we had dear friends and their two gorgeous girls over for supper last night. these are our friends who recently completed the 2010 Marathon des Sables. they showed us some videos which included a lot of sand, sweat, some tents, not that much food, and a bit of ad hoc foot surgery. truly incredible (the 6 marathons in 6 days including one 91km run with NO breaks, not the surgery). they are quite the inspiration and what they achieved is something truly impressive. i asked if they'd ever had a moment of "oh sod this, forget it" and they both looked at me as though i was mad. i suppose one needs to have that kind of determination to undertake an event such as this. and i thought Iron Man was tough. their next bit of fun will be the Death Valley race. nice.

G roasted two chickens--one sufficed but i am sure Flor isn't complaining about having a whole chicken to herself for her next 10 suppers. we were so stuffed we didn't have room for salad let alone pudding (good thing as i hadn't made one!).

four new hostas and one tree peony. the others are doing rather nicely too. happy me.

and of course i had at least one assistant shouting instructions at me

g brought home an antique french garden table,  antique plant holder and a beautiful plant he'd spotted at the weekend. we will use the table for potting and preparing plants. not sure what to put in the planter yet...

CARAMELS

another quick and easy recipe 

boil together sugar, corn syrup, butter, vanilla essence 

PARMESAN AND OREGANO BISCUITS

super easy and quick to bake

flour, parmesan, touch of water, salt, oregano, pepper and 22 mins at 350degs

*sigh* i want one of these--right now.

if it weren't 10pm, it wouldn't be a surprise to find me in a garden store with armfuls of potted plants ready to take home to recreate this beautiful table.

roll on tomorrow...

from Lonny magazine

feeling a tad overloaded or perhaps just indecisive?

by Samantha Hahn

know your french cheese

source

this is my idea of a perfect room. 

not a dressing room, kitchen or bathroom, but a room in which i would keep, grow, and tend to my plants.

what type are you? find out here

apple and rhubarb crisp and a pavlova

while g made the delicious pork in salsa verde, i brought up the rear with an apple/rhubarb crisp and a pavlova. juan jose made a lovely salad - mixed leaves and goat cheese.

chef g outdid himself yesterday with his pork in salsa verde. he worked from a recipe out of his secret recipe book. the pork was so beautifully cooked, it could be cut with a fork.