Jigsaw Puzzle?

I question the word "puzzle" in the title because in the case of the one we've just finished, "puzzle" doesn't quite convey the mental torture it put us through.

And there was no respite; it stared us in the face day and night because I'd started piecing it together on the coffee table in the living room. Three weeks it's been lurking there, this beast of a thing. It swallows up your time - and patience - with it's mangle of shapes and colours. The house work has been neglected, children gone unwashed (except that we haven't any - but they would have gone unwashed if we had) and the neighbours have questioned if we still live here.

What is it which has inflamed and infuriated us so? It's a 1000 piece jigsaw of Vincent Van Gogh's "Fritillaries in a Copper Vase". I know where I would like to have put Vincent Van Gogh's Fritillaries and it wouldn't have been a vase, that's for sure!

And why was it so infuriatingly difficult, you may ask? Well, let's just look at the painting...

"Fritillaires dans un Vase de Cuivre" was painted in Paris in early 1887, in a style which reflects both Impressionism and a Neo-Impressionist technique called Pointillism. Aspects of Impressionism, as defined by Beaujean, D (2000) consist of "using gleaming spots of light, colour in shadows, colours straight from the tube in dots or dashes, and dissolving firm outlines". Those words "dissolving firm outlines" should raise the alarm bells but added to this is Pointillism which uses dots of contrasting colours to intensify the image.

The two combined add up to pretty poor subject matter for a jigsaw - unless you want to add years to your age whilst you sweat blood and tears over it!! 

Anyway, as you can see from the photos, it's finished. I've enjoyed every minute!

After all, what a dull life we'd lead if we didn't relish a challenge!

Any takers? It's available for loan should you fancy a go! On second thoughts... you can have the wretched thing!!

Reference:
Beaujean, D (2000). Van Gogh: Life and Work. Cologne: Konemann.
Art Gallery Collection Jigsaw: Aldi (2013) Chinon. €3.99

Christmas is coming

and Elizabeth has been warming up the sewing machine.

Hand made Christmas decorations anybody?

After popping in to her favourite shop 'Mondial Tissue', which is conveniently next door to Leroy Merlin, a bagful of different colours of felt appeared.

Once home, it was out with the pencil and scraps of paper sketching out the various designs. Then to the cutting room, which was the whole of the house! If I wanted to know where Elizabeth was all I had to do was follow the felt droppings.

The purr of the sewing machine and...

Here are a few displayed as they should be on our Christmas Tree!

and all together now...

The results were worth the effort though.

They are for sale on Elizabeth's Etsy site, accessed at the top right of the blog.

In the kitchen with Colin...(1)

I like to cook when time permits and have done so for many years now; nothing too creative but generally following recipes of one sort or another.

Over the weekend I sought out a recipe which I have done several times before, Chicken Breasts with Stem-Ginger Sauce. (No... not our own chickens - unfortunately!)

It is a Delia Smith recipe and was published in the Daily Mail supplement 'YOU' in October 2003. I amazed myself by remembering where it was, bit obvious really, in front of my Delia cookbook.

You need stem ginger and I had some imported from the UK (very old). I do not know if you can buy it in France?

I prepared the chicken breasts at lunchtime, following the recipe. I left them in the fridge to marinade until they were to be cooked in the evening, the object being to give them more flavour. This was the only deviation from the recipe and proved to be worth doing.

Reducing the sauce

Adding the natural yoghurt

Delia suggests you serve it with a bit of salad... Rubbish, have it with potatoes and vegetables.

It makes a very tasty chicken dish that is a bit different from the norm. It is well worth the effort.

To download a PDF version of the recipe Click Here

Bois de la Couarde

Last Sunday (we have got behind with our posts) we went for our usual afternoon walk. We'd decided to explore two areas of woodland between Braslou and Marigny Marmande, Bois de la Couarde and Le Bois Millet.

There are marked routes into the wood and we chose the clearly marked (!) CR65... *or was it CR85...?

The rest of the walk was well maintained with paths running forever through the woodland. A couple of minutes walking and we came upon a picturesque Etang.

It was particularly photogenic in the sunshine which made the waterlily leaves resemble a Dulux colour chart from the "Shades of Etang" collection. (other brands of paint are available)

The paths running around the etang and off into the woods were lit by shafts of autumn sunlight...

It's on days like these that everything is at it's best..

The ferns and bracken were just wonderful!

We met an elderly couple out foraging for mushrooms, their paniers full of a mix fit for a banquet. We were happy to just photograph these colourful specimens...

Turning left at the edge of the wood our walk took us along a hedgerow laden with blackberries - long past the picking stage. Note to self: next year come a month or two earlier!

The circular walk took us just over an hour and a half but we were stopping to take photographs so frequently that this is no indication of distance. As we approached the end the sun was getting low in the sky

But it had been a glorious afternoon and we enjoyed every minute.

** It was actually the CR85

Cheese and Herb Loaf.

Further developing my new found baking skills I decided to take on another gluten free challenge! Feta and Herb loaf.

This is another recipe from the Hamlyn book "200 Gluten Free Recipes" (Thanks, again, Jean, for this. It's a great addition to any cooks collection!)

As Elizabeth is not a fan of Feta cheese I substituted some grated Emmental

We had the dry ingredients in stock and these were combined together.

The herbs came from our, still productive, herb bed: a mixture of Chives, Parsley, Basil (two varieties) Tarragon and Marjoram...

The eggs from our chickens and water from the tap!

The mixture was well machine beaten and then the cheese stirred in.

and as there appeared to be too much for one tin it was split into two and placed in the proofing box.

A reasonable amount of rise was achieved..

And after baking, the finished article looked something like the picture in the book!

More importantly the taste and texture are great. Another success!

The End of the Cosmos

After months of bearing flowers and amazing us with its rate of growth, the time came earlier this week for the uprooting of the cosmos plants.

These were supposed to grow to a maximum of 60cm but I guess no-one told the seeds that.  I am five foot six tall so you can see the heights they reached.

You may also be able to make out the thickness of the stems!

Whilst they weren't quite what I'd intended for up against the side of the house...

we can truly say they have given us pleasure day

and night....

.....since the first flowers appeared back in July.

And all for a pack of Lidl seeds costing less than 30 cents!

What's happened to my rose?

Elizabeth photographed this Green Bush Cricket sitting on one of our roses on the 2nd November 2013.

It is still there today in the exact same place...
The rose has gone but the Cricket is hanging on in there!

Is it feeding off something? Or perhaps it just likes the view.

Any ideas!