street flowers in Aire-sur-la-Lys.

The village of Aire-sur-la-Lys is where we do our grocery shopping, use the post office, get a kebab, those sorts of things. Like most French villages around France the local commune does a wonderful job of placing flowers around the place and effortlessly maintaining them through the growing season. Usually the pots that are permanently placed along the streets are rectangular or square but in Aire sur la Lys, they have installed very high pots of flowers above the footpath. They last significantly longer than the street level planters because they don’t get attacked by playful children and they get a great deal more light up high. Some of these pots have been mounted, hanging from the facade of buildings and they look really wonderful, beautiful balls of flowers that bring loads of colour to the street.

nasturtium salad.

I love eating flowers. Some months ago that would have seemed quite strange to me but nonetheless, I have become a flower eater. I made this salad to accompany fish a few afternoons ago and thought that I would share it. It has a few handfuls of mache; a few handfuls of rocket; purple basil, as much as you can spare and about the same quantity of naturtium flowers to basil leaves. Wash and drip dry all of the ingredients, throw them together and drizzle with olive oil. I find when picking the nasturtium flowers that it is best to leave about 10 – 15 cm of the stem left on the flower so that you can put them in a vase of water until you are ready to add them to the salad. I also pinch the stem off as close to the flower as possible when I’m ready to use them. You can eat the entire flower, and they are quite delicious. They have a subtle flavour with a slight velvety texture when they reach your tongue. It’s quick, glorious and real show stopper when it lands on the table.

‘Sunspot’ sunflowers.

My sunflowers have finally tipped their heads which signals the end of Summer and the slow decent in to Winter. Seeing that they looked so solemn today in the wind and the rain, I thought I’d post these pics to hold on to their glory for just a tinsy bit longer. Have a great weekend everybody!

Jardins de Valloires.

Just over our southern departmental border, is the Abbaye et Jardins de Valloires. A couple of weeks ago we went to see the garden but I was secretly there to eat. All of the fruit, vegetable, herb and floral components of the dishes come from the garden and the  daily menu is inextricably linked to the season and what is flourishing in the garden on that day. I was certainly not disappointed, there were so many new flavours and textures for us to try, the use of edible flowers and root vegetables were by far the most exciting.

The garden. Although the abbey dates back to the 12th Century, the garden is a modern creation. It maintains a number of  styles and diverts from ideas normally associated with traditional French gardens. The sculpted and immaculately kept lawns, hedges and topiaries represent a traditional French garden but the floral, vegetable and shrub gardens between the lawn and the Abbey are designed in the style of an English garden, divided into beds with no borders or paths, just well maintained grass. Running the full length of the garden to the left there is a ‘naturalistic’ walkway that is a very wide path that has a massive variety of trees and shrubs, many that flower. As it is elevated above the rest of the garden you get a wonderful view of the entire design as you move along the walkway. There are over 2000 species of plant, 5000 taxa and over 200 varieties of ancient and modern rose.

The Abbaye is the only complete 12th Century cistercian abbey in France. It has had quite a tumultuous history with war and a fire that took out a large section of the building. Today the abbey is home to a group of children who live there permanently as well as a hotel which you wouldn’t know was there by the lack of obvious hospitality finishes and domestic evidence.

We had a thoroughly enjoyable day and I would recommend a visit to anyone nearby. Make sure to visit in the summer months however because the cafe is closed when vegetable production is low and without the flowers in full bloom it would not do it justice.

The inner court of the Abbey.

250 year old espaliered pear tree. The monks used to make liquor with the fruit.

When the shop opened did someone say “break a leg”?

I have invented a new sport … extreme gardening! So extreme that I broke my leg doing it yesterday! What a silly thing to do. Although, it is not so surprising when you learn that I broke my arm flying a kite. I grew up riding horses, racing motorbikes and waterskiing and only ever got the occasion wind, bump, scrape or mouth full of dirt. It seems utterly ridiculous to have broken my leg, out at midnight chasing away slugs. I managed an impressive two breaks and now sport an 8 cm long screw to show for my midnight murderous antics. Unfortunately this benches me for a few weeks but not to worry. If I can sneak up the guilty garden path without my husband seeing I shall be back to it in no time!

golden sweet mangetout.

I grow many heirloom vegetables in my garden but the one that I am most excited about this year is the Golden Sweet Mangetout. Its a rare and beautiful snow pea that looks just amazing in the garden. The flowers are two tones of pink/purple with a yellow green centre. After the flower has been open for no more than a week, the dried and faded petals give way to a small yellow pod, slightly translucent with tiny visible peas. They are so clean, shiny and new. Just beautiful.

We finally ate our first strawberry of the season, it is the very one in the photograph above. I am growing a pink flower variety this year and they are so very sweet. I’d never seen pink flowered strawberries before and couldn’t leave the nursery without some. I have nine plants in pots, hopefully they will keep us fed for the summer.

a spring platter.

I have a very good friend, the best of sorts, who is also an extremely talented ‘chef de cuisine’. Some of my favourite food memories have been made and prepared by his hands and over time he has taught me a lot about cooking and food appreciation.

He works all over the world so I get loads of brilliant, delicious pictures to scour through regularly. Last week, he emailed me this superb platter which he served to guests attending a garden wedding in Spain. He cooked and served solo for this event which is a feat in itself but more importantly in the panic and shear enormity of the task at hand, he faultlessly manages to be creative, have fun and enjoy the experience.

I was hoping the photo would serve as inspiration for this seasons dining! All of the cuttings came from the family’s garden …

Food and photo by Ali Palmieri.

’tis the season.

It has arrived … seeding season! First stage seeding and germination is well under way here. I have planted the vegetables that require a longer season than others and need to be started off indoors. There are four varieties of tomato, three cucumbers, three varieties of aubergine, 5 varieties of sweet pepper, alpine strawberries and some specially cultivated dwarf sunflowers that only grow to a short height but have a normal sized bloom. All up, there are 50 seedlings baring their first true leaves.

I am a complete ‘sucker’ for edible plants and am forever in awe of that little seed and how quickly it turns into a fruit baring plant. Every time I get up from my desk I loom over them and ‘tickle’ the tomatoes to strengthen their stems. I cart them here and their making sure that everyday they get the required amount of light and warmth. If all goes to plan it will take only 60 days for the Spacemaster cucumber below to have ready to pick fruit. Just brilliant! I’m looking forward to Summer.

An heirloom ‘Purple Ukraine’ pole tomato.

Cucumber ‘Spacemaster’ has just dropped its seed shell.

Heirloom miniature white cucumber with its first true poking through

My 30 something succulents that adorn our bedhead are very happy with the change of season.