Book review of Monsieur Le Commandant by Romain Slocombe

My latest book review is for Monsieur le Commandant by Romain Slocombe. I was sent a copy of this book by the team at Gallic Books who are committed to bringing French language novels to the English speaking world. 

Set before and during The Occupation at a time when France was a divided country this is not a happy book. It is written as a (somewhat lengthy) letter of confession from a French academic and Nazi sympathiser to his local SS Officer. I would describe myself as being interested in this period in history, rather than fascinated, but I do enjoy reading books that inform and offer a different point of view and this was one of those books. As well as France being in turmoil, many families, like the one in this book, were also divided by their views and in addition this family has hidden secrets and forbidden love that threaten to destroy it.

This was an eye opening book for me and I was often appalled by what I was reading, but had to keep turning the pages, fascinated to find out what his confession would be and what would happen to the family. Despite the sensitive nature and shocking revelations this was a fast read that kept my focus and although I may not have liked all that I read, I was glad I'd read it. 

Monsieur le Commandant is available in paperback and ebook format. Links to Amazon.co.uk below.

Coffee and Walnut Birthday Cake

On her birthday I think a girl should be allowed to choose what she does and what she eats. Now I’m the not the sort of girl who needs lots of pressies and wants to be wined and dined in expensive restaurants, but food is an important part of my special day. With Ade at home this year (a rare occurrence) I was allowed a lie-in this morning, which was a real treat and then my breakfast of choice was a croissant from our village boulangerie with a nice espresso coffee, delicious. The morning was spent harvesting tomatoes that were roasted and puréed, so that was the tomato sauce for tonight’s pizza sorted. Then I set to making a birthday cake. I love baking, so although it may not be traditional to bake your own cake I was happy. Lunch was a tomato salad, quiche and griddled courgettes (zucchini) topped with a zingy walnut, ginger and chilli topping - a birthday is not a birthday without home grown courgettes. There was even time for Ade and I to get out for a bike ride this afternoon before getting the pizza dough ready. By the time Ed was home from school we were all set to pour the bubbles, open my pressies and cards as a family and tuck into our pizzas. A simple day, but a perfect one.

My very own Google doodle

Thank you to everyone who has wished me a happy birthday, either in person, by post or online, I feel very loved today. Even Google had remembered it was my birthday and gave me my own Google Doodle (that was a bit odd). Although I can’t share a piece of cake with you all, I can share the recipe for my (healthy) Coffee and Walnut cake, which I hope you will enjoy.

Please help yourselves to a slice

Ingredients:

3 large free-range eggs

65g castor sugar

110g plain flour

1 tbsp natural yoghurt 

1 tbsp cornflour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp of expresso coffee

A few drops of vanilla essence

I tbsp of walnut oil

Pre-heat oven to gas mark 4/180 c

Line sandwich cake tins with greaseproof paper.

Method:

Whisk the eggs and castor sugar for 5 minutes until the mixture is very light and frothy (this is very important). Add the yoghurt, coffee, walnut oil and vanilla essence.

Sieve the dry ingredients and fold in very gently trying to keep in as much of the air as possible.

Pour into the cake tins and bake until golden and springy to touch, about 15 to 20 minutes. 

When cool turn onto a plate, sandwich with a light coloured jam and some of the buttercream icing and then cover with the remaining buttercream (softened butter, icing sugar and a few teaspoons of espresso coffee) and decorate with walnut halves. 

As this is a variation of my Fat Free cake, the lack of butter in the sponge means this cake will go dry within a few days, but as it doesn't last that long in our house I don't find it a problem.

Tour des Flandres Charentaises

At the finish post

We Did It!

And we enjoyed it too. 

To help celebrate my birthday weekend we decided to challenge ourselves and take part in the 2nd Tour Des Flandres Charentaises. This is a locally organised cycle challenge inspired by the Belgium Tour des Flandres that is famous for it's hill climbs on cobbled streets. It was a bit of a misty, damp start that meant we had to don the long sleeves, but that didn't deter us one bit. We completed the 55km route with eight (challenging) hill climbs in two hours 38 minutes of cycling (plus some rest stops) and even made it home in time for lunch. It was a friendly event, well organised and a nice experience for us to be out on the bikes with other cyclists. We were even very honoured to have our own support group of friends who popped up at a couple of locations to give us a cheer on. The date is marked in the diary for next year and maybe we will tackle the 80km.

