Tag Archives: food and drink

Paris Rendezvous — Part Four

The latest post is a sprinkling of images from our last days in Paris. It was a very compressed 5-day visit during an intense heatwave.

View of the Eiffel Tower from the Avenue de La Bourdonnaise in Paris.

Resting in the shade by a cooling water garden in back of the Musee Quai Branly in Paris. The Rue de L’Universite.

This isn’t chalk — these are painted designs on the bicycle and scooter lane alongside the Quai D’Orsay in Paris. Can’t find any information about what the marks mean!

Dinner at the Brasserie Terminus Balard in Paris.

Next up — a post full of images taken by Mark Harmes in Paris!

COPYRIGHT
©Deborah Harmes 2007-2018 and
©A Wanderful Life 2007-2018
Please respect the words and images on this page.
All rights reserved.

Paris Rendezvous — Part Two

While doing the planning for this trip, I decided that I had seen the Louvre and the Musee D’Orsay several times along with the Pompidou Center and several smaller museums — so it would be good to visit new places instead. We were staying in a wonderful neighbourhood in the 15h Arrondissement, so we had excellent transport links that started right outside the front door of the hotel.

It’s time to share something that I have been reluctant to ever discuss online. As mentioned in Part One when I was dismayed about the hotel ignoring my request to NOT place us in a room that would require climbing a lot of stairs, I’ve begun to have some issues with mobility and pain. None of it is overly-dramatic, but it is inconvenient. So I have to listen to what my body tells me it can and cannot manage each day — and it’s all quite unpredictable.

On our 3rd day in Paris, it was clear that I was going to need to stay quiet and just rest for a full day. I knew that I’d lost any sightseeing I might have planned, but the heat bouncing off the concrete walkways the previous day had left me feeling quite drained and ill by that evening. I sent Mark off with my blessings every morning because he likes to get out early for a walk and for that particular Wednesday, he also went to a museum I had wanted to see, but knew I could not. I’ll post his pictures separately in another post dedicated to his images from Paris — not mine.

Thursday started off quite nicely with an excellent lunch at the brasserie right across the street from our small hotel. The food and wine were excellent and the decor was delightfully quirky — full of advertising art or miniatures relating to Citroen automobiles.

Next we headed to the Pont de L’Alma and I stopped on the bridge to take pictures of my surroundings and the River Seine below. Then we turned around and proceeded to the museum (in the next post) and had some time amongst the paintings, sculpture, and objects on display.

Make sure to come back for the next segment — and enjoy these views of Paris!

Exterior of the Bistro D’Andre in the 15th Arrondissement of Paris, France.

Interior of the Bistro D’Andre in the 15th Arrondissement of Paris, France. The lunch rush had just ended when I took this shot because a mere half-hour earlier, these tables had all been packed with happy diners.

Specials Of The Day board at the Bistro D’Andre in Paris, France.

Honey glazed chicken skewers at the Bistro D’Andre in the 15th Arrondissement in Paris, France.

Panne Cotta with red fig coulis — still lingering in my mind!

Citroen artwork on the bistro walls in Paris.

Citroen advertising art on the bistro walls in Paris.

Bateau mouches, lined up and waiting to take tourists for a cruise on the Seine in Paris.

The Quai D’Orsay alongside the Seine.

Both the Eiffel Tower and the domes of the new Russian Orthodox Holy Trinity Cathedral are now landmarks that can be seen from the Seine in Paris, France.

Opened in 2016, the glistening domes of the massive Russian Orthodox Holy Trinity Cathedral face the Seine on the left bank.

COPYRIGHT
©Deborah Harmes 2007-2018 and
©A Wanderful Life 2007-2018
Please respect the words and images on this page.
All rights reserved.

A New Kind Of Chutney — Yum, Yum!

There are other things that I do besides writing and photography and one of them (occasionally!) is cooking something special. What’s wonderful about making chutney is that you can enjoy those brightly coloured jars of goodness all year long.

