Lentils for lunch

We've had lentils for lunch twice this week. Do you like them? I don't think Americans eat lentils as much as French people do. I read somewhere that the country that consumes the most lentils is India, and that the country that grows the most lentils is Canada. France grows a lot of lentils (called lentilles) too. We enjoyed them one day with Toulouse sausages (pork) and another day with Merguez sausages (beef and lamb).

As our second course one day, we had a very French salad. It's red beets (betteraves) with Belgian endives and a vinaigrette dressing. I know a lot of Americans who won't eat beets, but the French seem to love them. They are often sold cooked and less often raw. On another day, we ate radishes with salt, butter, and bread as our first course and lentils as our second course. Again, very French.

Spring has sprung

On Saturday, our part-time neighbors who live in Blois came down here to mow the grass at their country house across the street from us. In other words, spring has officially started... finally. That's their country house in the picture above, and a picture of Natasha admiring, or at least contemplating the cut grass. The neighbors' property is about twice as big as ours.

So yesterday, Walt got our mower out of the garage to try to get it running. He succeeded, after having to figure out how to pump up the mower's two front tires. We had bought a compressor that runs off a car battery last year, but never tried to use it. Here was the occasion to do so; both the front tires were nearly flat. After tinkering with it for 20 minutes or so, we got it going. The next step was to re-install the mower's battery, which is removed at the end of the mowing season and put in storage. That went well. By late afternoon, Walt was able to mow about one-third of our (tall) grass. The ground had dried out enough for him to be able to mow without making too many ruts. We have about half an acre of land.

All these photos are ones I took with my Lumix ZS8 camera a couple of days ago, with the exception of the photo of the lawnmower. For that one, I used my Samsung smart phone. We bought the mower last year, so it's still new to us.

By the way, not only has the grass been growing, but so have the leaf buds on the grape vines in the vineyard out behind our back gate. That's another sign that spring has finally sprung. It was almost hot outside when I went out for a walk with Tasha yesterday afternoon.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS8 photos

I took these yesterday morning on my walk with the dog using a Lumix ZS8 camera that I bought in the spring of 2012. It was my favorite camera for years. I stopped using it much about 6 months ago when I got my Samsung smartphone and starting using its built-in camera. Actually, I bought two ZS8 cameras back then — one new and one used. Both work great. At the time, I wanted to have a backup ZS8 in case something happened to one of them.

These are some of the things I see when I go out to walk with Natasha the Sheltie early in the morning. The sun was just coming up yesterday morning when we were walking — me snapping and 'Tasha sniffing...

Lumix ZS1 photos [2]

I'm trying to decide which one of my old compact digital cameras I want to keep. Reader Mitch said he saved one of his old cameras for its zoom, which the current smartphone cameras can't match. Right now I'm leaning toward my Lumix ZS1, which has a 12x optical zoom. But I also have two Lumix ZS8 cameras, which have a 16x optial zoom. Now I'm going to have to go out and take some pictures with those.

By the way, yesterday, I did some research in my photo archives to see how many photos I took with the ZS1 camera after I bought it in 2010. In that year, I took about 7,750 photos with the ZS1. In 2011, I took more than 8,500 photos with it. And in 2012, I took more than 4,000. I bought the ZS8 that year and it became my go-to camera.

Yesterday's Lumix ZS1 photos [1]

When I went out to walk the dog yesterday morning, I took my old Panasonic Lumix ZS1 camera with me. I wanted to see what kind of photos it would take now, after not having been used in quite a while. It's a camera I bought in 2010 — fourteen years ago. Here are some samples of the photos I took with it yesterday.

I bought the Lumix ZS1 in 2010 (not sure what month) and I took 7,750 pictures with it that year. In 2011 I took 8,366 photos with it, and in 2012 I took 4,800 — I had bought another new camera by then.

Aprils past

These are some photos I took on this date in 2011 using the oldest digital camera I still own: a Panasonic Lumix ZS1. It was good for macro shots (close-ups) and has a 12x optical zoom. I bought it in 2010. I'm not even sure why I've kept it all these years.

