Le Quatorze Juillet

A sunny July Fourteenth for us here in central France. I hope it gets warmer. Happy Bastille Day!

There's A Fungus Among Us

I saw this out in the vineyard the other day. Teeny, tiny mushrooms in a tractor rut.

Little mushrooms.

They're very delicate, and no more than two or three centimeters high. I put the camera on the ground for this shot.

A Rainy Day

It rained on Friday, but that didn't dampen our spirits. We had spent a great warm day Thursday cutting grass, trimming, pruning, and otherwise working in the yard. So we were ready. Here's what the rain was like Friday morning:

This is the view of part of the back yard from the bedroom window, looking west. The loud drops you hear are coming off the eaves onto an awning that protects the back door downstairs.

Raindrops On Roses

And other things. We had a couple rain events over the past days. No warm woolen mittens needed. Yet.

Neighbors' roses, kissed by rain.

It's hard not to be weather-obsessed. The weather controls a lot of what we do and how we feel every day. Summer is supposed to be warm, and when it's not warm, we wonder.

Drops on acacia leaves.

But the warm days make up for it all. And the hot days remind us that we really don't like very hot weather. We want it to be perfect. Mid twenties (upper seventies F) are just dandy, thank you.

Backyard daisies.

But the weather is seldom perfect. Oh well.

Winter, Summer, Years Apart

Four and one-half years separate these two photos of our house. The view is of the back of the house from the garden. The first I took in January 2004. The second I took in July 2008. In four and a half years, we've changed some windows and made other improvements. Otherwise, it's just the same view in different seasons.

January 2004, our first winter in the house.

July 2008, our fifth summer in the house.

Cat Biscuits For The Dog

There's a long prologue to this story, but I won't bore you with it. The short version is that our friend Cheryl had brought a gift from the US for someone that she didn't end up seeing, so the gift was re-gifted to us. And we were glad to get it.

Buddy Biscuits come in a nifty drawstring burlap bag!

It was a batch of make-at-home cat biscuits called Buddy Biscuits. Cheryl had brought us a batch of the dog version back in 2003 for Collette, which we made and she loved.

The biscuits are baked on a cookie sheet.

The ingredients for the cat biscuits are as follows: yellow corn meal, whole wheat flour, dehydrated cooked chicken, dehydrated poultry liver, custom blend of natural herbs and spices, dried egg whites, dried brewers yeast, and lecithin. I figured that there's nothing in there a dog wouldn't like. Heck, I'd eat 'em!

Looks good enough to eat!

So I baked them up for Callie on Sunday. I used the dog bone cookie cutter that came with the 2003 batch instead of the little star shaped cutter for the cat version. The dog still has her pride, you know.

She smelled the dough right away and sat at attention next to the counter while I rolled and cut out the biscuit shapes. I did give her a little of the raw dough. I drew the line at letting her lick the bowl.

Saturday Was Pizza Day

I made pizza on Saturday for lunch. It's not unusual; I make pizza pretty often. On Saturday we had an eggplant, some fresh tomato, and some mozzarella. I whipped up a pizza crust and, while it was rising, I sliced and baked the eggplant.

Pizza #1. I didn't photograph the second one.

Then I got some fresh oregano and thyme from the garden, sliced the tomatoes and the cheese, and heated up the oven. I made two of these, one for each of us. Ken remembered some onion that was in the fridge and we sautéed that for the second pizza. Boy, was it tasty!

Here's my recipe for pizza crust:

Proof about 10 grams of active dry yeast in 3/4 cup of warm water, to which you have added a teaspoon of honey. After about ten or fifteen minutes, mix the yeast into 2 cups flour with a pinch of salt. Add about a teaspoon of olive oil. Mix until the dough comes together. It should be smooth and silky and a bit sticky. Knead the dough for about five minutes.

This can all be done in a Kitchen Aid type mixer, or by hand on a cool surface.

Put the dough in a bowl that has been rubbed with a bit of olive oil. Cover with a clean wet towel and let it rise in a warm place for at least an hour. You can make the dough the night before and let it rise overnight in the refrigerator, covered with plastic wrap. Let it warm up for an hour or two outside the fridge before you use it.

After the first rise, punch down the dough and form your pizza crusts. Cover them with a clean towel and let them rise for another fifteen to thirty minutes on a floured surface (so they won't stick).

I use a pizza stone in a very hot (250º-300ºC) oven. That's between 480º and 570ºF. Garnish and bake your pizzas until they're done!