Been here 11 days now. I suppose we have been lucky. Two days before we arrived the whole of France was battered by a hurricane with 50 people dead and given that this little gaff is twenty five feet from the sea that’s a little worrying. The worst damage was only just up the coast where dykes were overcome, houses destroyed and there was widespread flooding.
The day after we arrived the cold weather struck. Sub-zero temperatures and a persistent bitter wind. But blazing sunshine here while heavy snow spread right down through central France as far as Corsica!
Then there was our little problem with Parcels2Go. Sent a box of essentials down on a 3-4 day delivery schedule. Left Bethesda Tuesday, the day after us, so should have arrived on Monday at the latest if we are generous and calculate only working days. Because their tracking service was unavailable on the net all last week one of us had to stay in every day. They promised us next day delivery three days in a row and it only arrived yesterday because our neighbour here took matters into his own hands and drove to the depot in the next town and collected it for us. I think they need a sister company called Parcels2Come.
Now of my basic baking gear has arrived decided it should be pizza day. Knocked up some dough – the lights go out. This whole place is electric (even the shutters and the gate to the road) and it’s sub-zero outside. OK, no more moaning. Went shopping, came home, power back on, sun still shining.
No more ten large loaves at a time. This is my oven for the next three months and it’s amazing what you can do in a little tin box like this.
Caramelised leek and mushroom pizza. Took 25 minutes to bake as opposed to 10 in my oven back home, but the results are pretty acceptable.
Plus yesterday I made Seigle d’Auvergne but I’ll post that one next.
The PArtisan Baker 