I decided to pickle some of my crop of garlic this year - I usually end up discarding a lot of it the following spring. I used this recipe. It calls for fresh rosemary and orgeano - which I still have in abundance in my patch of herbs.

A photo of our home in Eastern Ontario. The house was built in 1903. We are the 3rd family to live here. We bought it in 1978 - moved in December 28. Our nearest neighbours, prize-winning Suffolk & Dorset sheep, live in a blue barn. Next to them are their owners, our nearest human neighbours. We live across the road from a dairy farm that has been in the same family for over 130 years.

We live in a quiet rural area surrounded by fields and only 2 miles from a small town. Our property includes an acre of land, with a large vegetable garden out back and a pool that we installed 17 years ago. My wife and I raised 4 children in our home and now we take care of our grandchild 3 or more days a week. Ten years ago my mother-in-law built a 2-bedroom "granny suite" attached to our home. The entrance to her home is visible on the right. We like it here. The house is way too large for our needs, but I can't see us ever moving away. We like to travel as much as we can, but we are also very attached to our home.

Carrots Glazed with Rosé Wine

From A Culinary Journey in Gascony by Kate Hill

Ingredients

1lb (455 g) fresh carrots
1 cup (8 fl oz/240ml) dry rosé wine or dry white wine
1 sprig fresh rosemary
1 leaf verveine (lemon verbana; available dried as a tea)
1 tablespoon sweet butter

Directions

1. Peel and trim the carrots, leaving them whole if not too large, or cut them in 3-inch (8 cm) lengths. Put the carrots in a lidded saucepan and barely cover them with water. Cook covered for 10 to 15 minutes over medium-high heat.

2. Drain the water and add the wine, rosemary and verveine. Lower the heat to low and continue cooking. When the carrots are almost done, cover and let sit for 5 minutes or until ready to serve.

3. To serve the carrots, add the butter, return to high heat, uncovered, and reduce the wine almost completely. Do not brown the carrots. Gently shake the carrots in the sauce until they are glazed. Serve hot with a garnish of fresh lemon verbena or mint.

Comments

The carrots & rosemary are from my garden - decided to try to find different ways of consuming the bounty at this time of the year. I used small carrots - just cut off the ends, scrubbed them clean & bisected down the middle. No lemon verbana - used a bit of lemon juice instead.

Paupiettes de Veau - Stuffed Veal Bundles

From A Culinary Journey in Gascony by Kate Hill

Ingredients

8 veal scallops, cut thin (or pound as needed)
salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 lb lean pork sausage
1 tablespoon oil
1 onion, chopped
2 shallots, chopped
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 bottle (750ml) sweet white wine
bouquet garni (thyme, bay leaf, parsley and sage)
1 lb mushrooms, sliced
1 teaspoon orange zest

Directions

1. Flatten the veal scallops with the blade of a large knife. Salt and pepper generously.
2. Place a spoonful of sausage on each scallop one-third of the way down the scallop. Roll the scallop around the sausage, tucking the meat around the stuffing until well-rolled. Taking about two feet of kitchen string, place the bundle in the middle of the string, and tie; turn one-quarter and tie again; turn again and tie again. When you have a neatly tied packet of veal and stuffing, clip off any excess string and set aside.
3. Place the veal parcels in a single layer in a hot, deep saute pan with the oil. Brown on all sides and remove from the pan.
4. Saute the chopped onion and shallots in the oil left in the pan. Stir until they start to colour, then add the flour and tomato paste. Continue to cook and stir until the mixture starts to color, then add nearly the whole bottle of wine (remember, it's okay to reserve a glass for the chef.)
5. Place the veal paupiettes and bouquet garni in the sauce, cover and simmer slowly for 45 to 60 minutes.
6. Add the sliced mushroom and orange zest to the sauce and cook for another 15 minutes. Serve with rice or pasta.

Comments

I made this dish for dinner this evening - pretty easy, if a bit lengthy in preparation - but it was worth it. This was a big hit.

This is an interesting book - several additional recipes I plan to use.

I also like the narrative and anecdotes that accompany the recipes

I like the information that this dish is also called "alouettes sans tetes" - "larks without heads."

I was able to pick all the herbs for the bouquet garni, except for the bay leaf, from my herb garden.

A short video of my reception at the sheep barn to take a couple of photos of the new-born lambs

Here's a recent picture of the 2 lambs that were born last evening in the field behind my garden. They, along with the ewe, were moved into the sheep barn soon after I reported their birth.

Ewe & lambs appear to be doing well

Just in from working in our large vegetable garden behind our house. On the other side of the rail fence are 6 sheep, put there to feed on the grass in a relatively small area - about 1/4 of an acre. It is quite common to hear the "baa" of the sheep whenever I am in the garden. But this evening I heard a different sound as I was putting away my garden tools. It was weaker and higher pitched. I went back to the fence & saw two newborn lambs lying in the grass. I walked over to my neighbour to tell him. He thought I was talking about some young sheep over by the large sheep barn between our houses.

