The Manoir at the end of a long drive

Happy Monday.

I thought I would tell you about the picture I have as my blog picture.

We absolutely love our life in France and adore our little house, although it didn't tick any of our boxes when we bought it but we are very comfortable with it now, it's not posh, just a terraced house in a largish village with such lovely neighbours and it needs a new roof 😭 which I don't think we will ever be able to afford.

So back to this picture, every time we travel the road to Aldi we pass this long sweeping drive which has a white house at the end, I have often wondered who lives in a house like this and sometimes I daydream about being the lady of this very special manoir but it is only a dream sadly, anyway on our last shopping trip I thought I would take a photo of this wonderful place, I can now daydream any time I like, just look at the gorgeous colours of the leaves, I just love this time of year.
Ah well better do the euromillions this week, you never know. I do hope the owners won't mind me using it. zoom in to see the real beauty of the house.

This is my rather large Christmas cactus which hasn't flowered for years, someone suggested I put it outside so it has been out all summer, it really loved it outside out of direct sunlight I am hoping it will decide this is the year it will flower, if anyone has any ideas as to what it needs do let me know.

My beautiful fuscia is still flowering which is keeping some welcome colour in an otherwise dreary garden.

Vive la France .... la vie en france.

This post is linked to an accidental blog  click the link  : and enjoy
http://paulita-ponderings.blogspot.fr


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Corned beef or Bully beef

Panackelty

Or as we used to call it ( before we could pronounce it properly ) Pantacky, some people called it stove pie

My wise old Granny used to make it in the original cauldron, I promised you a nice surprise for tonight 👌

All the veggies chopped and corned beef sliced

How to make

1. Layer some chopped onions, slices of corned beef and sliced potatoes in an ovenproof dish, (I use a smallish cast iron casserole with a lid) finishing with a top layer of potatoes, seasoning with salt and pepper between each layer. I like to use white pepper simply because that's what Granny used.  Pour over 1/2pint stock I found an oxo and cover with a lid or foil.

Here it is all layered up

1. Cook in the pre-heated oven, (Gas mark 5/190C/380F) for an hour, removing the lid/foil for the last quarter of an hour, continue baking until the potatoes are browned and crunchy. serve with your favourite veg, we had carrots and savoy cabbage
2. The Corned beef only cost €1.78 from Aldi

It was so nice we ate it all

1. Well I have done 6 days of our meals, tomorrow we will be having our usual Saturday night curry but out at friends, they may not like it if I start taking pics 😁
2. Hope you have enjoyed it, why not follow me so you dont miss a post, 
3. (go to the right and click follow)
4. Until next time folks

Remembering all the lives lost in all conflicts

Amber, Gold and Red

"It is a very blustery day today said pooh to Christopher Robin"
I always remember that from my childhood days and at this time of year I can look out and see all the amber, gold and red leaves which have been sitting on their respective tree's as if waiting for that very blustery wind to come along and aid them to the ground, it also seems a little sad that they sometimes don't fall under their own tree but end up miles away from home, never the less wherever they land they will be keeping little creatures warm for the winter in their chosen spots from whence they hide away for the long sleep that is hibernation, oh how I envy them, but I must satisfy myself with a hearty bowl of soup and crusty baguette...

It was so yummy scrummy and so thick when you dunked bread in it really clung to it, so much so you didn't really need a spoon.

We are on our 5th recipe day of the meal planning (how are you doing?)

Tonight for dinner we had a poisson bordeaulaise which is a nice chunk of fish topped with herby breadcrumbs, it comes in it's own foil tray and cooks in the halogen cooker in about 25 minutes, best of all it is only €1.68 from Aldi for two of us.

We had it with boiled potatoes and peas, lovely.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's dinner, it will be lovely and cheep, what did you have?

If you haven't done so already why not follow me on our adventure.

Our life in France, Let's soup it up a bt

Today is Wednesday and with all the housework done it feels like a kitchen day.

Today's meal is Spag bol, we all know what that looks like so I won't bore you with pics of it (the truth is we ate it before I remembered)... as I reached into the fridge for the necessary mince I spied a stonking packet of Pot au feu vegetables..

