Baking Bread without an Oven & Accosting Strangers - 28 & 29 June.

 

On Sunday we tried, unsuccessfully, to find the workshop of the bicycle repairman that had a stall on the market the previous year. He'd told us he was opening a shop but we failed to find it  – perhaps it didn’t survive the pandemic; perhaps we simply were looking in the wrong place.

We more groceries (we can only buy a few provisions each visit due to transport being limited to the push bikes) and ordered a full size fridge-freezer. Sally reckoned it was a good price and we’ve been managing with a small fridge for long enough – especially as we’ll be visiting for longer periods now (hopefully). Delivery was only €10 so we arranged for it to be delivered the next day.

In the evening we looked for hotels in Paris and, having booked three-nights there, changed our return train ticket; a surprisingly simple process.

Up at a more reasonable time (07:45) on Monday – thanks to setting the alarm. We needed to be sure to be up in time for the fridge-freezer delivery (scheduled for some time in the morning). Whilst waiting I decided to try and adjust Sally’s rear brake. This, and a clunking noise from my rear wheel, was the reasons that we were seeking out the cycle repair shop. I’d tried adjusting it last visit, but it had defeated me. I don’t know why, because this time it was straightforward – perhaps because I just jumped in rather than trying to follow a guide.

Whilst I was playing mechanic, Sally was having a bash at making bread. She does this on a near daily basis in the UK but here, in France, we don’t yet have an oven – which makes baking a bit of a challenge. We do have a basic air fryer and have seen videos where people have used these to bake. The trouble is, they had temperature controls – and ours doesn’t. Deciding it was worth a try, we had bought a bread mix (flour, yeast, etc. all in one). Sally mixed the dough and it rose fine. She put the rolls into the fryer and set it for 20-minutes (10-minutes less than the videos had baked for). The results? Excellent – and 20-minutes was an inspired guess. Six very edible crusty rolls. We (well, Sally) will be baking again – without a bread-mix next time. I had meant to take a photo – but we’d scoffed the lot before I thought. I’ll have to substitute a picture of a later batch.

Who needs an oven?

The delivery driver called. He spoke no English and you’ll know by now that my French could be (a lot) better. I managed to figure out that he was around the corner, outside the ‘Tabac’, and that he wanted to know where we were. I’d left my address and had even drawn a map whilst at the supermarche, but even giving him the house number again didn’t seem to help. I somehow I managed to communicate that I’d run down to the Tabac and guide him.  I ran down the street (in my slippers) and, as I rounded the corner, saw him coming towards me. I gesticulated that he should follow me and ran back the other way, guiding him into a space in front of the house, only to find to my embarrassment… wrong van! So, running back down the road again I found the right van and ran back up the hill with him following. I was knackered.

The driver and his mate were great. The struggled (really struggled) to get the appliance up the winding stairs and onto the second floor where the kitchen is. They then removed all the packing and took it away with them (something I don’t think UK deliverymen would do), after taking care to ensure that these non-French speakers knew to let the freezer settle for 24-hours before powering on. They really were great and so I dipped into my wallet and asked them to get themselves some bierre on us.

We didn’t do a lot more on this generally lazy day. Sally has ordered a sowing machine, and I have linked up with an expat who lives a few 40-minutes north of here who shares my wargaming hobby. He’s going to pop down on Thursday to play a game or two. It will be nice to have a fellow gamer local to me – we’re a rare breed the world over.