"No, these are two young lambs on the grass behind our garden." He came over & took the lambs and their mother back to the barn.

"That's the first time that's happened to me." he said.

Me, too.

On Wednesday our four companions presented my wife and me with un bon cadeau, a gift certificate for dinner on Friday evening June 19 at La Closerie, a highly-regarded restaurant owned by Delphine et Olivier Alemany. La Closerie is about a minute walk down the hill from our house. Donna and Diane even picked out our table in conversation with Delphine. We were seated on the terrace next to the stone wall looking out over the valley. We both like to dine out when we are in France - who wouldn't? - but we usually pay close attention to the right side of the pages on a menu. A very generous and unexpected gift.

I almost left my money pouch at home - after all the gift certificate would cover the fixed price menu and a bottle of wine, with a bit left over - but I decided to take along some extra Euros, "just in case." Good thing I did, or one of us would have had to make a somewhat embarrassing trip up the hill at the end of the evening.

Of course, we had to begin our special evening with an apéritif - kir for me and kir royal (made with Champagne) for Liz. While the fixed price menu was perfectly fine, we decided to order à la carte - a decidedly pricier option. And besides, Delphine mentioned that a special lobster entrée was available. We followed this with our plats - loup (sea bass) for Liz and pigeon rôti for me. We chose a bottle of Reserve 2004 Chateau des Tours from the wine list.

We ended our meal with dessert and café. Everything was excellent.

We shared the small patio with a few other people, including a English foursome who were dropped off by a chauffeur. Some of their conversation debated the merits of Eton vs Harrow for their children/grandchildren.

When ordering from the fixed price menu (€34 in June 2009) and selecting one of the more moderately priced bottles of wine, it is possible for a couple to enjoy a 3-course dinner at La Closerie in the evening for under €100. Lunch presents a more moderate option.

We enjoyed our evening at La Closerie very much. Thank you Donna, Diane, Carol, Faith.

One day Diane said, "You know what I've noticed over here as we drive around? No litter." She's right, there is almost no trash along the roads and recycling has been a way of life at least in the south of France for at least then past five years. I'm sure it's much longer than that, but we've only been coming since 2005.

In Ansouis there are recycling bins - for paper, glass, and tin/plastic at the bottom of the hill leading up into the village. There are two additional bins off to the side - think they are for specialty paper products such as cardboard. Not sure about those, but we made several trips - "clank", "clank" (trying to approximate the sound of wine bottles jostling in the bag) - down the hill in our two weeks. Beside the main parking lot by the Mairie, there were two other bins for regular household garbage. There was garbage pickup in our small village at least three times a week - sometimes with a large garbage truck, sometimes a small pickup. We could hear the large truck coming up the hill, so a few times we just handed a bag to a guy on the back of the truck as he passed by. Yes, the street was that narrow.

There are recycling and garbage depots in every town and village. In rural areas they are located at convenient places along the roads. On our two previous visits on a rural gîte, we made several visits to the recycling depot at a crossroads down the hill as we headed out for the day.

The last part of our checkout process at Chez Barbara was a stop at the recycling depot in Ansouis.

What did my wife and I bring back from France in June 2009?

From Paris
- 2010 French Impressionist calendar purchased at the Musée d'Orsay
- a jar of Moutarde Violette de Brive

From Bonnieux
- two pieces of pottery

From Lourmarin
- some clothing (wife, daughter, son's girlfriend), a belt (daughter's boyfriend), pumice stone, a piece of jewelry, and a jar of Camargue Fleur de Sel

From Coustellet
- several bars of soap and two jars of tapenade noire
- shopping basket from our first visit. I now have 3. I know our companions thought it was a bit odd for me to be making this purchase. But we returned to the market at Coustellet our 2nd Sunday, partially so two of our group could make a basket purchase from the same vendor. They were the best made baskets they saw.

From Roussillon
- one signed print of a field of lavender and a piece of jewelry

From Gordes
- one cork purse and one canvas bag

From Mont Ventoux
- a t-shirt and water bottle for Steve, our cyclist son
- a t-shirt for John, our cyclist son-in-law

From Avignon
- three small watercolours of a sunflower, a poppy and sprig of lavender. Our small dining room has only artwork and photos from our travels on the walls. These paintings, framed together, will make a very nice addition.

