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The six ladies in the car, thank god that I have a huge banana-car.

The first moments in their new house, not as bad as they thought it was..

This week in an effort to clean the inside of the house (yes, that is that ugly C-word again), we decided to muck out the wine cellar. Besides finding a vintage sink, ancient Stella glasses, and a bottle of holy water from Lourdes, we dug up a pretty nice space. And, since our been making stuff was already close we decided to give making mead a shot (don’t mind the mess in our kitchen, we’re still living out of boxes, do have a look at that ceiling – love it!). I found a recipe online that we followed:
1 package of Red Star "Premier Cuvee" yeast
4 pounds of clover honey = 1.82 kg
1 gallon of spring water = 3.79 l
8 ounces of Black berries - Frozen = 226 gr
1 whole clove
inch and a quarter ( 1 1/4 ) long section of a vanilla bean. Split length-wise.First set your black berries out so that they have enough time to thaw. I try to pick out the darkest of the berries at this point. I use about half a pound for this recipe. This amount gives the mead a wonderful dark red colour and just enough taste of Blackberry to make it special. Once they have thawed crush them in a bowl and set aside.
Pour about one third of a gallon of spring water into a pot. Gently heat the water on the stove to about 90 degrees (= 30 Celsius) ( a candy thermometer is very helpful here ) and add your honey, being sure to keep stirring evenly so the honey doesn't get burned and the mixture becomes homogenous. Remove from the stove and stir for another minute, adding spring water until you have used about a half of your gallon jug. Let this sit to cool to room temperature.
Using a funnel, pour your honey and water from the pot into a 1 gallon carboy. Pour in enough of the remaining spring water so there is about an inch left until the gallon mark. Now you can add the yeast and the nutrient. Shake for about 4 minutes and add blackberries. Shake for at least another minute so that all of the ingredients are mixed and the batch has an even dark red colour.
Let this ferment for 2-3 weeks. Siphon into a clean 1 gallon carboy leaving behind as much sediment as you can.
Take your section of vanilla bean after it has been prepared and place it into a muslin tea bag. Steam the bag and place into the mead. After 4-5 days check the taste of the mead. If there is enough of a vanilla flavour remove the tea bag. Repeat this process with the clove. I like to leave it in until there is just a hint of clove. [from here]
In stead of blackberries we used a frozen ‘forest fruit’ mixture from the Colruyt. So far it’s bubbling away nicely in our wince cellar.. waiting for lots of other bubbling friends to join him.
It seems like ages ago that I’ve written a post again. So, here’s the update: since last time we have officially become home owners!! Since then we have done a huge amount of work that all boils down to two things:
1. Carry stuff to a different location (this includes both moving everything we own from our old apartment to out new place, and getting rid of all the old junk that was still in the barns (yes, that is plural).
2. Clean. And I hate cleaning! First of all we had to clean our old apartment meticulously for the obvious reason that we had the most irritating lying piece of scum you can imagine as a landlord (I honestly don’t care if he reads this, you miserable piece of shit). Then we had to clean our new house. The previous owner had rented it out to a very very dirty person who apparently brushed her two huskies daily inside! To make things worse she was not of the cleaning type, and liked living in a house filled with dog hair. So, for the last day I’ve been cleaning up her (and her two mutts) filth. Such fun! (Yes, I’ve been listening to Miranda again)
Now that our daily activities are out of the way it’s time for some good news. First of all my adopted-Tajik-sister gave birth to her second son yesterday!! Secondly, today was (I hope) my last exam ever!! Now I just have to wait until September 13th before I’m officially an ‘MSc’.
Now that I’m back home I’ve finally had the time to upload the video I took while watching René bake his bread. I added it to the corresponding post. But just to be sure, here it is again.
So, now that I’m home it’s time to get packing! We’re signing for our new place this Thursday (yaaaaay), Friday we’ll be cutting open some walls so that the cable guy can come, finally on Saturday we’ll be moving all our stuff. Thank God Tom’s dad and little brother will be helping us out. As always I’ll try to make as many photos as possible.
