Pierre and Denise's chickens and rabbits - the eggs came from these chickens, which ones exactly, I don't know! The big breeder rabbit is going to have a new litter in a few days and I can't wait to go over there and meet the new bunnies.
It's been a strange, wet month...but now the sun is out and my garden is thriving. The past week, I've been harvesting 5 tomatoes daily; smaller in size than the ones you may find at the market, but these ones taste so much juicier and full of tomato goodness. Yesterday I harvested another monster zucchini, or courgette in French.To combat the heat today, I decided to make something fresh and healthy using ingredients picked fresh from the garden: Vietnamese summer rolls with peanut sauce. Everything you see on the plate was picked this morning (except for the store bought red peppers and carrots): garden lettuce, mint, baby tendrils of cilantro, tomatoes, 1 lonely baby beet with beet greens, and zucchini.
With so much zucchini, I wondered what I could make. After a quick Google search, I found a great recipe for Korean zucchini pancakes, or Pa Jeon. Has anyone made these before? Looks simple enough...if only I could also have Korean BBQ and all the side dishes with it too.
Yesterday, before driving to Lausanne, R and I stopped at Mekong Market at Ferney-Voltaire so I could stock up on a few Asian staples. I got nori, pho paste, cha lua, rice flour, and tapioca starch to make Bánh Cuốn, steamed Vietnamese rice rolls with pork sausage.
I also got some nems, yellow mung mean cakes, sate paste (to make satay skewers), and a Chinese pork bun with Chinese sausage, egg, and pork in it.
And finally a view of the mountains from a skylight in my bedroom - the mountains you see are the Juras, a chain of mountains that are older than the Alps but much lower. They run from this area all the way to Basel, Switzerland, which is near Germany. I often hear and see cows grazing on grass on these meadows between our house and the mountains.
