Pissaladiere

A pissaladiere is speciality of Nice and the South of France, a French variant on a pizza.
I made mine with the ingredients I had bought at the market (see previous post). I mainly followed Elizabeth David’s recipe from French Provincial Cooking, but cheated by using a bought pizza base. I‘ll make my own next time. I took1 kilo of Cévennes onions, sliced thinly, and cooked them slowly in olive oil with the lid on the pan for 40 minutes until they were soft and golden. I then added 2 skinned tomatoes and some garlic and cooked with the lid off until they were all amalgamated and the water evaporated. Then I added anchovies and black olives on the top.
There are lots of possibilities for amending this recipe, and Wikipedia has some good links.

What I bought at the market

Anchovies and black olives as I’m going to make a pissaladiere – I’ll let you know how it goes. Large tomatoes – I could stuff them with brandade de morue or just use in ratatouille or a salad. Clementines and Muscat grapes. The small tomatoes came from the garden.

Is this really Autumn?

So I thought Summer was over. Well I was wrong. Several days with temperatures in the low 20s, the sun hot on the terrace after lunch, with no wind and everything quiet (except for the work going on at Christian and MIchelle’s house, where they are having their chimney redone).

At Cap D’Agde people were enjoying the sunshine and the Toussaint (All Saints) holiday weekend. I was there to visit the Salon Nautique; everyone in shorts and T shirts as if summer had never gone away. A wonderful selection of boats and yachts.

I liked this one which looked as if it could have come out of a James Bond film. I imagined a much skinnier me in a bikini, the wind in my hair, sitting at the table with a glass of champagne, with Sean Connery at the wheel. Well at least we have managed to buy a house in the South of France, which isn’t bad; a boat would be a bit extravagant – and I still can’t swim.

Autumn festivals

So summer is over, but never mind, there are so many things to celebrate in the autumn – mushrooms, chestnuts, and of course the new wine.

I spent the weekend driving around in search of wine festivals, to take advantage of the special offers that the vineyards have at this time. This has involved negotiating narrow village streets in search of the cave cooperative, trying to find somewhere to park, sometimes reversing with someone’s living room much too near the side of the car. In spite of these awkward situations (I didn’t scratch the Clio, but was relieved I didn’t have the Golf), it was pleasant driving round in the October sunshine with the hills of the Languedoc on all sides.

On Saturday I went to the chestnut festival at Saint Jean de Fos, a village on the way to St Guilhem le Désert where I hadn’t been before. Their special offer was 6 bottles for the price of 4 on selected wines. There were also stalls selling mushrooms and various sorts of nuts; I bought 2 sorts of mushrooms, including mousserons which go well in omelettes. Their smell lingers in the kitchen now.

Sunday’s festival was at Saint Saturnin, where wines had 20% off and I bought 2 cases. I haven’t got the calculator out to see which was the better buy, but we now have a little store in the mas which will see us through the winter (well at least until Christmas)

Vin primeur

Last Thursday, the third Thursday in October, was vin primeur day in the Languedoc. In Northern France, as the weather is colder this doesn’t happen until November (as in Beaujolais Nouveau) but of course everything ripens earlier here. The wines go down very easily but I’ve saved some to enjoy later on.

The Minuscule had a special evening to celebrate the wine (“Le Prem’s” from Saint Felix-Saint Jean). Poems were read, songs were sung – and Gisela, in fine form, wore a splendid red dress; I’m sorry I don’t have a photo.

I’ve been visiting various wine festivals around the region (remaining sober, I should add, as I was driving) but more of that later.

Goodbye Summer

Since I arrived on Sunday the weather has got cooler. At first it was shorts and tee shirt weather, then the nights became cooler. Yesterday afternoon I needed a jacket walking into Lodève. We sat by the pool for the last time on Wednesday before it is closed up for the winter.

We’ve enjoyed a walk by the sea at le Grau d’Agde, and one in the hills around Clermont l’Herault. At the market at Clermont we bought Muscat grapes and Chantecler apples, and also the new duck paté en croute that Tom has discovered.  The neighbours brought us their some of their new olive crop  and we’ve had the little tomatoes from the garden. The figs have just finished but I’m waiting for the rest of the quinces to ripen. No sign of pears on the pear tree this year (there was one earlier but it has gone now)

It’s good to have the house back now the renters have gone. Mostly they’re not a problem but I wonder who took the wooden coat hangers I bought from Ikea for 3 euros? Was it really worth it?

