FRENCH FOOD FUN

Lost in France, and very happy about it too.

I've spent two days watching the above view, in 38 degrees - no reason to move actually, except into the pool. Our estate agent thought we were meddling a bit and was happy to see us on our way and not stay around for the second viewing of our house in Oslo, so we listened to him and left.

We came down here late Monday evening, and as everyone knows restaurant kitchens in France close at 10 pm. So arriving at the ungodly hour of 10.30 pm you have two food choices in the Perpignan area - 1) Processed cheeses and ham at a motorway petrol station or 2) For those of us who are on the inside of things - the Pizza Napoli in Perpignan, a really old establishment with un-French opening times, which has saved us from nightly hunger many a time. We chose numéro 2.

Of all edible things I managed to pick from the menu a long-forgotten specialty called Pizza Napolitana, which consists of, well… SALT. Okay, my Mum taught me that you need salt in hot weather - living in the tropics as I did as a child and teenager - but the second I set my teeth into the Napolitana it struck me: I'm going to be thirsty tonight! Anchovies, capers, olives - and then of course I drenched it in "huile piquante." Well, why not, while you're at it…

So… awakening many times during my first night here and reaching for the water glass, though things could've been worse. Getting up late in the morning to my husband cutting up a warm baguette on the kitchen table, and spreading out freshly sliced ham and cheese - what could be better?

I find myself focusing intently on cooking while I'm down here, even while standing over my saucepans in 45 degrees (indoors). My shelves here are crammed with cook books - my favourite is Delia Smith's one - but I use the internet just as quickly and easily to find recipes. Cooking again for my husband is FUN! He's got his appetite back, and even shopping food with him now is a completely new experience! (No, not new - rediscovered).

And this time I've brought with me Nigella Lawson's "Forever Summer," as if that book didn't weigh enough in the Ryanair expensively bought baggage allowance.

This is a simple Catalan lunch for sure: Fruit from the region - nectarines, cherries, apricots, melon - then Pan con tomate: Toasted bread rubbed with garlic and tomato pulp, sprinkled with coarse sea salt and olive oil - some with Serrano ham and homegrown basil and some without. Oh bliss - I just about managed to grab myself a piece of bread before my husband ate it all!

Pastis in the sunset

Catalan spring onion!

Above all I find food beautiful. Colours, shapes, combinations, tastes - well, simply the excitement of it all. Tonight I cooked this:

Small lamb chops with red wine/cream sauce
Fried mushrooms
Garden peas
Baked beef tomatoes topped with breadcrumbs, olive oil, parsley and manchego cheese
Thinly sliced potatoes with charlotte onions
Nigella Lawson's "Rainbow Room's Carrot and Peanut Salad" (my friend Grete's specialty)
Gremolata (made this for the first time - don't know why I haven't done it before as I love parsley)!
Green salad with Dijon/cream dressing

Very pleased about being in France and can't care less about bad hair day, no shower (just pool-dipping), no earrings, sunburn and no make-up. Very pleased too about husband with appetite!

View from my terrace at 9.30 pm - no wonder the light here has always attracted artists