Those Are Some Sweet Buns

Those Are Some Sweet Buns

Today was bread making day to sell at the market in the park in the village of Le Plan. It’s a long process that begins around 7 in the morning and doesn’t end until 5 in the evening. By 5:30 all of the bread has been sold, all of that work for such a quick turn around! It was a crap ton of bread, too. Lots of mixing, kneading, shaping, kneading again, and shaping again; it’s quite tiring work. And each one has to be in a perfectly uniform shape, which is not easy to do. The entire thing is a hands on process. There is no Kitchen Aid mixer, just your hands, from start to finish. From mixing the flour and water all the way to burning your hands while grabbing the loaves off the paddle when taking them out of the giant wood-fired oven. I’m really hoping to be able to make it when I get home. I know the ingredients; it’s just that there are no measurements… I need strict instructions when it comes to cooking. Not to mention, I will also be missing the awesome, wood-fired ovens so I know I will not get the same product as I am getting here… But, dang it, I’m going to try!

The best part of bread baking day is that it’s also pizza baking day! I have had that ratatouille pizza four out of the five days I’ve been here and I hope the trend continues! It is so amazing. And the wine that is paired with it… Oh. My. Gawd!... I really hope I am able to bring some home with me. However, I know that even if I do find the same bottle from the same house in the states, it won’t be the same…

I also can’t wait to try and make the elderberry flower drink. It’s tasty. There are a lot of plants here that are also in Southeast Texas so I think my chances of finding them are pretty good. I was so excited today when I came across a honey suckle for the first time in FOREVER. But every time I tried to get the nectar out of it, there was nothing there. All dry… The last one I tried before giving up had so much hope. I picked it at the right point off the stem, I had a hold of the perfect spot on the pistol, and once the head of the pistol was almost out, I could see there definitely something coming out with it (imagine my excitement)!!!! And… it was a bug… Whah, whah, whah… So, I gave up…. I’m going to get one though. I had to explain to Alain what I was doing because they apparently do not do that here. I’m hoping to be able to have him try it.

Whilst failing at reliving a childhood past time, we were out collecting the elderberry flowers so we could make more of the drink the next day. I had my shear in hand (which was the same knife that I had used to cut my pizza at lunch. I’m sure it was not washed since then because their dish cleaning system is quite different from ours.. as in it hardly exists) crawling through he most painful bushes and trees known to man, which just so happen to want to grow right on top of the elderberry trees… Well, to make a long story short, while crawling through the woods with a knife, I cut my finger open… I didn’t want them to make a big deal about it so I didn’t tell them. I just became a bit more awkward than I already was and pretended like nothing happened. Every time I had the chance, I was applied pressure like you wouldn’t believe. I just had to stop the constant flow of blood so they wouldn’t notice it dripping everywhere. Somehow, with lots of pressure, and maybe a bit of “the force” (cause I was staring at it ever so intently, ya never know) it stopped. I don’t think they noticed, although they may have been talking about it right in front of me, even to me for that matter, I wouldn’t have had a clue. But as soon as we got back to the house I nonchalantly went up stairs to retrieve a band-aid from my little First Aid kit I had brought (I knew I would need it), went back down stairs for dinner. Which was ratatouille pizza again, and there at my place setting was the same knife that I’d used for my pizza at lunch, cut down elderberry flowers with, and sliced my finger open. And it still had not been washed… F@#k it. It’s just a little bit of germs….