Winter Is Coming, Or Is It?
It’s the end of September, or perhaps it’s December? And somehow I seem to remember it was August yesterday? Winter is coming, or perhaps it isn’t after all?
This year has become a blur, fluid somehow, as days stretch into the next without real distinction. It’s been the strangest of years not only because of 2020 (no explanation needed), but because the weather seems to just as confused as we are.
Two weeks ago we were sweltering under a freak recurrence of summer heat, the garden aching for moisture and cool. Then a few days back it started to rain, blissfully, the first drops in months. It continued unabated for days, dark mornings morphing into grey days fading back into a humid black. It felt somewhat depressing, but it was also somehow a big relief.
The ground sighed, and we breathed again.
Then today we woke up to sunshine, 6°C (~43°F) and snow-covered mountains. The air was crisp, the wind sharp and cutting, the sky a pale blue. So T-shirts were swapped with sweaters and hats, the heating tuned on (our new boiler works wonderfully, by the way), and Polly bounced enthusiastically outside. She loves this kind of weather and wakes us up with slobbery face kisses at the crack of dawn, pestering us until we take her out for her morning walk.
I guess if I lived my life in a thick black fur coat, I’d be pretty darn excited for winter too!
But all this change, all these flip-flops back and forth have me wavering in time, losing grasp of the flow of things, questioning what is next. Perhaps all this is normal. In a year like 2020, with everything that has happened so far, and everything yet to come; the US elections, the worry of COVID-19 and winter flu (ugh, what a mix), the the vast uncertainty of where all this will end. It can all feel a bit much sometimes, as I’m sure it does for you too. And so the mind wanders, flows to places it does not usually go, as it tries to grasp onto something that is solid and known.
I guess that’s my week in a nut-shell. Moments of question and grey, interspersed with moments of clarity in which I hang onto the more mundane thing in life. This blog is about the latter…
We Bought Wine
My better days this week were spent around food, one of the many constants of joy in my life.
It’s wine-time in France, or rather it’s THE wine time in France. This probably won’t surprise anyone, given the abundance of grape fermentation that happens yearly in this country. After all we have over 27,000 wineries here that churn out around 50 and 60 million hectolitres per year, or around 7–8 billion bottles. That’s quite a load.
France is not the biggest producer in the world (Italy actually holds that honor), nor the oldest (wine originated in the area now known as Georgia, around 6,000BC), but it offers centuries of tradition and taste. And that means an abundance of delicious stuff.
What makes end of September extra special however, is that it all goes on sale in a rather crazy way. You see it’s the annual “Foire au Vins”, where bottles (and cases) of outstanding quality can be bought at hugely discounted prices.
This year, sadly, sales are even bigger due to heavy US tariffs (trade war stuff) and of course COVID-19. In fact wine exports have plummeted so badly that earlier this year the French government bought over 200 million liters of excess wine and distilled it to produce hand sanitizer. I’m not even kidding….
Imagine that? I may be disinfecting my hands with fine Bordeaux (honestly makes you want to cry)….
The upshot of all this is that the 2020 “Foire Au Vins” is better than ever. Every supermarket has been going nuts with offers and discounts. And the bigger supermarkets even have experts on-hand to help you with your choice. On top of all this “Les French Days” are running now too (= the French equivalent of Black Friday), which means there are discounts added to the discounts. It’s a vertiable shopping bonanza.
We have a rather massive inventory of wine stock (quarantine prep, ya know), so we’re not buying as much as we usually do, but it’s still been fun to shop around. Gotta love this about France.
I Made Tiramisu
I’ve been on the hunt for the perfect Tiramusu recipe for a while.
My quest actually started over a year ago, for no particular reason other than the thrill of it all. You see, I love Tiramisu as a dessert. Who can resist that smooth, onctuous cream, interlayered with amaretto-soaked base (or Marsala wine, if you want to be more traditional)? It’s sweet yet light, intensely smooth, simple yet complex and deeply satisfying. The ideal dessert.
It can be quite easy to make if you simply use store-brought lady fingers and mascarpone, whipped into a cream, but IMO there’s a much, much tastier way. It involves more work, but ultimately it leads to a superbly superior result. And if you’re an aficionado like me (or perhaps just as crazy) I strongly urge you to give it a try.
Of course, I approached the Tiramisu challenge like any other Scientist would, trying out recipes, tweaking ingredients, and incrementally improving each product to get the perfect taste/texture/look combo. My breakthrough was Italian chef, Ernst Knam who Paul discovered and translated for me (he’s learning Italian this year, in addition to everything else he does). He not only showcased a recipe that is elegant and powerful, but the final result is…simply speaking…deliciously perfect. Oh, and it’s gluten-free too.
