There were so many things I could have named this post. But hey, I made an Apricot, Lemon and Basil Sorbet. So when I couldn’t decide between witty or explanatory I decided to go with plain old pragmatism. Who knew ice cream was so complicated?
BEING MORE FRENCH
Towards the end of last year, one of my work buddies and I were talking about New Year’s Resolutions. He said he never made the traditional resos of saving money, losing weight or getting fit. Instead, he chooses something that explores a different way of being / thinking / creating. So, it could be a year of reading the financial papers or a year of being vegetarian or a year of being celibate or totally slutty or otherwise exploring a part of your personality that you feel needs expressing or you just want to have fun with.
“You know, like a year of being more French”
My reaction?
BUT WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
This is the beauty of something like this – it can mean whatever you want it to be. For me…in no particular order:
Dress More French
- Such as totally indulging my love of a striped t shirt.
Eat / Drink more French food (and wine)
Fromage anyone?
Watch More French movies / French tv shows
Including one of my favourite films ever The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
And just to balance out all that sweeetness, some gritty French police drama.
Be more Cultured
- Last week I saw The Clock by Christian Marclay and loved every minute of it.
- This weekend I’m planning on attending a local art show.
Self Care
French women take fabulous care of their skin and have amazing beauty regimes.
I plan on getting me a piece of that. My first foray into this realm was to buy some French eye drops that were RAVED about in a beauty blog. They have made absolutely no discernible difference so that was money down le toilet but I will try a new product each month.
Read More French
I haven’t quite decided where this bit lands
- Dip my toe in – Read more books set in France…eg Cara Black’s Murder In….Series
- Float along – Read more books by French authors…I have some Proust and some Zola and some Binet in my TBR.
- Dive in deep – Read French in French – I also have Flowers of Evil by Baudelaire and, weirdly a French translation of a James Patterson novel.
Maybe a bit of each…
Other ideas not fully thought out yet
- Have an attitude
- Start a revolution
- Sexy Frugality
Mais, bien sûr
Cook More French
Which brings us back to doh oh oh oh.
The topic for our latest Tasty Reads Book Club was a “non book” book. So you could cook recipes off the interwebs or the tv or, in my case a food magazine. I bought this mag when I was on holiday last year and had not cooked anything from it.
So, when some friends gave me a big bag of apricots of varying degrees of ripeness, I decided to
- Be more French, and
- To use this produce before it went bad (Year of Less Waste)
By cooking the Apricot, Lemon and Basil Sorbet from the mag.
Here’s the recipe.
In English.
PrintApricot, Lemon and Basil Sorbet
A delightfully refreshing fruity sorbet
Ingredients
- 500g apricots
- 12 basil leaves
- juice of 1 lemon
- 3 eggs
- 200ml of cream
- 150g sugar
- 1 tbsp honey
Instructions
- Infuse 6 basil leaves in cream for at least 2 hours.
- Then put the apricots, the rest of the basil, lemon juice and a little water into a pot and cook over a medium heat for 5 minutes.
- Taste and add the honey (a little more or less may be required depending on the sweetness of the apricots.
- Cook for another five minutes.
- Let cool.
- Separate the eggs.
- In a large bowl, beat the yolks and the sugar until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture turns pale. Then stir in the apricot mixture.
- In a separate bowl, beat the whites to soft peaks.
- In a third bowl, beat the cream to soft peaks.
- Add the cream to the apricot mix and blend through.
- Gently fold in the egg whites.
- Pour into a container. Freeze for 24 hours
Au revoir mes amis and have a lovely weekend!
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