What we ate on Day Six in Provence

[Jenise]

Breakfast:
coffee and chocolate croissants

Lunch:
chicken, olive and pasta salad
Hazelnut saucisson (Ap issue, but can't recall proper spelling)
Sliced tomatoes dressed with olive oil
Cave aged cantal cheese
baguette

Dinner:
oysters on the half shell
foie gras on sliced baguette
pan fried red mullet, grilled sardines, baked new potatoes, lemon butter
avocado and orange slices on red spinach with shallot dressing
cheeses, pear and grapes

Oh, and eight or nine bottles of wine were consumed.

[David M. Bueker]

Please let us know when you eat something good.

Chocolate Croissants! They are getting Americanized aren't they?

Chocolate Croissants! They are getting Americanized aren't they?

?????

Chocolate Croissants! They are getting Americanized aren't they?

?????

I've never had anything except a plain ole croissant in France. Thought the chocolate ones along with other filled ones were an American concoction.

[David M. Bueker]

Pain au chocolate (or variations thereof) have been around a long, long time. They are not an Americanized food.

[Robin Garr]

Pain au chocolate (or variations thereof) have been around a long, long time. They are not an Americanized food.

I was just going to say ...

Pain au chocolate (or variations thereof) have been around a long, long time. They are not an Americanized food.

I was just going to say ...

They get very Americanized by me when I go to France.

And it's no pain at all, really.

They get very Americanized by me when I go to France.

And it's no pain at all, really.

My current diet regimen does not allow these. No pain, no gain....

Sounds like you are still eating a healthy diet. I really want to go there! Is this your first time to visit?

I've never had anything except a plain ole croissant in France

You must not have been looking very hard!

As others have said, pain au chocolat is very French. When I was a student (oh so long ago) I preferred the croissant aux amandes because it had more flavor and was much more filling than the regular croissants. But obviously they're all great.

I've never had anything except a plain ole croissant in France

You must not have been looking very hard!

As others have said, pain au chocolat is very French. When I was a student (oh so long ago) I preferred the croissant aux amandes because it had more flavor and was much more filling than the regular croissants. But obviously they're all great.

Not that it's a problem in France, but once in a rush through a train station in Munich, I hastily bought a pain au chocolat from a little bakery in the train station, only to bite into it on the train to discover... Mohn strüdel Not that there was any problem with that, but it did create quite a shock to the system.

Mark Lipton

I hastily bought a pain au chocolat from a little bakery in the train station, only to bite into it on the train to discover... Mohn strüdel

We had similar shocks when we first arrived in Hungary. We had no idea what was in the pastries and guessing from their appearance did not work. In particular, I remember buying what we thought was the local equivalent of a vanilla-custard eclair but instead turned out to be filled with a salty cream cheese. Shocking indeed! Such is the joy of hasty train station travel...

[Jenise]

Please let us know when you eat something good.

The fun thing is that we prepared all that food ourselves. Of course, the sausages and bakery items were purchased, but everything else we prepared here at home. We've been having a great time with the food!

Yesterday was a day of relaxation and so all our meals were prepared at home after a short trip to Rasteau across the valley from us to taste at La Soumade. (Bill and Coop loved the wines, I found them too sweet/extracted and lacking elegance). On our return Dave and I prepared a lunch of ham crepes folded suzette style topped with a chantarelle-wine sauce smoothed out with a bit of creme fraiche. After the crepes, a belgian endive and a avocado salad with lemon-shallot dressing. Last night's main course was a classic provencal daube--beef braised in red wine with black olives and orange peel, basically. We had foie gras on toasted baguette before our meal and followed the daube with a shaved fennel salad. Such is the foie gras situation here (plentiful and affordable) that we are struggling not to eat foie gras with every meal. Or at least some of us are--Bill would eat it three meals a day if Suzanne would let him!

As for our diet in general: I am eating far more cheese and bread than I'm comfortable with, I'll tell you that. Our household is going through croissants for all every morning and three baguettes throughout the rest of the day. I already put the brakes on that personally, abstaining this morning and sticking with fruit.

We're off to the market in Sainte Cecile this morning with plans to buy monk fish for tonight's dinner and a gigot (leg of lamb) for tomorrow's. Dave and I, who have never spent time behind the same stove before, are getting along famously in the kitchen. Our styles, though acquired quite differently, we've discovered are surprisingly similar and our personalities very compatible. We each flip back and forth seamlessly in the roles of head and sous chef on various aspects of the meal (Dave has formal training and once owned a restaurant) and every meal is proof that two heads are better than one. With the perfect quality of local Rhone ingredients, the food here at home has surpassed anything we've had in the local restaurants.

Off to market!

