Winter is the season for soups and stews, good simmered dishes and rich meals... Apple pies and roasted chestnuts are also part of the winter menu... and the excess of Christmas time...

It is also the season of cold, where diseases are more predictable ... Therefore vitamins of fresh produces and food are even more recommended ... to fight your bad cough... Fresh fruits or vegetables are the best natural source of vitamins... and the best way to loose weight after the plenty of New Year... Some days of a diet of fruits and veggies, that the best way to recover...

So let's see what we can eat... to enjoy the winter production without worrying ...

Some vegetables are edible all year long if they are well kept : Beets, Carrots, Celery, Potatoes and Onions.
Same thing for nuts...
Exotic fruits, even if they are produced in warm lands, are also connected to seasons.

Better than eating food supplements in winter, try the natural vitamins and the right minerals...

Links are connected to recipes or specific vegetables and fruits produced here ...

Vegetables
Beet, Horseradish, Brussels sprouts, Cabbage, Carrot, Celery, Chicory, Cress, Crosne, Fennel, Jerusalem artichoke, Leeks, Onions, Potatoes, Pumpkin, Salad, Salsify, Turnips
Fruits
Apples, Clementines, Kiwis, Mandarins, Oranges, Pears
Dates Nuts
Exotics Banana, Grapefruit, Lychee, Papaya, Pineapple



Vegetables
Avocados, Beets, Cabbage, Carrots, Celery, Chicory, Leeks, Onions, Potatoes, Salads, Salsify, Turnips, Watercress

Fruits
Apples, Blood oranges, Clementines, Kiwi, Lemons, Mandarins, Pears
Nuts
Exotics Bananas, Grapefruit, Mangoes, Passion Fruit, Pineapples



Vegetables
Avocados, Beets, Carrots, Cabbage, Celery, Leaves, Leeks, Mushrooms, Onions, Potatoes, Radish, Salsify Spinach,Turnips
Fruits
Apples, Clementines, Kiwi, Mandarins, Oranges
Exotics Bananas, Mangoes, Pineapples

If you want to eat the right products at the right time, the easiest way to do it is to go to the market next and buy the vegies and fruits produced in your area.
You'll discover vegies that we do not eat often anymore and you need just a bit of imagination to accommodate some vegetables! Bon appétit

Read this post in French : Fruits et légumes de saison : calendrier d'hiver

Here is a recipe for a cookie that crumbles... at least it did for my first try...

Germans do all sorts of small cakes and biscuits for Christmas. The second recipe, Linzer torte, can be kept longer, at least 8 days before being eaten. But it is hard to keep it that long. At your calendars to be ready for Xmas !

Here are two recipes for sweets, recipes brought from my last stay with my German friend. real ones from natives, easy to do. Exclusive! And still without pictures ... My computer is still out of order with pictures.

Ingredients
50 grams of dark chocolate
50 grams of walnuts
60 grams flour
30 grams sugar
60 grams butter
1 teaspoon of spices (clove and pepper)
Cooking time: 15 minutes

Finely chop the chocolate and nuts into pieces. Put in a bowl. Flour, sugar, butter cut into small pieces and spices are to be added to the nuts and chocolate mixture.
Put your hands and mix until a smooth dough, which held together.
Roll the dough into rolls 2, 3 cm.
Cover and refrigerate for an hour.
After the break, preheat oven to 200 (6 / 7)
Cut into pieces and cook 15 minutes.
Leave it to cool down and dry before serving.

(which is originally an Austrian recipe!)

Ingredients
170 g butter at room temperature
170 grams sugar
1 egg (white and yolk separated)
100 g crushed hazelnuts
200g flour
1 packet yeast
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 to 2 tablespoons brandy
120 grams of rosehip jam (but I have made it with raspberry jam)
1 tablespoon milk
Icing sugar
Cooking time: 30 minutes

Melt butter. Mix sugar, flour, egg white, yeast, chocolate and spices. Add butter. Then the alcohol. If the dough sticks, add a little flour.
Cover and let stand one hour in the fridge. Not too much because after it was very hard to spread.
Preheat oven to 200 (6 / 7).
Take half or a little more dough and roll to put it in the pie dish. Spread generously with jam. Leave the edges without jam and cover with dough.

With the remaining dough make strips and lie them on the jam.
Brush with milk mixed with egg yolk.
Bake 30 minutes. I burned my first torte, be careful it cooks fast.
Sprinkle with icing sugar out of the oven, wrap and try to keep fresh for several days. To be able to enjoy it during the Christmas week ...