Following a great day cooking, baking and chutney making yesterday, the buzz of completing this challenge this morning and knowing there is a bottle of bubbles chilling in the fridge for tonight, my 42nd birthday is looking to be a good one - and it shouldn't officially start until tomorrow. Whoever it was that said life begins at 40 was 100% right.

Tomato Chutney

I have been enjoying myself in the kitchen today, despite – or maybe because of, the horrid, squally, damp weather outside. At least I won’t need to worry about watering the potager today, and probably tomorrow too. My first task this morning was a batch of tomato chutney, which is another good way of preserving the glut of tomatoes and adding a bit of summer sunshine to a winter cheese or cold meat platter.

Tomato love

Ingredients for two jars of chutney

1,375g tomatoes

225g onions

2 cloves garlic

1 red chilli, seeded if you wish

175g demerara sugar

1 tsp paprika

½ tsp mixed spice

pinch of salt

115g raisins (I used my own dried cherries which have given it an unusual pink colour)

140ml white distilled vinegar

Skin and roughly chop the tomatoes and add to a pan with the finely chopped onions and crushed garlic. Cook until it is a thick purée. Add the remaining ingredients and simmer, stirring occasionally until reduced to a thick consistency with no remaining liquid. Pour into sterilised jars and cover. As with all chutney, it is best left in a cool dark cupboard for at least two weeks and will keep for at least six months. Once opened refrigerate and enjoy.

Tomato Chutney

Book Review of The French Postmistress by Julia Stagg

The French Postmistress by Julia Stagg

Friday 13^th maybe an unlucky day for some, but it is a lucky one for you as I’m taking you to the mountains. Yesterday saw the paperback release of The French Postmistress by Julia Stagg, the third book in her series set in the fictional village of Fogas in the French Pyrenees. I am a teeny, tiny bit of a HUGE Julia Stagg fan, so was very excited to get my hands on a copy of this book and return to the mountain village I feel I know so well. Julia lived in the Pyrenees region that she writes about for many years and you can feel her obvious love for the area in her writing.

In The French Postmistress the focus shifts to Véronique, the postmistress, and her frustration at the speed the reopening of the village post office is moving at. She is full of ideas to keep the service at the heart of the community, but is anyone there to listen and support her? Fogas is, as usual, a busy little place and with the controversial government plans to reintroduce bears to the mountains things in the community get even more heated and divided than normal. All the characters we have met in the two previous books are back, plus a few new ones to throw some spice and spanners into village life. The Mayor, Serge, is still grieving for his wife and seems to have lost interest in village politics, but maybe there is someone who can put the fire back in his belly. There is also a special guest appearance by The Tour de France that provides the villagers with a welcome distraction.

It was so good to be back in Fogas, the twists and turns of the mountain roads felt familiar, Julia’s scenery descriptions bring the pages to life and her little village community has truly captured me. Her writing is such that at many times this summer something I’ve seen or somewhere I’ve been has triggered my brain into transporting me to Fogas and wondering (as you do with friends you meet on holiday) what everyone is getting up to at the moment. I can’t wait for book number four that rumour has will be out sometime next year. If you like books set in rural France you will love following the life of the villagers in Fogas.

You can read my review of Julia's first two books L’Auberge, here and The Parisian’s Return, here and see my interview with her here. You can also find her website here or follow her on Facebook, and Twitter.

Julia's books are published by Hodder and Stoughton and available in ebook and paperback format. Links to Amazon.co.uk below.

Tomato Ketchup

We are at that time of year when things are busy, busy, busy in the kitchen. As well as the courgettes (zucchini), there is no shortage of tomatoes to be preserved and stored for winter and the recipe I chose for today was Roasted Tomato Ketchup, from Preserves: River Cottage Handbook No.2 by Pam Corbin. It is delicious (like all of the recipes I have tried from this book) and will be perfect for our next burger night. If you have some tomatoes or passata, do give this recipe a try as the flavour is so much better than shop bought ketchup.