We have loquat trees in our back garden here in Australia that are simply groaning with fruit right now. I had never even heard of a loquat tree until we moved to this part of Victoria, so I had to do some research into them. They’re a stone fruit, originally from China. And since ours are 65 years old, they are HUGE and full of fruit!

The birds have been circling the trees, so I decided that I’d better get cracking and use some of that gorgeous orange-yellow fruit before they ate all of it. So I spent hours today chopping and prepping what turned out to be a very spicy chutney. It smells and tastes like it will be worth it!

 

Bowl of loquats fresh off the tree.

 

 

Cut up loquats prior to cooking.

 

 

Chutney Simmering

 

 

Completed jars of loquat chutney.

 

Here’s THE RECIPE!

Now — back to work on some photos. More soon.

COPYRIGHT
©Deborah Harmes and ©A Wanderful Life
Please respect the words and images on this page.
All rights reserved.

Fabulously Fractured Facades in Metro Melbourne, Australia

We had just moved back to Melbourne, Australia in 2002 and this contentious and expensive cluster of buildings and paved courtyards were completed that same year. I remember the first time I saw Federation Square (now generally known by the shortened title of Fed Square) and it seemed raw, unfinished looking, and very windy at the time. But over the years it has grown on me and I now find it ‘interesting’ if not beautiful.

Housing the NGV Ian Potter art museum, ACMI (Australian Centre for the Moving Image), SBS Television and Radio Broadcasting Centre, and a range of cafes, bars, shops, and other cultural offices, Fed Square continues to provoke a love-hate response from both tourists and the citizens of Melbourne. Click on the first link in the article to read about some of the controversial decisions, negative reviews, and blow-out costs that surrounded this project.

 

The fractured and fragmented facades of the modern buildings at Federation Square in Melbourne, Australia are a sharp contrast to the more traditional structures all around it.

The fractured and fragmented facades of the modern buildings at Federation Square in Melbourne, Australia are a sharp contrast to the more traditional structures all around it.


 
The buildings of Federation Square in Melbourne, Australia contain a cluster of arts organisations, a television and radio broadcasting centre, and several cafes and restaurants.

The buildings of Federation Square in Melbourne, Australia contain a cluster of arts organisations, a television and radio broadcasting centre, and several cafes and restaurants..


 
Another corner of Federation Square in the heart of Melbourne, Australia

Another corner of Federation Square in the heart of Melbourne, Australia


 

COPYRIGHT
©Deborah Harmes and ©A Wanderful Life
Please respect the words and images on this page.
All rights reserved.

What Flavourful Goodness in France!

I have only ever seen peaches growing on a tree. But when we arrived at this tiny cafe in a tiny village off the main road in the Bethmal Valley, a man and a woman were sitting at a table nearby under the veranda overhang cutting apart the tiniest of peaches as an ingredient for one of the sorbets they made in their organic shop.

The smiling man handed each of us a piece and said, “They are wild peaches. They grow on a vine.” And our mouths were filled with the most delicate of flavours. The menu board across from us was equally tantalising since everything was made on the premises from organic ingredients.

The parfums — the flavours? Menthe, origan, framboise, mure, prunelle, coing — mint, oregano, raspberry, blackberry, wild plum, quince. Yum! We had one each of the framboise (soooo soft and sweet!) and the prunelle (and Mark said it was quite mouth-puckery but lovely).

Another slice of life in France!
 

A board inside a cafe in the South of France listing their organic sorbet selection for the day.


 

COPYRIGHT
©Deborah Harmes and ©A Wanderful Life
Please respect the words and images on this page.
All rights reserved.

Emerging From The Twilight Zone With Chutney

Seriously, when I realised that it had been a month (and a very odd month indeed!) since my last post, I felt like I had stepped inside an episode of The Twilight Zone and time and space had eaten me. There have been rather a lot of ups and downs with medical issues, but I am hopeful that things are on the upswing now. (fingers crossed!)

We did our very-few-blocks walk across the river to the Saturday market here in St. Girons yesterday and came back with a new digital kitchen scale and all of the ingredients for something wonderful — tomato chutney!
 

