AND FROM WINTER TO SUMMER!

The sun has come out again! I even sat on my terrace yesterday and soaked it up for a quarter of an hour.
Ellie and I went to the big beach just after lunch. I never realized (because Oslo couldn't walk that far) that further on from the first blockhaus the beach is nudist. Ellie was fascinated and went and said hello to all the (two) males tanning their willies, and I had a devil's own job to get her back. Other men lurked in the dunes, fully dressed. Are they spying on those who do take their clothes off, or are they bucking up courage to do it themselves? I don't see why people can't walk their dogs on this part of the beach, so I go ahead and yesterday it was certainly worth it, because I found a "telline" mine. I don't know what tellines are in English, but here is a photo, they are little shiny flat triangular shellfish that you cook like mussels.

I managed to pick up about a kilo, and stopped because I couldn't carry any more in my little plastic bag. Back home, I put them in a bowl with a bit of salt and a lot of water to spit out their sand.

Here is the picture I promised of my flowering palm tree. The flowers are starting to emerge from the slipper like coverings. I'll take another when they are blooming.

Ellie has been chewing her way through most of her toys - things that are meant for much bigger dogs than her. So I threw them away and bought her a rabbit this afternoon with a sort of beeper inside it. At first she was frightened of it, but now they are inseparable (well actually, I think the rabbit could do without Ellie, but she can't do without the rabbit!).  I think I'm going to regret that it beeps...

I have just cooked my tellines. A glass of rosé in the bottom of a pan (I didn't have any white), with a knob of butter and a little salt and pepper, very little. A couple of large cloves of garlic chopped up. When that mixture comes to the boil, chuck in the tellines (or mussels), bring back to the boil, stir, and stop almost immediately or they go rubbery and dry and uninteresting. They are very tiny inside, don't take much cooking. At the end, add a handful of chopped parsley or coriander and eat them with a plate of chips on the side. Mmmmm...!

PS - I'm still losing weight...