Drying tomatoes...romantically

Generally, my bedroom is totally monochrome and quite bare.

I love an all white environment to relax and dream on except that at the moment

one corner of the room is entirely covered with....tomatoes.....

Yes, it's that time again to take advantage of our glorious sun here in Andalusia

and dry tomatoes which we will eat in winter, as snacks or added to a stew to give

it a rich sunny tomato flavor.

En général, ma chambre est totalement monochrome et nue. J'ai besoin d'un

espace tout blanc pour me relaxer et rêver sauf qu'en ce moment, une partie

de la chambre est entièrement recouverte de...tomates...

Oui, le temps est venu de profiter de notre glorieux soleil andalou et de sécher

des tomates que nous grignoterons cet hiver, comme snack ou ajoutées à

un pot-au-feu pour lui donner un goût de tomate parfumé et plein de soleil.

 I really love doing this. It's so simple and beautiful. Preferably it's best to use oblong tomatoes

as they shrink a lot during the drying process. I cut them in two, sprinkle some salt

flower on top and thyme and rosemary. Then I place them on fruit crates upside down.

J'adore faire ça. C'est tellement simple et beau. De préférence, il faut prendre des

tomates allongées car elles vont se rétrécir énomément durant le séchage. Je les 

coupe en deux, parsème un peu de fleur de sel, du thym et du romarin. Puis je les

mets sur des cagettes posées à l'envers.

 I could put the crates in the patio but I find it so romantic to dry the tomatoes

on the roof terrace which is next to the bedroom. So during the day, I carry

 my babies out in the sun and when the sun goes down I put them in the bedroom.

Je pourrais disposer les cagettes dans le patio mais je trouve ça tellement plus

romantique de sécher les tomates sur la terrasse sur la toit attenante à la chambre.

Pendant la journée, je transporte mes bébés au soleil et quand le soleil s'en va,

je les mets à l'abri dans la chambre.

 At night, the room is filled with this wonderfully sweet fragrance mingled with jasmine.

Very romantic....

La nuit, elles dégagent un parfum à la fois doux et sucré qui se mêle à celui 

du jasmin....très romantique...

This summer I'm also drying some aubergine for the first time,

In the end, I don't know how much quantity I will have. I guess with

1 kilo of fresh tomatoes, you get 200g of dried tomatoes and I'm aiming

at least 2 kilos of dried tomatoes....Still a long way to go but getting there!

And of course the fact that I nibble some here and then doesn't help....

Cet été, j'essaie pour la première fois de sécher des aubergines.

Je ne sais pas quelle quantité de tomates j'aurai au final mais il faut bien compter

1 kilo de tomates pour obtenir 200 g de tomates séchées. Et comme, j'aimerais

au moins obtenir 2 kg de tomates séchées....j'ai encore du chemin à faire!

Et puis évidemment, comme j'en picore de-ci de-là, ça n'aide pas non plus....

pics : my castle in spain

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Simple gluten free chocolate cake

 The pleasure of baking a chocolate cake for a friend who's addicted to

chocolate and adores Pierre Hermé...and of course the pleasure to share it

and wanting more!

Le plaisir de faire un gâteau au chocolat pour une amie qui est dingue du chocolat

et adore Pierre Hermé....et bien sûr le plaisir de le partager et d'en vouloir plus !

This gluten free chocolate is as simple as hello, as we say in French.

So now's your turn to make your loved ones happy!

Ce gâteau au chocolat sans gluten est simple comme bonjour.

Alors, à votre tour de faire plaisir à ceux que vous aimez !

Recipe

200g of dark chocolate (52% cacao min.)

bitter cacao powder

6 eggs

150g of butter

145g of sugar

200g of ground hazelnuts

1 teaspoon of soluble coffee

1 pinch of salt

Preheat the oven at 160ºC. Melt the chocolate with the butter cut in small pieces and the soluble coffee.

Separate yolks from whites. Whisk the yolks with the sugar until creamy. Add the melted chocolate and butter. Mix well until smooth and homogeneous. Then add the ground hazelnuts and mix well.

In a big bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff.

Add delicately one third of the egg whites to the preparation with a spatula, then the remaining whites progressively.

Line a round mold (22cm diameter) with baking paper, pour the preparation and put in the oven for 55 mn to 60 mn.

Check the consistency with the tip of a knife.

Let it cool 10 mn before unmolding.

Let it cool completely and sprinkle some cacao powder on top.

Decorate with red berries and non treated rose petals.

Recette

200g de chocolat noir (52% cacao min.)

poudre de cacao amer

6 oeufs

150g de beurre

145g de sucre

200g de noisettes en poudre

1 cuillère à soupe de café soluble

1 pincée de sel

Préchauffez le four à 160ºC. Faites fondre le chocolat avec le beurre coupé en morceaux et le café soluble.

