15:30- I can cook faster than I can write and post. I admonish nervous cooks to just practice and they’ll get better, faster and have more fun. So now the tables are turned. I DARE myself to write you a quick love note from Gascony… in just 30 minutes.

15:33- Cooking fast is a matter of feeding yourself when hungry not showing off. Like most of you I work hard… oops, Diva just skyped me. Hold that thought.

15:36- As I was saying,  I work hard doing lots of different things and cooking is just one of them. I also repair broken light fixtures, take out the garbage, do the laundry, weed the gardens, fix the lawnmower,  shop for dinner, buy the chicken feed… and manage the Kitchen-at-Camont and all its growing programs.

15:39 So when I cook, even if just for me alone, I go fast. Fast so that I, too, can sit down and a have a ‘proper’ French lunch. Today I shopped at the Lavardac Market. Mid-sized,  it has just enough old market friends to keep me socialized as well as plenty of great local produce.

15:41 Today I brought a very small basket- cooking for one. A piece of lean pork to pan saute while I make a simple soup- all my vegetables in one pot!

• 4 large carrots
• a pound of new potatoes
• 2 heads garlic
• 3 yellow peppers
• 2 pieces of excellent cheese
• a slice of pork loin
• a slab of ventreche or bacon
• a pig’s ear (for Bacon)
• a litre of raw milk (a score!)
• a perfect chewy baguette
• a zipper for my fall jacket
• a  grand creme at the café
• a Maison Marie Claire  magazine and the Petit Bleu newspaper.

15:46

By the time I got back to Camont I was starving! I put the pan on the stove, lit the gas, and placed the pork chop on low. I skinned the carrots, washed the potatoes and threw them in another pot. turned on the heat.

Smash the garlic, run out and grab some lovage and parsley, chop and add to pot. Cover with just enough water.

Turn the meat.

Salt, pepper and a few shakes of ….? piment d’esplette! Cover. Turn the soup up high. Cover the pork. Turn off the fire. And grab the magazine and news paper. By the time I had read through the local news (ok, not long!) The chop was ready.

15:51 served the pork, let the soup cook. I’ll eat one after another. French style. Read the Marie Claire- WAY too many bad contemporary Parisian apartments. Test the potatoes for done. Buzz the soup with handblender. stir in a dollop of cream fresh- veloute de Legumes.

15:53 No time for photographs, eat and exhale. Should have been the other way around!

look for post pix in morgue…

Found a new one of me by Tim Clinch!

15:56 See. It can be done. I can post as fast as I can cook a lunch. Healthy, tasty, and from scratch. Now, I  DARE you to do the same. Cooking faster means less angst over the uninteresting and non-essential and more focus on the heart of the matter- these three little words. JUST GOOD FOOD.

15:59 Bon Appetit!