Roasted Tomato Ketchup

1 litre of roast tomato passata
100ml cider vinegar
50ml lemon juice
1 heaped tsp of celery salt
1 heaped tsp of mustard powder
1 heaped tsp of ground ginger
1/2 tsp of ground black pepper
1/4 tsp of ground cloves
100g demerara sugar

Put the passata, vinegar, lemon juice and spices into a heavy based pan. Bring to a simmer then add the sugar. Sir until dissolved then simmer, stirring occasionally, until it has reached a thick, but pourable consistency. Pam writes this should take 25 to 30 minutes, but I found it was nearer 50 minutes for me this morning.

Pour into warm, sterilised bottles or jars and seal with vinegar proof lids. Use within four months and once opened store in the fridge.

On a fruity note we are reaching the end of the plums and pears so instead of gorging on them all day, every day we are treating them like rare treats. Thankfully there are plenty of apples for cakes, tarts and chutneys, and the first of the peaches was ripe and ready to replace the pears for my breakfast this morning. I have got lots of dried plums (and cherries) put away for winter mornings and some of them will be added to my mincemeat. Much as I hate to talk about Christmas in September, now is the perfect time to make your mincemeat to give it time to mature for the perfect mince pies. I will post my recipe next week.

Shimmy, Shimmy, Sloe Gin

I combined yesterday's dog walk with a bit of autumnal hedgerow foraging. The blackberries were eaten at dinner last night and breakfast this morning, but the sloes have a more exciting fate awaiting them.

Sloe Gin and here is my recipe;

500g sloes

250g sugar

700ml bottle of gin, plus an empty gin bottle (vodka works too)

Sloe Gin

Remove the stalks and wash the sloes. You can then either prick the sloes at each end with a cocktail stick to release the juices or freeze them on a tray overnight (I freeze mine). In the empty gin bottle add 250g sloes, 125g sugar and 350ml of gin. Seal and shake vigorously – I am talking a FULL body shimmy here, you should feel all your wobbly bits wobbling (I do!). Repeat with remaining ingredients in the other bottle. Shake each bottle vigorously, twice a day for at least 2 weeks, this is as good as a gym workout, especially for bingo wings. After two weeks the liquid will be dark red and the sugar will have dissolved. Leave in a cool dark place to mature – although ready to drink after a few weeks it will improve with age and is best left for a year.  I leave the sloes in the bottle, but you can strain and rebottle after 3 months.

Sloe gin is a lovely fruity apero drink, but also enhances stewed plums, pears, baked apple or quince and makes a fruity alternative to Cognac in our mulled wine at Christmas.

Book review of Gadget Girl by Suzanne Kamata

My latest book review is for Gadget Girl: The Art of Being Invisible by Suzanne Kamata, a Young Adult Fiction book set partly in Paris.

Gadget Girl by Suzanne Kamata

Fifteen-year-old Aiko lives with her Mum, a sculptor, in the Midwest USA. Aiko is different from the other kids at school; she has never met her Japanese Dad, she suffers from cerebral palsy and her limp has led to harassment by some of her peers. Aiko just wants to be invisible. Her arty Mum is also a bit different, and although she wants the best for Aiko she is rather absorbed in her work and doesn’t really cook like other Mums. As well as normal teen issues, like boys and friends, Aiko also has to deal with her Mum’s relationships and the possible changes these may lead to in her life.

But she has dreams, she would love to visit Japan and meet her father, so she is learning Japanese, and her passion is to be a Manga (Japanese style cartoon) artist. She has secretly produced her own Manga series about a super hero called Gadget Girl that is proving very popular, but no one suspects she is behind it.

Thinking they are off to Japan for her Mum’s work, Aiko is a little disappointed when the trip turns out to be Paris and as she is her Mum’s model the spotlight is on her more than she would like. But will Paris and a rather attentive café waiter win her over?

I may not be a teen any more, but I can recall some of what went on in my puberty addled brain and as this book deals with issues I can remember from those years it transported me back to my youth. I found the storyline to be engaging and the book moved at a perfect pace. It was a delight to read, it kept me wanting more and I’m sure it will appeal to young adult readers, especially art loving ones.

