Apple jelly

I wanted to use up the last of the apples I’d been given, and I thought an apple jelly would be a good alternative to jam, or chutney.

I need a couple of days to make it, and finally I found the time. I started off by cutting up the apples, but leaving the skins on. In fact you can also leave the cores in. The skins can hold quite a bit of pectin, so I wanted this included. I then placed the chunks into a large saucepan, I had about 2kg of apples, then I added 1.25 litres of water, gradually bringing to the boil. As they cooked, I started mashing them, just using a potato masher. Once they were all mushy, I set them up to strain through some muslin. It takes a few hours to strain properly, so I left them in the muslin, covered, to do their thing overnight.

In the morning, I threw away the dry pulp and poured the juice into a thick bottomed saucepan. I added a couple of tablespoons of fresh lemon juice, and 600 grams of sugar, I also added a couple of stems of rosemary, to give it a savoury taste.

I then brought it steadily up to a jam boil, about 105°c. I used the usual setting test, of placing a spoonful on a saucer that has been in the freezer. If it sets, it’s done.

This quantity makes about 3 jars. Great to serve with pork, or cheese, or to glaze the top of a tart, or of course on toast. I’m looking forward to trying it with some roast pork.

Gate prep

We have a few days gap before guests, and as the forecast is beautiful blue skies we decided we would focus on getting the main gate painted. I last did it about 7 years ago, so it is starting to peel quite heavily.

First job was to clean it. As we are still in a hosepipe ban good old soap and water in a bowl was the way to go. Not ideal, but it would get the job done.

It was slow progress on my own, but Brian soon came with the ladder to help out, especially on the higher section.

It’s only when you start the job you realise what a huge task it is, but the glorious autumn day made it so much easier.

We then needed to start to clean up the areas of flaky paint, and where some rust is forming, so we’ve used wire brushes on those, and tomorrow we will paint on some rust remover.

Raise your hand

Sitting, waiting in the dentist always fills me with anxiety. I once read that pain is increased if you are tense, so if I can relax then the pain endured reduces. I’m not even certain why I think I’m going to experience pain, as I’m just having a check up and maybe a clean. But it’s an association I’ve always had since a young age, that going to the dentist means a painful experience. I think it’s because my dad, and his dad, both hated the dentist and seemed to have a bad time of it.

For now though I’m just waiting, whilst Brian has gone in for his clean and check up, and to tell the dentist he has recently broken a tooth, and he has started experiencing some sensitivity. Me, I just need to stay calm and have happy thoughts.

Brian calls out to me, ‘Jo can you help me with the translation’. That’s the other thing that adds to the anxiety of the situation, do we actually understand what is being said? I go to help, wondering what’s happened. Relief, Brian looks happy, and not like he’s just been through an horrendously painful experience. He says ‘I’m missing some of the words, do you understand?’. I listened to the dentist repeat what he was saying. ‘He’s going to give you a prescription for a mouth wash, twice a day for a week’ . ‘Excellent’ he replies. He explains it’s for the sensitivity in his gum. ‘But what about the broken tooth, do we need to come back?’ I ask tentatively. ‘No it’s all done!’ ‘Blimey, that was easy’. Brian gave me a huge smile, ‘look’. I couldn’t even tell which tooth had been repaired, it all seemed so simple.

My anxiety started to lessen as I settled into the chair and started to think about sunny places to help relax me for my simple check up and clean. The dentist asks if I’ve got any issues or is it just a clean. We establish just a clean. He’s very gentle as he whirrs round inside my mouth with the little cleaning tool. Its all a bit uncomfortable, but nothing else. He then says, in perfect English ‘If you need a break, just raise your hand’. What had I been worried about?

First light

I have an array of beautiful tall, yellow daisies that are flowering just behind the wooden garden bench. They light up the garden, popping their heads up over the large box tree, trimmed into a ball shape. I get to see the yellow daisies as I walk across the courtyard to take the laundry over to the laundry room and it brightens the moment. They’re very late flowering, and are quite unexpected, especially as this morning there was a definite cool chill in the air. It feels like autumn has arrived.

We have some friends coming for dinner tonight, and I’m going to cook a chicken and mushroom pie, something hearty. Brian is outside preparing some wood for the fire. It’s the first time we’ve lit it this year, so it will be nice to have the warmth and the smell of a wood fire in the house this evening. We only have a little bit of wood left, mostly oversized bits. We’ve ordered some though, and are just waiting to find out when it will be delivered.

