Millymollymandy

[quote]There is a disease which is attcaking the leylandii in many parts of France, do perhaps god dislikes them as much as many people on earth do. A couple of quotes from gardening discussions Effectiv...[/quote] As far as I am aware Thuya is a Cedar and Leylandii is a Cypress. I don't think that Leyland Cypress is affected by the disease you mention.

Crepi cracks all right, specially during the summer of 2003! Never heard a French person say the word "platre". It's all "enduit" to them!

Been looking through forums, books and the internet in general regarding when to prune stone fruits. There is so much conflicting advice re. when to do it! Some say the dormant season, some say late winter/early spring, some late spring/early summer etc!!! Common sense dictates that I won't be able to see diseased, dead wood and crossing branches when the trees are full of leaves, so we just set to today and did the lot! Will however spread the major pruning over a couple of years as the trees need a lot of tlc. They aren't old, just a right mess! Seems to be the same conflicting advice everywhere regarding crop rotation too. Think I'll just "do it my way" and see what happens!

How long have you had this plant? Has it done this before? I have an enormous weeping fig (2 metres tall and has been chopped back twice). It drops leaves regularly every autumn/winter, then in the spring it has new leaves. I don't do anything special to it and only water it occasionally, with a liquid feed in the growing season once a fortnight or so. I've only repotted it once as it's too big. It has moved a lot and lived in different temperatures/climates (even countries) and doesn't seem to change its habit of dropping leaves in the autumn. I think overwatering is one of the main reasons for the death of weeping figs. I have seen too many bare ones in offices.

And mine's more expensive than anything! Moulin, the delivery man did check for a leak, but didn't find one. But our reason for turning it off is to check the consumption whilst it's off (to double check), because we have been going through about 10% a week whether it's been set for 23C or 17C, which doesn't make any sense. There has to be something wrong with it, surely? Brrr currently about 13C in my office!!!

We bought a house with propane gas central heating. Unfortunately. It is horrendously expensive. Last filled up in Dec it cost (with Antargaz) around 1,100 euros for just over 1,000 litres. It needs filling up again. And we filled it up in October when we bought the house (it was about 100 euros cheaper then). We've turned it off today as we can no longer afford to heat the house this way. The house wasn't hot anyway, we were heating to about 18-20 degrees. Electric fires would be cheaper. We're about ready to tell Antargaz to get stuffed and forgo our 600 euros deposit and put a fioul tank in!!

I make bread by hand and enjoy it. However I use the easy-bake instant yeast as I can't be bothered with proving the dough twice. I probably don't get as good a result but what I get is great and my husband loves it. I wouldn't bother with the Francine bread flours if I were you Teamed Up. If you get good results with the cheap flour then stay with it. I've made bread with both the 30c a kilo white Type 55 and regular complet flour, and with the bread flours. Not much difference in the result. I do buy the "Campagne" flour because it is more "brown" than complet flour, and also the Grainy mix one, because you can't buy flour with whole grains in it elsewhere (or else I haven't seen any). But I always add some of the cheapo flour to justify the cost.  

Gas is hideously expensive so if you have a choice, don't choose it! Go for fioul. I used to think that was expensive but a tankful lasted most of the year and heated the hot water too. We are with Antargaz and we filled up the tank in October and we filled it up in December again. Spent over 2,000 euros so far (and hot water is electric). We did have underfloor heating pipes on ground floor that required serious cleaning out so that (I hope) accounted for over usage, but even so!!! Soon as my in-laws leave we are turning it off and using the log fire and electric heaters. On top of that we are locked into a 5 year contract with Antargaz and we had to pay a huge deposit on the tank. Hadn't really got a choice as it came with the house.

Tin of Carnation milk, pkt jelly and a tin of fruit = Flummery. At least that's what we called it but I'm not sure if it is the traditional flummery. Haven't made it for years as I've lost the recipe but it was delicious and easy!  I hate jelly but love it "raw". Talking of French puds, what about Far Breton? I make that and it's wonderful. And Quatre Quarts aux Pommes.

I have used St Moret for cheesecake and it's fine. If you are looking for a Philly substitute, Lidl's cream cheese is very similar and it's cheap.

Zip lock plastic bags sold in all supermarkets next to the cling film and foil.

