July.
When we lived in the US that meant evening gin & tonic cruises on the lake, weekend picnics, and late-night swims.
Here it means unexpected storms that come barreling through with high winds, drenching rains and manage to do lots of damage in about 10 minutes.
We lost power late yesterday afternoon. It was restored just before lunch only to be lost again several hours later.
At the moment we have both electricity and internet.
Might I just say I much prefer the July of my memories.
Regardless, salads or any sort are always good…..
And the kind that don’t required power are even better!
Use whatever fresh herbs you have on hand.
Avocado and White Bean Salad
Total time: 10 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 cup (8oz, 240gr) white beans, cannellini, drained, rinsed
- 1 rib celery, sliced
- 1 avocado, cubed
- 2 tbs white Balsamic vinegar
- 1 tbs Dijon-style mustard
- 3 tbs olive oil, for salads
- 6 cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered
- a few fresh mint and lemon balm leaves, roughly chopped
Instructions:
- Combine avocado, beans, and celery in a bowl.
- In another bowl whisk together the vinegar and mustard.
- Slowly drizzle in oil and whisk until thickened.
- Add to avocado mixture and stir very gently to combine.
- Arrange the salad on two plates, garnish with herbs, tomatoes and serve.
But there are, of course, good parts to summer here….
More photos from the Félibrée.
As we wandered through the town we kept hearing a very load noise, like a very big engine trying to work.
It was.
We followed the noise and found an exhibit of restored farm tractors.
Admittedly, restoring old tractors is not a hobby I aspire to, but it was interesting.
Some of them were running, and the engines caused the tractors to bounce around quite violently…. I have no idea how a human would ever hang on enough to drive one.
There was also an old threshing machine that had so many ropes and pulleys it made my head spin trying to keep track of them all
The engine driving the thresher is connected to the red wheel on the left behind the people.
Here’s another view:
While mon mari was fascinated by all the old, intricate equipment, I wandered off to look at these hand-carved, wooden succulent planters.
Something for everyone.
Yes I agree, a vintage tractor exhibition holds no lure for me !!!
And they were so loud and jerky! Can’t imagine having to sit on one for hours….
I love vintage tractors! Then again, we have a classic car and both love cars.
This salad looks yummy! We ate cool for the past week and a half thanks to temps in the mid to high 90’s and more than 80% humidity. We felt like we were breathing water so anything that wasn’t hot was relished.
You would have loved this display! Some were really, really old lol. It’s been that hot here, too, but, luckily, we don’t get humidity quite that high. I remember it well from MN