Destination France 2017: Quiet Saturday

I think we take many things for granted in Canada. For instance, there's a truck that comes round regularly to pick up all our garbage and recycling. We sort out garden waste, glass, and recyclables from the general garbage, but we don't have to do much more than roll the bins to the curb on the assigned day.

France also recycles, but it demands a wee bit more effort. There is no truck to pick up our stuff; no specific bins at each household. We are the ones who must go to the recycling centres. Only garbage is picked up at the curb.

Each bin is clearly identified, accepting glass, plastic, metal or paper.

Did we really drink that much rosé wine?

Paper

Plastic bottles

We also did a load of laundry on this lazy Saturday, using the efficient "solar dryer" to make everything smell fresh and clean. Of course I used my favourite Persil laundry detergent!

Thoughts then turned to dinner. I decided to make a tomato salad with the three varieties of tomatoes I had bought: red, yellow, and brown (sometimes called blood). In France, tomatoes are called "pomme d'amour", apples of love. Of course in common discourse, we simply say "tomate rouge, tomate jaune, tomate brune".

I layered them alternately in a ring then added a vinaigrette made of olive oil (no lemon or vinegar since the tomatoes are acidic on their own), ground pepper and salt, minced garlic (using the new garlic press that the hosts bought for the kitchen), and some fresh basil cut in a chiffonade. All you need to know about making a chiffonade of basil is to stack the leaves, roll them up like a cigar, then cut them in thin ribbons with a very sharp knife.

Also made some haddock dipped in a beaten egg and seasoned bread crumbs, then pan fried in butter and olive oil. Haddock is one of our favourite fish, not available on the Pacific Coast. Basmati rice, lemon wedges and thick chunks of baguette rounded off the meal. Of course, a few glasses of very cold rosé.