market sundays. and mondays, tuesdays...

Peter Mayle, author of 'A Year in Provence' says that every good Sunday starts with a trip to the market. We've definitely found that to be the true any day of the week! Trips to the market are one of our favorite things about Provence. We even bought two coolers for when we visit markets in towns that are further away. The most obvious delight about markets is the produce. All of the fruits and veggies are so fresh - they look like they're posing for you! Most vendors have samples of their goods out, so you can taste just how delicious and ripe that tomato or melon is. All of the fruit is labeled so that you know exactly what variety of produce you're buying, and where it's from. It think that'd be a pretty good thing to do in the US. We've picked up on some French quirks about their food. For example, when buying a cantaloupe, you're asked when you plan to eat it. If it's today, the melon the vendor gives you will be very different from one you might eat the next day. So far they've been spot on with their picks and the cantaloupes, which are from Cavaillon, a town 30 km from Aix, have been fantastic!

Matt's French has been coming back to him pretty steadily, and he's gotten quite good at communicating with the vendors. I've learned to count to 13, and that's proven helpful in some situations. :) Unfortunately we can't get into too deep conversations because of the language barrier, but we've still managed have some interesting interactions. While picking out beans, a French lady started talking to me fluently about how delicious the beans were (we think that's what she was saying). My not responding to anything she was saying didn't deter her though - she even reached into my basket, pulled out a green bean that she considered sub-optimal and threw it back into the pile! I think she was assuring me how good the beans were, and she was right.

violet garlic!

shopping for olives, a staple in our diets

never seen scallops like this before

buying some "fromage"

saucissons - dried sausages made from different meats including duck, pig, bull

While staying in Aix, we've been taking full advantage of our kitchen and market goods. I've tried to find some Provencal recipes and make them while we're here. So far I think I've got a few keepers!

simple tomato, cucumber, olive salad

"melange de haricots et coco-plats"

cod wrapped in prosciutto with roasted tomato and olive sauce

tomato and olive gratin with pesto chicken

a date night to remember

if you've been following the blog, you know we've been going to lots of markets, buying fresh ingredients and cath has been having a good time cooking healthy, delicious dinners at our studio; one of our requirements was a place with a kitchen.  provence is known for its great food and restaurants.  i had done some research on restaurants - guidebooks, trip advisor, message boards.  i found some really good, detailed, recent recommendations on chow hound, a website for foodies.

on the top of many lists was a place called 'le castelas', it was memorable, magical, welcoming and a pleasure for all the senses ... as were getting ready to leave, i read another post saying the food, while excellent, was not the main draw here.  that gave me pause but it was too late to change course ... we were dressed up and ready for a night out. 

frankly, we didn't leave in the best of moods.  monday is our logistics/planning day and we had spent a few hours fixing time sheets.  the combination of the iPad, with which we have a love/hate relationship, the spotty internet connection and the moody timesheet server had frayed our nerves.   we set out w/ good directions and a good map (a necessity with these poorly-marked roads).  halfway in to the hour trip, the police had set up a detour and "the best laid plans of mice and men"

 ... after 4 or more u-turns and back tracking, we finally neared the small village of sivergue (the restaurant was still 10km/6.25 miles away).  the 2 lane road turned into a one lane road (still supporting 2 way traffic, of course) that wound up into the mountains.  dicey.  as we left the village, the one lane road turned into a gravel farm road w/ monstrous pot holes, or "tank traps" as my mom calls them.  slowly bounding along the road, nearly losing hubcaps, we seriously considered turning back.  

after 1.5 hours, we arrived - about 30 minutes late and in need of a stiff drink ... 

then we saw our restaurant and immediately forgot our problems ... 



(cath's perspective)
Matt asked me to share my side of the story. I think he's afraid bringing me here for date night might be considered as grounds for divorce by some readers :) So I was pretty excited about going out to dinner. Though I've been absolutely loving cooking dinners at home, probably one of my favorite parts of the day, but eating out is a nice treat and gives me ideas for my own meals.

It was also the first time I was wearing heels, albeit small ones, since we got here. Most days we walk around all day and I've been wearing flats. I think the girl readers will appreciate my plight :) I was expecting a fairly nice restaurant, but as we were walking up the driveway I noticed people eating at picnic tables! First warning sign. I immediately felt overdressed and unsure of what we were in for. And then we saw the goats. And the pigs. There was a sheep, too! The goats and pigs were quite friendly, and Matt had to keep a stick close keep them from joining us! At one point a goat's head appeared in my lap! The pic below of me standing with the goat nearly started a stampede! As soon as Matt took it, 6 goats came bounding down the stairs. I didn't even have time to move from where I was standing!

