Visit to the Country

We hadn't seen Barbara and Charlie in too long a while. They really like to do cruises, so they had taken one (or two) and Werner and I were busy, too.  But finally, a bit of time.  And another reason to bike and up our training for the Lake Constance tour only a week away!

It has been amazingly sunny and warm this summer.  Really, too warm a lot of the time.  I think the last time we had this kind of hot was 2010 and I only remember that because Hunter, Hannah and Kenley were here and we had to move downstairs a couple of nights because it was just too hot to sleep upstairs.  (And the heat followed us to Paris...but that's another story.)

Regardless, we need to move a bit.  Train to Syke, bike to Bassum.  Sounds easy, but of course we have no sense of direction (on occasion)  and a compounded misreading of maps (sometimes), so getting out of Syke took 25 minutes of our planned 60-minute ride!!

But we finally made it and it was lovely.

They live in the back half of an old half-timbered farmhouse and have built a country garden over the years.  Summer phlox, roses, poppies, fruit trees and bushes.  And welcoming shade on a hot afternoon.

Barbara had made a torte from Mirabelle plums.  Yum.

A thistle from her garden.

You don't know Mirabelle plums?  Not a surprise.  The US forbids their import into the US and though they grow there, they're not well known. A region in the Provence is famous for their Mirabelle products, and according to one site I read, 80% of all Mirabelle products come from that one region.

I should have taken a picture of the Mirabelle tree, but we were busy gathering fruit. They're not much bigger than a cherry, and can be yellow or red.

Charlie shook the tree and the fruit came raining down on our heads!  We gathered them from the ground.

There aren't many things to do with these little beauties:  eat them fresh, make marmalade, use them in a cake. In France they make schnapps, but that's beyond my ken.

We did cake and fresh.

The first thing I discovered was that a cherry pitter is a great friend.  Sometimes the pits were too big, but still it helped a lot.

I picked a recipe based on the picture that looked so much like the torte that Barbara made.  I should have just called Barbara!  It was a challenge - pastry for the bottom, filling of fresh cream cheese and eggs etc., mirabelles, streusel.  It was supposed to be done in 60 minutes, but not even close!  It ran over the top and after 90 minutes I gave up and pulled it out.  Clean up took a while!

It tasted delicious - thank goodness - (and better the next day) but that's not a recipe I'll try again!