I am now enjoying what must be my tenth drink free November and , while sometimes the moment when the sun dips below the yard arm has me a little shakey, on the whole I think it is really never as tough a proposition as thinking about is. I’m feeling fine- in fact today I am having a mad spurt of energy so , while Síle is at her choir practice I decided to stock up on goodies for the freezer for the winter.
I made a good load of Ragout Bolognaise , my usual mixture of minced beef, bacon, onion carrot and celery with tomato basil and origano . This I use indiscriminately for a Tagliatelli Sauce (Spaghetti leaves me cold) and Lasagne, and, I find it makes a wonderful base for an Irish/Italian Shepherds Pie (Pasticcio in Crosta di Pastore I will cheekily call it )

The first arrival of the winter vegetables is upon us so I also made various little boxes of a Spiced Carrot and Celeriac Soup and a good stock of what Jane Austin called Palestine Soup which is made from Jerusalem Artichokes.

This is all with a background of wind howling and falling rain as the Languedoc experiences its worst storm for years and the Meteo give us no respite, it could last , they tell us , another week .