Thanks to Suzanne for sending me a copy (all the way from Japan). Gadget Girl: The Art of Being Invisible is available in paperback and ebook format, links to Amazon.co.uk below.

My birthday cycle challenge

A week today and I will hopefully be celebrating my 42^nd birthday. I say hopefully because on Sunday, or my birthday eve, I will taking a bit of a personal challenge and all I can say is that I hope to be around to celebrate on the 16^th.

This summer can be described as a summer of cycling for us. We have been out and about on the bikes, sometimes 20km pre-apero runs, sometimes full days out cycling 70 or 80km circuits and other times we have travelled all day on the bikes before crashing in a hotel and returning the following day. We must be quite close to 2000 peddled kilometres this summer, which for a pair of forty-somethings with a 12 year old in tow isn’t too bad. For more cycle posts see here.

However all these bike rides have been as a family (or a couple) at a pace that is comfortable for all of us, with plenty of stops for food and drink, and yes many refreshment stops have been in bars. This is about to change as we are planning to take part in an organised cycle event on Sunday, where there will be ‘real’ cyclists with real bikes and real leg muscles. The 2^nd Tour des Flandres Charentaises is inspired by the Tour of Flandres, a Belgium event famous for it’s hill climbs on narrow cobbled streets. Now while the Charente department is a little short on cobbled streets (thankfully) they have managed to find plenty of hilly, narrow lanes to cause pain and suffering to cyclists mad enough to give it a go. There is a choice of routes from 30km, 55km, 80km and 110km and by consensus of opinion we have decided to tackle the 55km route that will include eight of the seventeen hill climbs.

I am not too worried about the distance involved, but I’m not really the greatest hill climber in terms of stamina or speed. We took a sneaky ride out last weekend to Nanteuil en Vallée where some of the climbs are located and although I made it to the top of the two nasty ones I was wheezing like an old steam train most of the way up and Ade and Ed were just specks on my horizon. My main worries for the weekend are that I will an obstruction to the real cyclists behind me, especially on the narrow sections and that I will hold our group up, especially if I need to get off for a breather at the top. To make it a little bit more social and fun, we are joining up with some cycling friends, but  they are likely to be faster than I am. Food is probably going to be 'grazing on the peddle' with energy packed nibbles from our pockets as we won’t be taking the panniers – every bit of weight counts when climbing, gulp!

The 55km route

More information on the planned route can be found here. If you happen to be a local reader and are around the St Gourson, Champagne-Mouton, Vieux-Ruffec, St Gervais, Nanteuil, Pougné or St Sulpice areas on Sunday morning, please feel free to throw some encouragement toward Blue Belle (my old bike) and me, thank you.

With Blue Belle in the Cognac vineyards

La Chasse

Today was the first day of the winter hunt season or la chasse and a day when we would normally awaken to the sound of ‘celebratory’ gunfire around the village. However, for some reason, all was quiet this morning, something even my French neighbour commented on as unusual.

From now until March, every Thursday and Sunday (plus some Saturdays) we need to be extra vigilant if we are brave enough to go out on our bikes or walk the dog, as a hunter, his dogs and his gun could be just around the corner. Guns scare me. When you find yourself between the hunter and the deer what do you do? We usually find singing, dancing and anything else that draws attention to us seems to help, before turning around and getting the hell out of there. We have also bought the dog a florescent vest. I am not sure how a black Labrador could be mistaken for a deer or a boar, but I hope it is less likely to happen if she is wearing her vest. Thankfully she doesn’t seem too bothered about how stylish she is when she is out for a run (unlike Ed). 

Mini in her safety vest

Every year there are stories about the hunter who accidentally killed himself when he tripped, the hunter accidentally shot by another hunter, the mushroom picker shot when mistaken for an animal, the walker killed mistakenly by a hunter and a hunt dog shot by one of the hunt. As a responsible parent and dog owner I do not want us to become one of these statistics. We will also be keeping our fingers crossed that the many deer, hare, foxes and birds that we see when we are out and about will also survive the hunt season. The hunting dogs can be quite excitable, especially the young ones at the beginning of the season and so for their safety our ducks, chickens and goose will not be roaming in the orchard on hunt days. This is not my favourite time of year.

