The Joys of Home Cooking in a French Kitchen.

One of the nicest things about returning home is that I once again have access to my own kitchen. I can choose what I wish to cook, and when I wish to cook it. Whilst I shall miss the conviviality of meals among friends and family, this can feel like quite a treat, especially when we have our own vegetables to eat. What's more french asparagus will be arriving at the market very soon. We have local cheeses to buy all year round, and delicious seafood when we visit the coast. But alas, when I look in the freezer, my stock of last summer's produce has almost completely gone, except for two precious containers of home made passata, saved for a special recipe to come. (Nothing can compare to the taste of ones own tomatoes.) Down in the kitchen garden our raised beds look forlorn. Where once the vegetables that saw us through the winter flourished... leeks, potatoes and broccoli... now they are all gone. Thank goodness for a few remaining carrots and beetroot to help to see us through, for indeed, the 'hungry gap ' is upon us.

Work in progress in the kitchen garden , or potager.

But 'hope springs eternal'. Some raised beds have already been planted up and before too long we will be eating the new season's fèves(or broadbeans.) I can see our crop of garlic pushing up straight and tall, and the raspberry canes are sprouting with their promise of fruit to come. Soon the potatoes that are 'chitting ' in the garage will be planted close by, and young lettuce plants will herald the imminent salads of summer. But what I am looking forward to most of all is the time when we plant rows and rows of young tomato plants, and nourish them with that well rotted manure that we collected during the winter. When eventually I can bite into that first tomato of summer, that will be the time that I truly appreciate living in France.