He has promised us some salad as well. So the planned menu below may have some changes made as the week goes along...

YESTERDAY: We had falafel burgers, with salad, tzatziki, wraps and mango chutney. They weren't great, but they weren't terrible.

TODAY: Hunters' Chicken (not quite this recipe, but almost), with roasties and roast vegetables. I've got lots of bits of veggies to use up, so I'm thinking roasting them, and then freezing what we don't eat, might be the way to go. We now have a lot of courgette to add to the mix!

MONDAY: Orange glazed salmon, rice, green beans. The recipe gives a recipe for spicy butterbeans too, but I'm not a butter bean fan...too much like broad beans for my liking, which is a vegetable I go out of my way to avoid.

TUESDAY: A Mexican style Buddha bowl, with rice cooked with lime & coriander, spicy green beans and spinach. I may add some kidney beans too.

The last Buddha Bowl was a success, and we felt very virtuous after it (although that may have been slightly spoiled by the fact we had a couple of chocolates afterwards!)

WEDNESDAY:Sun Dried tomato and sausage pasta (Again, be aware that the post with the recipe contains some strong language! But the recipe itself doesn't, so you can scroll down to read the recipe) Mr FD will be cooking as it's my foirst week back dancing. And teaching all day. It's a rather tiring programme:
10.30-12.00 first lesson
12.00-12.30 Drive to next lesson, eat lunch in car.
12.30 - 1.10: next lesson
1.10-1.20 Drive to lesson
1.20-2.50: next two lessons (same family 45 minutes each)
2.50-3.00 Drive to next lesson
3.00-5.00: Next 3 lessons (same family 40 minutes each)
5.00-5.05 Drive to next lesson
5.05-6.35 Next two lessons (same family 45 minutes each)
6.35-6.45 Drive to dance group
6.45 - 8.30 Dance group.
8.30-9.00 Drive home
9.00 Collapse with dinner and Great British Bake Off.

THURSDAY: Oven Baked Risotto

FRIDAY: German Style Potato Salad and Paprika Chicken (Fruity language alert!)

I'm trying to get a fairly good balance between fish, vegetarian and meat recipes, avoiding red or processed meat - although I see we have both sausages and bacon this week. Hmm, a bit of a fail there then!

My packed lunches are mostly soya-based cheese-substitute spread, soya sausages, or tuna mayo. Which are fine, really. I'm having soya sausages today, and will have the other two cold tomorrow.

As always thank you for taking the time to comment...

Busy Little Chicken: Not only did the fish-with-four-carrots look delicious, it was delicious! I rarely cook fish with fancy sauces - a quick bish-bash-bosh with salmon is all I do, and I rarely choose it in restaurants...but when I have it, I really enjoy it!!

Confuzzled Bev: You're the only one who has guessed so far, and I'm afraid you're not quite right. I wonder if anyone else will try...

There are two traditional Auvergnate foods on this plate (besides the Cantal cheese and the salad) What are they? C.Bev guessed potato salad and " kind of looks like meat loaf"...Neither guess was quite right. Anyone else up for a guess?

Thea Ava Martinez: Thank you for your comment. Unfortunately it seemed a little "false sounding" for me to click on the link...I don't want to start being showered by spam mail. If your blog is genuine, feel free to comment again, and I will visit you.

Hawthorn Spellweaver: You're right...Not knowing about George is the hardest. We are trying to think that some lovely person has taken him in, rather than thinking about him being run over or killed by a predator.

Still, we must try to move on - although we still have people keeping their eyes open, and telling us if they see any ginger/white cats. The others are adjusting to not having George around, but I fear Mr FD will especially miss George in the winter, as George was the best cuddling cat in bed, especially with Mr FD. He would snuggle up, put his head on Mr FD's shoulder and they would fall asleep together to George's purring. Sad face.

I am so sorry, dear people. I have been neglecting you. IThere's no real excuse but I'll explain a bit more over the weekend. In the meantime here's a Kitty Picture:

This is Bib when she was still a young kitten - showing her bitey nature, that she (sadly) hasn't grown out of.

Must dash! I have a lesson to give! (and cat food to buy!)

Goodness me! Where has this weekend gone?! All the things I'd planned to do and I haven't done half of them (The ironing was one of the pressing things, but somehow I avoided thet...I'll be running out of clothes soon - or just wearing them crumpled!!)

Saturday morning was spent trying to learn about Web Ex - I still am at sea, but I hope I can muddle through my lesson! I sent this to my student:

I am a “techno-idiot” and so anything new on the computer makes me panic!!

My husband is helping me to set up WebEx on the home computer as I will be teaching you from home, rather than from the ILS office. I hope that by Monday morning I will know what I am doing, but you will have to forgive me if I make mistakes with the application in our first lesson!