A lovely sight to see

There is another side to the argument and I appreciate the farmers feel the need to control the wildlife population. I have seen the crop damage and I’m sure left unchecked it wouldn’t be long before enough crops had been destroyed to cause food price hikes and shortages that would also lead to public unrest. My French neighbour who grew up in the village and whose father would hunt game birds to add meat to their diet, told me that she rarely saw deer in the fields and woods when she was younger. She believes many have been bred and released just to fulfill the hunt which makes me even more sad. The other issue that concerns me is the alcohol and gun issue. We all know alcohol and driving is dangerous so why do so many believe alcohol and guns to be acceptable?

If you are out and about in rural France during the hunt season, be aware the hunt days will be different from area to area and please stay safe.

This post is linked to Paulita's Ponderings Dreaming of France.

Are you a French Foodie?

Something happened the other day that made me think back to an old post from February 2011, that also appeared in the April 2012 Deux Sevres Monthly magazine. In it I claimed that although I love France and I love Food, being a true French Foodie would never be attainable to me for the following reasons:

My Sunday morning treat

1) Breakfast - a typical French breakfast is quite small; a bowl of coffee served with a buttered baguette and jam or a croissant. Now I LOVE croissants, but I prefer my breakfast to be a little bit more substantial. I am not talking about the English fry-up, which does nothing for me, but a steamy bowl of porridge when it’s cold or shredded wheat with fresh fruit when it’s not is just perfect - I’m a fibre girl!

2) Chocolate Cereal - it can be difficult to buy cereal without added chocolate - again, I LOVE chocolate, but not for breakfast.

3) Coffee Bowl Bread - I will never, be able to dunk a baguette into a ‘bowl’ of coffee - a breakfast ritual for the French. Coffee, in my opinion, is best served small and black and the only thing I dunk in it is a square of 70% dark chocolate. 

The French love their daily bread

4) The Daily Bread - much as I love the freshly baked white baguettes, I just can’t eat them with every meal. I’m a fibre girl and therefore am also the proud owner of a bread machine that is used regularly to produce delicious wholemeal loaves.

5) The Cooked Lunch - French families regularly return home at lunchtime for a full 2 or 3 course cooked meal - how they are organised enough to have a cooked meal ready for 12.00 is beyond me. Cooked lunch here is a soup.

6) Tripe and Andouillette – both considered a delicacy here. I like the idea of not wasting anything from an animal killed for food, however I find it impossible to eat either of these.

7) Late Night Eating - following the large lunchtime meal the French will eat again quite late in the evening. No matter how large the lunch I’ve managed to rustle up I need to eat before 8 o’clock a) as I’m hungry and b) because after then it’s just too late to eat.

8) The Starter - most French main meals will be 2 or 3 small courses. Whilst I think this is a great idea I find it really difficult to coordinate a meal with a starter; there is either an enormous gap between starter and main or the main has ruined while we eat the starter.

9) Marmite - you either love it or hate it, or, if you’re French you just don’t get it - I LOVE it!

10) I’m English - the very fact that I’m not French means that even if I manage to prepare, cook and serve it like they would and at the correct time of day, it would never truly be considered French.

Now, while I stand by most of these points, this week with no real planning or thought I managed to serve up a cooked lunch, with a starter and a dessert. The reason for this momentary blip of Frenchness was the need to fuel ourselves properly for an afternoon bike ride. A simple starter of sliced tomatoes with vinaigrette was followed by wholemeal pasta and courgettes (zucchini) cooked in garlic butter, all tossed together with a tin of mackerel in mustard sauce - quick and easy all the way. A slice of homemade apple tart finished the meal off nicely.

Maybe in time I am becoming more of a French foodie, but I’m certainly not ready to start dunking my bread or croissants in my coffee just yet.