One down, but a few more to go.

Hot and steamy

Beep beep, beep beep!

I was expecting a parcel delivery today, so was super excited when I heard the familiar horn of a delivery driver dropping off a parcel. It’s a great way to let you know they are coming, admittedly the whole street knows you are having a parcel delivered, but they would never guess what I’m so excited about!

I fetched the scissors from the kitchen and we cut the box open. It was quite heavy, I believe about 12 kg. We slid the box off, keeping the wrapping until we’d checked it all over.

Brian then carried it upstairs for me. I wanted to set it up in the spare room near the window, so I have some good light and, if it all gets a bit hot and steamy, I can open the window.

My new iron press!

I’d noticed a friend had one a few weeks ago and asked her about it. She told me how good it was, and that it saved her a lot of time. I had wanted one when we first moved here, but for one reason or another had not got around to getting one.

After speaking with Suzanne I knew more about what I needed to look for, and it made it far easier to make a choice. I have to say ‘I’m loving it already’.

Hearts of gold

Most years the fields are filled with beautiful sunflowers, and we have always wondered how they were harvested. Today we found out.

Some days ago at an apple festival Brian had asked Olivier, a local farmer, when he was planning on harvesting his sunflower crop, as we’d like to come and take some photos. ‘Tomorrow afternoon’, he told us, in French obviously. Perfect, we could free up our afternoon, and knew roughly where his fields were. So come the afternoon we headed off in that direction. It was a hot, still day, and even from a distance we could see the tall, golden pillar of cloud, and it was not too long before we found him, and another farmer helping, combining through the dark, dry, shrivelled flowers.

The massive combine thrashed its way across the expanse of the field, creating the dust cloud as it went. In the far distance were the tell tale clouds of other farmers all harvesting their sunflower crops.

After watching the machine sweep back and forth a few more times we headed back to Olivier’s farm to see the fruit of his labour. As we arrived he was bringing a trailer full of seed back. It was a slick turnaround, and he was off again, returning around every 10–15 minutes. It was a fast moving operation.

The barn was soon filling up with the tiny seeds. A huge mound, piled high, ready to be pressed by Olivier and Dominique into their golden sunflower oil. You can’t get fresher than that.

Little dark seeds with a heart of gold.

Great finish

We’d had our little break from painting, but needed to get back to finish the job. We had taken the last set of windows down, and had started preparing them.

Brian went back up to clean down the frame, and put the aquatech undercoat on, whilst I carried on with the main windows.

It wasn’t long before we were carrying the last of the windows back up the stairs and fitting them back in place. I have to say, they really are very heavy by the time you have taken the fourth one back up two flights of stairs and carefully lifted them into place. It was a great feeling though once we had finished them all, and so much quicker than we’d anticipated…thankfully!

What a great job finished.

Tea, chips and sunshine

We nipped out to do a bit of shopping in Châtillon today. I must say that it’s such a pleasure being able to choose to go when they are not busy. Big, sweeping isles with barely a soul around, it certainly makes things easier.

On the way home we stopped off for lunch at Sparky’s friterie, in Brion-sur-Ource, it’s a small chip shop run by a Belgium lady. She is very friendly and serves everything up with a little bit of unique style.

What’s not to love? Tea, chips and sunshine.

It is so wonderful to delight in life’s simple pleasures.

Roasted ratatouille

I’d read about a quick and easy recipe for a roasted ratatouille, so thought I would use the last of my peppers from the garden, and a couple of tomatoes I’d picked earlier, and give it a try.

It’s strange, but my tomato crop really hasn’t been that good this year. Last year I had loads, but when I did get tomatoes this year they often didn’t make it to maturity. Talking to friends here, I found they have not had great crops either, so I’m not feeling that I’d done anything particularly wrong, it was just not a great year for tomatoes.

Back in the kitchen I chopped all of my crop of red peppers, my two tomatoes (along with some more I’d been given) along with a mixture of chopped onions, garlic, courgettes and aubergine. It’s best to chop them into similar sizes, as it looks better and they cook more evenly.

They all went into a large roasting pan with lots of glugs of olive oil, plenty of salt, pepper and thyme. I then mixed it together, and popped it into the oven at 180°c, to roast off slowly. It needs to cook for about 90 mins, but be sure to stir it every 30 minutes or so to mix in all the crispy roasted bits. These make the juices really sweet and tasty.

