Swifts! How wonderful 
I havenāt seen any for the past year or two but I love them and hope they will come back. After a couple of years of absence our bats have returned so,perhaps, swifts will tooā¦
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Just reporting on a couple of things that have cheered me upa great deal today!
Firstly, the builders arrived unexpectedly (good job I was dressed) to put up my balcony/terrasse, having finally managed to obtain the wood. Itās looking promisingā¦
Secondly, my partner got some espadron at the market this morning so, having unearthed and commissioned our beautiful clay-built chimenea, weāll be heading for a lovely barbecue this evening,
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Just had a delicious toasted M&S Tea Cake bought from England on the 13:55 flight into Bergerac so with an hours journey from Bergerac and a 30 minute at supermarket - the tea cakes lasted less than 1 hour after arrival home! = couldnāt resist them.
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Some fresh veg from next doorā¦ arrived just before lunchā¦ courgettes/ blettes/parsley
I checked Google for ideas.
Courgettes:
small cubes fried in a splash of Olive oil until coloured/slightlycrispy.
Add chopped parsley, garlic and a sprinkle of black pepper.
Blettes - the green part thrown into boiling, salted water for 2 minutes
Drain the blettes and add to the courgette/parsley panā¦
Add a blob of butter and stir everything gently together on medium heat.
Just before servingā¦ sprinkle with some grated parmesanā¦
absolutely yummyā¦ served alongside cordon bleuā¦
OH had been watching a tad apprehensively, but he licked his plate clean
(the white part of the blettes is waiting its turnā¦ )
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Steamed is an excellent substute for pak choi - in fact weāve been using blettes in preference to pak choi for our favourite Chinese recipe 
By the way - I like āSunbeamā!
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Itās my carā¦ my pride and joy 
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And there was me thinking it was just an accurate reflection of your personality
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While we are thinking cheerilyā¦ the builders left yesterday and we are rather pleased with our smart new terrasse. Now to smarten up the rest of the houseā¦
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We chop and stir fry the whites, or throw them into gratins and the like. Pak choi doesnāt get planted until the peas are finished, so our autumn green vegā¦
Terrace looks great, so nice when things that one has dreamed of get done!
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which is??
The pak choi (or blettes) with sauce is the perfect accompaniment to this dish. The only problem is that you do need the unobtainable-in-France? Chinese 5 spice for the pork marinade,
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Blettes are a great deal easier to grow than pak choi - for me anyway, so we tend to use them in preferenceā¦
I used to have one, but a later model
Oh YUM thatās right you posted that on my pork thread!
Iām sure they have them at the Chinese supermaket I finally went to in Bergerac. Iām nearly out of Hoi Sin so will be going at some point (before the autumn anyway 
). Do you want me to pick you up a bag and pop it in the post?
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I only have flowering pot plants so am grateful for any edibleoffering from neighbours. Did grow tomatoes in a pot, one year, but not very successful and everyone always seems to have a glut, so no incentive on my part.
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Well I didnāt have to cut grass today 
so for me it was an excellent day, blue skies and 32C, for me life does not get much better than a beautiful day with my family, dog, 9 cats and the hot tub 
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Either mix it yourself or get it in Eurasie (Bordeaux) or frĆØres Tang (Paris) or online.
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Grind star anise, cloves, Chinese cinnamon, Szechuan peppercorns, and fennel seeds. We use slightly less star anise than bought versions as suits our taste buds. But itās available
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Has anyone seen tonightās beautiful moon.
Itās absolutely magnificentā¦ andā¦ in line with family traditionā¦ I gazed up at it and howled 
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Thank you @vero, @JaneJones and @toryroo ! Our nearest oriental(?) outlet is at Rennes but I shall check the online and home-grown solutions!
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