Les poires mûrissent

Photo prise lors il y a deux semaines de notre après-midi à Cliveden, dans le "Round Garden", l'un de mes endroits préférés là-bas. C'est une sorte de jardin/verger circulaire, avec beaucoup d'arbres fruitiers. C'est vraiment enchanteur. Parmi les fruits, il y avait des poires. Je me disais en les voyant que j'étais témoin d'un autre signe que l'automne arrive: les poires mûrissent. Et c'était il y a deux semaines. J'ai hâte d'y retourner en septembre et voir ce qu'il en est.

Nouvelle gâtastrophe

Je vous rassure tout de suite: ceci n'est pas mon gâteau de fête. La fin de semaine dernière, nous avons invité des amis dans le jardin, mais bien entendu en respectant toutes les consignes de sécurité et de distance sociale. Comme c'est devenu une semi-tradition depuis le début de la pandémie, j'ai décidé de faire un gâteau pour les recevoir. Gâteau blanc simple, sans glaçage et avec de la confiture entre les deux. Je saispas ce qui m'a pris, mais j'ai décidé d'y rajouter des poires en canne (coupées en dés) avec leur jus. Le gâteau ressemblait plus à ce que les Anglais appellent un pudding, ne manquait plus que la costarde. Cela dit, il était très mangeable. Alors la prochaine fois, je le servirai avec de la costarde.

Matrimony Jam

Sometimes, we like to go to garden shops nearby. I like to buy artisan products, like for instance jam. I actually prefer to buy jams from small garden shops than big supermarkets and chain stores. I don't know, it feels more... genuine. A few years ago, shortly before Wolfie's birth I believe, I bought this one, "Matrimony Jam". I just thought it was an interesting mix of apples, pears and plums and the name intrigued me. From what I understand, a "matirmony jam" is a jam made of two complimentary fruits (see, like two people getting together on holy matrimony). No idea why this one has three fruits, I guess calling it a "ménage à trois" jam would be wrong. It was the one and only matrimony jam I ever had, because I never found it again, in this garden shop or any other.

Fruits for Tuesday

The fruit baskets were back at work today. I mentioned them here and here. I think I understood the schedule now: basically the first Tuesday of every month. It brightened my day, as it always does. They had the usual bananas (not ripe enough), apples, satsumas (I think they were satsumas) and I did not see any pears. I think they were all gone by the time I went to the kitchen. I did not have them for breakfast this time, as I was too busy at my desk, instead I took a banana in lieu of dessert after my lunch. Gosh I cannot believe how healthy I am these days! Or try to be anyway. But I discovered that I enjoy fresh fruits, especially when they are free.

A few trivial observations about the fruit baskets:

-"Always remember to give the fruit a quick wash before eating it." Well, I do.
-The picture of the fruit basket is a still life.
-The fruit basket is also a sort of horn of plenty.
-Fruits are surprisingly popular among my colleagues. The baskets are empty at the end of the day.

Well, that's it really. I will try to say something new in a month's time.

The fruit baskets at work

I blogged before about the baskets of fruits we receive at work. I said back then that the fruit baskets were there some Tuesdays. Well, apparently it can be any day of the week: they were there Wednesday this week. The fruits go really quickly. Yesterday, I took the time to take this picture before my scavenging colleagues and myself emptied the baskets. This is actually a still life. You see bananas, satsumas (I think it's satsumas), apples and pears. The pears were green, but surprisingly they were ripe. And juicy. It was a nice contrast from last time, when the pears were kind of raw and I crunched them like an apple. I have usually a banana and a pear. I love the days of the fruit baskets, but I wish they could be delivered weekly, on a specific day.

Fruits at work

There is a new trend at work which I wanted to blog about: some Tuesdays, not every Tuesday but some, there are baskets of fruits available in the kitchen in the morning. I don't know who had the idea, but it is a sort of scheme to make us eat better. The fruits are mainly bananas, apples and pears. All of them are a bit too raw, but all the same, it makes a nice change from the chocolates, biscuits and cakes that are usually available, so I usually grab a banana and a pear. It makes my breakfast healthier. And, while I have yet to truly enjoy a banana that is not ripe, I get used to the raw pears.

Garden pears (5p each)

Today I received a text from a friend, the one I used to commute with a few months ago and who now live in the same town as me. We don't see each other much because she lives in another part of town. Anyway, she texted me, asking me: "Do you like pears?" I replied: "I love pears, why?" And she sent me another text saying there was a lady selling pears from her garden, five minutes from the pub near the train station. So back from work, I walked to the place. There was nobody there, not the lady or anybody from her family. But a bunch of pears in a box, with a piggy bank and this small paper stuck on it. I bought three, left the money in the piggy bank. And I took a picture. I love encouraging local economy, even, or maybe especially, on such small scale. I wish I could have told the lady how much I appreciated such generosity, sharing the result of a harvest like this. It reminds me of the house of my parents, where we pick apples and crap abbles when autumn is round the corner. Pears are not really common garden fruits where I come from, and I don't consider them the quintessential autumnal fruit, but still. It also reminds me of the garden in Liverpool, which had many trees with fruits growing. I sadly arrived after harvest. But mainly, these pears I bought, on a crisp autumn end of the afternoon, just made me appreciate the day more. It was a perfect autumnal moment. And at 5p the pear, it was also a bargain.