Magic Mountains....

Ever been to the Pyrenees?

We went this weekend and it was wonderful.

Now where we live we have hills but no mountains we have to drive for a whole day to get to mountains in Australia. Here 90minutes and there they were. 

Today we returned to our city apartment and this is what we saw on the way home.....

 "All that is gold does not glitter,

Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost."

~JRR Tolkien

 We drove up a well know track called the Col du Tormalet.

Remember my crush from 2010.

We are big fans of the Tour de France. This is a popular leg of the race. It is ridiculously steep in the car. We have a new appreciation for how mental the race is. Watching old footage the roads were mere goat tracks and when the cyclists fell down the cliffs they were hoisted up by ropes. Crazy stuff.

The ravine down to the river bed is vertical for a long stretch with only short rock walls for protections. 

We didn't get all the way to the top as snow fall had closed the roads this weekend there.

We drove for 2hours around the mountain to the other side to Pic du Midi. 

 This was our first time seeing snow, ice or frost. This autumn the mountains were capped by it. 

In the summer they are quite brown and in winter the whole area is snowed in. Skiing is big here.

We were excited to find a little bit. Disappointed we didn't get to go up further to jump in it.

There was enough for an Aussie family to sing like the VonTrapps and play till our gloves were wet and hands got cold.

 We wound our way around the mountains.

Around every bend a vista to make you shout "BEAUTIFUL" or laugh that it is so ridiculously spectacular.

 Then we came to Lac de Payolle.

It was a little piece of heaven on earth.

The afternoon was clear and if music had piped down from the sky i could have thought we had died.

 The forests were dense and a shade of green i have only seen in a tube of paint.

The cows were doing what cows do as light streams down on them.
They were very fluffy.
Obviously due to the extreme conditions they have to endure in the winter months.
One had a bell that clanged as it avoided excited tourists and little kids.

 This horse was so gorgeous i thought it was going to grow a horn and magic us into a land of unicorns and forest sprites. The cabins around are for rent and this is a place that would be great to stop and visit for a short perfect while.

 As you travel around the weather changes rapidly.

As you ascend and get closer to the clouds the majesty descends upon you like a royal cape.

Make sure you bring one, with a beanie and scarf. 

 The Cirque de Garvanie is an amazing rock face
with frozen waterfalls and glaciers solid from last year.

 People do live here. 

 Autumn makes the contrast of the white more vivid.

"Delicious autumn! 

My very soul is wedded to it, 

and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns."

~George Eliot

 The water falls, gravity is visible here.
It is a force which requires a lot of attention and maintenance.
Its colour & power truly does move mountains, just one rock at a time.

 Love this use of colour in a place where for a while there is none.

 Today we had plenty of colour and fresh air.

May your day sparkle & do a twirl cause you can.

*

Glorious food....

“You don't have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces - just good food from fresh ingredients.”
― Julia Child

Julia Childs would have been 100 this year(Aug 15). I loved the Julie Julia movie (2009) with Amy Adams & Meryl Streep. I really got into it from the perspective of creating a blog, as Julie did. But the life of Julia Childs was enchanting. She was a big & interesting lady. I loved her passion, her pursuit of being a beginner, and through adversity living a wonderful life. 

I read more about her and got the cook books. I thought i might like to try cooking French food too.

Now here we are in France and i thought i would learn to cook "french".
Everyday tootling down to the fresh produce market,
picking up the local ingredients as required for a recipe and cooking up a storm. 

When we were packing to come,

 i realised the Julia cook books are too big & heavy to travel with. 

So they did not make the trip. 

Then i found going to the markets, although interesting and yummy,

 wasn't great with the kids everyday. 

I can see why in some parts of the modern world, the car to supermarket and back is quite appealing. 

The alternative is currently my reality; market trolley in hand, trudging in all weather, dodging bikes, dog poop & blocked walkways to the market only to head back with lagging kids, fighting, bored with looking at different mushrooms, poultry with claws & beaks still attached and broken weird anglo-francaise conversations between their uncertain mother and the confused stall holders. 

Luckily for us all it is only like this on some days.

Finally, i now know, i actually don't like cooking, much. 