I found this such an easy way to cook ratatouille, a slow, no fuss approach. The recipe does add balsamic to it at the end, but I didn’t do that, I prefer the freshness of the vegetables. It was way too much for the two of us to eat in one meal, so I’ve frozen some of it in bags for later. I’m thinking it will make a great base sauce for pasta, maybe add a tin of tomatoes or I may make a vegetable lasagne. Delicious!

Window lean

With the windows painted, I now needed to paint the window frames. It’s not my favourite job, being so high up and leaning out of a window. Best just not to look down. The bonus is that it meant I didn’t hang around, and got on with the job quickly.

Meanwhile, on a safer part of the job, Brian was cleaning up the panes where some of my paint had splashed over. It’s easier to clean them after than it is for me to paint a straight line!

At this rate we’ll be finished tomorrow.

Flaky paint

So we had finally dived into repainting our windows, and it wasn’t long before we had the first two rubbed down, filled and ready to paint. There really is no point in taking them all the way back to the wood when what we want to do is protect them from the weather as much as we can, so we sanded them only as far as was needed, to get rid of all the loose flaking paint.

I know windows can be a bit fiddly to paint, but I was very happy to spend the day on them, as it’s a job I’ve wanted to get done for a while. First of all I painted a base coat of aquatech onto the bare wood areas. This is a Dulux weather shield product that’s perfect for wood that gets a beating from the elements. I then used the weathershield top coat, which is fast drying.

Brian went up to our bedroom to prepare the window frame that he had removed the windows from. It was a hot job up there, with sun beating down, no wonder they take a bit of a battering.

7 years on

We need to start rubbing down and repainting our windows from the top floor today.

The great thing is, although they may be really heavy, you can lift them off. Something we didn’t know 7 years ago when we painted them the first time.

We carried the first two down the two floors, and we soon had ourselves set up in the courtyard with some workbenches to start cleaning them up and getting them ready for painting.

This is the first set of 4 pairs. So a bit of a task.

Autumn fete

We headed over to the little village of Villemorien today, where they were hosting their autumn fete. However, it was beautifully warm, and more like a summers day.

We immediately found a stall selling apple fritters, which looked totally delicious with a little sugar sprinkled on the top. We sat and enjoyed a plateful each listening to the live band, what a wonderful Sunday afternoon.

I so love these events, they’re always a great opportunity to enjoy some local produce, and on that note, I couldn’t resist buying some flour from my friend Dominique from La Ferme des blés d’or. I love her ‘de petit epautre’, it makes great biscuits, as it is lower in glutens. We also made a donation for the freshly squeezed apple juice the village had produced to raise funds for the community, it will be delicious for breakfast this week. Just before we left the fete I bought some gourds for some decoration in the house, the lady selling them wanted to be certain I knew they were not for eating.

Delicious

What a wonderful way to start the day. Although it’s not that warm or bright outside, that didn’t dampen my spirits, as one of my friends kindly brought me a copy of Delicious magazine from the UK. He knows I like a cookery magazine, and what better one to get me than a French issue of Delicious, which apparently won food magazine of the year.

There’s some really interesting articles and recipes included in this edition, so I’m going to enjoy reading and discovering.

Although the day was a bit overcast, it ended up as a glorious evening. I’ve popped upstairs to enjoy a relax in the bath, and the view across to Le Prieuré from the window is exceptional in the early evening sun.

Quite interesting

Some friends arrived yesterday, stopping off on their way south. It was great to see them all, and hear their news.

The weather unfortunately wasn’t particularly good, so they escaped the list of jobs I had for them, and instead we all enjoyed a crazy game of QI. An afternoon of useless questions and lots of laughter.

For dinner we headed out to ‘Le Marius’, which is a delightful, traditional and stylish restaurant in Ricey Bas.

It sits in an old cellar, beautifully lit and very comfortable. They have a rather interesting menu, with some great combinations. I had ‘un œuf parfait’ for a starter, which had been perfectly poached and served on a caramelised onion compote. I followed that with kidneys in a mustard sauce. The food and wine was all rather delicious.

Full & creamy

We had one final pressoir visit we wanted to make. We drove up to Balnot sur Laignes, which is where Gremillet produces 500,000 bottles of Champagne each year. Surprisingly though, even at such a scale, this remains a family run business.

Just a few of the bottles resting in pallets

We enjoyed a wonderful tasting overlooking the vineyards, such an amazing view.

