scavenging for food

If I say that it's been raining for a few days and now it's sunny, what's the first thing that comes to mind? Ask any French person, and the answer will be: champignons! We've had a few weeks of rain with a few sunny days and Jean-Marc has gone mushroom hunting two times in the last week. Last Sunday, when I was away at an all-day rehearsal, I came home to three sorts of mushrooms: cèpes, mousserons and fausses chanterelles. We ended up eating them in an omelette as well as fried up with garlic as an accompaniment to a chestnut risotto (the chestnuts were found near our village's castle).

Today I asked Jean-Marc if we had any walnuts and he said no, but he knew where to find some. Apparently there is a walnut tree in a field that seems to belong to nobody and, since Jean-Marc has never seen anybody picking any of the walnuts and the field is open, he went and picked a whole bunch. He's also found some abandoned apple and pear trees and we have been making batches of applesauce and eating the pears just as they are because they're currently perfectly ripe. It's amazing what is provided by nature and quite often left to rot on the ground. Soon we will be picking the figs in a neighbour's garden (we've been granted permission to pick them!) and eating them in our salads. Not only that, but we are still enjoying the lovely heirloom tomatoes from our garden. I am in produce heaven.