9 completed jars of tomato chutney


 
I laughed at the online instructions that said that the chutney took half an hour to prepare and one and a half hour of simmering before it was time to jar it. Perhaps if someone works a lot faster than I do they could do the prep in half an hour, but it took me an hour of peeling, chopping, and stirring. And Mark, the darling man, had to step in right at the end because I was gasping from chopping the onions.

This simmered for over 2 hours before it became the colour and texture that made me happy, but here is the recipe for anyone who’d like to try it. And it made 9 jars of recycled-marmelade-jar size final product. I tweaked the basic recipe with lots of spices after reading several versions of tomato chutney recipes online and deciding that just tomatoes, sugar, and onions was going to be a bit too bland for our taste.
 

Spicy and fragrant tomato chutney simmering atop the stove as it thickens


 
This totally fits in with our ethos of trying to live in an eco-conscious manner. We didn’t spend a penny on fuel since we walked to the market, we bought local produce with very low food miles, and we used recycled glass jars. The total cost for the ingredients was just about €7, I got 9 jars, and frankly that’s a much more sensible economic idea if you enjoy cooking than spending €3-4 or more per jar for quality chutney.
 

Glass jars simmering in boiling water to sterilise them


 
Here’s the recipe below. The amount of seasoning can be adjusted up or down according your own idea of what is spicy enough. Enjoy!

TOMATO CHUTNEY

2 kilos of ripe tomatoes
500 grams of sliced and slightly chopped onions
8 fat cloves of garlic
8 cm piece of ginger peeled and chopped
375 grams of brown sugar
325 ml of cider vinegar
Juice of one lime
1 large or 2 medium apples — peeled and chopped
1-1/2 to 2 cups of raisins
10 cardamom seeds
1/2 tsp sweet paprika
1/2 tsp smoky paprika
1/2 tsp chili powder
4 tsp cumin
4 rounded tsp allspice
3/4 tsp cinammon

Bring all ingredients to a full boil in a large kettle-style pan with a heavy bottom. Once boiling, reduce the heat and allow the mixture to simmer for at least 2 hours, perhaps longer, until you see the liquid significantly reduced, the mixture thickened, and the colour of the chutney change from bright red to a brown-red.
 

Jars of hot chutney turned upside down as they cool to give a tight seal


 
Spoon mixture into hot, sterilised glass jars making sure to wipe the rims clean before sealing the lid tightly. Turn the jar upside down whilst cooling to allow for a tight seal.

Enjoy!
 

Cooled jars of tomato chutney


 

COPYRIGHT
©Deborah Harmes and ©A Wanderful Life
Please respect the words and images on this page.
All rights reserved.

Autrefois Le Couserons: The Grand Parade Of Tractors in St. Girons, France

A sunny Saturday was perfect for the annual Autrefois Le Couserons celebration of rural and traditional life here in the Midi-Pyrenees of France.

The barricades went up early and people began lining the streets, sitting in fold-up chairs (including right beneath our front windows!) or standing anywhere that there was a small patch of available space that was not on the road itself.
 

Parade spectators at the Autrefois Le Couserons parade in St. Girons, France


 

Parade spectators sitting beneath our windows in St. Girons, France


 
For just over two hours, they paraded through St. Girons — tractors, carts, bands, singers, dancers, vintage firetrucks, you name it! And all of it went right beneath the windows of our apartment where we each stood, camera in hand, taking hundreds of pictures on that bright and clear day.

I am dividing the coverage of this event into several articles and slideshows so that it isn’t an overwhelming amount to look at each time.
 

Vintage tractor on parade at the Autrefois Le Couserons festival in St. Girons, France


 
Now for all of you ‘tractor geeks’ (Ooops! Tractor ‘enthusiasts’ was what I meant!) — Enjoy!


[wppa type=”slide” album=”8″ size=”760″][/wppa]

 

COPYRIGHT
©Deborah Harmes and ©A Wanderful Life
Please respect the words and images on this page.
All rights reserved.