Read this article in French : Recette de Noel : sablés chocolatés aux noix et Linzertorte

Ready for a hike … As I used to work as a guide for walkers and cyclists ... I have some tips and advices to tell you.

1 - A map, it is always better to have one, even when you think you know the place … Cut paths or heavy rain that causes a forced retreat (I know ... I survived an amazing rain with a group in Jersey …)... It is always better to be abble to find a place to hide... Just in case ...

2 - Two is better as one... You never know ... A little twist (again, I had that problem once) ... and you're so happy not to be alone... with your bad foot !

3 - A minimum of "fast food" ... Water and something to eat... depending on the walk ... Classic cereal bars (I'm not a fan), dried fruit, a bag of cookies or chocolate ... (be careful, in summer, it melts ...). If it's a day's hike, think picnic with carbohydrates (bread) and protein (meat, fish, cheese ...), some fruits ...

4 - The minimum for your health ... dressings against blisters ... disinfectant and an advise that may be unuseful in the nowadays mobile phone's world... walk with an onion in your bag (for a "natural" home remedy...)... ... My aunt, a former scout, was in charge of several young girls .... They were singing while hiking .... and she (my aunt) did swallow a wasp or a bee that stings her throat ... Panic on board ... A farmer working in the field,gave him an onion to chew slowly ...... The swelling has deflated ... An old treatment that helped then... She still lives ...

5 - Clothing. Light clothes for summer, warm clothing for winter and the whole year a raincoat. Summer cap or winter cap ... Sunglasses ...

6 – Bike tour ... The minimum... pump, patches and tools or even the bomb. An elmet too...

7 - Walking tour : good shoes ... (waterproof if possible), and already used ...

8 - Worrying about the weather : it's better ... and avoid the coastal paths and cliffs on windy days ...

9 - Telling someone what you do ... It's easier if we are looking for and you've been eaten by a wolf ... Include in your mobile phone under the name ICE (in case of emergency) the person you would like to call if necessary).

10 - Have fun ... Touring is great... Enjoy the Tro Breizh , our paths Compostela ...

Read this article in French : Randonner à pied ou à vélo : les 10 conseils

Spring time... Nature is waking up.... And you too.
There are so many reasons to enjoy fruits and vegetables in spring...Good vitamins and diversity of taste are back... Nicer and longer days too. Prepare your skin (fresh veggies and fruits are the best diet to have a wonderful complexion) and your body for the sunny days... and loose quietly the overweight of the wintertime.

Spring is the best excuse to go back to a nice healthy diet to be fit and nice looking for the -soon- sunny beaches... Cold is gone and it is easier to eat light....

Specially because the spring vegetables and fruits mature without being helped and that's much better for our palates, our health, our body and our wallet ...

The common Beets, Carrots, Celery, Potatoes and Onions are still around as they are the basis, edible during the whole months of the year...

We do often forget that green salads are also related to the seasons ... The lettuce starts to appear on the shelves in April ... while the winter salad (chicory for example) disappears ...

Remember that exotic fruits don't grow all year long...

The links refer to vegetables and fruits produced in Britain or to recipes ...

APRIL

Vegetables

Asparagus, Avocados, Beets, Cabbage, Carrots, Chards, Celery, Cucumber, Garlic, Green beans, Lettuce, Onions, Peas, Potatoes, Radishes, Rockets, Sorrel , Spinach, Turnips

Fruits

Kiwi, Lemons, Oranges, Rhubarb

Exotics Bananas, Pineapples

MAY

Vegetables

Asparagus, Avocados, Beets, Carrots, Celery, Cabbage, Cucumber, Eggplant, Green beans, Lettuce, Leeks, Onions, Peas, Potatoes, Radish, Spinach, Sorrels,Turnips, Watercress

Fruits

Apricots, Cherries, Currants, Kiwis, Lemon, Raspberries, Rhubarb, Strawberries

Exotics Bananas, Passion fruit, Pineapples

JUNE

Vegetables

Artichokes, Asparagus, Beets, Cabbage, Carrots, Celery, Chanterelle mushrooms, Cucumber, Eggplants, Fennel, Green beans, Leeks, Lettuce, Onions, Peas, Potatoes, Peppers, Radishes, Salads, Spinach, Tomatoes, Turnips, Zucchini

Fruits

Apricots, Currants, Cherries, Kiwi, Melons, Nectarines, Peaches, Strawberries, Raspberries
Exotics Bananas, Mangoes, Papayas

Well, this is easy when you have a life in harmony with nature, time, goodwill and principles .... Otherwise, you can also go on a healthy diet of vegetables and fruits, using canned ... or frozen products. Canned vegetables are full of vitamins and frozen fruits too as they are freshly collected and preserved in the same day.

