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.