This is a dish the french do a lot a veg and meat stew

I use it for soup as it is loads for under €2

All this, leeks,carrots, onion, turnip and a little bunch of herbs

All chopped to within an inch of their lives, tossed into a pan with a tin of tomatoes and lots of herbs, once all the veg are tender I mulch them all until it is fine and add some cream, tomorrow we will pool it into soup bowls and slather some real butter onto crusty bread and dunk it until it melts.

Who's coming for lunch?

Whats in the couldren tonight.

Hello dear readers,

Since the £ has devalued we have had to shop frugally and so we are shopping around, pardon the pun

Yesterday for dinner it had to be something quick as we were really busy so we had sweet and sour chicken nuggets, it really is very quick, fry up some nuggets or I could have done them in the actifry, and make rice in the microwave then pour a jar of sauce over, I did add some tinned beansprouts to the sauce and surprisingly they were quite crunchy,

Sadly I forgot to take a pic of the finished article, I had eaten it when I remembered.
The saucepan at the back has bones and lots of other things to make stock cubes

Tonight we had, pork chops, roaster's, cabbage, carrots and gravy, we love our meat and veg meals.

We have a Netto quite near to us which we have just discovered is really cheap, I can't believe what a good deal we got.

20 sausages for €5.90 and 4 steaks for €5.08

That's 7 meals for us for just €10.98, €1.56 per meal, result I think.

Are you trying to be frugal? do let me know.

Get back into frugal mode

Hello dear readers,

How often do you sit and ponder what is for dinner, some days I just seem to lose my cooking mojo, don't get me wrong I love to cook and sometimes all it takes is a good rummage through the freezer to inspire me, but I have to admit when I was more organised and I mean writing down a weekly meal plan and checking what we already had in, making a shopping list of the items we might need to add - things ran a whole lot easier, you didn't have to worry about what to make for dinner because it was on your plan ready for you.

.I am sorry this is a screen shot, it was the only way I could get it on (will have to look into that bit of techno)

This is the rotation monthly planner I use which I got from - https://www.clutterdiet.com/ I downloaded this free but not sure if it is still free.
So now I have the meal planner I can fill in what we are going to have for the next month then I will look in the freezer to see what we have and write a shopping list for anything we are missing, you can either do the whole month or just a week at a time, it will depend on whether you shop weekly or monthly.
Please let me know if you do something like this or you maybe do something totally different, in which case I would love to know what.
Put your comments below and if you think others would like my blog please share..
If you would like a copy of the menu planner let me know in the comments including your email

A bientot

Today is the beginning of the rest of your life OR the last day of your old one

It's Sunday.

Hello dear readers,

Happy Sunday, I still look forward to Sunday's even though we are retired and as people who still work say to us " every day is a Sunday for you isn't it?" Well let me tell you it is not, we work harder now than we did when we were at work, the difference is we are doing it for us. for instance today John has grouted the tiles in the downstairs toilet we are creating, it is a very small space under the stairs, just big enough to get a toilet and hand basin in, in fact it is where the only toilet was when we bought the house.

This is where the toilet will go, John wouldn't normally do these sort of jobs on a Sunday but he wants to do plaster boarding tomorrow and needs it dry.

Me, I have filled all the bird feeders, they get seed and fat balls.

hung a load of washing out because the sky is blue and the sun is shining although the temperature is only 10°, also I have put my geraniums to bed for the winter.

They have been out of their pots for a week to dry then individually wrapped in paper then tucked up in a box so they will be in the dark, in spring they will be planted up to grow again.

Now it's time to prepare Sunday dinner which we have around 4pm, normally we have a joint or chicken to make a dinner for Monday too but today we are having these bad boys... yep scrummy lamb shanks, now this is not an item which is readily available here in our part of France in fact we found them quite by chance when looking through the frozen meat one day, there were 3 pairs so we bought them all at 9€ for two so it is a real treat for us.

Lamb shanks

A bed of onions and carrots with stock

Served with cabbage, peas, the carrots from the slow cooker, gravy and redcurrent jelly, yummy.

