Strawberries to die for....

It is market day in Castelsarrasin. It is obviously strawberry time as the stalls were just full of large, plump, red strawberries. Peter doesn't like strawberries, so I rarely buy them... but these looked so good, I bought a double punnet thinking I might make a shortcake or something.

When I got back to the barge, I popped a strawberry into my mouth. My face must have said it all, because Peter said 'What's the matter?' I just handed him a strawberry... him who does not eat them because they are tasteless with seeds that stick in his teeth.... He had one, and he said, 'Good Lord'... What did you do to them?" I said, "Nothing." He said 'Come on... did you sugar them? glaze them? marinate them in something?"

They are the sweetest, juciest, taste like strawberry, plumpest strawberries I have ever had.. a bit of heaven in each mouthful. So we ate the whole double punnet and are going to a market in another town tomorrow to get some more!!

Brazil Balloon Meet - Fabulous

We have just finished flying at the Balloon Meet in Torres, Brazil. Fabulous! Organised superbly, flying fun (especially HAVING to land on a beach), and the pilots were well taken care of with food and lodgings. Crew was fantastic. What more can I say.

Brazil seduces you!

We are in Brazil. First was Rio. Impressions: wonderful people, happy, kind, helpful. Ipanema Beach: bodies that are thin, fat, muscular, old, blobby, voluptuous, dark brown skin shaded up to very pink! I know why they call the bikini here, the thong. It is hardly there except for a triangular patch at the front... and worn by all females... thin, fat, blobby, voluptuous, etc.!!! They seem to be proud of their bodies and exude a kind of raw sensuality, no matter about the blobs. visited a Samba dinner place... again, the samba is a sensual dance and it doesn´t matter if you are old, young, fat or thin. They are all doing it!

Finished cooking school... now off to Brazil

Sorry I haven't been blogging! The Gascony Cooking School was fantastic, the only down side is that we ate so much and so well I felt I would burst every night! The best thing about the classes is that we learned skills we could take away and apply to lots of recipes. The last day, we BONED and stuffed a complete chicken, something I would never have thought about doing. And it tasted fabulous that night, along with our lemon tart and 'two-coloured' pepper soup!

But now, I am madly packing, washing, cleaning etc. as we leave for Brazil tomorrow. We fly into Rio de Janeiro!