Read this article in French : calendrier de printemps des fruits et légumes de saison

My regular readers may have noticed that my last posts have no picture ...
And yes that's the mystery of the computer system, my PC has some shortcomings, a failure ... A screen full of colored stripes... Horror, all my photos are in, in my computer (and many other things too). How to fix my computer? Calls here and there, tips but no solutions that work for now ... I dare not even imagine if I must take it to repair ....
So, I use my little one.... And I make notes without pictures!

For these two activities watch the weather forecast and be a little prepared in advance, waiting for the winter and rain in Small Britain.
You need some material ... straight branches, rather thick (1.5 cm diameter) and nuts you did harvest in September.

For the rest, wait for a good winter weather forecast and a nice rainy weekend ... Wait for THE sunday until you hear "what we do, it's raining ..." .

So what do we start with : recipe or branches?

Free activity for kids with branches of hazel : dwarfs and other colored snowmen

This DIY needs :
Secateurs
A long branch of hazel
A knife without tooth
Markers
Cotton

Cut your branch into pieces. Cut the heads and hats. Paint and draw faces.
You can also make another craft such as a family, a small dwarf with a beard, a dress ...


Hazel can also be used to make a bow, it is flexible ... but I do not know yet how to make the arrows ...



In Germany for the Christmas period, very different cakes, biscuits and shortbread cookies are made. It is a recipe from my girlfriend living in Freiburg.

This recipe has a nice taste of chocolate and are similar to gingerbread cakes topped with chocolate... The good ones for this Christmas period.



Ingredients
60 grams of dark chocolate
60 g butter
3 eggs
80 g sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
60 g flour
60g hazelnuts coarsely crushed

For the frosting
80 g chocolate
Icing sugar to sprinkle
Baking time : 30 minutes
Preheat oven to 180 ° (6).
Coarsely grind nuts.
Melt butter and chocolate.
Meanwhile, mix sugar and eggs. Add flour, cinnamon and nuts. Then the chocolate-butter mixture. Mix well.
Cover your dish (square or rectangle) of a baking sheet.
Pour your dough and spread on a regular basis (thin layer). Bake for 30 minutes.
Once baked, melt chocolate and pour over the square cake and spread. Sprinkle with icing sugar. Wait to cool and cut into small pieces.
Read this article in French : Activités pour les jours de pluie

Cauliflower is mainly Breton in France: 75% of the French production comes from the North coast of Brittany, also called the golden belt.
If you're touring by there, you'll see signs: Prince de Bretagne (the main supplier of cauliflowers here) has many partners that deals with their vegetables : restaurants, shops... And probably those you get over the Channel come from here and are send by the Brittany Ferries from Roscoff.

Caulyflower has a second name Cyprus cabbage... because... even if it was known during the Roman time, the culture of the vegetable declined and disapeared until the late Middle Ages... It was brought back probably from Cyprus and called then coleworts Cyprus.

West of France today dominates the French market ... There are also varieties of purple or orange.
Cauliflower can be eaten from September to January. It is a good autumn vegetable, ideal for weight watchers (full of water, low in calories and rich in vitamin C and B9, the famous folate for pregnant women).

Cooking
Cabbage is not appreciated by everybody ... Because some people don't supporter well, they suffer from flatulence ...
Well, you have two solutions:
- Growing it in the garden, collect and eat it the same day ... It won't bother you...
- The second, for almost anyone, is to cook your cabbage in two waters. It will be more digestible. And to keep it white, add lemon to the cooking water.

Conservation
You can eat the leaves of cauliflower. Cut them into small pieces for the same cooking time as the cabbage.
These recipes are possible with cabbage or broccoli Romanesco or both.
My great grand father was Italian... I do like these two ways of eating it but they're unusual... Italian cuisine...



Baked Italian meal with Cauliflower

It is a sort of gratin made with an olive oil bechamel with thyme.

