Tortilla de Calabacín; Flowering Villages

Once in a blue moon the travel gods smile down and we stumble into fairyland for a brief moment.

As we drove into this village last week, we were fascinated by the 'flowers' covering the street.

It was so beautiful and fantastic….. But hard to capture with a few photos

Every street was festooned in a different color

The village square had a pole in the center, from which purple flowers went all around.

Beneath the walkways wisteria hung down.

It took the town's residents 6 months to make and hang the garlands of flowers. 

The occasion was a 2-day festival  the first weekend in July, honoring the poetry and music of the language of Occitan.  This is a roving, annual festival; it was in this village, this year. 

A neighboring village was celebrating it's 750th anniversary.  In honor of the occasion the Maire (mayor) asked the primary school children to create tiles, painted in the village colors, of their favorite sights from around the town.

The art teacher coordinated their efforts with this mosaic, from 170 students, the result.  It will hang in the Mairie (Town Hall).

It was a good day…..

Still have zucchini in the garden?

Try this….

Tortilla de Calabacín (Spanish-Style Omelet with Zucchini)

Zucchini is everywhere in summer! If you don't have it in abundance or simply don't want it, you can substitute fried, sliced potatoes, sautéed onions or sliced tomatoes. Everything else stays the same. You can trim the rind off of the brie, or not. I didn't. It left interesting white strips on top of the omelet. I don't flip this omelet because the brie gets rather runny …which is why it's so good! You can use another, harder cheese – cheddar, Gruyère if you prefer.

1 small zucchini, (6 inches, 15cm)
1 tbs olive oil
2oz (60gr) Brie cheese
3 eggs
2 tbs fresh snipped parsley
olives for garnish if you have some on hand

Cut the zucchini in 1/8" (.3cm) thick slices. You want enough to cover the bottom of the pan in one, non-overlapping layer.
Heat oil in medium, 8 – 9" (20cm) nonstick skillet or omelet pan (20cm) over medium heat. Add zucchini slices and sauté 5 minutes. Turn and sauté another 5 minutes.
Whisk eggs. Pour half of the eggs over the zucchini. Let cook until almost set. Slice the brie and lay on top of the eggs, sprinkle with parsley and pour the rest of the eggs over the top. Cover and let cook.
After about 5 minutes, lift cover and check. If center is not set lift the edge of the omelet and pour 1 tsp of water under. Quickly replace the cover and let cook another minute. That should finish it off nicely. (if, for some unknown reason it doesn't, repeat the trick with the water – it creates steam to cook the top.) The top will not be brown. Slide it carefully onto a plate. Cut it into quarters. Arrange 2 quarters on each plate, garnish and serve.