What's Cooking Part I

This month I'll be cooking in Chateau de Bardies for a fantastic family and their many friends.

Here are a few quick photos I've snapped.

Our neighbor, and a dear friend, brought over this unusual vegetable in the squash family. I roasted it with salt, and served it as a puree with just a drizzle of French walnut oil. Simple and tasty as a side to roasted duck.

 Another treat from Christian the neighbor! These teeny plums are bursting with tangy flavor. Thank goodness I had an olive-pitter handy otherwise making this crumble would have taken ages.

 A hot sunny August lunch, and a cool lemony cold cucumber soup.

A quick summer lunch for two: a beet root tart with goat cheese, thyme and orange rind, and a simple salad. 

Hiking in the Pyrenees Mountains

There is life in the Pyrenees, by which we tend to mean quaint villages, bustling biodynamic markets, and plenty of cheeses and saucissson; and then there is life in the actual high Mountains. Up in these heights, you reach another world.



 Upon returning to the area, I wasted no time in calling a good friend and experienced hiker. I needed to get up into these Mountains again.

We left the car by the Guzet ski station, which is already a fairly steep drive with stunning views of the surrounding, lush, green mountains. From here we followed a well-marked trail that led us onto cliff-faces with metal-hand grips drilled into the rock face to scurry across. Great! Up, up, up we climbed.

Head down to watch one's footfalls, a hike in the Pyrenees offers time to reflect. 

By the early afternoon we made our way to our Chalet, a small stone structure which was formerly a sheep herder's shelter. The departaments of France have generously up-kept many of these structures for hikers to spend the night free of charge.

A stone Chalet in the pyrenees, once used by sheep herder's, now a refuge for hikers.

No matter what you've brought along in your backpack-- no matter how melted, smushed, packaged, or bruised-- food is never so rewarding as high in the Mountains after a challenging climb. An apple feels like a celebration! A warm spoonful of food from a "just add water" packet tastes thoroughly fulfilling.   

On day two we climbed up to the nearest summit, about 2700m, from which we had a stunning view: rocks, valleys, towns that feel world's away, soaring birds of prey.

The descent was fun: a small glacier, a dip in a glacial pool, and climbing over and around big boulders. While hopping over granite rocks, careful of my footing, my brain registered shapes quickly. It seemed as though all of my childhood preparation of jungle-gyms and legos was destined for Mountain climbing. Child potential fulfilled!

The Mountains above Guzet. The notch in the ridge near the center-left is the border with Spain.