Ingredients
1 medium cauliflower
Butter
Crumbs
100g grated cheese

For the sauce

3 tablespoons flour
2 cups cooking water
5 tablespoons olive oil
Thyme (1 tablespoon dried thyme or a little less fresh)
Salt
Cut leaves, wash the cabbage and separate the bunches. Let it boil in salted water. If you are cooking with two waters, the second (5 to 10 minutes depending on cabbage) for a cooking al dente.
Cook it in butter.
Meanwhile, prepare sauce. Warm the oil. Remove from heat, mix the flour, cooking water, a pinch of salt and thyme. It's a sort of bechamel sauce.
When the sauce is homogeneous, pour over the cauliflower. Sprinkle with grated cheese and some breadcrumbs.
Bake for 20 minutes at 6 (180 °) until a beautiful golden crust.

Italian cooking : cauliflower with olives and provolone

Ingredients
1 cauliflower (good size)
150 g provolone (Italian cheese)
100 grams of black olives
1 onion
1 glass red wine
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
Toast

Wash and separate cauliflower parts.
Cut into thin slices provolone and onion.
Pit the olives and cut them into pieces.
Put in a saucepan with oil, onion, a layer of cabbage, some slices of provolone and pieces of olives. Spice with salt and pepper.
Repeat with remaining ingredients. Sprinkle with oil and add the diluted wine with a glass of water.
Put the saucepan on the stove and cook over low heat for an hour. Avoid cooking too fast. If during the cooking liquid has evaporated add boiling water. Cauliflower should be tender.
Serve with toasted bread and a salad of beans and julienne carrots.

Read this post in French : Deux recettes à base de choux-fleurs au four ou à la casserole

Villecartier Forest, not far from Fougères is quite important over 1000 hectares of oaks... and other trees... A good escape from everyday life...

Major historical episodes took place there... No French Robin Hood did live here but it was a refuge when Normans did invade Brittany... or during the French Revolution when it was not good to believe in God.... and better to hide...
It was also the place where shoemakers used to live and work.. until the early 20th C ...



This forest is now a place of leisure and recreational activities for families ... It is a really nice on sunny Sundays of winter... Few people and lot of things to do: hiking with kids, uncles, aunts and grandparents, biking tours for cyclists, nice way to exercise with your dog... In short, everybody will found its pleasure...

Well-marked trails invite you to explore the landscape, the nature and its heritage. You can also imagine you're an adventurer and you wander in the forest ... and you'll face chaos of rocks, remarkable trees ...
Playgrounds for children will finish the walk before getting back to the carpark.



If you like to exercise... do the CRAPA (sports course ?) in the forest which is more physical... And that's free ...

The crêperie is also open on Sundays in winter ... to warm up after so many activities ...

Summer and weekends (April to September), the forest turns into a recreational park with climbing activities.



In the middle of the forest, the small port on the pond Villecartier (3 hectares), is the departure of cruises : electric models ( 2 to 4 people) will drive you around for about twenty minutes ... During yout trip, you'll admire replicas of wonders of Brittany.



The port is open daily in July and August. Only on weekends and public holidays in April, May, June and September.

The other leisure is connected with trees... in Récré nature, au parc des Grands chênes ...



Tree climbers will be welcomed from 2 years old to …. There are two different possibilities : the park designed for children (OK from 5 years old). The other one is for adults or for kids aged 10 Be careful, the child must be 1.40 meters at least...
The opening of the tree climbing park is daily in summer: in July and August. And on weekends and public holidays in April, May, June and September.
Remember to take the proper clothes and the rest of the equipment is provided. Spend the entire day … and enjoy Mother Nature !

Read this article in French : Parc loisirs en forêt de Villecartier en Bretagne

Book the last week end of November to go to the first Breton gastronomy fair in Brittany (salon breton du livre et du gourmet). We won’t talk about French cuisine but Breton cuisine…
Go to Saint Brieuc with an empty stomach !!! Because lots of breton chefs and wine waiters will be there, cooking or showing their cooking secrets !!! You will also taste fine local products, see professionnal tools, discover plenty of recipes and cooking tips. You will get the signature of famous breton chefs that will present their books.

And you’ll also enjoy the evening meals that are prepared by those local stars for the event in their restaurants (you have to book now !). Or you can taste chocolates that will be done on the fair. Or appreciate scallops specialities !!! (Saint Brieuc is on the Breton coast).