They were delicious , now we are ready for some snoozing 💤

Thank you for reading my blog, I would love you to comment below and share it on fb or twitter so that it gets a bigger audience .... a bientot

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It's almost here

Hello Dear Readers,

Yes it is almost here, the nights are drawing in, everything in the garden looks like it has cuddled down under a blanket for the winter, the fog comes down like an extra cover to slow everything down, sometimes it clears in the morning if the sun decides to shine a few warm rays other times it lingers all day making driving difficult.
The reason we have so much fog is because everyone has a wood burner, its a shame that the log fire which is so comforting can produce such horrible stuff.

You can see the fog coming down again.

Also we had to say farewell to a neighbour we have known for 15 years, she has returned to the UK to be near her children as at 76 her health had gone downhill rendering her unable to get up the stairs to the bathroom, it was a big decision to make but I think it was the right one, farewell dear neighbour, we wish you well.

It is now the time to start meal planning for winter/comfort food and start cleaning and organising the house again, (nothing much gets done during the summer months) we are hoping for a visit soon from our friend Fernando from America after the sad loss of his dear wife Sue, we are ready here with lots of TLC.
The little ones will be round at the weekend for trick or treat, we have plenty of sweeties in for them, it is usually the local play group, and the clocks go back also, great we get an extra hour in bed, (I hibernate in winter)
At least we don't have to put up with fireworks as they don't celebrate bonfire night here.

I guess it is time to start thinking about all the things that are Christmas, watch this space.
Until next time x

Mistakes can be made

Hello dear friends,

As we continue to learn the french language and indeed learn more about the french people we realise just how we think something is sorted and about to happen and horror of horrors it doesn't happen, for example: today we thought the nurse was coming to the house to do John's blood test so we got up at 7h30 for her arrival at 8h30, it is now 10h05 and she hasn't arrived so, what do we do, Poor John has not had so much as a cup of tea as it is a blood test for diabetes.
Go back 3 months when he had his last test and the Dr had given him a prescription for a test every 3 months for a year so the nurse that did it gave us a slip of paper with his next appointment on definitely for today 18th Oct at 8h30.
As you can see from my pic of the slip of paper left by the nurse it says 8h30 26/7 and an arrow pointing to today.

so what has happened should we have actually made the appointment? The worst part for John is he hates needles so has to take a tablet to calm him, therefore he is out cold, there will be no one in the nurses office until tomorrow morning so we will have to go tomorrow and try to sort it out.
Every time anything like this goes wrong I say we must get this language sorted so guess what we will be doing this afternoon!

Have you had a strange experience with the language?

PS :: 10h50 and she has just been, of course the calmer had warn off but all was good.

A need becomes a must do

The Autumn

Yes a need to do something in the summer becomes a to do that can be moved to another day but as the darker nights approach there is much scurrying in the garden both by us humans and by all the little creatures that are preparing for the shorter days, we mustn't be bothered by this as there is still much beauty to be seen.

It has been a very hot beautiful summer and of course we have been very busy in the garden and the hot tub, we are now into the second week of October and there is a chill in the air and the leaves are fluttering around as if they are looking for somewhere cosy to spend the winter, the horse chestnuts (conkers) are under foot just waiting for children young and old to attach a strong piece of string and take up the challenge to become the best conker player or whatever they may be called, it is still allowed here in France unlike UK. 😊
The grapevine, rose bushes and all hedges have been cut back to within an inch of their lives, a load of bulbs have been planted in readiness for the spring when after the dull dark days of winter their beautiful array of colours burst out through the damp colourless garden and are such a welcome sight.
For those of you who know me well will know that I detest the winter and I am a hibernater but the beautiful onset of winter delightfully known as Autumn I adore, all the amazing colours of the trees and hedgerows, anything from the deepest auburn red to the brightest of yellowy golds, we are blessed to be surrounded by forest and often get the odd glimpse of a deer and sometimes a stag in his beautiful glory, the robin has appeared, we don't see him during the summer months and although it is probably a different one everytime we would like to think it is the same one come back for winter.
Well the hot tub has been put away until warmer times also the bbq, the logs are piled high each side of the wood burner, the warmer clothes now fill the drawers and the summer clothes washed, ironed and put away until spring/summer pop their heads up over the top of winter again to caress our faces with such wonderful and much needed warmth.

I just have to think that each winter day gets me closer to summer and try to avoid the down days I can sometimes experience this time of year 😃