OLD FASHIONED HOT CHOCOLATE

It has been a beautiful Spring weekend, sunny but with a sometimes chilly north wind. I invited a small group of people to my house on Saturday to learn how to make scones. It's funny how much enthusiasm the French show for anything "teatimey" about English cuisine and reject all the rest! They were delighted, we ate lots of scones with Jersey cream (can't get clotted here) and raspberry jam and they went away with leftovers and the recipe.

Yesterday, late in the afternoon, I went to the second of the five theatre/concert events that the children gave me for my birthday. It was called "Concert au Chocolat n°5" and was a Chostakovitch and Tchaikowsky chamber concert (a trio of exteeeeemely talented young men, piano, violin and cello) and if one arrived half an hour early, it was preceded by a cup of chocolate made in the old fashioned way, by the most famous of Quimper's chocolatiers. It was absolutely delicious, I've never tasted anything like it. Well, it tasted like chocolate of course, but the texture was amazing, like drinking silk. Beautifully served in quite large, warmed cups, on a large oval saucer, with three beautiful little chocolates on the side. Quite a treat. And the concert was most excellent.

http://www.theatre-cornouaille.fr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=463&Itemid=59

It was quite surprising to come out of the theatre into the broad daylight of a sunny Spring evening!

I went to see The King's Speech the day before yesterday. I found a cinema in Quimper where it was playing in English. Wonderful film, fantastic actors, but quite stressful. One found oneself completely rigid with the effort of trying to help the poor man out.

I have photographed my two latest pieces of pottery. One is a simple shell shaped bowl, the other a large rather lopsided plant pot with the front and back sculpted in a sort of seaside rocks theme. Difficult to describe the inspiration, rocks at low tide, with seaweed, crevices, water, etc. (P.S. Lopsided with me is entirely intentional!)

I have been putting the power hose over my back terrace. It was filthy with moss, grime, mud, and lots of bits of plant pots that fell apart during last winter's cold weather. It's such hard work, but at least the result is immediate. I have to do the front as well, but am not quite sure how, since it slopes down towards the house and front door and all the water will run down and maybe not drain away fast enough before inundating me! I think very small doses will do it, stopping and starting so that the water has time to disappear. I've got lots of pretty flowers on my front terrace, hyacinths (which are starting to fall over but which are a lovely colour), daffodils,  and various shrubs with sweet smelling flowers.  (The "boards" behind the daffodils are the old door of the vegetable cellar in Le Mée!).

My back garden is also progressing, but more slowly now that the pressure of planting is off. I've sown a few seeds, cleared a bit more turf, and transplanted various things which were not in the right place.