Love goes through the stomach, I think you say,then you’ll leave the fair with a love feeling!!!

It is the first time of the fair, it is free, don't miss it and enjoy it !!!

Read it in French : salon breton du livre et du gourmet à saint brieuc fin novembre

It took me some time to peel the rose hips but here I am with those high concentrated vitamin fruits !!! I’ve done two different recipes with them : jam and syrup.



The more difficult in the recipe is to peel the rose hips. You have two different ways to do it : for the lazy ones (read 1), for the meticulous ones (read 2).

Ingredients :
Rose hips
Sugar

To take away the itching powder, you need time and you can either :



1 – Put the rose hips through a colander and save the pulp.

Or

2 – Cut the rose hips in two pieces and take out the fine hairs with a knife. I know it is quite long…

Once you’ve done that, it’s easy.
Add to the pulp sugar (400 g rose hips, 200g sugar) and boil till you have a nice thick orange mixture.

Put in jars.

The recipe of the syrup now…

I would say it is an homemade medicine for sore throat : it has no chemicals and plenty of Vitamin C (you remember that rose hips have 20 times more vitamin C than lemon and when you catch a cold you have a vitamin C deficiency) and honey (everybody knows that honey is good for sore throat).

You have to use 65g of fruits for 35 of honey. The savour of honey is stronger than the rose hips (but they are the benefits of the vitamin C). Anyway it is good for your health…

Take care…

Read it in French : Recette de la confiture aux cynorrhodons d'églantier

2 differents steps... Ratatouille is easy to make but needs time to be good.

1 - Preparation of vegetables ratatouille
2 - Crumble and cooking
1 – Ratatouille with summer vegetables
In summer, the ideal is to make a French ratatouille. The secret is to cook it a long time. Better to make a big one that you can freeze.The recipe is for 8 people.

Ingredients for 8 people 2 garlic cloves
An onion
2 peppers
2 eggplants
5 zucchini
8-9 tomatoes
Olive oil
Garlic in olive oil for 5 minutes. Peel the onion and add to garlic (15 minutes).While the onion and garlic cook. cut into small pieces peppers. Add and cok fr 15 minutes. Continue with the other vegetables (15 minutes each). Then cook over low heat for one hour (no cover). Let cool a few hours and again cook for an hour. It's done

2 - Crumble
Ingredients for 4
100g flour
50g butter
50g Grated Parmesan
Cut butter into small pieces and add to flour and grated Parmesan. Mix until small balls. Pour the ratatouille into a baking dish. Add the crumble top. Oven for 20 minutes to 7.
This winter you can do the same thing with carrots, leeks, potatoes and mushrooms ... Or any other vegetable that you will cook in the oven before proceeding.

Read it in French : Recette du crumble salé aux légumes de saison

Some weeks ago, I did some nice elder flowers fritters, and now that the berries are being eaten by birds, I ‘m hurrying to make a nice jelly. As it is my first elderberry jelly, I tried to find on internet the best recipe. Well, none appealed to me… So after some tries, I’ll tell you what for me is the best.

Ingredients :
berries, (for 3 pots of 300 g of jam, you need a full bag of berries)
sugar,
an orange if you have one (recipes usually use lemon but orange is good)
and some water.

Harvest your wild berries in the countryside, you’ll find them everywhere. Choose the ripest ones, full of water and not the one already tasted by birds that are no more watery. Because the secret for a good jam is liquid.



Pick berries off the stalks, keep the black ones, and weight them before doing anything else. Because thanks to its weight, you ‘ll have to add one third of sugar later one.
Once you weighted them, put the orange juice into a pan with the water and let it boil for some minutes. It smells really strange and not nice but go on. Crush them. Then use a food mill to remove the seeds. I first tried with the berries and seeds, it is inedible.

Once you have the sauce, put it into a saucepan, add sugar (one third because once you removed the seeds and skin, you have not a lot left) and mix.
The best is to wait the next day to cook it. Boil it then for some minutes. Your jam is ready when using a teaspoon, the jelly is covering your teaspoon and dropping very slowly. The drop must almost stay on your teaspoon.
Pour the boiling jam into pots and seal them and let them cool down upside down. And again store them upside down till eating. The pots can be kept for a long time (a year or so).



Be careful with the berries : never eat them raw, they are toxic, as are the leaves, the roots and the bark.

Read it in French : Recette de confiture aux baies de sureau