I have often said that mountain food comprises four or five ingredients served in any number of variations. Often I am very dismissive of this type of food, Boring says I But sometimes, just sometimes, it beats any Invention test !

Today we wandered down to the local supermarché, not my favourite place in the world, but for someone who actually likes grocery shopping, it is purgatory, however, it is not Pooperama, of Mexico City fame!  It is a small supermarket, which actually sells almost everything, motor oil, electric small appliances, underwear, kids clothes , it is quiet amazing ! However the main objective, the food, to my mind needs HELP! Strawberries, or raspberries which go Off in a day, or Rocket likewise and on a Sunday morning they are out of bread ( actually we are lucky that they are even open on a Sunday morning!)

So today, as it was seriously wet here in the Haute Savoie, all the world and his wife were shopping ( well what else to do on a wet day in the mountains). We had our list and little Sam had his cart and helped, no melt down in the sunglasses section today ( thank goodness). However himself and I could not decided on what to have for dinner. We almost forsook my rule of ‘ I have food in the freezer, we need to use that ! We looked at the fish,  tired looking specimens, and now they have a rope around, a barrier, just in case you get too close and smell that which  has seen better days! Last year eldest daughter noticed that there is a section of Marked Downs, umm she said do they really think anyone will buy that ? Rather green looking Salmon that had very much better days,but hey it was – 25% , still not give away though !

So the neighbourhood kids played all day and the lovely Carolyn, fed them all, except young Sam who decided that Pasta was not his thing ( for today at least), so it was just himself and me, what to have. Well the obvious was of course, open a bottle! The most recent report is that wine staves off dementia ! So more wine please !!

The invention test is ” Open the refrigerator and make dinner with some of the contents” so our dinner was a Brie that was so ripe, it was about to run out of the door, assorted Saucissons bought at the market in Chamonix last Saturday, French bread left over from Breakfast, potatoes, steamed in the microwave and some Parma ham. And so it was, the Brie was put into a dish and put into the oven, along with the bread to crisp, the potatoes put into the microwave, the saucisson sliced and hey viola dinner was served !

On another note, I always find it very interesting what I find in supermarkets. Last year it was butter with chocolate chips in, and today, it was pocket size condensed milk ( just in case you need a sugar rush whilst out and about.)

Here in the French Alps, it is like a time warp. The neighbourhood, at least in summer come out into the streets, and chat ( where do we do that in London? In the elevator maybe) but more than that the kids of all ages come out to play, wandering from one house to another, as their fancy takes them. And when I say kids they currently range in age from 2 1/2 to 13!  A big age gap but it does not seem to matter. French, Swiss, French/Irish, and my ex Mexicans! It doesn’t matter that they might not have seen each other for 6 , 9 or 12 months, they continue where they left off, a little older, a few more social skills but really just the same.

So, we are here with three of them ( the ex Mexicans), yesterday, there were 8 kids here and what do kids do, have a water fight of course! The girls said they won, and that is because they recruited young Sam to be on their team, and he is pretty mean with a water gun! Don’t get in his way, you will get wet !

The next adventure was making Slush Puppies, or Snow cones. A very American thing but oh so much fun and just think of those E numbers!! I bought a slush puppy machine, basically and electrified ice shaver, a bunch of paper cones and special flat ended straws ( easier to slurp up the ice) and three different syrups to flavour, Pink Bubblegum, ( sounds disgusting) , Red Strawberry and Blue Raspberry. Slush puppies made and Slurped to everyone’s enjoyment!

And so, onto today, today was the turn of the Eton Mess. As written about in the last blog, simple as can be. Sophia, the eldest child had made Meringues with her dad in the trade way, but was she surprised by this method, so much so, that she zoomed across the street and promptly made some more, which her grandad in particular really liked. Her Dad on the other hand sent me a text in the middle of the night about the sticky fingers everywhere! What else does he expect !

The only difference to my last comment on Eton Mess, is we used more icing sugar, and I assume that this was because I used larger eggs! Just remember the mixture must be stiff enough to roll into balls about the size of table tennis balls! Sophia commented that one of her subsequent meringues was on the large side( she admitted to making her balls on the large side!)

So get cooking with the kids, from 2- 15 they will love the instantaneous of this recipe! Don’t worry about the sugar, more veggies tomorrow !