Peaches are in season, yay!

Béziers, France

10 July 2024

Dear Family and Friends,

As I’m writing this the smell of peach crumble is wafting through the air. It feels early for peaches to me, but they are delicious and juicy here now. Especially these little flat peaches.

They are delicious, but I will admit that I find the skin and stone to peach flesh ratio is not as favorable for cooking as the larger variety.  You do lots of peeling and pitting for less of the good stuff, in my opinion. I also prefer the orange over the white flesh for baking, it’s just more appetizing to look at. But it’s really fun to be experimenting and learning to bake again.

Like with so many things, there is a learning curve to baking and cooking here. It took a minute to learn how to operate the appliances in my kitchen. Ingredients are a bit different here, for example all-purpose flour, I’m not sure it’s a thing here. You don’t necessarily find everything in the grocery store that you might expect. Where’s the baking section? Ovens are a bit different, pretty much all ovens are “fan assisted” which takes a little bit of adjusting for your times and temps. If baking powder, baking soda or yeast are available, I haven’t found them yet. So I decided that my first experiment would be an easy one, no leavening agent needed!

I felt badly that when Brad visited because I wasn’t quite ready to provide that home cooked meal that I would normally like to serve a visitor, but we did okay and I hope that he enjoyed his visit. It was fun to have family here to experience Béziers and meet some of my new friends. Patty was here in January, of course, but now the settling in has begun I feel like Brad got a little hint of what it’s like to live here.

I had fun showing him a bit of the centre ville and we did some of the touristy things that I’ve been waiting for a guest to do.  We climbed the tower of the cathedral and enjoyed the spectacular view of both the city and the surrounding area including the mountains and Mediterranean.

We also took the petit train to the 9 Ecluses (the 9 locks). This is something that I will highly recommend to future visitors. It’s a fun and easy way to see a bit of Béziers, hear a little bit of its history and to get to the locks without the hike.

Thanks to my friend, Timo, I was also able to watch the second season Julia from HBO. I enjoyed it so much I binged the entire season last night. If you have HBO Max, I highly recommend the show. It’s an incredible cast and I think it’s very well written and directed. But it also reminds me of some of the reasons I’m excited to be here.

Yes, I’m living a cliché in the South of France and writing a blog about it. Last year, before I had an inkling that I would be moving to the South of France, I started to write a story that had been percolating in the back of my mind for decades. I had so much fun writing the story that I started to want to write more. It was partially the inspiration for writing this blog, and partially the inspiration for the change of location and lifestyle.  A less expensive lifestyle theoretically means I have more time to enjoy writing.

I’m even so cliché as to be a big fan of Julia Child and have been dabbling in Mastering The Art of French Cooking for decades as well. Yes, both volumes made it into my boxes. (Foolishly I let my volume of Baking With Julia go, but c’est la vie.)  This too was part of my motivation. I’ve always enjoyed both cooking and baking. Coming to the South of France it is a dream to spend more time teaching myself the art of French cooking, and who knows perhaps I’ll find a class to supplement my learning.  It’s no surprise that the French lessons that have to do with food and cooking are always my favorites, and I always do better at them!

I do hope that now that I’m settling into my own rhythm of life here, I’ll be writing more and cooking more. I will try not to inundate you with pictures of food, but I’ll keep you posted on progress… if there is any.

While you were all celebrating Independence Day, Thursday wine and music on the Allées began.  It was fun to see the Allées bustling with people, and of course I ran into many friends and made some new friends as well. I look forward to more wine tasting and friend making as this event happens every Thursday in July and August.

I’m off to take a dip in a pool. It’s a hot day here today, and I think it’s just the beginning of the dog days of summer. I know that many of you have been having excessive heat and I hope that you’re all keeping cool as best you can.

Enjoy it while it lasts… winter is coming. 😊

Take care, and visit soon!

Bonne Journée!