The street market has flowers today, I assume, because of Easter. I buy beautiful peonies. Peonies always make me think of France. Several years ago when we were in Sancere at language school, we went to the local florist and bought probably 8 stems of huge peonies. Those beautiful flowers probably cost us about $75 because the exchange rate at the time was $1.50:1€. (It’s now about $1.35:1€.) But those flowers lasted well over a week–maybe close to 10 days and they brightened our cute little apartment and made us smile to see them. They were maybe worth 10x what we paid for them.
Cat & Stephen arrive for lunch. They have a new granddaughter! They bring us wonderful goodies: homemade apricot jam and fig chutney; estate grown and fabricated olives from the Hartley estate; and a beautiful framed picture of the dogs taken when we had lunch with them just after we arrived. Stephen fixes our TV so now it works. We ask Cat about the “air-raid” sirens. She suspects it’s an alert for the volunteer fire department. That makes perfect sense. We have light beginnings (olives & pistachios) with Prima Perla Brut Cremant de Limoux (sparkling wine) from Jean-Claude Mas a St. Hilaire. Delicious wine! Then a first course of tomatoes stuffed with bread crumbs, pine nuts, garlic and the chopped flesh from the tomatoes–so delicious and so French. Howard fixes “Mule Drivers Rabbit” from a Spanish cookbook here at the house. It is garlicky and fantastic! He also pan fries potatoes to go with it. Howard is delighted that Stephen asks for seconds.
I try to make a Polenta & orange cake for dessert but what a task! Finding flour, “castor sugar,” baking powder, baking soda and polenta (corn meal) takes 3 trips to the grocery and plenty of questions of Catherine. The same nice lady helps me at the grocery on 2 visits in one day. I need to get the French names for everything. I think I have everything I need until I open the box of what I thought was cornmeal and it is corn starch!! That definitely will not do. So I head back to the store because now I am sure I know where to find the polenta. Fortunately I read the box with the picture that looks just like polenta carefully. I would have purchased potato flakes! I don’t think a Potato and Orange cake would have been very tasty.
So dessert is several kinds of cookies including the pretty “macaroons” that are now becoming popular in the US. Fruit jellies are sandwiched between meringue cookies; they are all different, pretty colors. Trader Joe’s has them in the freezer section.
After our dinner I start to set out the cookies and start the coffee when I suddenly realize I have forgotten the cheese course! I guess I’d better get these French traditions straight. So after the cheese course, we have cookies. And after the cookies (not with the cookies, after the cookies), we have coffee.
Over dinner we discuss a trip to Great Britain that Stephen is planning for his 70th birthday (in three years) which happens to coincide with Howard’s 75th birthday year. Stephen has this travel vision in which he travels around GB to experience and photograph places where he spent time in earlier years. Some places might be past their prime; some places might be surprisingly renewed; some places might be disappointing; some places might be delightful. The trip might take 3 weeks or it might take 3 months. The accommodations might be dreadful or they might be clean and comfortable. The food on the trip will run the gamete. We say we’re in!!!
We talk about our trip to Italy at the end of June. We’d love for the Hartleys to join us. We have rented an 18th century farm house in an olive grove in Tuscany just outside of Lucca. The pictures look great but it’s probably more rustic than it looks. Catherine says we will love Italy! Stephen says if it weren’t for the incredible corruption that is ubiquitous in the country they might live there instead of France. I say that I cannot imagine Italy is “better” than France. Cat says it is so. She says the people are incredibly hospitable; they will love our dogs. Her son and DIL love to travel there because their daughter is more than welcome everywhere. And they say the food is incredible. So now we are getting more excited. They say the drive there especially through the border of France and Italy and through the Alps will be nerve-wracking but we are champs at driving in extreme places (as long as Howard has a good map and not relying on the GPS). So the Hartleys will check their calendar and we hope they are free to help us enjoy Italy.
After the Hartleys left we grab a glass of wine (because we had not has any wine so far today–HA!) and sit on the front terrace. Who should we see waving at us from the street but Marie, the dog sitter! I think we (including, maybe especially, the dogs) have found a new friend in France. She says she can help me improve my French but she wants to meet a California fiancée! HA!