Finally, the well is finished!. Everything has dried up perfectly, and the well is ready to be taken back into use. To our great pleasure the river-stone top turned out really pretty (as you can see below).
Many of the villages in southern France look like time has stopped. When you can think away the cars and the people on their cell phones, you can imagine how these villages looked like fifty years ago, or a hundred years ago, or even longer ago. Montpezat-de-Quercy is one of those typical villages with a long and rich history.
Besides the dreamy streets and French cafés Montpezat has a Collégiale (collegiate church) that was built by Cardinal Pierre des Prés (1288-1361) in 1337. One of the main features in this church are the amazingly detailed Flemish tapestries form the sixteenth century depicting the life of Saint Martin.
The front of the well had a huge hole in it. It once began as a small crack but in time some of the stones have fallen out. Using metal rods we have been able to repair most of the hole.
Big parts of the top (old concrete) have been coming off. At first we wanted to cover the top with our chalk mixture, but in the end we decided to decorate it with river stones. This way we hoped to both restore it, and show that we have restored it. I know that sounds a little strange, but I hope the final pictures will show you what I mean.
Meanwhile back in Belgium, the “garden” is growing quite well.
Little green banana:
Things exploring new worlds, new civilisations, boldly going where no… ahem.
Tomato section:
With little nearly-red balls of fire!
And also some flowers:
Anything is possible with enough watering and singing and loving care!
Yesterday our neighbour asked me to help out with making bread. Locally this is still done very traditionally. René gets up at six in the morning to prepare the dough, and around nine the furnace is lit and the bread is folded into the right shape.
The bread is laid out and covered to prevent them from drying out.
The fire is lit to heat the oven. Afterwards the burnt wood is pulled out and a piece of newspaper is inserted to measure the heat. If the newspaper goes brown the oven is at an ideal temperature. If it burns in any way the oven is too hot and you have to wait for it to cool down a little.
The bread is then flipped onto a small board using the folds in the fabric. From this board the bread is sled onto a larger board and placed into the oven.
Once the bread is brown and crusty they are taken out one by one.
And voila the end result! Amazing traditionally made bread by René.
Our well has definitely known better days, and is in desperate need of restoring. As you can see on the before pictures above stones have been falling out and the old cement is crumbling. If we would leave it for a couple more years without a facelift, we wouldn't have a well any more.
Under the all seeing eye of the dog (aka the boss) we have taken out loose parts. We do this part by part, careful not to dislodge the general structure of the wall. The good stones we keep, the bad ones we throw. After cleaning out a hole we puzzle together a new one, using the old and new stones. The puzzles are stuck in using a mixture of 3 parts sand, one part chalk, and some water. This mixture is less rigid than cement and is thus more suitable for our old (and moving) buildings. Everything made of cement cracks and tears within a couple of years in this region.
We’ll keep you posted on the progress!
The side door is the only one that is used to enter St. Etienne cathedral in Cahors (Dept. Lot). On Saturday the square in front of the cathedral is used for the weekly market. Even though the square is buzzing with activity, the cathedral and adjacent abbey are quiet and peaceful.
Not every statue has survived the hand of time. However,some are detailed enough to see what they symbolize.
Last but not least is the little mistake just above the main altar. To mask it in a divine way they have decided to put tow little angels in the space of the misplaced beam. You can see them above. The ceiling of the ship of the cathedral is one of the main attractions. It is decorated with a 14th century fresco depicting the stoning of St. Etienne. I And it pulls away the attention from this little mistake above.
Remember the Medusa bust I posted about a couple of days ago? Using it as a source of inspiration, we decided to make them ourselves.
What you need:
First of all we drilled a couple of holes in the bottom of the Buddha. Then we drew a very nip-and-tuck-ish cutting line through its hair. Tom used a stone saw to cut through the stone. I have to tell you, it really felt like preforming brain surgery on a Buddha! We then put potting ground in, and planted a pretty hairy plant. We’re so happy with the result.. it feels so zen!
Honestly, I have the bestest boyfriend ever!!