Fractionally

I rarely cook from a recipe. Even in the days when I had a vast collection of cookery books, I mainly read them for inspiration and the pretty pictures. These days I do occasionally pick up on a recipe on the Internet, mainly from the Guardian. I enjoy Nigel Slater’s and Felicity Cloake’s writings, and they both seem to produce recipes that speak to my piggy inner self. Ottolenghi’s recipes are…

“Door” (unlike “Never Forget”) is most definitely a prompt that I can work on – usually. Like many, I have a passion for doors and have hundreds of archive images of doors – be they ornate, elegant, decaying, splendid or humble. I just love them. So, normally, I would wander off with camera in hand and find a new door to capture. Alas, we remain on site at Base Camp and there’s not a good door…

I cannot claim that I Never Forget to post a response to a given prompt, it’s far more likely that I simply can’t find time to fit it in, or lack any inspiration for/interest in it. “Never Forget” is definitely not a prompt that sparks my interest! Happily, something that fits the bill has cropped up. We were busy packing our van in preparation for our Autumn/Winter/Spring trip. We had thought…

Catching up again, after several days of hard labour and high temperatures. It has been all go, but I can settle down now as we are just about fully packed and ready to go. We should have been gone by now but Things got in the way. We popped up to the site office this morning, to collect a delivery of Things That Got In The Way, and to pay our dues (in the form of Taxe de Sejour) and so I took…

We are in a drought situation here, there’s very little that is wet – except for this coriander that I have just been rinsing and now need to dry off. I often don’t rinse my herbs but Coriander seems to be grown on sandy soil and there’s nothing more horrible than gritty coriander. This lot is for garnishing a Thai Curry that I am making of tiny Scallops. It has been another long, hot, and…

It is pretty typical that, after two days away under solid cloud cover, and coming home yesterday to about 75% cloud cover, today there are none! Nothing but blue sky, can I see. Slightly put out actually, as today’s forecast was for a relatively cool 23°C, and with cloud. An excellent forecast for working outside, in and around the van. It didn’t transpire and we have had a warm and sunny day,…

Today is the day that we returned to Base Camp, after a very good two nights away in Corcoué sur Logne, in order to prepare for a long trip. That makes today Shopping Day. We stopped off at the SuperU in Legé, buying what we hope will be sufficient food to last us until we depart. It doesn’t look like a great deal, but we do have to empty the fridge and freezer before we go and will be making…

One from today’s walk. Okay, not truly matching, there are similarities and dissimilarities, though all have the same number – disregarding the qualifiers. They caught my eye, nothing else turned up. French letter boxes are broadly homogenous. Something to do with La Poste’s rules, methinks. 7 Km today on a marked walk. A good day for it, without strong sun or punishing heat. A tad muggy.…

Not claiming to be very satisfied with today’s output. I will try again.

Life got in the way a bit and I haven’t had space in which to envelop myself in this exercise. I will return to it later.

Quite a challenging prompt again. There is no fur in our little Shack. Fur is… ick… when not adorning its original host, that is. We do have a couple of Polar Fleece blankets, but that’s definitely not the same. Back to the Archive again, sorry. Now that we have neither cat nor dog companions, I frequently find myself longing to plunge my hands into some fur and to snuggle up to a little warm…

Do I have one? I can’t think of one right now. I have the usual unattainable wishes, just the same as most people, so it is hardly a secret in hoping for a better world. Let us just type, and see what comes out… Wishes seem too akin to prayers, neither will answer themselves. Hope is the thing that I cling to but action is the answer. I feel too old and tired to be much of an activist but I do…

Having purchased Crème Crue, we needed fruit. We Plum-ped for these Mirabelles. Mirabelles The scent of the rip fruit is gorgeous. They also look pretty, don’t they?

A trio of sausages. Not triplets – each sausage is a different flavour: Herb, Tomato, Smoked. For the curious: Aligot on the bottom, topped by a Roscoff Onion that I painstakingly caramelised with thyme. Those black plates are bringing out my inner chef, I think.

The ridges on these Mutti sauce bottles form Lines. I was quite excited to find these on my last shopping trip. I dislike Ketchup, always have, but I know that Mutti make some really good tomato products and decided that it might be worth trying their Ketchup out. Plus, it’s bottled in glass and not in plastic, and this is a Good Thing. Mr L fancied the Barbecue Sauce, so we bought both.

We don’t own or rent a house, but mostly live in this van: We also have a static caravan. Its purpose is intended to be as a place to store a few things, and to come to roost in if life does not go to plan. Whichever way that I look at it, this must make us what our US cousins term “Trailer Park Trash.” We are very happy Trash. We love our roaming life, and all of its adventures. We are…

There is literally very little space in my life for treasured items and it is some time now since I down-sized and decluttered, learning just to “let stuff go.” The big treasure in my life is my husband and, as long as I have him by my side, what need do I have of material things? Mr L is not keen on having his photo taken, and this forced me to wonder about treasures in my life. What do I…