The black dog is abroad on such a day as today, which has been so remorseless in its doleful gloominess that the arrival of evening has been a sweet relief. As darkness falls the lights go on and the warmth of the newly fired up oven gives off a comforting warmth in the kitchen, which room is where I know that I will find the pleasure that I allowed the day to take from me . Cooking, the accoutrements of cooking, the ingredients, the smells and the whole atmosphere of a kitchen restores me. Books come out of shelves to be scoured for delicious ideas which won’t be made tonight, but are marked, with the others already so marked, as “definitely to be done” whilst the cork is pulled from an ordinary bottle of red. This is the pleasure, this is the heart of the home. I made a visit to the boulangerie in the village, earlier in the greyness, and bought a good loaf of bread which will accompany a simple pasta with broccoli, anchovies and chillies followed by 
sweet apples in a puff pastry case. Food as simple and as good as this feeds the spirit as well as the body making me wonder how I could have been so foolish as to have let a day go by without enjoying every minute to the full, and filling me with determination not to be pissed off with the arrival of the plumber at 8.00 tomorrow morning.
-
-
Recent Posts
-
Join 3,807 other subscribers
Archives
-
Food, Photography & France 
A delicious photo of the bread, which must brighten the gloom a lot! It’s been a bright day here, more like summer than autumn, but still I find the early darkness depressing, especially since I like to take photos of food in daylight and, eating supper after 8 as we always do, it’s only just light enough. We’ll all just have to get used to it and console ourselves with winter cooking delights!
Well dear Roger wat a wonderful end you had to that miserable day.
Just had our simple meal after a long day at John Swanell’s who has been shooting the pictures for our (edinaronay.com) website. We had a very good and productive day. Absolutely no gloom, no darkness and great to be with John who still has such enormous pleasure in taking pictures. It was very infectious and inspiring to work with him! But then so is the story of your day, in the end that is. And getting up for your plumber at 8am tomorrow, well that is too bad we had to leave before 8 this morning and still be late when we got to John at 9.25. Have you forgotten how privileged you are not to have to travel in London ? ………….. It is now yesterday’s tomorrow morning and here almost 3 hours after your plumber got to you. I must get on with things and you keep on taking pictures and writing ! (didn’t know you were a good writer). Hope the weather has changed and that the plumber fixed your problem.
Great looking apple pastry! Congratulations on the new oven!
That bread looks amazing and simple meals are often the best. The plumber will be late if you’re up early, early if you sleep late.
The bread looks delicious and the meal sounds perfect, I love the early darkness for a few months. I seem to levitate towards low lights, music, the fire and wonderful scented foods, for a couple of months out of the year it is perfect, your plumbing will be after it is over with, I am not good at waiting on service-people….RaeDi
That loaf of bread looks scrumptious; you chose well. Just this past Sunday, water covered my feet as I rinsed some dishes. A search for some tools, a trip to the hardware store, and a few scraped knuckles later and I was the proud owner of a newly installed set of pipes under my sink. It wasn’t exactly the tranquil morning I had envisioned but it was satisfying nonetheless.
Ahh, the bread from France. That can put a smile on anyone face. Happy that you have a new oven that will certainly cheer you over the months to come.
Hi
The oven is in place and the plumber fitted the tap – I’m just deciding what to cook!
Roger
I am so happy you got your new oven!!! I remember when it stopped working !!! Don’t know what you got until it’s gone, so now I am sure you are going to make delicious meals with it!! …Maybe baking your own bread that looks as stunning as the one in the picture? jejejeeje
The bread looks absolutely sinful! It’s so pretty that I feel I shouldn’t want to eat it.