Poppy update

She is getting on well and has managed not to bump her nose on anything yet - despite a number of attempts to do so.

She spends quite a bit of time resting

And some running around like a nutter - with us saying 'mind the... SMASH... oh never mind' as she runs in to the wall, the door, our legs, the rabbit cages, bits of wood, the seedlings etc.

A friend gave her a snazzy pink harness that you will see in some of the photos. She can't wear her lead at the moment because of the stitches on her neck so it is useful as well as stylish!

Quiche Recipe

25cm quiche or tart dish (easier with removable bottom, or use a disposible foil one)

For the filling
4 eggs
150ml cream (or crème fraîse, fromage fraîse, sour cream etc)
1 onion chopped
The flavours eg lardons and mushrooms, salmon and cream cheese, leek and cheese, whatever you have in the fridge)

For the pastry (you can use normal shortcrust or a more traditional french version below)
250g flour
125g butter
1 egg
Approx 1 tsp crème fraîche
Salt (unless the butter was salted)

Make the pastry by rubbing the butter in to the flour.
Then create a well in the center of the crumbs and add the egg and crème fraîche, mix gently with a fork (in the well) to break the egg, then gently but quickly incorporate the flour/butter crumbs from the side of the well. You can add a little more crème if required to get a normal pasty consistancy.
Allow to restin the fridge for an hour before rolling.

Roll out and place in your quiche dish, cover in foil and prick with a fork in a few places, then weigh down with beans before baking at approx 200°C for 10 mins until it is very lightly browned.

To make the filling fry the onions gently and cook any other fillings as appropriate. For example fry lardons, leeks, mushrooms, salmon etc gently.

Drain any water off after cooking and add to the pie dish

Mix together the egg, cream and crème fraîse and pour over the filling until the pastry is full to the top (you might want to do this in or close to the oven to avoid spillage!)

Cook at 180°C for 25 mins or until the filling is firm but still a little wobbly.

Social life

I don't write much about our social life, as the blog is more about what we get up to and it is hard to know what people will mind having written about them. In London a lot of our social contact was with people at work, although of course we met friends evenings and weekends, but as we got older that was far from every day. We were a bit worried coming here that we might go mad with only each other for company, however we have been lucky enough to meet quite a number of english (speaking) people here who are equally as mad as us and even a few French ones. Far more people just drop in to see us than ever did in London - where it probably took hours to get from where they live 2 miles away and it wasn't worth the risk we might not be in. We go out to lunch and dinner quite often - and have people round here. I bump in to someone I know (French and English) almost every time I go to the supermarket which only rarely happened in London. So thankfully, although we spend much more time together than we did when we had full time jobs, we also spend plenty of time with other people and are unlikely to go cabin fever mad.

Mint Sorbet Recipe

Make mint cordial
Dilute 1 part cordial to 1 part water
Put in ice-cream maker

Poppy is home safe

She has silver spray on her face and neck (antiseptic and numbing I think) and a lampshade thing that she is not at all impressed with.

Apparently we should keep her quiet for 10 days. Not a problem at the moment as the anesthetic wears off, but a bit of a challenge for the rest of the time I imagine.
The vet says that if we can stop her scraping back the bit of skin on her nose again then there won't be too much of a scar (and she will still find a nice husband he says!)

Poor Poppy is at the vet

The horses have been in the barn for 36 hours having been wormed (you don't want the poisoned poo all over the field where the dog and other animals can eat it)
We took them back to the field this morning where they got a bit frisky. Poppy got quite over excited playing with them and one of them kicked her.
She was just out of sight when it happened and afterwards (after making some heart rending yelps the like of which we had never heard before) she disappeared off the face of the earth. We spent the next two (rather traumatic) hours searching for her. Under all the trees and bushes and increasingly further afield. There was neither sight nor sound of her. Just as I was about to give up and retire inside (to cry) she appeared, coming up the path towards me. I could see she had a cut on her face, but that she was trotting along fine.
On closer inspection she also had a nasty deep hole/cut in the back of her head. We bundled her in the car and took her to the vet. He has knocked her out and is going to stitch the cut on the back of her head. He said the one on her nose can't be stitched as the stitches would pull out through the skin and make it worse but he is going to do what he can to keep her prettyness intact. Of course we will just be happy if she comes out of the whole thing OK! Fingers crossed.
We can pick her up at 6.30. Perhaps this will teach her that 'playing' with the horses is not the best thing to do!

Before the accident

Hurrah! Sun at last

Some spring like weather has finally arrived!
We have been having breakfast and lunch outside...

...but not dinner, as the sun on the wet ground is making impressive thunder and lightening storms with some rain by later afternoon.

Annoyingly the weeds seem to have enjoyed the cold wet weather but the 'proper' plants less so. We have been trying to get the potager back under control. Doug has strimmed all round the beds and spent several days making and laying wood chips made from the huge pile of branches that have been building up for months. I have been weeding, mounding up potatoes and planting replacements for slug losses as well as potting things on. Stuff is growing, but it is not growing very fast, I imagine we will see a leap forward now the weather is warmer - if the slugs allow.

We are thinking that for next year some sort of mini poly tunnel that fitted over the raised beds would be good to get some things started earlier. Particularly tomatoes and cucumber and perhaps melons - all of which struggle to ripen here apparently (!) Although it is hot the season isn't hugely long it seems.