There are some days when you wake up that you are not sure what lies ahead for you.
Today was not one of those days. I knew as I got out of bed that today was the day I would learn how to use a jackhammer.
Pascal arrived bright and early as he had promised. We started to attack the ugly tile flooring from the mid 20th Century (It was all they had back then). We worked away at it for two hours and didn't get very far. The "modern" tile was laid over a chappe of cement which itself covered the layer of original tomettes. I started out with the idea that I could recover some of those tomettes but that soon proved to be a false economy.
I left Pascal to have at it. I had eight front legs of rabbit to prepare. They had been marinading in a slurry of cidre and moutard for three days. I removed the hearts and lungs (saving the hearts for the sauce) and quickly browned them in butter. I caramelized whole shallots in the brown butter and added everything to a paella pan for an hour in the oven on medium heat (165°C). The smell in the kitchen was divine.
We sat down to eat together. When Constant directs a chantier he insists that there be a shared meal at lunchtime with everyone who worked that day à table - a very good rule that allows for some downtime but which also facilitates planning and problem solving.
We agreed that to move our work forward we needed to rent a marteau-piqeuer - un gros marteau-piqeuer. So that's what I did. We took a last load to the déchetterie and on the way back we stopped at Loca-Ser to rent the jackhammer. And within 30 minutes of bringing it home, we had already torn up half the floor. Some things are best done while running with the Big Dogs.
Playlist:
The Blacksmith
Planxty, live on the Late Late Show, January 1972
(Look at the state of Dónal Lunny!)
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