Lots to report so I’ll start in. The weather improved a bit during the week and we had a couple of days in the 30s. It’s back to stormy and cooler today, but due to warm up again this week.
Not much happened on Tues or Wed. I keep meaning to take advantage of summer hours at the pool, but work keeps getting in the way. This also means not going to the shops, so we made due with frozen leftovers and an impromptu pasta made with our first two courgettes. I was just out back weeding, but it’s a losing battle. Despite this, the tomatoes are doing well, as are the courgette and the other plants. I harvested some red onions for a recipe, but they are all very small still. I saw Carol’s the other day – they are plump and beautiful, as is her veggie plot, which puts ours to shame.
We were meant to host convo group here on Thursday, but only Sophie came, around 6pm. I guess we’ve abandoned the idea for the summer. We sat outside and had a drink and chatted with her, and she invited us to her place for dinner on Sunday.
Friday night, we hosted Rigit, who leave for the UK tomorrow. I found some time on Friday to make a chilled courgette and ginger soup, tuscan couscous and chocolate mousse. The soup was a first time recipe, from a book I’ve rarely used. It came out ok and would have been better with homemade stock. The couscous is one we’ve done before with white beans, cherry toms, fresh basil and a lemon garlic dressing. This was served with bread topped with goats cheese, boursin or sundried tom spread. It was unexpectedly stormy that night, so they tried to wait for a break before heading home. It was good to see them again, and also, they left Will with €100 cash. This is payment in advance for doing changeover service at their house that they’re renting out. It’s a couple of Saturdays in August, and hopefully, not tons of work.
Will did another DVD advert and it lead to a few more sales. We got a call around 10 this morning from someone wanting 5 done in the next hour, so that was a rude awakening. We don’t normally sleep so late, but didn’t get much this weekend, which I haven’t finished recounting.
We also hosted dinner on Saturday night. This was Alessandro and his English neighbours Hannah and Louis, whose place we ate at a few months ago. We saw them at Alessandro’s 50th and decided to have them over. It was meant to include Emma, Alessandro’s partner and their baby, but she had been out the last few nights so decided to pass. She can’t eat gluten or dairy, so I had chosen the menu around that, including a new brownie recipe that uses almonds and olive oil instead of flour and butter. We had decided it would be a bbq, but the weather had other plans. Storms were called for in the evening, but things were still looking ok when the guests arrived around 9.
We sat outside and had aperos, and I started cooking shortly after. We had been watching lightening in the distance, when suddenly, some low dark clouds were nearly upon us. We collected everything and headed in just as the wind and rain started. I dragged the bbq into the garage, with embers being blown out the bottom the whole way. The meat needed another 5 minutes, so I carried on cooking just inside the garage, with decent size hail coming down just outside. It was my first time bbq’ing in a storm and I pleased to say, it didn’t affect the result.
When discussing the menu, Will suggested our “first-time invitee” classic of greek kebabs. These are lamb and chicken, red onion and mint leaves, marinated in lemon and garlic. I did Mom’s potato salad plus a greek salad. The latter was fine, but the former lacked mayo and salt, so it wasn’t a perfect meal. The brownies, despite the lack of classic ingredients, were a real hit. I made a big batch to have for Sunday, but 2/3 were gone by night’s end (I sent some home for Emma). We had a good time getting to know the English, although it’s a bit hard with Alessandro in the room. He’s one of those people that never stops talking, even in his 3rd language. We had hoped that speaking English would slow him down, but not really. They too had to drive home in a storm, but we all had a really nice evening.
Dinner at Sophie and Dom’s on Sunday had a theme: bring a dish from your home country. She had a family from Mauritius staying with her who suggested the idea. They are a couple with two teenage girls who are here for a wedding, and to see a bit of Europe. Interestingly, the wedding is for two Asian guys who live in London, and one of their bosses has a place in St Saud. In addition, there were three other French couples who are friends of the hosts. I brought the remaining brownies, and a batch of carrot cake cookies that I made that afternoon. It was another stormy day, and we ate outside under an awning. It really came down hard at one point, but we managed to stay mostly dry.
We started with a few different tart/pie things including a Savoyard ham and cheese pastry that’s lovely, and a type of pizza from Marseilles that has no cheese, but caramelised onions, olives and anchovies. Sophie did a new recipe, cou farcis, which was goose neck, stuffed with chunks of fois gras. It was better than it sounds, but only just. The main was a sausage stew with tomatoes, onions and plenty of chilli, made by the Mauritians. It was very tasty and yes, they also made a not-spicy version for the French. In addition to my contribution, there were eclairs of chocolate and vanilla. It was a really good idea, and it was nice to learn about Mauritius and see some photos. They all speak French and English, it’s between 21 and 36 year round, and they eat a lot of curry. We have decided to pay a visit to the island just as soon as we find the funds.