Spider bite? Ice packs and a Blackberry Parfait please!

This past Sunday evening marked the first time I experienced a spider sinking its fangs and releasing venom into me. It hurt tremendously at the moment of my foot being bitten. Oh why oh why did I forsake socks that day! My yelp of pain woke up Dirac the Cat who was napping on the pergola roof under which I was sitting. First his ambling steps could be heard. Then his face peeked down over the edge. He was reassured that if I died, The Calm One would feed him. Then the real fun began. The swelling intensified so that within an hour my foot resembled a blooming flower, huge, floppy, pink, but not pretty like its nearby counterparts. Blackberries got picked shortly after the incident when I was under the misconception that the perpetrator of my injury was a wasp. They remained in the fridge while I researched insect bites. Frequent ice packs and rest lessened the pain and puffiness within two days. When noticing today the sleek, shining berries, I mused a parfait could take the focus off the woeful condition of my flipper-like appendage. And if one parfait didn't do the trick, then a second might.

Topped with vanilla ice cream

To fill a 250 ml/8 fluid ounce glass, take several large handfuls of blackberries, put them in a fine-mesh sieve, and rinse. Reserve ten of the plumpest and most ripe of the berries (more if they are on the smallish side).

Our thornless bush so far has given us around 3 litres of jumbo berries!

Place the sieve over a bowl and squash the berries with your hands (ensure they are clean, including their nails!). Finish the extraction with a fork, remembering to use an utensil other than the mashing fork when scraping the outside of the strainer to prevent getting seeds into the sieved coulis.

Add powdered sugar to taste, whisk till smooth, and set aside. Mine was fairly sweet to offset the unsweetened whipped cream.

Combine one heaping tablespoon of crème fraîche with six tablespoons heavy cream in a tall container. Slosh some vanilla extract (1/4 to 1/2 tsp) and whip with an electric stick-mixer's balloon whisk until soft peaks form.

Start with a layer of whipped cream and follow with a half of the berries. Douse with several tablespoons of the coulis. Repeat with some more whipped cream, ending with the rest of the fruit and coulis. Top with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream and a spearmint sprig. Any surplus coulis can be frozen or served on the side with the parfait.

The delicate tops of our potted spearmint are kept available for garnishing in a small vase (originally a vanilla extract bottle) of water.

Such a garnish delights the eye while its glacial fragrance gives the nose a whiff of the refreshing treat to follow. The dollop of ice cream furthers this sensual preparation for the heady burst of flavour from the juicy berries, syrupy coulis, and airy, slightly sour whipped cream.

Happy to say, I was a completely compliant patient.

This is the patio chair which concealed the spider! It and three others are now thoroughly clean and spider-free.

À la prochaine!

Midsummer Garden

The potager is brimming with potatoes, tomatoes, garlic, onions, beets, green beans, and carrots close to harvest in addition to plums, peaches, and blackberries. However it quickly can become desiccated because rainfall is infrequent during July and August. Hence my morning and nightly dates with the water hose because during those times the rate of evaporation is less. Thinning beets are advantageous in two ways: allows room for the remaining to become full-sized and gives abundant greens for the cook pot.

I prefer beet greens to spinach though I would never refuse the later

A chiffonade is an effective way to cut herbs and leafy greens by stacking them in a pile, rolling-up that pile up into a fat cigar, and then thinly slicing it.

Cold drink and food are refreshing ways to withstand hot days, but a different response works also which is surrendering wholeheartedly to the heat and melting along with it till the only reasonable response is a nap. And to aid that giving-in is a nice soup plate of minestrone containing among other ingredients, beet greens, basil, and potatoes from our garden.

Tomatoes which were planted late in the season due to unfavourable weather are beginning to redden.

Happily there were enough ripe ones to slice for topping macaroni and cheese.

In order to stay bushy, and therefore productive, spearmint is no different from other herbs which all require frequent pinching. These leaves got washed and then towel-dried. Spread evenly on a plate, they lost all moisture within two weeks. There is now a filled jar chez nous that will provide some lovely iced mint tea.

Some of the strawberries put out baby plants, from three to five on a runner, which were cut off and placed in shallow flats of potting mix. They will be planted in about a month.

The lush, silky blooms of the hydrangea have reached their peak.

Dirac the Cat loves twilight and twilight loves him, bringing out the blue in his coat.

The wild area and dusk is a perfect pairing for him

He doesn't need warm food to go with the flow, just a good stretch thank you very much.

À la prochaine!