They're not weeds, they're salad.

   Around this time last year, I got into the habit of picking the young green pissenlit leaves, washing them well, and dressing them with vinaigrette. A couple of days ago, as I was weeding, I found some tidy little roots of bittercress. Any of you reading this with especially keen eyes will notice another green in the mix. The last of an enormous head of frisée that I bought at the market last week. 

   At the market today, I noticed these dandelion leaves for sale, as thin and pale as consumptive Victorian maidens. "Pass," I though, "I've got far more robust ones at home."

More dandelions for supper.

I've been a little remiss in posting recently mainly because we are deep, deep in house renovations and, in my case, gardening. Meteo France has forecast that the warm, sunny weather will have turned grey, rainy and chilly by Thursday and Friday.

  The war on the dandelions continues. I savagely lop off each yellow head as it appears before it has a chance to turn to fluff and send its virulent thistledown far and wide. The new roots are terrific in, or as, salad. Because they're so fresh, once washed and cleaned, they keep for a good few days in the fridge. 

  I've also picked a bag of the new nettle shoots which are destined for soup or a quiche.

Notes on a Friday morning.

The weather has been gloriously warm all week so I've spent long hours out in the garden. Mostly it's a work of demolition. Shrubs obstructing the space underneath the pergola have to be ripped up (except for one that could be a wisteria so we'll wait a few weeks before we pronounce a death sentence on that one). The "lawn" needs to be de-buttercupped. And then there are the nettles. Over the years, these have been chopped down but never removed. Consequently innocent little nettle sproutlings grow from roots like varicosed veins. Pulling them out is very satisfying if you get a good grip. First one little sprout, then another a few centimetres away, then another...and another come up, each with its little puff of dust. Overall, it looks like machine gun fire.

    On a culinary note (and yes, I intend to make nettle soup, nettle quiche, nettle bourgignon...joking) I came upon a perfect rosette of dandelions on Thursday just as I was packing up for the day. Dug it up, had it rinsing in the sink in minutes, and on our plates simply dressed with Perry's olive oil and salt a few hours later. A little bitter, it went well with the grilled saucisses and polenta, and ratatouille that made up the rest of the meal.

   Friday is market day so I abandoned the garden and off we went to Lavelanet, long list in hand. There's a whiff of incipient spring cleaning in the air. Sold all year round, cleaning overalls--mostly in shades of blue--are out in force.

    And SuperU (one of Lavelanet's supermarkets) has orange concrete mixers on special.