As a new extreme of "farm-to-table" dining was sinking in, we got seated at a table, given a pitcher of sangria, pitcher of red wine, basket of warm country bread and assortment of starters (roasted peppers, pureed eggplant, pate, ham).

farm-to-table dining

Main course was roasted pork with country roasted potatoes - maybe the most flavorful potatoes we'd ever tasted. Chevre cheeses with various toppings including dried herbs and red peppercorn were for dessert. Our favorite was the natural chevre cheese with lavender honey - it was sweet and syrupy with the subtlest flavor of lavender; it looked like melted sunshine in a dish! After the cheese course, chocolate cake was served. Digestifs followed - Matt had some grappa, while I kept working on our jug of red wine.

dessert. chevre cheeses with lavender honey

Everything was delicious and we ate watching the sun set over the Luberon mountains. It was a dining experience we will never forget. Waking up this morning, the entire night seemed surreal.

first days in provence

Tuesday is market day in Aix-en-Provence. I had high hopes for the French "marches", and this one did not disappoint! Absolutely everything looked so delicious and fresh that I'd almost convinced myself we didn't need to do anything else on this trip but visit the market daily, make food at home and eat! Below is a pic of our market-fresh lunch: baguette with sun-dried tomato/olive tapenade, tomatoes, and (goat) chevre cheese. Some olives vertes in herbs de provence and strawberries on the side. Washed down with a glass of Provence rose, of course!

market-fresh lunch

After picking up our sporty rental car, we spent the afternoon touring the medieval town of Les Beaux and St-Remy-de-Provence, where we did an olive oil tasting. It was a super fun and delicious experience and we left knowing a little bit about olive oil production. Our purchases included a bottle of basilic olive oil (only ingredients are olive oil and fresh basil that is marinated for a year) and some fantastic mango vinegar. The mango vinegar is made by a local guy who had too much fruit pulp left over after making juices and decided to go into vinegar making - thank goodness because it is to die for!

For the tasting we got tacked onto a group of tourists on a biking trip through Provence. The leader was super friendly and invited us out for drinks with him and his co-leader and the chick working at the olive oil store. We declined as we were planning to walk around a bit and grab dinner. Over our dinner of crepes and rose wine, we regretted not going out for a drink with the French people we just met. Part of having time to travel is the adventure of the unexpected/unplanned and we want to be open to opportunities and meeting new people. We agreed that the next time people invited us to do something, we'd take them up. Fortunately we didn't have to wait long for the next opportunity!

view of les beaux chateau

We decided Wednesday was a good day to start conquering the Cotes du Rhone wine region - so we headed to the small town of Gigondas, about 100 km from Aix. We did our first tasting at a place with wines from all the local vineyards in the Gigondas appellation. They had self-imposed gag rule as to not favor any winery, so the lady wouldn't help us distinguish among any of the 100 wines on their list (we'd point to a wine - any wine - and say "we'll try this one."). After a few random tastes (which were pretty good!), a rowdy group stumbled in. One of them, Roseanne, introduced herself to us saying they were the "ugly Americans", and by doing so immediately lightened the atmosphere. We ended up chatting a bit, sampling the same wines; Roseanne works in the Napa wine industry, her husband works at the Culinary Institute (eeek!!), and another guy is a sommelier at a California winery. They were impressed with our vacation plans/duration and recommended a nearby vineyard they'd just been to - Domaine Longue Toque, where they got the royal treatment since her husband is pretty connected in culinary circles. They left before us (we did not continue drinking, just lingered outside a bit) and as were getting in our car, Roseanne saw us and said they were going back to the vineyard they'd been too if we'd like to follow them. Since we suddenly became unofficial members of their group, we got to meet sommelier at the vineyard, who was a super friendly guy. Long story short, they were all planning to go to the "Fete des Vin" (wine party) in the town of Vacqueyras on Bastille Day (July 14th, the french independence day). The deal is that you buy a wine glass and then sample wines from all the local wineries. They invited us to join them for the party, as well as at their table for a long lunch at a nearby bistro (apparently, this is a much better deal than the standard offering). This time we said yes! And now we have plans for Bastille Day plans and a stash of "vins"!

