Tag: Food

Better Late Than Never!

October 6, 2025 Alun No Comments

Well it has taken 18 years to get H and Clare to see the barn but it was well worth the wait….

Juggling the logisitics of having 4 kids and trying to get away to see you sister in the middle of nowhere is a challenge but THRILLED that you and Clare have now made it over to our little bit or paradise.

Rental cars were a fortune so Al and I trundled over to pick them up from Carcassone and they had managed to wangle 5 nights with us. The weather gods mainly played cricket for us and did not stop us doing too much.

We arrived in sunshine which is always great for the first time visitors for a late lunch on the terrace with the rose flowing!

The days flew by always a good sign of having fun, a hike up to Cirque D’Anglade, mushrooming and finding 1kg of ceps beauties they were too, parasols and bolets galore too. A trip to the market on Saturday and a replenish of the cellar stocks too! Before Saturday chuck on the terrace.

We had the “Dutchies” up for a fun late lunch one day, BBQ and Molkey competition followed by the orange tights game on the front terrace! Olaf and Sylvia brought wonderful marinaded meats for the BBQ and we did all the salads and dessert.

A yomp up to the Pylons above the clouds was quite specatcular looking down on the clouds. AMAZING Clare you did it. Xxxx

River dip for the hardy brother and sister!

Outdoor showers.

Games by the fire.

Plenty of fab food and wine, but above all the most amazing quality catch up time with you both. We LOVED having you to stay and you MUST come back again before tooooo long.

Party game

Categories: Summer 2025, The Project Tags: Tags: Food, Hiking, Visitors

Call to arms

July 13, 2025 Alun No Comments

The fishing association of Salau put out a request for anyone willing to help clear the river banks in the village. The aim was to give the fishermen better access to the river and hence the fish. In return they offered a meal in the evening. We had the time and never turn away food so said yes.

It did require a 7am start at the old school in the village. 16 folk turned up so we were sorted into two teams, which was very convenient as the river had two banks. Each team had a chainsaw person and 7 luggers. The luggers were there to clear the debris created by the chainsaw person. In our case, as we were on the side of the road, we had to lug the debris over the flood defenses to a waiting chipper. The chipper then turned the debris into chips and fired them (or most of them) back over the flood defenses onto the luggers.

This is the first time this has happened and the impact was terrific. The buddleia was like a thicket and up to 5m high and had brambles growing throughout.

Starting at 7 was a great option as the day soon heated up. Working alongside some of the locals we didn’t know too well was also good for us. And attending an exclusive meal for 16 in the Maison de la Chase was great fun too. All in all it was a good do and will happen again next year so we have already signed up.

The meal was a huge selection of charcuterie followed by paella, desert was a slice of patisserie, all washed down with ample quantities of red and rose wine.

Evening gathering at the Maison de la Chase — Maison de la Chase Salau

Categories: Summer 2025, The Project Tags: Tags: Community, Food

Fruit Leather

July 11, 2023 Alun No Comments

Gooseberry and blackcurrant Leather ready for the fridge

Having made our own dehydrator, we have successfully made some fruit leather. Started with blackcurrant as these ripened first. Not a difficult decision.

So took some fruit and added some lemon juice. This is to help keep the colour apparently. put that in a saucepan and simmer until soft. Blitz that with a stick blender removing any big lumps. Taste and add honey if you want to. Spread this out thinly on a parchment lined baking tray and whack it in the dehydrator in the sun.

Leave it until it is no longer tacky to touch then remove it. Take it off the parchment, cut it up, roll it into, well, rolls, and put in the fridge.

Great hill food to accompany a sandwich and the internet seems to suggest it will keep for up to a month.

Incidently, we measured the temperature inside the solar dehydrator to be 55 degrees centigrade. Not sure whether that is good or not but it seems to work well.

Gooseberry Leather having taken the back off — Gooseberry Leather from the dehydrator

Categories: Preserves & Chutneys, Recipes, Sweet things, The begining 2006 Tags: Tags: Food

Solar Dehydrator

June 25, 2023 Alun

With the fruit bushes laden and plenty of jam already in the cupboard for the winter season in Chamonix we decided to make a dehydrator. It is basically a box with a glass pane and some vents. There are a couple of shelves inside to put produce on. Pop it in the sun and the air in the box warms up. An air current takes the moisture out of the box and the things inside dry up.

Commercial versions use power and have knobs on with different settings. Ours is compact and made of scrap.

Wood is from the back of the van which we took apart last year
Hinges were salvaged from a caravan
The handle was on a door salvaged from Chamonix
Double glazed unit salvaged years ago from somewhere
Shelves salvaged from an old oven at the tip
Fly mesh for the vents, left over from making window fly meshes

First test was with some small tomatoes which needed using up. Within a day sat on the front terrace we had sun dried tomatoes. Next is blackcurrants unless the mushrooms start appearing first.

Categories: Recipes, Summer 2023 Tags: Tags: Food