A visit to Aix-en-Provence

It’s possible to go round Aix en Provence and be unaware that Cezanne was born and lived here, but once you notice the little brass studs in the streets showing you where he and his family lived and visited, you find traces everywhere (the booklet explains it all).

I wandered round the town, went to Cézanne’s studio and the Thursday morning market, and took a bus out to Puylourdier at the foot of the Montagne Sainte Victoire.

And of course I went to the Cézanne Picasso exhibition which was in its last week. Fortunately I got there early; this is what the queue looked like in the afternoon. (More photos on
flickr)

Travelling light

Out of season it’s easy and cheap to commute between the UK and France, thanks to Ryanair and Easyjet. You can do it for 5 euros with Ryanair, but there are several tricks you need to know. One important one is to have hand luggage only. As I have a wardrobe in the UK and a basic one in France (the French one mainly thanks to Primark) I don’t usually have that much to carry by way of clothes. And if I take the bus from Montpellier to Lodève it’s easy to walk up the hill to the house.

The first time I went through Paris with a rucksack I was very embarrassed as I always feel you should dress smartly there. However, now I’ve got used to rucksacks I don’t mind the backpacker image (and maybe backpackers are more chic than they used to be?)

It’s important to remember that you’re only allowed one piece of hand luggage. Sometimes (depends how they’re feeling) Ryanair are very sticky about this. So you have to be able to stuff your handbag, laptop etc into your rucksack somehow, although it seems to be OK to carry your books, newspapers etc in your hand.

There isn’t room for a big laptop, so I have an Asus pc which fits neatly into my handbag. You have to get the laptop out (along with your liquids) to go through security, then put it back in again.

If I have the car at the airport I can manage a reasonable sized case (weighing no more than 10 kilos, dimensions 55cm x 40cm x 20cm) which can hold quite a lot, but of course no liquids or sharp items.

This means not only wine on the France UK trip, but also your favourite shampoo / mouthwash / corkscrew on the UK France leg.

Oh all right, so this can be complicated, but it’s worth the hassle for a 5 euro flight.

Some other money saving tips
– thanks to Money Saving Expert

Make sure you’re on the airline’s mailing list to pick up cheap deals when they are announced. And of course you need to check in online.

Use a Visa Electron (Cash Passport) card. You can get this at Thomas Cook or order online at Travelex. I’ve recently got round to getting one and it has been well worth it, saving me the £5 credit card fee on a £5 (or 5 euro) flight. You preload the card with the amount of money you specify. You don’t have to put much money on.

Next week I’m having a wee trip to Aix en Provence, Cézanne country. (I had booked an Easyjet flight to Montpellier but then we got a booking for the house, so I thought I’d use the flight anyway). After that it will be back to the commute.

Her’s a link (nearly up to date) to all you need to know about
flights to the Languedoc

And here’s a link to the song which inspired the title of this post…

A walk at the seaside

When we went to this beach it was August and still hot We drove past Frontignan towards the Plage des Aresquiers (I’m still not exactly sure where that is) and walked along the spit between the lagoon and the sea for about 45 minutes. We could have carried on for another 45 minutes and reached Villeneuve les Maguelone, but we needed to get back to the car.

We had the beach almost to ourselves. We shared a picnic bottle of red wine and ate quiches from the bakers. As the waves came and went you could collect the shells they left behind. On the way back to the house we stopped at the fruit stall in Montagnac to buy some melons and local peaches for our evening meal.

And now August gives place to September. There is a chill in the air in the evenings. It’s la rentrée and the children are back at school. And we’re back in Birmingham, thinking of summer days.

Harley Davidson bikers in Lodeve

I always find it surprising how many things go on in Lodève. We thought it was a sleepy little town when we had our house built 6 years ago. Last year I was surprised to find a procession of Harley Davidson motor bikes roaring round the Lodève streets, cheered on by the locals. This year we didn’t want to miss the ceremony and arrived in plenty of time on a sunny Sunday morning. First of all we wandered round the stalls set up for the event. On the left you can see what the well dressed lady biker should be wearing.
We admired some of the bikes (Triumphs as well; sorry – I’m not a motor bike expert), watched the band march in, and found a shady spot from which to watch the procession. At last at 12.00 (it should have been 11.30, but that’s France for you) the bikers appeared. They are an international group who meet up at Agde each year. It has become popular for them to drive to Lodève for a Sunday day out.

To find out how the French pronounce “Harley Davidson”, look at this 1968 video of Brigitte Bardot. The bikers are known as “Les Brescadous”
CORRECTION – it’s “Brescoudos” – sorry!
Web site is www.brescoudos.com