au revoir, paris ; salut, aix en provence

"hey look, a field of sunflowers!" cath said as she pointed out the window of our TGV (french for "train that moves really, really fast"). the train was carrying us from paris to aix-en-provence, in the south of france, and marked the next chapter of our journey. before i could turn my head to look, a barrier blocked the view. no matter, i saw another a few field of flowers a few seconds later, then another, then another, in fields the size of a football field. then a field of olive trees. or were they orange trees? i'm not sure, i'm the guy who asked an italian cheese shop owner if all the cheeses came from female sheep. indeed, all travelers will make fools of themselves from time-to-time, but that's part of the fun (right, guys?). regardless, the sunflowers, olive/orange trees and picturesque landscape were, we thought, harbingers of good times to come during our month stay in the south, an area noted for markets, wines, a love of food/cuisine, and a laid-back approach.

of course, we left paris w/ mixed feelings. we were charmed by the city ("enchantee, paris"), getting lost and exploring side streets, drinking at sidewalk cafes and eating really good food (i had foie gras 4x in 14 days). and we loved hanging out w/ the sevins (elise, geoffroy and young charles) and our host and flat-mate, david, who originally hails from provence.

the sevins and fenskis

over the past 20 years, geoffroy and his family, the sevins, have become like part of our family.  geoffroy first visited us in 1994 ... since then our families grew close and visited each other many times. i was a groomsmen in geoffroy and elise's wedding in 2006, i did a reading in french during the ceremony to a churchful of french people.  i returned the favor in 2008 at our wedding by making geoffroy do a 200 word reading.  fortunately, his english is much, much better than my french. 

w/ the sevins, we developed a nice routine of meeting geoffroy at his flat at 6pm, going to the park to pick up charles, playing w/ charles for a bit, then, after putting charles to bed, gorging on delicious food and wine, including some great camembert and bordeaux. fortunately, our return flight home goes through paris so we'll get to see the sevins again, in a new home and with a new family member (i'm rooting for a son named "matt").

so we arrived saturday evening at the aix TGV station, caught a bus to the town center. i ran around for groceries (wine/cheese/tomato) to ensure we wouldn't starve (most shops close at 7pm on sat and all day sunday). mission accomplished. we caught a cab to our studio and, as we continued our ascent up narrow country roads, unanimously decided that we'd need to rent a car the entire 4 weeks in aix (it's a 50 minute walk to town). we're settling into place nicely though i think we were spoiled w/ the view from our paris flat.

square in aix.

our first day was, as it should be in the south, leisurely. i celebrated by sleeping in till 11 or so. i like to think i'm reducing my 3 year sleep deficit. we had coffee / tea on our patio and walked to town, which was mostly deserted - except for tourists. fortunately, we found a square w/ a book market and a jazz trio, which was the perfect place to have an early happy hour w/ some belgian beers. cath's really getting into beer here, which is cool. she's also getting into the wine, too :)

mondays are reserved for planning and logistics (~2 hours). we'll map out the next few weeks, rent a car, do a budget (few weeks late on that one) and hit the grocery store. all in all, not a bad to-do list for monday.

versailles and the louvre

On Wednesday we took a day trip to the Chateau de Versailles, a testament to the extravagance of the French monarchy. The chateau was completely surreal - words can't do it justice, but hopefully the pics below capture some of the grandeur. The grounds surrounding the chateau were full of statutes, fountains, and impeccably groomed gardens. As we elbowed through the chateau with all the other tourists, I overheard one Polish tourist complaining about how crowded it was, saying "I told you we shouldn't have come", to which his buddy responded "I'm used to this. In Poland, the museums are hundreds of times worse!" It was pretty funny given that at that point we literally were shoving through a doorway like a bunch of cattle! Afterwards we strolled around the grounds for awhile, checked out Marie Antoinnette's estate (her suite of rooms in the chateau were insufficient apparently), and then had a lovely picnic overlooking one of the fountains. Obviously we were exhausted after all that so we took a nap in the park. :)

Versailles - built "for all the glory of France"

gold, gold everywhere!

ceiling

the Hall of Mirrors

the king's bedroom. the queen did not sleep here - she had her own equally extravagant suite!

view onto the gardens, from the back of the chateau

setting up for our picnic! we will never admit to eating that entire package of camembert! :)

Yesterday we went to the Louvre with Geoffroy - we were there for a few hours in the afternoon, but barely skimmed the surface of the largest museum in the world. We were saving the Mona Lisa for the end, and at 5:40 headed over to check it out. We never made it. The museum closed at 6, and the guards simply couldn't let us down the hallway to see the Mona Lisa because that might mean they wouldn't get to leave right at 6! haha Oh well, we weren't really set on seeing it anyway.

apres-Louvre drink