Le Couvent Diary

The weather's been disgusting today, dull, wet and dismal. Perfect for cooking up a storm or making a sorbet for supper tonight. This sorbet is soooooooo good I thought I'd share it. Don't be put off by the fact that it looks uncannily like school mashed potato, it really has an absolutely stunning flavour. Oh, and I've made twice as much in the photos as there'll be lots of us for supper.

You need: 150 ml water; 150 gms sugar; 6 limes zested; 1 glass of juice from the limes; 1 large bunch of basil

Method: In a saucepan chuck the water and sugar and bring it to the boil. Turn it down to a simmer and lob in the lime zest leaving it to simmer for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile pound the basil to a pulp.

Remove the water/sugar/lime mixture from the heat and let it cool a bit. Throw in the lime juice and basil puree, stir it and let it infuse for about ten minutes.

Sieve the mixture into a bowl and squeeze out the remnants. The remaining liquid will look like the stuff below. Don't be tempted to throw it away even though it looks so awful.

At this point you can put it into the freezer for about 3 hours, stirring it every 30 minutes, or if you're lucky like me and have a sorbetiere or ice-cream maker you can hand it all over to that. Mine takes about 50 minutes to be ready.

The finished product - not a great look, but a flavour you'll never forget. As they used to say at the Hungry Monk in Jevington - 'Serve with a smacking of lips'

P'raps we'll make some for weary travellers when they arrive at Le Couvent, Roujan - in our opinion the best bed and breakfast in the Languedoc! Biased? Us? Surely not.

This one's for the Landseer group who are coming to stay at Le Couvent, Roujan again in a couple of month's time. It's an annual reunion of chums who've previously worked together and they've asked for us to do supper for them one evening. They've requested 'the lovely courgette soup you gave us last time'. I'd completely forgotten, but have found the recipe. Good start. I'm hoping I can encourage the courgettes to get a move on. This is how they look today, with their pals the coriander plants.

What’s interesting for us about going on holiday is not just the place one visits, but the experience of being a guest. Each year we receive hundreds of bed & breakfast guests at Le Couvent, Roujan, each one more or less stressed than the next. Both Ali and I love to watch people unwind during the course of their stay. It can take different forms; some people find recuperation in doing lots of things that are completely different from their normal lives. They go everywhere and see everything. It works for them. There are others who arrive overstrung with stress and who spend their time by the pool, or on Mother Superior’s balcony just reading or snoozing. They obviously tear about every day of their working lives and all they need is to stop.

Ali and I spent the past week in Marrakech, a noisy, bustling, hustling, vibrant and colourful city. We couldn’t have done it immediately after our season ends - we’d never have had the strength. But after a winter’s rest we were up for a bit of hectic madness, battling in the souks and being suckered into buying trashy things we didn’t need for many times their value. It was huge fun and I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. But towards the end we found ourselves spending longer and longer just reading in our riad. Gearing ourselves up for a busy season ahead. It was lovely watching other people do our job - watching them welcome new guests, gently finding out what they’d need to make their stay in Marrakech perfect. It was good to remind ourselves of how it feels to arrive somewhere that’s little more than a promise. It takes faith to book a holiday. Your time is preciously saved up for those days away. You just pray your hosts recognise what it is you need.

We’ll do our best to remember that when you arrive.

This past week we've been privileged to have the Bloomberg Tricycle Writers Group staying with us. Each year, thanks to the Bloomberg Foundation and the Tricycle Theatre around a dozen writers meet together for a week here in Roujan where they find space to work on their current writings. Each evening we've heard scenes from plays, short stories, stand-up routines and seen short films made by the individuals in the group. It's been utterly fantastic to hear such wonderful imagination at play.

So thank you Hassan Abdulrazzak, Michael Bhim, Neil D'Souza, Jennifer Farmer, Amit Gupta, Amy Evans, Winsome Pinnock, Trevor Williams, Dolly Dhingra, Lorna French and Kwame Kwei-Armah, you've been absolute stars. See you next year?

Just so you can see how your breakfast is coming along I thought I show you some figs that will arrive on the Le Couvent, Roujan breakfast table a little later in the year. These are on one of about five wild fig trees that we have in the Le Couvent vineyards.

 Although nowhere near ripe yet, having a couple of months to go, they're looking good. Currently, however, it's the asparagus season. We're not at all happy that our lovely neighbour Stephane Cabrol, who used to have a long stall of luscious asparagus outside his house each evening, has decided to move to Alignan-du-Vent, a few minutes drive away. Gone are the days when we could stroll across the road for the fattest, most delicious thumbs of fresh-picked asparagus. I drove off to buy some last Friday. I needed three kilos to make some delicious dense soup. Although he only had the little finger sized ones they were perfect for the velvety soup.

 Our lovely writers are here still - just until tomorrow morning, when Ali and I will be very sad to see them go. They've been wonderful. There's a gentle hum of energy and thinking running right through the house. We've loved it.

Meanwhile, Ali and I have had time to do a little more in the vineyards. A good deal of the time we were pestered by Kit the Labrador wanting to ride round on Queenie the Quad. Here she is with Neffies in the background.

And here's a pic especially for my step-father, John, who's having a rough time with chemo, and for Sarah who's thinking of camping in the vineyards all summer. Here is a pic of your vineyard - they're coming along well.

Hope you're feeling better John.