“le gourmet médecine” or health à la Française

Jean Marie’s next door  neighbour  has gone into a nursing home but her house has never been so full in fact it is buzzing with activity.   In her absence the première étage has become  a thriving factory – a noisy throbbing place where ouvrières work non-stop all day tending a royal bed, visiting, gathering nectar, searching for pollen and defending their group.   Yes, there is a beehive established  between window and shutter in the bedroom.   This room faces South so it must be reaching boiling point in the hive.  A very unusual place for bees to build their "home".  Most often they are attached to a tree or in a chimney.. 
These “busy bees”  enlist a highly specialized caste system as they are incapable of living and working alone  - the survival of  the colony is vital.   Each member of this community fulfills a need that serves the group. Tens of thousands of workers, all underdeveloped females, assume responsibility for feeding, cleaning, nursing, and defending the network.   Male drones don’t have a great life – as their anatomical structure proves a limited role  - they do get to mate with the queen, but the pleasure is short lived as they die immediately afterwards.
Amazing and thrilling to be able to get close to the window and see “into” a hive.   My photos with full sun on the outside don’t give justice but good enough to imagine though.   Here is what we found :

Is honey good for you?   It is not only good for you; it is amazingly wonderful for you, for all of us.

Honey or as the French call it “le gourmet medicine” has extraordinary powers. Offering incredible antiseptic, antioxidant and cleansing properties for our body and health,  amazing healing properties from eye conjunctivitis, indigestion, and  psoriasis to athletes foot.   Honey contains almost every vitamin, mineral and essential ingredient including water we need to sustain life and keep us healthy.

Monsieur Durand sells me his honey every market Sunday. http//:rucherdefontenay.free.fr

  He has been instructing me on les “bienfaits de son miel” with 200 ruches or beehives he owns.
Try taking honey with your tea or that all time favorite a warm glass of lemon and honey to treat that irritating cough and cold or eat it straight from the jar, delicious!
Honey also lubricates the throat, calms everything down and helps to induce our all important sleep. Many famous singers know the benefits of honey for the throat and generally gargle regularly with this to help save their voices.

Healing honey used in conjunction with cinnamon is fantastic for relieving the sometimes insufferable problems brought on by the woman’s menopause, buckwheat honey can also be very helpful for this natural but annoying process.
Please don’t reach for the cheapest jar on the shelf or the one that looks the prettiest as this type of honey is NOT honey, it’s a fake and one that bee keepers refer to as “crankcase oil”.

You wouldn’t dream of buying rotten eggs, fruit, meat or vegetables or any kind of rotten food produce so don’t be fooled into buying those kinds of honey.  

If you take the time to read the labels on honey jars you will easily be able to discover if it is a good honey or not.

If there is nothing added to the ingredients in the jar, it is just pure honey and this is the best you can buy.

Along with your jar of honey I advise very strongly for you to keep a supply of some kind of cinnamon supplement in your store cupboard which will help to form the basis of your newly discovered and completely natural medicine supply.

Honey and cinnamon In Chinese medicine cinnamon means “warm herb” warming our energetic channels which help to warm our bodies and greatly improve our circulation.)

For Dry Skin: Avocado & Honey Face Mask

You will need:

2 tablespoons of avocado flesh

2 tablespoons honey

1 egg yolk

To form this anti aging skin care face mask, put all the ingredients in a blender, or mash by hand in a bowl. Use your fingers to spread the mask over your face and neck and leave it on for at least 30 minutes.  Rince carefully and apply your usual moisturizer  - wow!  you look beautiful.

slathered with some honey (posted by "anonymous"

What is this you say?  This is a Calabaza - to you a Pumpkin.  This is half, bought by me from our local Panaderia (Bakery) which is around the corner from where we live.  It is delicious.  I had seen it many times on the shelf but never thought to buy one.  Of course, after tasting it for the first time I have been back on several occasions!  The baker, when you think of it, has the perfect opportunity to put some Pumpkins into his ovens.  The ovens are fired up early morning and he bakes all his bread and then he can put the pumpkins in  - slathered with some honey - and they slowly cook away to their heart's content.

The ladies in the bakery think of it as a sweet or dessert and the lovely soft pulp can be utilized in pastries of various types.  However I have wonderful memories of a pasta called Mezza Luna which we had in San Francisco once and which I have never forgotten. The calabaza was in a home-made ravioli with sage in the shape of a half-moon (mezza luna)... delicious. 
I, on the other hand, have only used it as a side vegetable dish so far and am grateful that it is just around the corner!


What is this you say?  This is a Calabaza - to you a Pumpkin.  This is half, bought by me from our local Panaderia (Bakery) which is around the corner from where we live.  It is delicious.  I had seen it many times on the shelf but never thought to buy one.  Of course, after tasting it for the first time I have been back on several occasions!  The baker, when you think of it, has the perfect opportunity to put some Pumpkins into his ovens.  The ovens are fired up early morning and he bakes all his bread and then he can put the pumpkins in  - slathered with some honey - and they slowly cook away to their heart's content.

The ladies in the bakery think of it as a sweet or dessert and the lovely soft pulp can be utilized in pastries of various types.  However I have wonderful memories of a pasta called Mezza Luna which we had in San Francisco once and which I have never forgotten. The calabaza was in a home-made ravioli with sage in the shape of a half-moon (mezza luna)... delicious. 
I, on the other hand, have only used it as a side vegetable dish so far and am grateful that it is just around the corner!