
Chilling out in the cool mulch…
Well, mama has some leftover pork from ribs that papa likes from our Sunday market rotisserie man, Fabrice, a genius with sausages, chickens, ribs, quail and more, and she is stir-frying it later with green onion tops, rice and eggs mixed in at the end with soy sauce, cornstarch, a little sherry and sesame oil….drool.
I’d take the pork bits but those are sufficient for me. That is, if I ate that stuff now, but all I have to do is think about it and it’s as if I had eaten a nice bowl of it, pure menu magic up here!
Hot, hot but in our little village, balmy and lovely summery weather, and we had TWO gardenias last week on our little plant. That’s a first. Mama loves gardenias so maybe this heat will encourage a few more blossoms.
Not much news lately.
We stay on our side of our little village as there are so many tourists on the other side, but next week there will be a piano competition in the lovely garden of one of our little hotels and we’ll try to get some music on my blog….Tra la la la…

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EASY GAZPACHO
We eat gazpacho all summer long on our small terrace under a large orange parasol, gazing at the vineyards as they begin to put out leaves. And one can be very creative with gazpacho, turning it into an Andalucian Salmorejo easily by adding grilled almonds and crisp toast for texture. I begin with a search through the fridge and decide what might taste fresh and cool, and then start with with summer’s ripe tomatoes and cool cucumbers. You may also put this soup through a strainer for a silky version, but I like to bite on the little bits in a rustic soup.
For 4-6
6 large ripe tomatoes
1 large sweet onion
2 cucumbers, peeled
1 cup toasted almonds
1 slice day-old bread or 2 commercial toasts
3 garlic cloves
5-6 sprigs of cilantro
A few mint leaves
Juice of a lemon
1 tiny hot pepper (optional)
½ cup extra virgin olive oil, plus a tablespoon for each dish
¼ cup red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper
In a food processor or blender, place all of the ingredients and whiz it up until very smooth.
Garnish each serving with basil, cilantro, parsley, all chopped fine, or chopped avocado and small croutons, or with a spoon of good yogurt or sour cream.
Cool, so cool, as…well…cucumbers!










I am drooling, Loulou. Your mama’s makings sound too delicious.
Oh, how she wishes you could come taste! Everyone!
Love the recpe need to try it. As for the piano competition – Wonderful!!!
It is so lovely each year. Mama will try to video the young pianists.
Yum!
Oui, two yums!
The Lady says it’s been a long time since she’s had some good gazpacho.
So easy if you start with good tomatoes and sweet onions.Cilantro helps, too.
YUM! Sounds like a lovely summer treat to enjoy in the shade with something wet and wild to wash it down…….from that description you’d think I enjoy that stuff but no – that’s for my Mom and Dad…..me? I’ll have a Churu please. LOL
Hugs, Teddy
One churu coming up!
Your village sounds delightful. A stir fry with all those ingredients would be wonderful! I’d have the chicken myself 😉
And that soup sounds perfect for patio lounging in hot weather. We have copied the ingredients and try to replicate it if we can get hold of them all. Or at least try a close approximation thereof 🙂
You have a wonderful time lounging around on the cool earth, Loulou. 💙
ERin
You can find more on the internet at http://suzannedunaway/crazyinthekitchen.com
A rice stir fry is such a good dish, and the recipe for gazpacho sounds so very, very good. Maybe one day I’ll have time to cook again.
You are so, so busy with so many good deeds and helping so many. I do hope you can whiz up a gazpacho and keep cool.
I=t is hot here, too…heat advisories in effect. It might ber arounf 35C here on MOnday…UGH. Cause witht he heat comes humidity. Which can make that hot temp be a miserable and dangerous affair. I pity those who might have to work outside such as road crews, or other construction workers…
That soup sounds yummy…I wish I could eat some, but alas, I cannot do tomatoes…they aggravate my joints too much.
OH, darn….boil potatoes and whiz them up with yogurt, a cucumber, a little broth, cilamtro, olive oil, dash of lemon, salt and pepper and chill. Just as cold and no tomatoes!
Thank you for the recipe. It sounds tasty. XO
Let mama know what happens if you have time.
Yummy foods! We had us some stir fry yesterday.
Brian’s Home ~ Forever
Don’t you just LOVE rice?
Glad that you and your village are finding some shade. We are forecasted to have a big heatwave over much of the country – triple digits. Europe has had similar ino ither years so we hope you all can avoid it this year.
OMC…TRIPLE DIGIT….like Texas where mama sweated out 100-degree summers as a child…maybe the forcast will change, as they seem to do lately.
lou lou, we haz a gardenia bush right owtside owr frunt door! it bloomed in May and izza dun bloomin now but on dee walkway into dee gym in owr village dee mum walkz by 5 gardenia bushes inna row that r still bloomin!!! sumtimes she takes sum flowers on her way out and takes dem home!!!
now dat iz whot we call a verry sucksesful walk,haha. you all mus haf da climet fer doze fleurs.