Flour tortillas

Makes 6 tortillas
125g Plain flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp oil
80 ml warm milk

Mix everything together in a bowl - should  be a dough similar consistany to bread dough.
Leave to rest for 20 mins. Cover with damp cloth or clingfilm
Break in to 6 equal size pieces, roll each one in to a ball and leave to rest covered again for a further 10 mins.
Roll each ball out in to a circle approx 15-20cm in diameter
In a dry frying pan fry for about 30 seconds each side until they look a bit puffy and done. Serve immediately or reheat wrapped in foil in the oven.

Plus de chantier collectif

Last week we went and helped our architect with some building work on his house, we went again this week. Last week the 'paille et terre' (straw and earth) work was just starting, this week it was nearing completion. Two weeks will have seen two walls insulated. There was a lot of the mix ready, so we spent the day packing it in to the walls. I did remember to take photos this time!

The wall we worked on last week (near the bottom!)

Doug at work

Close up of the finished (but not dry product)

Lunch (with wine!)

The bit of the wall we worked on this week

Although we don't want to insulate with this method, it was a good chance to ask him questions about what he thinks we should do plus to meet some interesting people. Last week we worked with an English guy who had done a lot of 'eco' building work so that was interesting (as we could understand all of what he was telling us!), this week was all French people so we got a good chance to practice our French, particularly with the very nice guy we were working alongside. He was very patient and asked us nice simple questions. As it is a bank holiday in France lots of their friends turned up at lunch time (v yummy cake) too. We enjoyed it a lot.
Our favorite insulation method at the moment is chanvre chaux (lime and hemp or 'hempcrete') and we are reading a lot about air to water heat pumps, under floor heating, ground source heat pumps, solar thermal and solar pv. Thrilling stuff!

Nice long ride

We went for the longest ride we have been on yesterday. It was a tad longer than planned due to a dodgy short cut!
We passed through many valleys and villages we had never seen before and did not know existed. Although we were tired by the time of the dodgy short cut, it was very scenic and good to see what was there. The ride has given us a lot of ideas for other rides. We also met a french girl who stopped us and asked if she could come riding with us another time. I have emailed her, and hopefully we will set something up. She lives just up the road and has a small feisty 21 year old white pony that we have passed several times going on rides.

Poppy couldn't come as she can't be trusted on the road off the lead. So Tigi's riders husband kindly agreed to look after her while we were out. Allegedly she behaved very well, she went for a walk with one of their dogs in Bagnere. She came back very tired which is good!

We went skiing today!

The ski area decided to open the off piste from the top of the Pic du Midi for a bonus 7 days from today. The season passes are still valid.
We jumped out of bed this morning bright and early - this is the view from the house of the Midi at 7am.

And rushed up there to get on the first lift.

All the skiing is off piste. We have not skied off the top before and were glad to get a bonus chance to do so this season - particularly as it is included on our season pass! It was a bit tricky with no other lifts running to manage to end up back at the car - it took a bit of climbing to achieve.

Leaving the observatory

View of where we are heading

On the way down

On the way down

Honestly this was a really steep climb

View into the mountains

We are going over there

Looking back the way we came - nearly down

Back in the ski area!

The dog didn't come on the skiing, but we took her for a walk in the snow afterwards

A year in the Hautes Pyrénées

We arrived here on the 2nd of May 2012, so we have been here a whole year now!

I was going to write a post about what we have achieved, the ups and downs of our first year here, but unfortunately the cows decided to walkabout. We spend many hours searching for them and finally found them quite some way away, but heading back in the direction of home. Having rounded them up we had to finish off the fencing effort on the bottom field as they have now escaped from all the other fields in search of more grass. Finishing the field was actually our plan for the afternoon, but the cow hunt significantly delayed things and we didn't finally get finished until 9pm. We are both so tired we can hardly stand up. Hopefully they will find it to their liking and condescend to stay there!

I will write a review of the year in another post when we have recovered. In the mean time I will just say that the thing we miss most about the UK is our family and friends. We love you! We miss you! Come and visit if you can!

Cold, rain and snow

We had a spell of lovely weather, but then a spell of cold and rain - it even snowed! 

Sheep on the drive in the snow

We went to the market (Saturday morning) despite the grim weather. A surprising number of people had ventured out.

Second sheepskin rug

Having slaughtered and butchered Bro we then started curing his skin. This was a few days ago, but I haven't got round to blogging it. The abattoir salted is, so it sat with salt on it for 3 days, we scrapped this off the day we got it back and had a little go getting off remaining fatty and fleshy bits (the abattoir did a slightly less clean job getting it off this time than last). We then washed and rinsed it in the bath and then ran it through the washing machine on wool wash a few times. After that we pulled of any remaining bits and left it to dry a bit until the flesh side was damp but not wet and the wool was pretty dry.
We mixed 4 tbsp salt, 4 tbsp alum and 1/2 a pint of water together and then added white flour until the mixture was a thick paste (a bit thicker than pancake mix and something you could imagine staying in place when smeared on the skin and not running off). We then smeared this all over the flesh side of the skin.

Then folded the two sides together with the paste between and rolled the skin up in to a neat bundle which we tied together with skin. It is now sitting for 7 days, we will turn it from time to time.