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!

Puff pastry and apple tarts

I am at the cooking school now, on an hour's break. This morning, I made Puff pastry, pizza dough, and pie pastry. We also had a session on knives, what to buy, how to use them, how to store them, and how to keep them sharp. This afternoon, we are making a 'Cassoulet'... a typical casserole with duck, Toulouse sausage and white beans. It really tastes wonderful so it will be fun to learn how to make it. The problem is you can't just make it for 2 people. You need at least 8 portions. You should always make it the day before you want to eat it so the flavours meld together. It is true 'farm' peasant food.

During the knife session, we learned how to properly slice and dice an onion without losing your fingers, and how if cut properly, you won't cry. And how to use garlic and make a garlic paste. We also learned how to use garlic without a 'garlic' taste... just the full bodied flavour. (Would you believe the Cassoulet had about 20 cloves of garlic in it, but when Peter tasted it, he said it was delicious and couldn't taste the garlic!! He even had seconds!)

I am loving it!!! Peter is here with me. My puff pastry collapsed while cooking... I unfortunately cut through it slightly when I was 'decorating it. I learned how not to do it!

Spring has arrived.

The weather is glorious and flowers are everywhere. We are in an 'apple' area, and the pink apple blossoms fill the orchards. Tomorrow, we are going to Gramont where we are staying at a farmhouse for 3 days. I am taking a cooking course and Peter will be exploring the countryside between coming back to the farmhouse for a gourmet lunch and dinner! All is well.

I am winning....

My intensive French course is now over, sad to say. It was great fun. Peter took me out to dinner on the last night and said, "Don't be sad. You can't expect to speak French by taking 5 weeks of a 30 week course. And it is difficult to learn a new language at our age."

Then yesterday, we had a meeting at the bank, as we have a few problems with our account. The women we spoke to had very little English, so she explained how to fix our problem in French. I could see Peter wasn't 'getting it', BUT I UNDERSTOOD THE PROBLEM!! So I confirmed back to her in French, then wrote out (in French) the steps we had to take to fix the problem. She said (in French) 'You understand correctly.' When we left the bank, Peter turned to me and said he was 'amazed' and in 'great admiration' of what he had just witnessed. He said he couldn't believe what I had learned in 5 weeks. And then he asked if I wanted to go back to school!!!

So I will be taking a few more weeks of 'intensive French' later in the year.

Peter is Cooking

Tonight, when I got back to the barge from French school, this wonderful smell was wafting from the kitchen. I looked at Peter and said... What's cooking? You won't believe it... he had followed a recipe and had made 'Roasted Vegetables with a Blue Cheese Crumble Topping'. Very 'gastronomic' and delicious. What more can I say....