market days

saturdays are market days around here. i'm already looking forward to going tomorrow. what are your plans?

p.s.: i'm thinking about switching to flickr when posting photos here. only i can't find an html code for an 800 size (the size i'm currently using with picasa). anyone got any ideas? many thanks!

oh, and since dorte asked why i want to link to picasa or flickr in the first place (i love questions! :)): simply because the large size that blogger allows me to upload directly is too small for my liking. or have some new developments bypassed me?

first steps

finally got my act together and set up a flickr account. it will probably take a while until i get my head around it properly, but it's a start. (i may just start bugging you with questions...) would love to see you there! 

these pictures were taken on a market, on a hot summer's day in saint-martin-de-craux, not far from arles. i so miss the sun-drenched flavours of the south.

p.s.: thank you so much for all your feed-back so far on my camera question! some of you dropped me a comment, some of you sent me an email. thank you, thank you for your thoughts and ideas, this is such a big help. i'm still happy to hear what you are thinking, so leave me a comment if you like (i do read english, french, dutch and german, so any of these languages is fine ;))!

corner view: best kept secret

the weather here has been a bit of a rollercoaster these past few weeks, some days we had rain and sunshine and temperatures ranging from between 18°C and 28°C all in one day. last weekend i was sick but had to work, and took that cloudscape photo on my way home. i'm feeling much better now, but somehow the clouds in my mind don't really want to blow away. and being in a bad mood is something that's not typical for me at all. heyho, it'll pass.

as to my best kept secret, well, i'm not sure i have many. but i do really like to cook. preferably for many people. and my favourite thing ever is using fresh ingredients from a farmer's market, as well as making sauces and dressings. so maybe i'll let you in on my raspberry vinaigrette secret. does that count? i like it with seasonal greens, ideally tender ones or a good mix of green leaves, herbs and edible flowers. in winter, it's delicious with lamb's lettuce and apple slices, caramelised in brown sugar. and of course some fresh bread.

raspberry vinaigrette

(enough for several servings)*

take a table spoon full (or two) of fresh or frozen raspberries and mash them up gently with a fork

add a tea spoon of dijon mustard and stir well

add a little water, some white balsamic vinegar and stir well

add in some fairly liquid honey, salt and freshly ground pepper and stir well

add a generous amount of good, but not too overpoweringly strong olive oil, stir well

taste and see if you need to top up any of the ingredients, you should be able to taste the raspberries and end up with a slightly sweet yet tart dressing

* stored in the fridge in a small screw-top jar, this dressing will easily keep for a week (if you can manage to make it last that long) 

for more corner view secrets and revelations visit jane at spain daily. corner view will take a summer break in august - back in september! regular blogging here will go on though, so feel free to drop in, i'd be delighted!

p.s.: since i don't have a picture of my raspberry vinaigrette i'm sneakily trying to get away with some tomatoes i saw at a market in france two weeks ago. generally, i can tell the difference between raspberries and tomatoes...