Phew .... what a month, summer in Provence
Do you ever have a month that is so absolutely busy that you literally feel like every day is a race and that you could do with having an extra few hours per day just to get everything done? That’s exactly what August 2012 was like for me, all in all a bit of a blur...
We've literally had a full house since mid July, I don't think we've ever had so many bodies under the one roof before. It has also been unbearably hot, the type of hot where you can't wear anything other than a bathing suit during the day and showering seems futile as you step outside and already have a sheen of perspiration - or a sweat mustache as my sister politely put it!
I've heard the local farmers, who moonlight as trufflers come truffle season, complain that the lack of rain and soaring temperatures spells very bad news for truffles this Winter, which makes me very sad as the January- February truffle feasts make the cold and dreariness of Winter in Lacoste just about bearable.
August was the month my mum and my sister moved in, poor Raphael had to cope with all three Bradley girls for a month. It was also the month that Charlotte decided to start teething, and on the 24th my sisters boyfriend Duncan dragged her up the mountain and proposed to her....here she is all glowy and happy and showing off her new hardware.
...August is also the month of our wedding anniversary.... we will have to celebrate later in say February when our kids are a little less demanding... take a trip down my memory lane here
Lou and I dancing at the Fete votive
And if that wasnt enough, we also celebrated my mothers birthday. It was a good one, the gendarmes were called as the birthday party got a little too raucous between the shots of lemoncella, the impromptu sing-song and obligatory Irish dancing in the middle of the road outside Cafe de France. Alas no photos evidence due to too much fun being had by all!
It is a month when the tiniest circus I've ever seen comes to Lacoste, who needs a big top when the backdrop is the most incredible view of Bonnieux. This tiny family circus consists of a misfit tight-rope walking cat, a flying terrier, a hyperactive pony, a gravity defying, table hopping goat and hoola hooping local kids ...good clean fun
We also had wonderful friends come visit and courgeously we left the wilds of the Luberon to take a day trip, en famille, down to chic Cassis. Lunch at Le Grand Bleu, followed by some sunbathing and people watching on the beach (sardine central), cooling off in the delicious sea and then taking in the sunset on the Route de Crete...bliss
Charlotte and I enjoying some cuddle time on the terrace
Finally August in Lacoste is the month of the abricot or apricot and we have been feasting on barbecued apricot and rosemary skewers for dessert, a recipe taken from the drop dead gorgeous cookery book, Barbecue by Stéphane Reynaud
It comes accompanied by a delicious syrup and for 18 apricots the recipe for the syrup is: 3 Tablespoons Honey; Juice of 1 Orange; 50g Demi Sel Butter, 100ml Peach Liquer (I subsituted this for creme de cassis as we didnt have peach liquer). Instructions: Combine the Honey and Orange juice and reduce in a saucepan, add the butter and peach liquer, reduce again until syrupy.
