August 2018

Août 2018

August has been a very hot and dry month. The grass is burned and I doubt most will come back. Today however there are storms forecasted. Not something the vignerons like to hear at this time of year.

And speaking of the vines, with the hot summer, the vendange has started. Most here in Gevrey are waiting until next week, but some domaines have started. I have heard that the grapes are ready, but some have said the sugar is not high enough quite yet. If it rains hard today, the grapes fill with water and that would dilute the sugar content even more.

After the storms today, we should have some nice days with the temperature in the 80's.

I read an article that this weather may last until 2022. It said it is a normal cycle of heat with some extremes due to climate change. Boy those extremes are hard..hotter days, drought, and bigger and bigger storms! On verra.

Here he goes- early one morning

Not a lot of excitement around the Klein household this month. At the beginning of the month Keith took off for a 3 week bike tour of the west. Bretagne was a little cooler so he headed there for cooler days. His blog is at : KEITH -bike blog
He changed blog sites this year.

As for me, I sat around the house with fans on me. The cat and I suffered in silence, well not so much silence for the cat. He would come in every so often and complain.


I did go out and take some more photos . Not much for flowers since they are all dried up, but  some photos of the villages. I spent an afternoon and took photos of L'Etang-Vergy and then returned to the church in Reulle-Vergy to re-take a few photos.

The old lavoir in L'Etang-Vergy. It is on the river Meuzin.
A lavoir is a wash house. The river to the right and water for the
Lavoir  to the left of it (it is darker and brown because of the shade)

A very large church in L'Etang-Vergy. It was not built until 1859.
The church Saint Charles Borromée. Before they
went to the church in Reulle-Vergy, about 2.5 km away

I found the design on this house interesting.

Then to the church in Reulle-Vergy, Saint Saturnin.

Church Saint Saturnin
Started in the XII century and the nave was added in the XVI century

A grave stone
"I have been what you are,
You will become what I am"

I have played with some photos. I  have been trying to take photos "camera obscura". This is how old photos were taken. Not always in focus., but a big box that let light in and imprinted the scene on the film. I had looked it up and there is a way to do it with todays digital camera. Crude method, but fun to play with. Per instructions on the internet, you take off the lens. With the cap, you make of hole, then glue foil over the hole and make a minute hole (petit petit petit) in the foil.

Then you take a photo without any lens.. You have to give it some exposure time. Like I said this is a crude method. If one really wants to do this, you need to build a camera and use film. Most photos will be out of focus. But it consumed some time and I was amused.

Exposed for 30 seconds, and I added the white vignette
around the edges.

That is all from here in Gevrey this month.

Recipe of the Month

Tarte aux pêches
It is the season for peaches, and they are really good at this time of year. Here is an easy recipe for a peach tart with almond cream.


INGREDIENTS


Almond Creme

• 125 grams unsalted butter, room temperature (4.4 oz)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs,. room temperature,
• 3/4 cup almond flour
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Other INGREDIENTS

• 4-6 ripe peaches, peeled and cut into slices, depends somewhat on the size of the tart pan.  If you use fewer peaches, the almond creme puffs up between and turns a dark brown when cooking...ummm.

PREPARATION (preheat oven 375°)

1. Either buy or prepare a pie crust. I had a sweet crust, "pâte sablée".
2. Put the crust in your tarte form.
3. Add the Almond creme into the crust, level it. Get it to the edge.
4. Arrange the slices of pear evenly on top of the Almond Creme.
5. Bake 35-40 minutes

Should be a little brown on the edge of peaches, not too much. I then used a packet of "glaze" to make the peaches nice and shiny.  Sooo good.

CALENDAR

The July BLOG is just below...just scroll down.
Testing calendar