As for our diet in general: I am eating far more cheese and bread than I'm comfortable with, I'll tell you that. Our household is going through croissants for all every morning and three baguettes throughout the rest of the day. I already put the brakes on that personally, abstaining this morning and sticking with fruit.

Always tough when on vacation. You want to enjoy the local tastes that you can't easily get at home. But you don't want to make yourself uncomfortable doing so! I love pastries, bread, and cheese (the three main things I love in France that are better/different than what I get at home). But I too couldn't eat croissants every morning for breakfast. Especially since breakfast sets up my gastrointestinal system for the rest of the day.

I try to eat yogurt and fruit for breakfast no matter where I am, vacation or not. Depending how long I'm in France, I usually only eat a couple of croissants. As much as I love them, they're just not fun for the stomach. Same thing with bread. As much as I love it, it just doesn't work its way into my diet all that often. But I'm a sucker for all that cheese and try to eat as much of that as possible. It seems to have more nutritional content. (Same thing for wine, but I'm not sure about the nutritional content there!) Either way, enjoy the rest of your trip!

My cheese intake skyrockets in France (with Italy a close second). There's a such a variety of regional cheeses that are so damn tasty and exotic, I find them hard to resist. The all you can eat cheese plate sometimes provided in the Southern Rhone restuarants is particularly dangerous...

There's a such a variety of regional cheeses that are so damn tasty and exotic, I find them hard to resist.

True. Although for me it's not the variety but rather the pristine state of the cheeses which is so hard to replicate across the Atlantic. Cheese is much closer to fruit and vegetables in that respect, as too much travel dulls it. I mean I eat lots of high quality imported cheese in the US, but every time I return to Europe and see how glisteningly perfect the high quality cheeses look in France, with such clarity, such depth, I can't help but get excited.

It is hard not to take advantage of the foods that are readily available here. The foie gras, the wonderful sausages (one, a sanglier - wild boar - chock full of hazelnuts was a particular fave for me), the great cheeses, the fish we can't get at home, the range of vegetables (we have another platter of marinated artichokes upcoming), and the sheer sensory indulgence of 3 couples going to an open market, grabbing whatever looks good, and returning home to create a meal from those elements is to die for, for a foodie.

Nothing like vying for the cribbage or hearts tile for Provence while sipping a few bottles of the roses and whites, either outside in the sun or inside with the mistral howling outside (we've experienced both).

[Jenise]

As for our diet in general: I am eating far more cheese and bread than I'm comfortable with, I'll tell you that. Our household is going through croissants for all every morning and three baguettes throughout the rest of the day. I already put the brakes on that personally, abstaining this morning and sticking with fruit.

Always tough when on vacation. You want to enjoy the local tastes that you can't easily get at home. But you don't want to make yourself uncomfortable doing so! I love pastries, bread, and cheese (the three main things I love in France that are better/different than what I get at home). But I too couldn't eat croissants every morning for breakfast. Especially since breakfast sets up my gastrointestinal system for the rest of the day.

I try to eat yogurt and fruit for breakfast no matter where I am, vacation or not. Depending how long I'm in France, I usually only eat a couple of croissants. As much as I love them, they're just not fun for the stomach. Same thing with bread. As much as I love it, it just doesn't work its way into my diet all that often. But I'm a sucker for all that cheese and try to eat as much of that as possible. It seems to have more nutritional content. (Same thing for wine, but I'm not sure about the nutritional content there!) Either way, enjoy the rest of your trip!

In my case it's not gastro so much as energy. Carbs just slow me down, so starting the day with carbs vs. the fruit and possibly a bit of protein (leftovers from dinner the night before) I'm used to risks an early blood sugar crash and that doesn't feel good. B ut oh yeah to what John said about the cheeses. The cave-aged rich tomme style cheeses are my favorite in the world and I hadn't realized that Provence is ground zero for this style. I'm also a major fan of St. Marcellins, which I pay a dear $10 for a tiny disk of in Bellingham. Here? $1.50 at the green grocer two minutes' walk away. How can I not buy them?

[Jenise]

It is hard not to take advantage of the foods that are readily available here. The foie gras, the wonderful sausages (one, a sanglier - wild boar - chock full of hazelnuts was a particular fave for me), the great cheeses, the fish we can't get at home, the range of vegetables (we have another platter of marinated artichokes upcoming), and the sheer sensory indulgence of 3 couples going to an open market, grabbing whatever looks good, and returning home to create a meal from those elements is to die for, for a foodie.

Sure are, Bill. I've been taking pictures at the market that I'll post when I get back.

Here's a local sight in Chateauneuf.

More - not photoshopped to clean them up yet.

[Jenise]

Great shots, Bill. Those were from the Saturday market in Sainte Cecile. And the salami shot reminds me that I've not had any breakfast yet.

Refrigerator raid coming up!

Sigh!!!