Hopefully I will be able to send you a “Meeting Invitation” by Sunday evening!!

He replied (very good for an elementary level, I thought):

I think, you should send meeting invitation just before the lesson at 7h55.Don’t panic, i’m « english language –idiot…. »each weakness… we are here to learn….

Let's hope so.

Saturday afternoon I cooked a sweet potato, spinach & lentil curry, and a vegetable stew, and a Lentil-Herders' Pie for our friend who is just out of hopspital. I also built a cat house for the poor cats across the way. I'm rather proud of it, and will show it to you another time.Cardboard boxes, polystyrene ceiling tiles and a big plastic bag.

This morning I was at church. We had a picnic and silent auction last week, but as a lot of people were involved in a big fun run thingy ("Fun Run" - there's an oxymoron if ever I heard one!!) we carried the auction over this vweek. I'd made several lots:

12 envelopes with a little gift and an encouraging verse, one for each month
A box of various little presents - some new, some regifted,some second hand
A bag of the same
A pretty box with 52 encouraging verses written on
A zentangle
A pack pof 10 Christmas cards
A pack of 10 various cards

Hopefully they will raise lots of money. The 12 envelopes is currently running at 40€...I don't know if they're holding it over for another week.

This afternoon I made lots of Thanksgiving cards. I am going to the Convocation of the Episcopal Church in Europe in a couple of weeks time and would like to be able to sell Thanksgiving & Christmas cards there to raise money for refugees. My niece and here new husband have been volunteering there as part of their "honeymoon" so I'd like to give some money to the charity they've been woorking for.

She recently posted this photo on FB to show the conditrions that the refugees are living in.

I have a new follower - A big Fat Dormouse Welcome to Alison from Purely Parchment Craft. What lovely cards she makes.

Food this week....

WARNING: The two links are to a fairly fruity site. If you're not comfortable with "cheeky" humour, you may wish to avoid them. Or scroll quickly down to the recipes!

TODAY: Roast chicken legs, potato gratin, braised endives and carrots.

TOMORROWPizza Stuffed Meatloaf, potato gratin, veggies

TUESDAY: Buddha Bowl with chicken (not veggie this week!), sweet potato, roasted chilli brocoli (if I can buy some broccoli!), spinach leaves, and a mango dressing.

WEDNESDAY: Pizza Stuffed meatloaf redux, with chippies and baked beans

THURSDAY: Sweet potato & spinach beef bowl

FRIDAY: Turkey escalopes with creole sauce (can't find the recipe now!!)

Thank you everyone for your comments - they are always welcomed.

POMPOM: Your baby Timothy is a delight! You know you're very welcome whatever day you come by!

KEZZIE: I can't help on the squash plant pruining method as it all seemed a bit random. However it has made no difference whatsoever and we have no squashes on the plants!

CONFUZZLED & KEZZIE: As noone else guessed, I will tell you. The dinner was lovely truffade and an Auvergnate dish called Pounti - a kind of meatloaf made with prunes, eggs, lard, chard and bacon. It was nicer than it sounds. And looks.

ARIL & CHERIE: Buddha bowls were new to me too, but we're getting to be fans. Mr FD said rather plaintively "We didn't have a Buddha Bowl this week..."
Never fear, Mr FD, we have one this week!!

ALISON 59: Welcome. Enjoy the cats! And the menus!!

Well, I'd better go and cook something. Otherwise there'll be no supper for us. And the ironing didn't get done. Maybe tomorrow...

Sorry.

Weekends - and weeks! - are busy, so I don't have time to blog much.

My niece & her new husband are coming for a few days on Wednesday, so I have to fit in a bit of cleaning too - though not as much as when my mum came to stay!!

We're going to have a raclette on Wednesday, go out on Thursday (or maybe have a curry) and then there's a beer festival on Friday evening! Mr FD is off to the UK on Saturday, but I don't know when Rose & David are leaving here to go to Disneyland-Paris.

I'm preaching on Sunday.

Then the week starts again! Still, it's nice to be busy, even though sometimes I feel a bit TOO busy! Here's Pomme being not-at-all busy!

Cholesterol Busting. Maybe.

No Doctor, but plenty of food.

Just another bit of fun...

Ho hum.

Cycle Club Voyage to Semur en Auxois

Food is essential to Life...Therefore make it good.

Euro-tastic!

Light and Dark

What we had for dinner.

What we are going to eat...

method

method

For Cat Lovers...

Cleaning 'n' tidying

Still Chat Perdu

Apologies to my readers

Life goes on...

Lunch Out with the Cyclos

The Usual Round-Up.

Quick pic of Bib

Bizzy Bizzy Bizzy!!

Another apology!!