Jun/090
Babies Babies, Babies
Everyone seems to be having babies. The Blyths went into labour over in Geneva at 3am this morning and my little sister is due before we'll know it. Here's a nice little film from vimeo. This french lady has posted more films of Capuchine's antics, some of which we've seen. I like the one when she tells the story about the hippopotamus.
Jun/090
Starting my week on Tuesdays
I like Tuesdays. It's when I really get my week started. Mondays are usually a write off for me. Sometimes I've been working over the weekend and take Monday off to clean the house, do my washing & maybe a bit of cooking. That or I've been out and about drinking and being social all weekend, and I take Monday off to er..... sit around eating chips and watching telly. Which is what I did yesterday.
I had a very good weekend. Friday night down the pub was quite raucous, but I managed to escape just before the jaegermeister started hemorrhaging on my mate's tab. Saturday I drove over to Divonne on the other side of Geneva lake to visit my friends. They're a month away from their first baby being born and both waiting, waiting, waiting. What a lovely calm, household they have set up. Made perfect with the arrival of a tiny new kitten, Charlie. I can't wait to visit again later in the summer and meet their new daughter.
But there was a little wine-drinking involved and by Sunday afternoon I was staring down the barrel of a long, energetic night of fete de la musique with a hangover. Much as I love the fete, a few pints in the afternoon,a burger down at the office bar and a few games of carrom with my mate Fred in the evening and I was settled. A crowded, noisy Rue De Moulin seemed too much to bear and I was asleep in front of the telly by 10pm.
Monday was endured, but Tuesday is warm, sunny and smiling. A bit of work this monrning: emails, business generation and a bit of coding and then I'm off to pick up my van.
I blew it up the other day - did I mention that? A catastrophic failiure of the coolant system sprayed all the boiling coolant water all over myself and my paintwork.
It's fixed and ready to pick up from the garage in Les Houches this afternoon. That's about 20km away & mostly downhill so I'm going get padded up in reduced armour (just shinguards & gloves) and boot it down the Balcon Sud & the Gaillands run. Should take me an hour, no more. Then lob the bike in the back of the van, head down to Sallanches to do a big monthly shop and everything's back on track for a good week.
Dec/080
Chris cooks Christmas
Inspired by the boy Hugh F-W, I'm cooking Christmas for 6-8 of my friends this year. An epic shopping trip to Carrefour in Sallanches on one of the busiest days of the year wasn't the most fun, but later in the day I picked up the goose from the artisan butcher in Chamonix. Analltogether more civilised experience. Sitting on my kitchen table, the goose looks like a big bastard and to be honest it scares me a little. It doesn't scare the cat, though. She got so excited I had to lock her in the bedroom while to calm down while I dealt with the goose.
The first job was to take off it's legs and cure them for 24 hours or so in a mixture of salt & pepper, garlic, bay and thyme. Later the legs will be slowly cooked in goose fat to make a traditional French confit.
The crown of the goose is going to be filled with a chestnut stuffing and roasted on Christmas day, along with the potatoes done with goose fat, the usual veg and a proper goose-stock based gravy.
The first course is a soup. Cream of Jerusalem Artichoke with a parsley and chestnut pesto dabbed through it (thanks Hugh). I was a bit worried about finding the Artichoke things here in France. Mostly because I had no idea what I was looking for, never having heard of them before. Turns out it's quite a popular vegetable here in France. They call it topinambour. Who knew?
And for desert it's a poached pear tart with vanilla ice-cream. Washed down with what will probably be a good chunk of the 24 bottles of wine I got from my mate the other day (he runs a chalet and has a nose for putting delicious wine on his punter's table at very little cost to himself), I'm hoping Christmas dinner is going to go down well.
It's certainly the most adventurous meal I've ever attempted. Starting preparing a meal several days before serving feels a little strange, but hopefully everything will come together without stress on Christmas evening and I'll be able to enjoy eating it as much as I'll enjoy making it.