C'est la saison... (2)

The melon was perfectly ripe, and the ham was delicious. We ended up eating half of the melon with ham as an appetizer and a couple of hourse later we ate the other half as dessert with port wine and a sprinkling of sugar (melon au porto).

The veal chop that Walt cooked on the barbecue grill was tender and tasty. He seasoned it with thyme and salt and pepper. The pâtes, called coquillettes, were tossed with radish-leaf and parsley pesto, and a good amount of finely grated
Parmesan cheese, plus a drizzle of EVOO, as they call it — extra-virgin olive oil.

C'est la saison... (1)

...du melon au jambon. Il s'agit d'un jambon cru dit « serrano » (montagnard), en provenance d'Espagne, et d'un melon français de type « charentais ». Ils feront une belle entrée pour notre repas de midi, suivi d'une côte de veau grillée au barbecue avec en accompagnement des pâtes au pesto.

Couscous for guests and for us

Tomatoes. Carrots. Turnips. Zucchini. Eggplant. Bell peppers. Haricots verts. Chickpeas. Onion. Okra. Lamb. Chicken. Grilled sausages. That's couscous, flavored with North African spices, a kind of curry powder. And served with couscous "grain" cooked with raisins. I made couscous and we had two meals of it (Thurs. and Sat.) while Jill and Peter were here.

Then Walt and I had couscous again on Tuesday. When Walt went to the butcher's shop to buy some more
merguez (lamb + beef) sausages, there weren't any to be had. So he bought veal sausages spiced
with Basque country piment d'Espelette as well as a Spanish chorizo. Unconventional, but delicious.

Walking with Bertie

Three times last week, Bertie the black cat came along for my afternoon walks around the vineyard with Tasha.
For two of those walks, our friend Jill was walking with us as well. I can only remember one other time,
years ago, when Bertie went out walking with us.

I hadn't taken my camera with me on the days when four of us went out walking. Jill took these with her iPhone.