Day 40 - this is closely related to quarantine, which indeed can be related to the French word for 40 (quarante) so wouldn't it be nice if this was nearly the end? But no, we have another 15 days of this to go as a minimum, and it isn't really clear what "normal" life will be like on the 11th May here in France. I guess we just keep smiling?
I was at the supermarket yesterday - first time in about 3 and a half weeks I think (John did the previous visit). Some things were still a bit scarce on the shelves - pasta and rice were limited, as was flour and certain cat foods (notably those for older cats), and wine boxes. There had clearly been a run on red wine boxes! I got the last of the own brand cabernet sauvignon red - victory was mine! This is a bit bizarre as the warm and sunny weather usually means a run on white and rosé.
Anyway, knowing that flour is scarce due to lots of home baking, naturally I too had to jump on the bandwagon, plus we have a lot of eggs at the moment. I thought I ought to reprise my quatre-quarts chocolate cake, but with a few tweaks. I swapped out some white sugar for light muscovado, some ordinary (well, local, organic) flour for chocolate powder and chestnut flour, and swirled in chunks of dark cooking chocolate at the end. I used a relatively low oven, a cake tin with a protected base and a double layer of paper liners. I checked at 35 minutes of cooking and it had risen nicely but needed to cook more. I checked again 25 minutes later, and it was cooked, but o dear - really badly slumped in the middle. Let's hope tastes better than it looks!
And if it tastes as bad as it looks, well, we do have a very good bakers in the village! They are also one of a very few allowed outlets for my friend who grows and sells flowers (cut flowers) to get her product out there. Up until now, I have benefitted from free flowers in exchange for services rendered, but this week I supported another of my local businesses and bought my own bouquet - isn't it lovely?
After taunting me for nearly a week with huge and pregnant buds, the orchid has relented and opened up; one bud yesterday, and another today. Was it worth the wait? Well judge for yourselves with this close up of the flower that opened up yesterday.
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