The key(s) to it all? A rich, delicate chocolate sponge, made from scratch; a super-smooth cream with a hint of vanilla, thickened just a smidgen with a bit of gelatin (just enough to hold it in shape); soaking the sponge with amoretto and espresso; layering it all into a beautiful sculpture; and letting it sit for a day for all the flavors to develop before eating.
I made it on Friday and we had it tonight. I just wish I could send ya a taste thro’ the blog….yummmmmmm!
P.S. If you follow the recipe from Earnst Knam , I recommend making TWICE the cream portion…
I Harvested Walnuts
I have to admit that one of the gifts I’ve received this year is learning A LOT about gardening.
My latest foray into this new and wondrous world, is harvesting walnuts, something I’ve never really tried before. We have two large walnut trees on our property, and so I read about it beforehand of course, and tracked chatter about it on my various Facebook gardening forums.
Turns out that walnut harvesting is not altogether straightforward. Some folks say you shouldn’t harvest until the nuts drop from the tree onto the ground. Others insist this is nonsense, and that you must harvest while they are still on the tree. For RV owners, this is a bit like asking “how often do I need to change my RV tires”. In other words, it’s actually quite a controversial subject.
The truth I’ve found, depends on your area and probably lies somewhere in-between.
In our case most of our nut cases are already black, shriveled masses by the time they drop from the tree. I feared they might be totally lost, the fruit somehow killed due to our long summer drought (?), but after cracking a few open & doing a few taste tests, they appear to be salvageable. So, I’ve been harvesting and getting well gritty in the process (walnuts husks stain quite horribly, as I’ve discovered), and now our nuts are happily drying & “curing” in the pantry. In a few weeks they should be good to eat.
Not a bad harvest all-in-all, but in the future I think I’ll gather them a wee bit earlier while the husks are still green and first start to split open on the tree. They should taste much better that way.
So that’s it my friends….a week gone, days blended together, heat, winter, wine and tiramisu all-in-one. Some days make sense, others don’t, but it’s the small things that ground us and I guess that’s all we can ask for this year. In those dark days, the days that blur together and perhaps take your mind somewhere you do not want to be, I hope you find your anchor too.
So tell my dear followers, are you are OK this week? Did you see winter? Something good? Or something darker? Share your thoughts. I’m here to listen.
Coming to you from Wyoming…we have already had a snowfall that snapped the branches of the cottonwoods all over town. Everyone has been kept busy sawing and gathering up the limbs littering their yards and making numerous trips to the dump. But….the same weather patterns here….hot to cool to snow and then hot again. Love your pics – they are stunning!!
Sounds like our crazy weather here! Cold, hot, cold….I do wonder what winter is going to be like.
Nina
Gorgeous snow pics. Worth the confusion. Enjoy your views, we do!
Hello from Gresham,Oregon.
I love your blogs and observations on your life. It is so fun to read how others are handling this crazy new life.
Here in Oregon I’m adjusting to a new stationary life after traveling full time for 5 years. I love to drive and travel but with the start of the pandemic and the government’s response I decided to stop for now.
We have had some refreshing rain this last week which was a welcome change from the smoke that had our AQI at over 500!
Luckily being retired I was able to stay inside all the really bad days.
You don’t realize what you take for granted until it goes horribly bad.
Today I had my choice of cleaning house and more unpacking of boxes or starting on tearing down some of the patio. We are getting new fences next month so anything against the old fence has to go. Today a little bit of therapeutic destruction with a hammer and pry bars felt good.
The tiramisu looks scrumptious. Thank you for sharing!
The smoke and fires have been terrible in the West this year. So many of my friends have been impacted. I’m glad you’re safe and adjusting well to stationary life (it’s such an odd change after fulltime traveling, isn’t it?). Hope you have a wonderful fall.
Nina
A note from NYS – we in the Finger Lakes are hovering around drought conditions, an ongoing dilemma all summer. The forecast looks like we may get several days of rain or at least some rain each day in the coming week and we sure need it. For the past 4 or 5 days we have had a recurrence of summer even tho’ fall has officially begun, not helpful for the lawn. So I totally get the way that you are feeling. It has been a tough year and the election in November may, or may not make some people feel a bit better and of course, others will feel worse. The outcome will determine if I will be swimming across the big pond to visit!! heh heh heh.
Back to the weather for a moment, as we are in the middle of wine country here, the farmers have had a stellar year for grape growing. The dryness has allowed the grapes to ripen nicely, altho’ I think mid summer there was a bit of a problem with molds due to the humidity. But for the most part other than quantity, the quality should be good. Unfortunately, we do not have the wonderful sounding wine sale period here. What a hoot that would be!!! Our area has also not been bothered by lack of tourists visiting the wineries, breweries and restaurants. Many have had better than usual summer and into fall business and as far as I can tell it has been done with masks and distancing.