From Chateau Val Joanis
- one bottle of olive oil

From various places
- items of clothing for our grandson - see example below
- several fridge magnets. OK, so I collect fridge magnets. You got a problem with that?
- five Michelin maps - #329, 337, 341, 345, 525 - to help plan future trips. I looked at buying these maps online before we left. But the prices, including shipping, were quite high. And then there they were sitting on racks in Aix and Apt. We will almost certainly not be returning to the Luberon in 2010. This was our 3rd trip based in the area in 5 years and we even drove down a couple of days when were were in the Drôme last year. But, if you haven't been to this area of France, I would urge you to consider it.
- five bottles of wine - 2 from Chateau Turcan, 1 each from Chateau la Canorgue and two different domaines in Chateauneuf du Pape.
- lots of photos and great memories.

We had the majority of our dinners at our rental in Ansouis, with most of our food purchases at the weekly markets we visited several days in various towns and villages. Most wine purchases were made directly from the producing property - including whites and reds from Chateaux Val Joanis, La Canorgue, Turcan, plus some wines from Chateauneuf du Pape. We also had a few bottles of rosé wines from various sources, including a Tavel chilling in the fridge when we arrived.

Faith, one of our group, is an excellent cook. Some of her plats, including the veau and cabaillaud were restaurant quality. Donna was the chef de salad, and prepared the salad early enough so it wouldn't interfere with Happy Hour. Carol and Liz and Diane prepared the vegetables, cut up fruit, prepared desserts - which sometimes involved cutting a purchase at un fournil into slices. I'm not sure who prepared les amuse bouches, the tray of several small snacks that marked the start of Happy Hour. Being the chauffeur, I was exempt from kitchen duty - although I must admit that I was called upon to open a bottle or two of wine.

Individually we each contributed €120 for our food purchases - including wines and cheeses. We ate very well. A major contributing factor was the size and especially the quality of the kitchen facilities at Chez Barbara. There was a large island and work area which meant that several people could be working in the kitchen together. Every kitchen appliance or gadget we needed or reached for was there. And every drawer and cupboard was well-labeled.

Dining in Chez Barbara was not a hardship.

Away from Ansouis early yesterday (Saturday) morning to give us plenty of time to make the 6:16am TGV at Avignon to CDG. (Note for future reference. The Avignon Gare TGV doesn't open until 5:30am. No need to arrive earlier - no access to even the rental car lot before then).

First class tickets back to Paris - price was better then 2nd class when I booked online - followed directions on how to book online in French & printed our train tickets before we left. No need to deal with the kiosks or ticket office at CDG, thanks again to my ST mates. Our group split up at CDG. One was flying back to Montreal on Air France while the rest of us were on Air Transat. Flight home (7 1/2 hours) was OK - customs, baggage pickup, where we met up briefly with the 6th member of our group, shuttle transfer to the Park 'N Fly lot, 2 1/2 hour car ride back home on 20 ouest, Highway 401, turn right at Brockville and north on Hwy 29 - arriving home by 7:30pm.

Pool looks OK; garden needs some care but in pretty good shape; grass needs cutting, but what else is new at this time of year?

There were no snags on our way home - and indeed there were no snags anywhere during our 18 days in France. We all got along very well together, had a great rental, everybody up & ready to go early each day, great times in Ansouis and everywhere we went, good times in the evenings whether we were out or Chez Barbara, no bumps or dents in the mini-van. The last was a bit of a personal concern of mine before we left. I had not driven as large a vehicle in our previous visits. But I had 5 other sets of eyes to guide me into tight parking spots and the Ford had sensors that beeped when getting too close to a solid obstruction. Great feature.

Diane, one of our group, observed that, "We brought the sun with us wherever we went." True in a lot of ways.

A few more blogs in this category on a variety of topics and observations, hopefully over the next couple of days.

Hey, remember when I mentioned the fields of sunflowers over near Lambesc? Well, I should have just waited a couple of days and raved about the sunflowers between Ansouis and Lourmarin. We came upon them today on the way to the Friday market in Lourmarin - several large fields just starting to bloom - should be a breathtaking site over the summer until they are harvested. Got a few pics, but nothing to do them justice.

Arrived at Lourmarin before 9:00am - lucky to get a good parking spot. Very popular and very good market - recommend to anybody staying in the area. Thanks for insisting we go there, Barbara. We didn't need much in the way of food, since we're leaving early tomorrow morning, but we spent a couple of hours making a few purchases & stopping for a drink in the attractive and winding central area of the village. It's very hot again today.

Back to Ansouis and a light lunch at the Bar des Sports, one last wine run over to Chateau Turcan and a quiet afternoon packing & resting for our long day tomorrow.

Some of us are going to the highly recommended local restaurant, La Closerie, this evening, but comments and a review will have to wait a few days until we arrive back home in Canada. Signing off my blog for a couple of days.

Helianthos? Oh, that's Sunflowers in French.

Wanna know what I'll be doing on July 25th? .... OK, I'll tell you. I'll be glued to my TV back in Eastern Ontario watching the 2nd last stage of the 2009 Tour de France.

