#94 Sundai School in Chezal Benoit

#94
Not just ANY Sunday either! Chezal – Benoit (Che-sahl – Ben-Wha) was having it’s annual Brocante (junk sale) and mental health summit. You see Chezal – Benoiy is the home of a Mental Hospital and the sellers occupy the town right up to it’s gate. Too, many of the patients are present adding their own color and grunts to the event. L came to the Ruin at 9 am and while she made the huge green salad for the party we were attending afterwards at A&R’s, Kelly and I scrambled to both wake up from the party the afternoon and early evening of Saturday (yes we do these things serially it seems) (where 5 of us drank 7 bottles of the finest below 2 Euros sparkling wine and wine). I made Spinach Canneloni and it was very, very good if I do say so myself. Followed some hours later by a Pasta Povera with garlic, capers. It always works, a very simple dish that I’ve described in my blog before. That was Saturday’s food scene, Sunday afternoons at our friends A&R’s was an Asian-styled food fest. A and R had preped vegies galore, carrots, radishes, green and red bell peppers, onions, lemons and had various bottled sauces and condiments. I was put in charge by the Master Chef herself who provided me with the valued kitchen support I needed to create an asian feast. It was great creative fun and there was more than enough food at the end for A&R to have leftovers for two meals at least! I came up with Oyster Sauce Beef, Musselman Curry, Vietnamese Lemon Pork, Red Pepper Chicken, Chop Suey (YES!), and a couple of other ad hoc dishes thrown in for good measure. All over rice, thai rice noodles. Much wine was drank, as usual. The French couple from up the road (Chicken Farm) chatted amiably with all of us, in French of course…but we seemed to rise to the occassion. I had a bit of trouble understanding which isn’t unusual as the speed at which the French speak is, at times, intimidating. They also brought along their own product…goat cheeses from their heard of Goats, it was, without doubt, the FINEST goat cheese I have EVER enjoyed! The Ash coverred round loaf was spectacularly good. Wonderful light texture and a lemony aftertaste that just faded to the next bite. Anyway, we all enjoyed ourselves emmensly in A&R’s sunroom under ever darkening skies and eventually the late afternoon pouring rains. Here’s the link to the YouTube movie of the Brocante we enjoyed in the morning:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tT6Ztt_Iz1o
What a lovely day, rain or not. Great fun with great people, tons of chat and laughs galore, Life hardly could be better than this.

The Stoveman Commeth…

Ding-Dong! Off she goes! I jolt out of a deep sleep coverred by No-Lean as a blanket. Cat scratches, a complaining Maaa! she screams and I’m jogging to the front door. Who the hell is here at 8 am sharp?! It’s barely light…it’s the A&G mechanic to fix my ailing Whirlpool oven…great! I show him to her and tell him of my own troubleshooting, “an ignitor, I think”, he nods and gets to work and I slunk back to the office/bedroom where I live my lonely nighttime life these days…snoring you know…disturbs the sleep of my ever faithful but easily disturbed mate Kelly. Sometime later he calls for me…”It’s the ignitor alright, parts and installation will be 422 dollars”, I nod and agree, it’s high but what are you going to do? Can’t replace it for 422 dollars and go thru all that work besides, I need it now I have 4 guests for Mexican dinner tomorrow night that Audrey and I are cooking up, I need my stove! Besides the US Govt has seen fit to send me 1200 USD in a tax rebate scheme that I’m supposed to spend to buy 42 inch HDTV’s and such, looks like it’l pay for this stove repair instead and buy a smaller screen, good for the repair business, bad for Best Buy. He calls, finds the part, now can’t get the dead ignitor to give up it’s place in the back of the oven because it’s retaining screws are stuck. Damn. I skulk back to my computer and keep writing.
The weather today you are thinmking? Oh it’s Sunny California, windy, cold and raining, what else? I look at the forecast, samo-samo thru the weekend. Brrrrrrr.
Dead oven, bah humbug!