A Break in the Rain

I'm not sure if it's climate change or just a blip but the weather around here lately has been blah.

I enjoy a rainy day now and then but an entire month with rain, wind and storms is a bit much for me.

We moved here 13 years ago to escape this sort of weather.

To make matters worse, we had guests last week who had come all the way from Vancouver Island for a relaxing break under the sun and bright blue skies but instead they were trapped in doors most of the week because of the constant rain.  Poor darlings.

Out in the garden a bright green moss is growing in mounds on our paths, on the lawn and on our ancient olive trees.

Even stranger is the rubbery, paper thin brown fungus that's  springing up from the ground in big clusters here and there on our normally dry terraces. It looks a bit like the wood ear fungus I often see on Chinese menus.   If it's still there on Monday I think I'll dig up a few clumps and take them to the Pharmacie to see if it's edible.
 
Early this morning there was a delicious break in the rain so I bolted to the Saturday market in Menton before it started up again.

 

As you can imagine, the talk of the town was, bien sûr, the relentless rain, how weird it all is and the fact that everyone is looking a little pale from being indoors so much.

Along with the regular vendors who brought some spring goodies like sweet and tender petit pois, asparagus, fava beans, artichokes and fresh goats' milk cheese, there was a brave used book vendor who I imagine was hoping to do a brisk business selling books to people who were looking for some rainy day reading to pass the time while they were trapped indoors for weeks on end.

Well, it worked.  For only €2, I scooped up a fun little book called, "Le Savoir Cuisiner des Femmes d'Aujourd'hui" or "Cooking Knowledge for Today's Woman" and it's the 5th in a set of 6 cook books published in 1959. The first volume covered soups, sauces, hors d’œuvres and entrées, the 2nd was about fish, eggs and cheese, the 3rd covered meats and poultry.  The fourth was about vegetables, pasta and rice and the 6th was drinks, jelly and jam, and confections.  Mine is about desserts, pastry, ice cream and fruit.

I love the introduction that loosely translates as, "not only is dessert important from a health point of view but a menu should be planned, above all, with an agreeable ending."

I'd like to add... "and what could be a better place to pass rainy days in the south of France than in the kitchen baking desserts."

Amen to that.