Friday, November 16, 2012

The less said the better.


A late evening walk round the garden. The gardeners have ordered too much turf.  Rather than waste it the morose lads have laid it carefully round the base of an old holm oak in the courtyard. This patch of verdant lawn set amid the gravel gives the garden the air of a municipal cemetery. '' Well, we can't complain they didn't use their initiative " says ' the font '.

The Rickety Old Farmhouse has two kitchens. A summer one on the cool ground floor and a winter one upstairs. The electrician informs us that the dishwasher in the upstairs kitchen is  clinically dead. We head off in search of a replacement. Who knew there was so much technology in dishwashers ? ' The font 'reads the labels about washing cycles, energy efficiency and decibel levels. All the models on display seem to cost €1200 and have 25 cycles. Angus , who only uses one cycle, on and off , orders a replacement on the internet for a third of the price. It will be delivered on Tuesday. The firm promises to install it and remove the old machine. We shall see.

As for the Beaujolais Nouveau evening in the local restaurant ? . I'll let the menu say it all :

Plateau de charcuterie
Jambon persille a la bourguignonne
Cake aux oreilles de cochon
Joues de cochon en daube
Buffet des desserts.

Angus enjoyed the desserts. Pig ears cake! The culinary joys of life in deepest France profonde.

14 comments:

  1. you could get three kitchens for that amount. Good luck with your economy model!

    XXXOOO Daisy, Bella & Roxy

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  2. Angus uses one more dishwasher cycle than Gail.

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  3. If it was me I would have moved the summer dishwasher upstairs for winter (while I waited for prices on the latest and greatest version to drop or explored other options) - that said I've never had two kitchens in the same house and at times I've been known to be more miserly than a Scotsman with access to the internet!

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  4. I've heard of 'pig's ear cake.' Did you try it? Of course I enjoy eating and I'm always willing to try something new, but I'm not quite ready to consume a pig's ear. For me anything larger than bits, cubes or shreds, I start thinking too hard about what it is and stop enjoying myself. But that's just me ...

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  5. Oh my gosh, I thought my French was lost in translation there for a moment...pig ears cake. I would have had to eat only desserts myself, since there was no white meat on the menu. So how WAS the wine??
    Good for you on finding a cheaper dishwasher on the internet...what did we do before the internet??
    Both you and the Font must be besides yourselves with excitement with the arrival of your new car today....enjoy.
    Have a great weekend test driving your new beauty.

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  6. I am sure Wilf and Digby would have thought of divine inspiration to make a pig ears pie. Southern Italy and its neighbours - my neighbour "lady" barks at my dogs to drive them crazy ... here they love to sue and quarrel all the time... I was told since the Greek main past time. Love from all of us Susanne, daisy, Foxiie and Kiri

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  7. Was the cake inspired by Ducasse? I suppose you could cover the turf with wild flowers in the spring?

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  8. New car & now a new dishwasher! Congratulations!

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  9. At present, it looks like you should add a sofa, chairs and reading lamp to your carpet of turf.
    All that pork and then pig ear cake. It sounds quite....off-putting.
    We can hope for a problem-free installation of the dishwasher; yes, we can hope.......

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  10. wow. a plate of assorted cured cold meats . . . a pressed cake of pig ears . . . a pig stew . . .
    and meat in terrine . . .
    i'm thinking the desserts better be good because an animal loving vegetarian would starve in the south of france. or anywhere in france for that matter!

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  11. Pig ear cake? They were really reaching there, weren't they. Reminds me of the local fad of adding bacon to chocolate and ice cream.
    When one of one's arts is cooking, it's understandable that you would wish to surround yourself with multiple functioning, aesthetically pleasing appliances. I'm with the font when it comes to the dishwasher. Think of your tummy, Angus; the better machine is a small price to pay.
    The Lawn's squared shape around the old tree is a bit harsh. But the font will find a way to make it more pleasing.

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  12. I might have packed a peanut butter sandwich to dinner. Just in case. :)

    Good luck with the dishwasher. Lots of knobs and buttons to get used to!

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  13. Pig ear cake? Please tell me you made that up!

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