Courgette Risotto

Risotto is one of my top comfort foods and for us is usually made with courgettes (zucchini) or oven-roasted squash/pumpkin (and if you read yesterday’s post you’ll know squash is going to feature regularly on our autumn menus). I have to confess that I’d rather eat a good risotto than a deep fried courgette flower – I am a foodie, but I’m a comfort foodie. The bacon, courgette, garlic and basil flavours in this recipe are fantastic and the rich, creaminess of the risotto makes me salivate every time I cook it. If you would like to give it a go here is the recipe;

Roasted squash

Courgette (Zucchini) and Basil Risotto

Ingredients:

4 tbsp basil olive oil or a knob of butter

3 courgettes, diced

1 pack of lardons or streaky bacon

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1 onion, finely chopped

200g Arborio (risotto) rice

1 small glass of dry white wine

1.5l chicken stock, simmering

1 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Handful of fresh basil

Heat half the oil or butter over a high heat. Add the courgettes and bacon and cook until lightly golden. Stir in the garlic and cook for 30 seconds longer. Transfer to a plate. If using squash, oven roast with the garlic and cook the bacon in a pan then combine.

Heat the remaining buter/oil over a medium heat. Add the chopped onion and cook for about 2 mins until softened. Add the rice and stir for 2 mins until it is translucent and well coated with oil.

Pour in white wine; it will bubble and steam rapidly and evaporate. Add a ladleful of stock and cook, stirring occassionally until the stock is absorbed.

Continue adding the stock, about half a ladleful at a time, allowing each to be absorbed before adding the next. This should take about 20-25 mins. The risotto should have a creamy consistency and the rice should be tender, but still firm to the bite.

Stir in the courgette/squash mixture with any juices, the butter, the fresh basil and the Parmesan. Serve and enjoy

 

The Monster in the Compost

The Mutant Monster Squash

One of the most important corners of our potager is the compost heap where all year round we add the kitchen peelings, floor sweepings, bunny droppings, grass cuttings, chicken bedding, prunings and newspaper, amongst other things. Once it is rotted down to the most delicious mix it is then dug into the veggie garden in the spring to improve our soil. The collecting process then begins again. Sometimes we get a bit of a weed problem in the leftover compost, but this year we have been invaded by a monster mutant squash. It has not only completely taken over the compost heap but it is on a direct course across the grass to the tomato patch in the potager. 

However, I was never tempted to weed it out as neat and tidy really isn't me - I'm more of a 'live and let live' gardener and it has rewarded my kindness generously. So far we have harvested five huge green squash (that are rapidly turning orange) and there are at least another twenty fruits still growing. Can you imagine how much soup, chutney, relish, caviar, curry, risotto and brownies this little lot will make? I'm trembling with excitement!

First pickings of the monster squash

Book review of Sunlounger by Belinda Jones

The summer holidays may be over for us, but in our pre-Ed days September was the month when we would be taking off on our holidays, and yes, our destination was usually France. For many of you now is also the time of year when you are starting to see the first signs of spring in the air (as our mornings take on an autumnal feel) knowing that summer is just around the corner. Well, listen up ladies because I've got THE book for you.

The Ultimate Beach Read

SUNLOUNGER - the Ultimate Beach Read from the Belinda Jones Travel Club is a compilation of short stories from a great selection of authors, all showcasing their smoldering passion and hunky heros who are ready to whisk you off your sunloungers and into a bit of perfect escapism. Warning – only romantics need apply! I love a collection of short stories, and more so in the summer as they are ideal ‘pop in and out’ reading material and many an enjoyable afternoon was spent touring the world in the pages of this book. There are, bien sur, a few set in France.

Clichéd it may be, but I have to say this book is packed, like a holiday suitcase, full of tales to give you a fire in your belly and a warm squishy feeling inside. It has to be the most perfect collection of hot, summer girlie stories I’ve read, but coming from authors including Belinda Jones, Miranda Dickenson, Kate Harrison and Abby Clements to name just a few it is hardly surprising.

Available from Amazon as an ebook, priced at 99p, this book was sent to me for an honest review. Link to Amazon.co.uk below.