Séparez les blancs des jaunes. Fouettez les jaunes avec le sucre jusqu'à ce que le mélange devienne lisse et crémeux. Ajoutez le mélange chocolat, beurre et café. Mélangez bien pour obtenir une préparation lisse et homogène. Puis ajoutez les noisettes en poudre et mélangez bien.

Dans un grand saladier, battez les blancs en neige ferme.

Incorporez délicatement un tiers des blancs à la préparation avec une spatule puis le reste des blancs progressivement.

Garnissez un moule rond (diamètre 22 cm) avec du papier cuisson, versez la préparation et mettez au four pendant 55 mn à 60 mn. Vérifiez la cuisson avec la pointe d'un couteau.

Laissez refroidir 10 mn avant de démouler. 

Laissez refroidir complètement et saupoudrez de cacao amer sur le dessus.

Décorez avec des baies rouges et des pétales de rose non traitée.

pics : my castle in spain

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An interesting, crazy, zany, intense theater workshop

 Yes, I'm back in my beloved Andalusia and many sunny days have elapsed

since last time I posted on this blog. Do you know what happened in the mean time?

ahem....Instagram...I told you, I got completely hooked to the point of nearly forgetting

about my blog. So far, Instagram is great to post pics of what inspires me, a door or

a graffiti in my village, a book or a movie....but...when I really want to write a longer

post with several pics then where else can I go than my darling little blog?

After this reasonably long hiatus I meant to post about an eating place I really enjoyed in Nice

but here I am freshly back from an intense theater workshop last weekend.

And it was so comical and interesting at the same time, that I wanted to share it with you.

My French girlfriend Pascale took part to a theater workshop in Granada last month,

led by drama teacher and director Dora Albardiaz. She told me how much she loved it

and that Dora would organize a theater workshop during a 3 day weekend. Please, join us, 

she said and I thought why not and got reunited with 7 other persons in a very nice and 

secluded place in the countryside. 

Dora is a very dynamic and interesting woman whom I liked immediately. 

The workshop started on Friday afternoon. That day I found the exercises quite amusing.

We did so many, I couldn't remember all but mainly, as we worked in pairs,

being my partner's shadow, and mirror and vice-versa. One exercise made me

laugh but left me dubious, chasing the others, wanting to grasp their ass but

refraining myself....mmmm...From the start, I thought...oh la la...there's a lot of

body contact in those exercises....lots of hugging after each exercise and then at 

the end of the day...the shower : we make a circle, somebody stands in the center

with his/her eyes closed and the others caress him/her....Yes, I can hear you say,

mamma mia...what is this??? Naturally, it was quite pleasant but I reckon, this is

definitely not for everybody. Actually, I forgot what was the purpose of this.

The improvisation exercises were my favorite. We used the patio, shown in the

first picture as the stage. It made a lovely space and a green theater.

 We also used the beautiful countryside around us. On the first day, there was

a good camaraderie vibe. We all brought food to share and sat down at 

the table for dinner under the green grapes. Later on, during the night a storm broke

out which made us feel all giddy and happy. Some of us slept in the living room

and luckily I had a tiny room all by myself. Then in the morning, we all sat at the table

again for breakfast before starting the exercises in the wet grass. Relaxation, hugging,

breathing, singing, dancing, working in pairs again. One exercise in particular was

a bit embarrassing...being your partner's doll and vice versa. I was teaming up with

that handsome guy and found it quite difficult not to feel naughty!

 In a way all those exercises made me feel conscious of my approach to other

people's body. I reckon it was very interesting even if I thought we did may be

too many body contact exercises. Another exercise was smelling and tasting

the others. I went really fast on that one....But, besides all that, the most interesting

thing for me was to observe how we interacted between each other. It would be too 

long to describe and explain but slowly the initial good vibe turned sour because

some hostility got declared between some persons. And the owner of the place

who also took part to the workshop suddenly became a total control freak.

And me who usually laughs a lot, had quite a serious face on sunday morning.

 What was supposed to be a relaxed theater workshop got transformed into

a heavy affair. And in my last improvisation with my partner, in which he was

protagonist and I, the antagonist, we fight over a ladder, he wanting to steal

all the grapes he could, saying that he couldn't care less and insulting explicitly

the owner of the place. No need to say, it didn't help to ease the ambiance.

Dora was still zen and serene but put an end to the workshop earlier than

what has been scheduled. So, on sunday after the last improvisation exercises,

we gave each other a hug but it was quite a feeble one. And instead of having

lunch together as planned, we all left home. The truth is I was so impatient

to be with Monchéri again and tell him about this very interesting, crazy, zany

and intense theater workshop.

 I didn't find it appropriate to post pics of the whole group but here we are

Pascale and I, wearing as you can see romantic frocks...a bit of froufrou

in the dull ambiance....

pics : my castle in spain

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