Springtime

Last Friday we went to order our new freezer, expecting it to take several day for delivery. No, it was delivered Saturday morning. Now it's living in the bathroom, holding much of what was stuffed into the refrigerator's freezer, with lots of space yet to fill.

Easter Monday we went to a fair of wines and cheese. We expected it to be local products, but it turned out to be products from all over the country. The fair was prepared for possible rainy weather, with enormous tents for the displays and the restauration. Before we tasted, we had lunch with almost 200 people.

Ed played it safe and got grilled meat with frites, while Kaye opted for raclette, which she had heard of but never eaten. (The third option was a cheese fondue.) Raclette is a kind of cheese but it's also a do-it-yourself dish, somewhat similar to the Dutch gourmet. She was served a plate with two boiled potatoes, slices of cold cuts, and slices of three different cheeses. A round, electric raclette grill was brought to the table and plugged into one of the outlets hanging over our heads. Each grill had places for six grillers, but Kaye shared with only one other person in the vicinity. They each had a tiny wedge-shaped skillet, one sixth of the circle. A slice of cheese was melted under the grill, then poured over slices of potato and meat. Fun and remarkably good, although very filling. The meal was accompanied by live music, much too loud. Some of the diners got up to dance. Near the end of the meal, one of the cooks came out to since. We think he was actually a member of the trio, since he said they'd be performing on Saturday.

More than sufficiently full, we wandered through the cheese and wine tent. Ed was interested in bordeaux wines so we did a bit of tasting and bought a few bottles. There was also an olive vendor where we indulged ourselves, lots of boulangers with assorted breads and cakes, and quite a few jewelry makers.

Tuesday was a bright, sunny day with almost summer weather. We took advantage of it to work in the garden, laying out the start of what will be our salad garden. We removed many plants for the short term, enlarged the space, laid down newspapers, and topped these with rotted grass clippings. We missed getting some "action" pictures, so you'll have to make do with an after-the-fact pic:

We'll divide this large area into smaller beds, adding herbs and lettuces and other salad makings, along with some flowers for color. The septic tank sits under this area, so the design has to work around its access points. (The white mark that you see on what we call the umbrella tree, which is properly named Sophora japonica 'pendula', is the sensor for the indoor-outdoor thermometer.)