Last week, as in most of Europe, it was unbelievably hot, so days were spent in various lakes around here ( we have little ones staying) but then on Friday afternoon the clouds burst, the lightning flashed, the thunder roared and the hail came thumping down. ( Just look at any videos from the Tour de France and you will see what I mean ). Being in the Alps, when it is dreary is a bit like being in Blackpool or Galveston ( apologies) in the summer when the weather is bad.

Some of us took a walk in the rain to the local river, to see if there were any tadpoles left ( no, the river was too fast) before Himself made them Crêpe Salée for lunch ( cheese and ham pancakes to you and me) . Himself has become a Dab Hand at pancake making, making them fresh every morning to order. Sometimes with scrambled eggs, sometimes with a fried egg, mostly with crispy bacon, beautifully arranged by Miss Tess ( along with a drizzle of maple syrup) or plain with a light sprinkle of cassonade for young Master Sam.

The latest breakfast order, is still pancakes for Sam but Miss Tess has moved onto fried eggs on toast!

Whilst they were out I decided to make my Tart Abondance, this time I have had a recipe update courtesy of La Grange restaurant in Morzine, and as I had apricots to use ( it is apricot season here) I went ahead and made double the amount of pastry, as I am about to concoct an Apricot tart.

For the filling, I made Almond paste, using 250 grams ground almonds, 100 grams caster sugar and one beaten egg, mixed together either by hand or in a food processor.

I stoned 500 gram of apricots

Line a quiche type dish with the pastry and bake “Blind” at 200 C for about 20 mins. Remove from oven, cool, then spread the almond paste onto the pastry case and then arrange to apricots on top of that. Bake again for about 15 mins, to finish the pastry and to cook the apricots.

Cool and then glaze the apricots using apricot jam, diluted slightly with water and heated so that it will pour over the tart.

Serve Luke warm with vanilla ice cream.

Funnily enough, the following day we went to the Zip wire park and whilst the little ones were zooming through the trees, I sat and watched from the nearby cafe. The special of the day was Apricot Tart! Later on we took the kids to La Grange for dinner, where Miss Tess, had the Abondance tart for her main course, Chocolate fondue ( she shared this with Himself) for dessert, But the special of the day was ? Yes Apricot tart !