Why? ..... OK, I'll tell you. Today's excursion included 3 places on the 2nd last day of the 2009 Tour de France.

Off by 8:00am - great time to start to a day that became very hot. (I am usually the last one ready to head out for the day - and with 5 women, what are the chances of that?). Over to Apt and up to Sault where we stopped for a café. The trip over to Sault awarded spectacular views, but also included narrow twisting turns and bridge passages high above deep valleys.

I am sure some wondered if this was a prelude to come when I said that I thought they would enjoy a trip to the top of Mont Ventoux. My wife and I drove to the top on our first visit to Provence, back in 2005 - but we didn't see much. A mistral was imminent, and we could only see a few feet in front of us - see TR798 - Footloose in Provence and Paris.

After visiting the tourist office in Sault, picking up a map and being assured that we were within 30 minutes of the top of Mt. Ventoux, off we went. Most of the drive up the south side is in a forested area with only the last few kilometers on the exposed top of "Old Baldy". While we had told our companions about the number of cyclists we would encounter, even we were impressed with their numbers. We passed many, many cyclists - some labouring, some climbing easily, some in tandem, some in groups and many alone - all impressive individual efforts. We parked at the top and were humbled by the dozens of cyclists who were celebrating their ascent. There must have been close to 100 while we were there. We were all impressed by the achievement of those who ascended the summit under their own power. The views are spectacular. Mt. Ventoux dominates the horizon of a large part of the Vaucluse.

We descended on the north side - almost alone. We met only a few cyclists and even fewer cars. The south ascent, which is an HC (above category) climb in the mountain stages of the Tour de France is by far the most popular.

Over to Buis les Baronnies, a picturesque village and a very enjoyable lunch featuring a galette. The village was quiet when we were there, as most of the businesses were closed for a 2 or 3 hour lunch break. A bit our of the way, but an enjoyable visit to a highly-recommended community.

Then on to Vaison la Romaine, a visit to the Roman bridge & streetscape, some shopping before heading back to Ansouis via Carpentras (yes, we took a wrong turn again) and Cavaillon, stopping for some ripe melons de Cavaillon and abricots at a roadside stand. In for dinner - starting to finish off our food purchases, getting ready for our departure.

The July 25th stage of the 2009 Tour de France passes through Sault, Buis les Baronnies, and ends at the top of Mont Ventoux. You can bet I'll be watching.

Tomorrow is our last full day in our house in Ansouis. Our 6:16am Saturday morning TGV booking from the station in Avignon suggests a quiet day close to home, packing & getting ready for our departure. The owner of our property has been in contact a few times - nice touch that - and has encouraged us to visit the nearby Friday market in Lourmarin. OK Barb, we're going, we're going.

We are staying in the heart of Ansouis. Three centres of commerce in the village are within a few feet of our door - the boulangerie, the tabac and the Bar des Sports. The latter is by far the most interesting to first-time visitors like us. The Bar des Sports is the centre of what passes for much daily social interaction here in Ansouis. It is run & owned by JJ who lives a few steps (take 5 big steps - that's about how far away he is from work) across the street. He opens at 7:00am, closes at 8:00pm and he is there every day, 7 days a week, all but 2 days a year. He closes New Year's Day and a half a day at Christmas. He wears flip flops, smokes a lot and likes to sit on a bench in front of his house, where he can survey his domain - some tables would be out of his line of sight if he stayed in the bar.

The word "bar" should not suggest a dark interior space with service restricted to alcoholic drinks. The life of the Bar des Sports, at least in the warm months, occurs mainly outside at a number of new-since-we-arrived multicoloured tables and orange chairs. JJ's daily outfits have been colour-coordinated with his new furniture since it arrived. AND, while perhaps in cooler months, patrons are gathered inside to follow sports on TV, in the summmer the word "Sports" in the title of the bar, doesn't appear to signify anything. The Bar des Sports offers a light fixed lunch during the week and a barbeque lunch on weekends.

JJ is serving café to a small group of regulars almost as soon as he opens, café crême to a varying number of our group before 8:00am, and likely a drink of some sort to many locals and most visitors to Ansouis throughout the day. In the late afternoon JJ is often engaged in a conversation with a table of the same group of people - appear to be friends - but he sits apart, ready for business.

For the past few days, most of us have dropped in for a Monaco (pronounced "Moonaco" - with the emphasis on the "a" - as in in Menachem Begin) - the unofficial start of Happy Hour at Chez Barbara.

He's fairly reserved at first, but we have noticed a more relaxed and friendly interaction the longer we have been here - likely has something to do with how much we frequent his bar. Fair enough. He's running a business, not part of the local colour for our entertainment.

JJ and the Bar des Sports have added to our most enjoyable time in Ansouis. We're glad he's here.