We tried their tradition, which is 70% Pinot noir and 30% Chardonnay, a beautiful, rich deep tasting Champagne. Then we tried their Blanc de Blanc, 100% chardonnay. We enjoyed this one even more, it’s an exceptional Blanc de Blanc. We learnt that it had spent time during its production in oak barrels, which gives it a full flavour, with a creamy vanilla finish, but still with all the flowery freshness of Chardonnay. Everything I love in a wine. We will definitely be returning to make a purchase.

When the harvest ends

Vendanges is coming to an end, the pickers are leaving, and our beautiful region is falling quiet again.

The presses (pressoir) are falling silent. These enormous 12,000 kg pneumatic presses at Champagne Bonet will be completely cleaned and shut down until next year.

But the process isn’t finished, as the juice extracted from the grapes must now be turned into wine, the first stage of its transformation into Champagne. The juice is rich and sugary, bursting with fruit, but it’s sensible not to drink too much of it, because it’s not very friendly on your tummy!

Champagne bonet produce juice on an industrial scale, to be shipped to one of the big houses in Épernay, and the scale is truly magnificent.

But they also make their own, more artisan Champagnes, and some wines in another part of their domaine.

This smaller production begins with a focus on quality, with a selection process that allows only the best grapes through.

Small, temperature controlled vats see the first fermentation begin, whilst new oak casks will carry a small proportion of the wine for careful blending later into their fine champagne range.

It’s an amazing sight to see, and we never turn down an opportunity to visit a Champagne house. There’s still so much to learn.

A grand Day out

After three years in France I still don’t have my permanent social security number, so some French friends of ours kindly offered to support us on another visit to the CPAM office, where my paperwork is being processed.

We decided to get there early, and luckily did not have to wait too long before we were able to see someone. This someone though immediately tried to send us away, as we had not made an appointment. For the last 3 years, that has never been an issue, but next week they are changing the system and appointments (RDV) are required. Our friend JM carefully explained our situation in French, and advised the lady of the name of the gentleman who had been dealing with our case previously. Although she wasn’t keen to pursue it, she kindly went into the back offices to see if there was anything that could be done. Thankfully, the chap was there and he agreed to meet with us.

We were now further than we’d ever been before, as we were invited into a room around the back of the reception desks. After a lot of chatter, and tapping on the keyboard, he said he may have good news. Apparently it was my birth certificate that was the problem, as it is one of the long versions, larger than A4, and it had not all been scanned. It seemed this was what had held up my application. I’m sure that was one of many reasons, but it was perhaps the last one…maybe. There was a lot more tapping of computer keys, and then he stated, in almost perfect English, “You now have your permanent number”. Wow! Such a small thing you would think, but it’s taken three years to get this far

He printed off the confirmation and explained what would happen next. We needed to be patient for a few weeks more, when he would call us to tell me my code to access the Ameli.fr website so that I can set up my actual carte vitale. So let’s be patient and see what happens. Hoorah for JM!

It was such a gorgeous day, and now we were also all relieved that things were moving ahead, so we headed into Troyes city centre for a wander around the shops, have a delicious coffee and a super delicious lunch to celebrate.

All in all a grand day out.

Apple pie

I was given some more apples this week from a friend. I shared some of my plums and plum jam for quite a lot of apples, about three bags of them.

I’ve been able to cut some up to freeze them uncooked, to make some apple pie or tarte tatin another time. I’ve also made some plum and apple jam, which is a gorgeous red colour. Hilda, my mother in law, gave me this idea. The apples give it a tartness, which I love and also some structure. I used equal quantities of plum to apples.

I’ve also cooked some apples down and frozen them, ready for some winter apple crumbles.

The last thing I’d like to make is some apple jelly, which I shall try and do tomorrow. It’s not something I’ve done before, so we’ll have to see how it turns out.

Well oiled

We took a walk around the village this afternoon, where vendanges is in full swing and it’s great to see the activity.

There is a pressoir in the centre of the village, and we were invited in to see the two new presses which had been installed. The grapes are loaded from a platform into the top of each of the pneumatic presses. A balloon inside carefully expands and presses the juice from the grapes.

The juice is first rested in tanks, to get rid of any initial, settling sediment, then pumped into the vats to ferment.

The grape skins and stalks are collected in hoppers, and then sent away to be made into alcohol for other uses, such as medicines or cosmetics.

The boxes, used to collect the grapes and to fill the presses, all get washed and stacked, ready to be taken back up to the vineyard.

It’s all a very well oiled machine.