I am good with left-overs not with detailed instructions.

However I am doing the domestic goddess here, with full skirts & capes swirling.

My daughter & i decided to cheer up the working Monsieur with a cooked dinner.

Menu

Pre dinner: fresh olives & radishes with cold beer

Main: Roasted chicken with homemade stuffing, pumpkin & spinach & baguette on the side

Desert: Apple pie with runny creme

 We took turns preparing and photographing our afternoon.

Pie first. 

The movie "The Waitress" is another one of my favourites.

It is, among other things, about pies. All kind of pies.

I would like to know how to make great pies. one day.
Today with our fresh ingredients, we made apple pie. 

I bought the pre-done pastry sheets.

When i opened the box it was only one circle so we improvised and made a lattice top.

All recipes come from internet sources. Thats where i saw i could make the top like this.

Cinnamon and sugar coated, to hide the rustic imperfections. Perfect.

 It turned out pretty good too.

while it had been cooking we started on the stuffing for the chicken.

I made the recipe up myself, again with what we had, 

onion, garlic, stale baguette, giblets* olive oil, butter, herbs, lemon, salt & pepper 

chopped the bread & onions

(photos by Miss 6)

 Then it was my turn while she softened the onions, garlic and then cooked the chicken bits.

Then added all the rest to the mix. 

She loved this day. She is a little cook.

She was so proud that she could do it all.

 “Fat gives things flavor.” ― Julia Child

*giblets are the colourful bits of chicken innards

I knew they would make the stuffing tasty. Like little drops of pate.

I think my son could become vegetarian if we lived in France for longer than a couple of months. 

He really struggled with the visual information at the markets.

Our Western sanitised life means the chicken he eats rarely resembles any living thing by the time he has it on the fork. Seeing fresh produce up close & personal has had an effect on him.

Although raw chicken isn't that good looking, i quite like how my roast preparation was coming along.

Julia would be impressed.

So in it went, into the oven to do its thing.

                                                “In France, cooking is a serious art form and a national sport.” 

― Julia Child 

Pre dinner nibbles are a favourite in our house.

Olives at the market are sold in little plastic baggies.

The red & white radishes come with the field of green stems.

Salted they are sweet & crunchy. 

 The veggie steam with succulence. Perhaps a touch on the well done side of the texture scale.

But Y.U.M.

Drum roll, please........

TA DA......

here she is, our Poulet Rotie

Parfait or perfect.

Plated up, as some say.

Oh, and some room for desert.

Good to the last mouthful.

"Learn how to cook - try new recipes, learn from your mistakes, 

be fearless and above all have fun.~Julia Childs 

We did just that today Julia, new, messy and fabulous.....

sparkle & twirl*

sources: julia childs quotes: http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/3465.Julia_Child

Flower of the sun...

"Bring me the sunflower crazed with the love of life."

-Eugenio Montale

Driving through the country, there were miles of fields of finished sunflowers. 

Some had been cut already. many looked like this. 

They were captivating. We stopped.

It was like landing in another world.

The giant stalks hardened by the summer sun, still holding wilted heads.

Each flower is a world in itself. It is not one flower, 

but a flower head which contains hundreds of tiny flowers. 

 little flowers each contain a seed. 

We broke them open and ate the soft nutty centres, before the birds.

The fields would have been amazing sights in full golden bloom. 

This time it was not to be.

To imagine yellow as far as the eye can see would be something.

"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. 

But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning. "

-Winston Churchhill

Velvety & oh so detailed.

A new golden. 

An autumn hue different from the summer.

This did not disappoint. In its own way it was spectacular. 

Containing a beauty richer for the destiny these flowers fulfilled.

They will become  oil, animal feed, mulch. 

I wish we had thought to run through the field.

Heads bowed with quiet reverence.

"I experience a period of frightening clarity 

in those moments when nature is so beautiful. 

I am no longer sure of myself, 

and the paintings appear as in a dream. "

-Vincent Van Gogh

It was a funny little stop on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere.

It certainly recharged me and made me smile all day.

We shall not cease from exploration, 

and the end of all our exploring will be

 to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time. 

T.S. Elliot

sparkle & twirL *