Looking at these photos, I realize how different early April in 2011 was from early April 2025. Everything having to do with flowering plants is happening later this year. That's despite the fact that the high temperature yesterday, under hazy skies, was about 70ºF. Today it's supposed to be closer to 75ºF.

Yesterday I went to see our American friends who live about five miles upriver on the Cher from us. We talked about the state of our springtime and commiserated. They are great gardeners, but this year they've hardly been able to start yet. The ground is too mushy to till or to mow over there, just as it is here. We've had an invasion of moles, so you have to be careful where you step when you go outdoors or you might break a leg... or your neck.

This past week with very little rain (but still some) is helping to dry everything out a little bit. Maybe I should take my Lumix ZS1 compact camera out on my walk with Tasha this morning and take some pictures with it. For old times' sake...

Veau bourguignon

Veal Burgundy modeled on Beef Burgundy is an idea I came up with a few days ago. When I searched the internet I of course found several recipes for it. There's nothing new under the internet sun, you might say. I had bought a kilogram of what is called veau pour blanquette because it looked good and was on sale at a good price. But I didn't want to make a blanquette. I had made one about a month ago. Here's a link (scroll down if you follow it).

Beef Burgundy had been on my mind for a few months; I kept saying we needed to make one but other dishes kept becoming a bigger priority. Here's a link to a 2009 post about bœuf bourguignon that I made using meatballs.

So here it is: veau au vin rouge. I used a full-bodied local côt/malbec red wine to make it. Looking at these pictures, you might not recognize the meat as veal. It looks like beef because the red wine turned the veal brown. It cooked for about three hours yesterday and the veal became very tender. Other ingredients are flour to thicken the sauce and smoked pork lardons, mushrooms, shallots, and carrots for flavor. Bon appétit !

25 years' worth of cameras

These aren't all the digital cameras I've owned and used since I got my first one in 1999 — over the years I've given one to my late friend Charles-Henry; one to my sister; one to my mother; and one to a charity shop; and one to an old friend in California. I was never much interested in photography before digital cameras became available at reasonable prices. I regret that. I'd love to have some photos of the years and months I spent in Paris; Rouen (Normandy); Aix-en-Provence; and Grenoble back in the 1970s, '80s, and '90s. Also in California, after Walt and I moved out there in 1986. Anyway, there's nothing I can do about all that now.

Starting in the late '90s, I had a series of Kodak digital cameras that I really liked. And several Canon models too. In the early 2000s, thanks to a friend in Paris who had one, I bought and used a series of Panasonic Lumix cameras. As you can see in the recent photo above, I still have four Lumix models. The last digital camera I bought was a Sony that I still have. I kept taking photos with Lumix cameras and the Sony until a new gadget came along. I mean the Samsung smart phone I bought nearly six months ago. I use it for taking pictures now, pretty much exclusively.

What is wonder is: what can I do with all these cameras that I still have and that are in very good condition and still take good photos. Is there any market for them? Does anybody really want a compact digital camera these days?

Sopa de albóndigas for dinner

Yesterday, for our mid-day meal, I made a big pot of albóndigas soup. Albóndigas means "meatballs" in Mexican Spanish (and maybe in other varieties of Spanish too — I don't know). Besides beef-and-pork meatballs, the ingredients for the soup are a lot of vegetables. Carrots, tomatoes, onions, garlic, green beans, bell peppers, and zucchini. I had a couple of turnips, so I diced those up and put them in too. The broth is flavored with chipotle peppers and chili powder.

The first time I ever ate albóndigas soup was about 25 years ago, when Walt and I used to drive from San Francisco down to Salton City in far southern California to see our friends Charles-Henry and Frank. It was what we had for lunch one day at Brownie's restaurant in Brawley, Calif., very close to the Mexican border. Here's a link to a post I published about albóndigas soup in 2007.