I feel better for having read your blog today, it’s nice to know that the way we are feeling is not so rare across the world. Be well and I’ll look forward to your next missive!!
Your comment just gave me the most wonderful throw-back memory to our summer on the finger lakes a few years back. Such a lovely place (and yes…great wines too!). Wonderful to hear it’s been a good wine year, and rather interesting to hear you’ve had such a strong tourist season. I guess lots of folks were escaping the big cities? In any case I’m so glad we were able to visit your part of the world before we stopped RVing. Such great memories.
Nina
Sure wish I was walking with you and Polly on that high road with a wonderful peaceful view 🙂
In a way you are….you’re all with me when I walk 🙂
Nina
The snow on the mountains is a beautiful picture!
Too much wine? Is there such a thing? The dessert recipe looks fabulous, but it does sound a bit fussy….really worth it?
Your walnut stained fingers reminded me of our old farm. Walnut and Butternut trees everywhere, front and back and even in the horse pastures. My Palomino mare, Chamois, and our Golden Retrievers would be stained from rolling on the ground littered with walnut hulls. Polka dots that had to just wear off.
I love the pictures and thinking of you all….
YES…trust me….that tiramisu recipe is worth it. I only make it around once a month…but OMG it’s delish. Paul and dad have claimed it their fav desert.
Nina
I blame you. In part. That’s a good thing.
After chronologically 5 years on the road full time (but due to COVID- 19 really only 4.5) we have decided to stay in the house we bought in the Hudson Valley for “just in case…” and only travel for several months at a time as the spirit moves us.
Will it be this winter? If it’s anything like the last 3, perhaps not as they have been relatively mild (with the only appreciable snowfall in November and April-crazy!)
Will it be next summer? Good chance if it’s like the past one with July blistering hot and we don’t have a/c. On the other hand, one of the reasons we realized we like staying put is being able to garden. Summer is not the best time to leave a property that requires mowing and weeding on a regular basis with only a son who works full time to “caretake.”
But, Nina, you hold some responsibility because as I have read your posts and seen the similarities in what is going on here and there, I realized that it’s not just your brillant wrting and beautiful pictures but the idea of staying and watching the same things change. I’ll also admit that what I’ve been able to glean from the various RV related groups and newsletters I get, it has changed. There are certainly numerous people we’d love to meet but as I scroll through post after post of people who have simply bought a multi-ton vehicle and “hit the road” with nary a moment spent learning about it, I’ll admit I grow concerned. We have also been saddened by the number of people we saw who thought Covid was a great time to go out and travel. So, we’ll see. The decision to stay has lead to a huge buying spree in the local nursery for me and a complete reordering of the plantings in our yard while the trees rapidly lose their leaves-VERY early this year, due to the drought- as well as a list of projects for inside. Oh, Cadbury the cat would also like to thank you. While he is a wonderful traveling cat, completely comfortable in his MetPet vest and strutting around on a leash he is FAR happier out exploring the fields around us. He brings us presents of moles, and mive and since I swear he understands what we are saying I regarded the rat (!) the brought us the morning after our discussion about staying put, as an extra vote of thanks from him. His sister Chloe, OTOH, is a bit miffed as when the cold weather sets in Cadbury moves into our room at night and her free roam of the house is thwarted.
So, our MoHo is parked in our yard, we are parked in the house and as we continue to wonder when this thing will end I will wish you continued days of wonder and beauty.
You know I was just talking with Paul the other day about the “heyday” of RVing, and how things have changed since we were on the road. Like you I get the feeling that RVing really has changed SO much in the past few years, even more so in 2020. My RV friends tell me there are more newbies than ever on the road now, all flocking to the “safe travel” of RVing in the time of COVID. It is making RV reservations (and even RV parts!) harder and harder to get. We have family members who have been waiting over a month to replace their A/C, simply because they can’t find any stock! And RV sales, RV clubs & memberships are all booming like never before. It does seem a bit nuts. On the other hand, I do think it will all come to some kind of equilibrium again, hopefully when COVID dies down and people can get back to normal living again. Watch out for massive RV sales a few years from now however….
In the meantime, cuddles to Cadbury. Polly sends him 4 paws up on the stationary thing (she loves it too).
Nina
Thank you yet again for taking me out of our 399 sq ft park model. I so miss trees and green, miss RVing, miss all our many Canadian friends who left early March and will not be back this year. Still hot and dry here near Phoenix. Only 99F at 3PM. Maybe there’s hope! Love your photos and adventures.
I can only imagine how tough summer has been in Pheonix. I love the desert, but after a while you do long for green, and rain, and cool. Hopefully won’t be too much longer before things cool down a smidgen in your area. Winter is not tooooo far away.
