Tours, basil and tomatoes

Ste Nathalie
Yesterday's weather: just lovely

Today is the day that the Tour de France passes close to us. Do watch the race or the highlights if you get the chance. The nearest it point to us here is the small village of Lavercantière, in the area known as Bouraine. Lavercantière boasts a church and a chateau, a family run restaurant and views to die for. We are, of course, biased towards this stage but it does pass through some beautiful countryside, especially the first 45 kilometers. Unfortunately because of access, timing and the fact that I really must do some housework, I will not be standing by the side of the road eyeing up young men in lycra this lunchtime.

Yesterday's cooking test was a basil sorbet. We were served this in an Italian restaurant in Munich a few months ago and it was delicious. Since we had plenty of basil from our shopping expedition the other week we thought we would give it a try. I'll let you know how it turns out.

I am also trying to sun dry some of my cherry tomato glut, there are only so many tomato salads we can eat. So now that the sun has come out at last, we have placed the tomatoes on a cooling rack on a tray which is lined with foil to give them the most heat we can. We have to move the rack during the day depending on where the sun is, but they seem to be drying OK - as long as the sun holds out.