Burgers, Chips and Pizza

We are now at the end of what has been a perfect summer holiday and we are all a little glum that summer can’t last forever. Ed is back to school tomorrow and Ade back to running training courses next week, leaving me plenty of time on my hands to flit from one outstanding task to another and probably achieve very little. To make the end of the holiday feel special I have given Ed control over what we will be eating this week, with the exception of Friday as we always have moules frites on Friday. Top of his list were burgers, sausages, chips and pizza – no surprise that courgette (zucchini) didn’t appear. Food should be a comforting thing that makes your mind and belly feel happy so I have no problem in indulging his wishes. However I wasn’t ready to hit the frozen ready meal section of the local supermarket, oh no, it’s all homemade here, if possible.

100% minced beef burgers

Last night was meat feast BBQ night. The burgers were from the meat counter at the local supermarket where we watched the steaks of beef enter the mincer machine and appear as thick, pressed burgers the other end. The sausages were from a local pig-keeping friend and made on their premises last weekend. To accompany the meat we had a garden grown tomato salad, homemade oven chips, my special sweet courgette relish (see here) and griddled courgettes (he may get to choose the menu, but he can’t escape the courgettes).

Tonight is pizza night; the tomatoes have been roasted with garlic, thyme, salt and pepper and put through the press to leave a delicious tomato purée. This is a daily task for us at the moment and the freezer is filling nicely with pots of puréed tomatoes that will be used all winter for pasta dishes, casseroles, soups as well as pizzas. The toppings tonight include some leftover chicken from the weekend roast, sausages that didn’t get eaten last night, fresh made pesto (see here) and butter sautéed courgettes. Here is my pizza dough recipe. This makes enough for three thin 20cm round pizzas.

Homemade French Village pizza

½ teaspoon of dried yeast

300g strong white bread flour

1 teaspoon of salt

1 tablespoon of olive oil

170 ml of water

Combine the flour, yeast and salt in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the middle and add the olive oil and warmed water. Bring together to form a dough, then turn onto a floured surface and knead for about ten minutes until smooth and elastic. Form into a ball shape and place in a greased bowl or cake tin, cover with cling film and a towel and leave to rise for at least an hour. Divide into three equal balls and form the bases of the pizzas. Place on baking trays and add your favourite toppings. Bake in a very hot oven for about ten minutes, until the dough is just crispy enough and the cheese nicely melted. We always add an egg for the last two minutes of cooking, but this is optional.

Roasted tomato puree

Amazon have a similar looking (but smaller) tomato press called the Passata Machine but mine was brought from a local store by my parents.

Book review of Home Again in Paris by Matthew Fraser

Home Again in Paris: Oscar, Leo and Me

I have traveled to Paris many times this summer on the pages of different books, but this book Home Again in Paris: Oscar, Leo and Me by Matthew Fraser, has to be my favourite.

Matthew spent his student days in Paris before returning to Canada and settling down with his wife and a successful TV career. However, following her sudden death he finds himself inexplicably drawn back to Paris with his two Bichons Oscar and Leo for company. He shares their story of settling into Poodleland (Paris’ posh 7^th arrondissement) in an open, honest and beautifully worded way. It is not always happy, things do go wrong, but his eye for the detail of where he lives in Paris and the people he meets is perfect. It is a memoir, but it is more than that and there are many insightful passages that help to explain the French way as he sees it. And as he has spent a lot of time over many years in Paris, I think he is well placed to voice his theories. Even I, a total Francophile learnt things from this book.

In short, I loved this book, couldn’t put it down and was very sad when I finished reading it. I’m not sure I have ever come across anyone sharing such love and emotion for their dogs and I’m not ashamed to say he brought a tear or two to my eyes at certain points during the book. It certainly wins my ‘tearjerker of the summer’ award.

I am delighted that Matthew contacted me about his book and has also been generous enough to offer me an ebook copy to send to one lucky reader anywhere in the world. To enter please email frenchvillagediaries@gmail.com with Home Again as the email subject. The winner will be the first name picked from my sunhat next Monday 9^th September.

Home Again in Paris: Oscar, Leo and Me is available as an ebook from Amazon and a link to the UK site can be found below. This book is certainly worth the £1.95 price!

You can read more from Matthew on his website here or follow him on Twitter.

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