Nina
Wow! You live in such a beautiful location. Weather changes year to year and humans seem to have no change to it. I am happy your new pellet boiler is working fine, I fixed a few things on my 42 year old natural gas fired boiler and it should last another Alaskan Winter also.
Your village life seems so blissful to us. Take care and enjoy Winter.
Gotta love old tech that works. It’s a testament to how those machines were made. Glad to hear you’re set for winter now, especially in Alaska!
Nina
So. September is a great month to visit France for the wine sales and black Friday deals all over? I’m going to keep that in my hat. LOVE the tiramisu recipe with chocolate! Looks divine! Here in WA (the state), it’s cooling to quite brisk at night, but days are perfect. 70s, low 80s expected this week. This is our usual last fling of summer heat, then we will drop down to the 60-70 and keep going lower in the daytime. Well, nearly every year. Who knows this year? Leaves are falling, but only a few. Sunflowers are dried up husks full of seeds for the birds, our cornstalks are perfect decorations for fall right now, and I’ve harvested our pumpkins and spaghetti squash. Expecting our first freeze sometime in October, and then we will rip out the tomatoes (horrible year for tomatoes!) and the rest of the garden. Thanks for sharing and letting me pretend I live in France. 🙂
Ahhhhh….love those 70’s days in WA. Such a beautiful time in the PNW. And pumpkin time…yessss! Thanks for sharing.
Nina
French wine is just spectacular. The first time we were in Paris (2002) we would go to Monoprix and limit ourselves to spending no more than $5 (US) a bottle. It was never bad, and sometimes great. Your picture of snow on the mountains is fabulous. Still hot in Tucson, highs around 100. Nights have cooled off so the 7 am bike ride is not nearly as uncomfortable as it was a month ago.
I totally agree about French wine. We rarely pay more than $5 for a bottle, and they’re ALWAYS good! If we want a really good wine we splurge and pay $10. Such a deal. Hope the desert starts cooling soon!
Nina
I planted three walnut trees 40 years ago. As you can imagine, they are now mature and drop quite a few walnuts. We don’t harvest them, though. I dislike dealing with the stained husks that stay attached to the shell. Plus, Costco sells shelled walnuts for an unbeatable price. The stained husks are not natural, but the damage created by the Walnut Husk Fly. We do get some undamaged walnuts, they look like the whole walnuts in the stores. More, if it is a heavy-bearing year. I don’t harvest them either. If they are not dried with heat, they will mold inside the shell. Then, one has to crack the shells, which is time consuming. At three pounds for about $15 (I eat toasted walnuts every morning on my hot cereal), it is discouraging to spend my free time harvesting, drying, and cracking that volume of nuts. I have plenty of other activities I would rather do. But, when I was young, I had a dream of easy country living!
Here in Washington County Oregon, there are still quite a few walnut orchards around. Though they are mainly grown in California now, as they can be machined harvested since the ground is dry after they fall to the ground. Here in Oregon, the rainy season has started by that time and they have to be picked up by hand. The Oregon walnuts do have a better flavor (Franquette, an old French variety).
What we do grow here in the Willamette Valley, are hazelnuts. 90% of the US crop is grown here. We are being surrounded with newly planted commercial orchards. Much like your sunflower-growing region. They drop earlier and can be machine harvested, before the rains start. I planted those also. They are now gone. Ever cracked a hazelnut to find a worm-eaten nut? Another fly responsible, but this time damaging the nut directly.
Shelled hazelnuts from Trader Joes: $7 a pound.
I do love reading about your new country life, and the wonderful photos of the surrounding countryside. Keep writing!
Interestingly enough walnuts are quite expensive here in France. Not many walnut farms around I guess? I don’t mind harvesting, and I do buy to supplement. I’m a nut lover 🙂
Nina
Well, that is beautiful. I could look at that scene every day.
Hello from Ohio! We are having spectacular fall weather here. September is typically beautiful in the Buckeye State. Leaves are beginning to turn lovely shades of gold and crimson. Mums are blooming, providing splashes of color across neighborhoods lawns. Pumpkins of all colors, shapes, and sizes decorate front porches. It is such a gorgeous time of year. But it can also be a rather hectic time as we frantically finish outdoor projects “before the snow flies.” Add to that harvest canning and preserving. Apple season is upon us and for a few months, the scent of all things apple will fill the kitchen. Yum! Not knowing what this winter holds (future quaratines?), we are concentrating on the positive and lovely gifts from God every day. Blessings on you and yours!
SO nice to hear about your fabulous fall weather. I just love fall, especially when the leaves change. And of course apples, pumpkin….yes! Blessings to you too.
Nina