Why don't you freeze your leek & potato soup? I find leeks quite expensive to buy so intend to grow my own next year. At least as a soup it's something that can go in the freezer - also as it takes a while to prepare, make a huge batch of it. It's my favourite soup (I prefer it pureed though).

Val, I would have thought that your bath sponge would be a lot softer and more appetising than the average tart made with pate brisee. I bought this stuff recently (1st time) from the supermarket. Great, I thought, it's even rolled out for me in the appropriate shape! But cooked, it was the same hard tasteless, need a steak knife to get thru it, excuse for pastry as most of what I've found around here. I have a fabulous recipe for Ginger Pear Trifle. The only problem is that you need Jamaican ginger cake (although if you can get hold of any kind of spicy cake of the Dutch/Belgian kind it works well too). The pears (fresh) are cooked in cider and a bit of sugar until soft, then poured over sliced ginger cake. Topped with cooled custard, whipped cream and sprinkled with almonds. Makes a really nice change from the usual sherry trifle.

It is all rather stupid that one MUST carry ID but for those without a CdS the only thing they have is a passport. We lived near the border of Switzerland for many years so I am used to having to carry both passport and CdS in my handbag. That's fine for me as my passport is not deteriorating, but my husband's (shoved in a wallet) is not in such a good state. I still carry my passport with me. I suppose I could actually put it away somewhere now! Just to go off topic slightly, when you renew your UK passport, who do you get to do the verification of true likeness of your photo? There is only one person in the universe who can do mine (my mother's accountant in England). I never live anywhere long enough that I have got to know a French national for the appropriate 5 years or whatever it is, let alone knowing anyone who is a lawyer, accountant, pompier or whatever. And then they'd have to write (in tiny writing) a load of blurb on the back of the photo IN ENGLISH! What do you do?

I don't believe that trifle should have jelly in it. I've never seen a recipe include this. The only person to my knowledge who puts jelly in is my mother in law! (and it's dire!!!). I expect those French sponge fingers would have the same effect.

I have cut back hard many an old lavender into the woody stems (sage too). The trick is to follow the stems back until you find tiny little dormant buds (they are tiny!). If you cut above these, they'll shoot. Did the same with a woody straggly old sage and in a couple of months it was back and fresh as a daisy! Never ever had a lavender die on me.

Thanks Mistral, it's a lot clearer! I also realise, looking at that site, that he must have been talking about the Carte de Resident. Think I'll just stick with my CdS with the old address!

Mistral - two questions:- 1. If you are French, then why would you have had a CdS, and not a regular ID card? I thought the CdS were just for foreigners. 2. I'm not French, but my husband told me that one can apply for a regular French ID card after so many years of residency. I don't know anything about this myself, so I assume he read it or was told it by someone. But you say that you have to be French. So I'm wondering. Where would I find the information about it?

What about Chaumes? That's miles stinkier than half of those listed.  

I have one, but Rennes Prefecture refuse to change the address on it as "It's no longer issued to the English" (Their words, English). My question is, if I insist on having it changed, will I HAVE to go to the Prefecture or can I insist that my Mairie does it? Has anyone applied for a proper French Identity card? We're thinking of doing this, as I now have no ID with my current address on it.

Thanks folks! I was just feeling rather mystified, as I had never spotted it in the baking section!!

Whereabout in a supermarket would you expect to see the bicarbonate of soda? And what is it called in French, so that I could ask for some in a pharmacy.

Think it was the gardening section - it was me who was enquiring. Anyway, how were your stomachs afterwards? Did you get the same effect as with Jerusalem Artichokes? In researching on the net I found they have the same/similar undigestible whatever in them as the said fartichokes! That's what put me off, plus the instructions for cleaning them (rub in a teatowel with coarse salt to get the skin off). Seemed like a lot of hassle.

I don't believe PVA as you know it has yet made an appearance in France. There is something vaguely similar used for glueing "toile de verre" wallpaper, but if you use it under paint, it shows through the paint!  If anyone has found PVA here, I'd be happy to know about it. As to the self-levelling compound, it doesn't! Level that is! And it is extremely difficult to use. We ended up with a bathroom floor which was very wavy.

If you want to pull out during the 7 day cooling off period, you need to put it in writing which must be sent by registered mail. No letter, no proof, no pulling out.