Sleepless in the Cévennes

I have the best family ever! Thanks for writing all of the comments everyone! Aunt Linda, I have seen whole chickens in our grocery stores, and have cooked with them often. I should have been more clear in my blog. I just don't know many people who typically buy the whole chicken, especially my age. I think that more people find it easier and more simple just to buy pre-packaged pieces, such as chicken breasts or wings. I'll still take you up on the shopping trip though so you can teach me more cooking secrets of yours, hehe! Uncle Rick, I hope that we do start spraying less! Many plants are still sick because it is still humid. On Friday, I sprayed the green bean, squash, and cucumber plants! I also sprayed the eggplant plants quickly because their flowers don't like the extra copper. I am really looking forward to July 4th, and the 14th! Thanks for the recipe! I'm not sure if I will be able to find cans of creamed corn here, though. If not, I'll be baking corn bread, and I think I'll take up your idea of sprinkling cardamom on top of the bread. Thanks for the great idea! Mom, I'll get back to you if I need to recipe. The sweet potatoes here are not orange (they're white), so I may not do the sweet potato fries. Pooie! I'll get back to you on what I do. Thanks, everyone!

Aside from the spraying on Friday, I did experience something new: I witnessed my first kill of a bird with a knife. Ja-Ja killed a duck because it was young, lonely, and bothering the chickens. She explained to me something about it not staying with other ducks, but I couldn't really understand. She said that I didn't have to watch because we would be eating the duck one day, but I thought that it would be good for me. It wasn't too shocking for me. I'll leave out the details. I did get a bit emotional later when I was on my own. I realized that we eat God's creatures to stay alive and keep well-nourished, without giving much regard to the lives of the animals. I hope to sat grace more at meal time and thank God for what I eat. What we consume has already had a life, whether it's an animal, vegetable, fruit, or anything else.

Saturday's market was fun. One of the daughters, Amena, came for the first time of the summer. Now that school is out, the girls will come more often. I was extremely tired. We leave by 7am for these Saturday markets, so I got up early. Ja-Ja saw that and let me relax a bit more than usual. I mostly helped with refilling the baskets and crates with more produce. Ja-Ja brought some strawberries, tomatoes, and baby eggplants for loyal customers since they are limited on the farm now. We had a lot of green beans, huge lettuce heads, raspberries, monster zucchinis, fresh basil and parsley, and black currants. The currants are sweeter now and taste fabulous (I couldn't stop snacking on them when I was picking them, hehe, and they make excellent jam). There were no radishes this time. I went to the grocery store in town meanwhile to get July 4th ingredients. I found pretty much everything I needed (even Heintz ketchup, phew), but no molasses! Ja-Ja doesn't even know what it is herself. This is a crucial ingredient for my BBQ sauce and baked beans. Ja-Ja is going to ask Chérif's brother, who is a baker living in rown here, if he has some. Otherwise, I think I will have to substitute with corn syrup. Any other suggestions?

I also made a trip around the market. I bought some gifts, hehe! I has a good time talking with the producers, trying their samples, and learning about some of the ingredients. For example, one lady selling fig products told me that the first picking happens in July/August, and the second in September/October. The figs if the second picking are always sweeter and better! I'm sure that rule goes for other things, too, like maybe strawberries.

We spent at least three hours on Saturday afternoon bailing the hay. We are nearly done with the first harvest. Chérif said that he will cut the same fields again in about another month for the second harvest. He said that the sheep like this hay better (like the figs, right!). I think that I will be on my way home by then, but I may catch the beginning of the second harvest. My arms are certainly getting a workout, raking up the fields after the bailer passes attached to the tractor and throwing around the bails in the barn to stack them to the ceiling. It's fun, and I feel very productive. To keep up my momentum because it can get boring sometimes, I just keep thinking that I am cooking for the sheep and putting everything in the freezer to eat later. A little grass here, some of that herb here, a sprinkle of those leaves...

We didn't eat dinner until around 9:30! Ja-Ja wanted to cook a healthy meal for everyone, though. We ate freash, steamed vegetables that were not sold at the market: green beans, potatoes, and some carrots. I have been eating more french cuisine here. I think it's because the onions are getting big and sweet. We ate an onion tart and an onion omelette over the weekend. Both were incredibly sweet and flavorful! Eating off the farm is truly special.

I was a zombie agin this morning because we got up early to go to the flea market in Andouze, a nearby town. Naoko really wanted to go to keep cheap clothes and the daughters want to go to get DVDs. It was hot and crowded. I bought a ring for 1 Euro and a gift for the family. We then walked around the town and ate lunch. I had a salmon salad. I saw a lot of American tourists, wearing Broncos and San Francisco T-shirts. The fresh fish and American voices made me feel like I was back in the States. I was definitely attracted to the touristy streets just so I could be with my kind. Tourists turn out to be a good thing sometimes when you are one yourself.

Hopefully I will get more sleep. Oh wait, the UEFA Final is on tonight! I am certainly doing a lot here to get as much as possible out of this experience. Chérif is letting Naoko and I have the morning off tomorrow, so I'll sleep in then. Yippee! I'll dream of my sheep in the mountains, where it's cool and breezy. I hope we take a trip to see them soon! Bonne nuit. (Good night.)