Quiche...

...aux oignons et au recuite frais - aka posh cheese and onion flan.

I was humbled today with the arrival of an unexpected gift in the form of the most wonderful French cookbook "obsessions vegetales" by Natacha Comar. 

The book contains dozens of vegetarian recipes and is beautifully laid-out with a photo of the finished dish opposite each recipe. 

I was so taken with it that I ditched some of my jobs this afternoon and made this quiche. The recipe uses chevre cheese, but I adapted it to use up a bowl of ricotta in the fridge. It is perfect.

For three years after I moved to Chez Mima - and before the garden was fully up and running - I ran a B&B here. The guest cabin was ideal: big enough for one or two. 

As well as giving them a hearty breakfast, I would invite guests to share dinner with me, all homemade with produce from the garden. Given that the closest eatery is 20-odd kilometres away, many people took me up on the offer.

Over good food and usually in good company I made many connections - and friends - as a result. There were guests from all across the world, as well as many from NZ. 

One such guest was Anne-Marie from a town just south of Paris. She was on a world tour and stayed in unusual places wherever she could. She was here for three or four nights and as well as plenty of sightseeing, she spent a couple of mornings helping me in the garden. We enjoyed each other's company.

Since that visit in 2019 we have remained in touch and she is addicted to the latest news from Chez Mima. She writes to me in understandable English and I reply in a weird mixture of French and English (because we have agreed not to resort to translation apps). She was so excited about my success at the recent A&P Show that she decided to send me this cook book.

The joke is it is in French. So I have to improve my understanding of her language if I'm going to successfully create the dishes. Fortunately my French is just good enough for this recipe, and the dictionary (which we do allow ourselves) remained on the shelf.

It is going to be a good challenge...

As for the B&B. Covid put paid to it. 

Would I run the B&B again? Not a chance! I was getting on for fully booked from mid-December to Easter. As you have just witnessed, this coincides with my crazy-busy time in the garden and kitchen these days. I don't have time for guests as well.