The Trail's Our Thing

We've known Janice since we lived here and see her everything we visit. She hosts a cooking evening and dinner for our Luberon Experience groups and is a special part of our trips. She's had us to her home several times, and we've had her to ours. For this dinner I made a homemade blue cheese dressing and had salads with big beefsteak tomatoes and avocodo. Then we had marinated pork tenderloin (filet mignon de porc) on the now-working grill, served with barley and coco plat green beans. For dessert-- ice cream with framboises. I think the meal was just right. It's one of Kelly's favorites.

Dinner with Janice

Sophie is the assistant manager of one of the B&Bs where we have our Luberon Experience trips. She's from an old Bonnieux family and lives right next door to the house where we're staying. In fact, her family's home is about the only one we can see. She's been so helpful to us with our groups (she works incredibly hard), and she's a lot of fun too. Since she went to school and worked in Glasgow, her English is excellent. This was another barbequed chicken night, and I served my tomato/avocado/blue cheese salad again. I also fixed green beans and mashed potatoes with boursin cheese, one of my favorites.

The wonderful Sophie

Our friends Cynthia and Ian (who now live in Bandol) had to come to Bonnieux overnight this past Sunday, and we invited them to stay with us. We planned to have dinner here. One morning, earlier in the week, I was sitting on the back terrace (actually in my nightgown and a hiking shirt-- it was early), and a woman walked by on the hiking just above the house. I recognized that it was Ruthie, a very nice woman from Bonnieux I had met at the wine dinner at the Faverots. In one of those "small world of the Luberon" coincidences, it turned out she and her husband Vincent were good friends of Cynthia and Ian. I called to her from the terrace, and she came down for coffee and a visit, me stil in my nightgown and makeshift robe. She's originally from Austria (her family fled the Nazi regime) and she was raised mostly in Australia. Her husband Vincent is French, from another part of the Luberon. They've lived many places in the world, but have been here quite a long time. I invited them to join us for dinner with Cynthia and Ian, deciding to keep it a surprise.

We had a great evening, one that lasted from 7:30 until after 11. Kelly was a wonderful helper. She is really detail-orineted and creative in presenting the food and the table, and she's learning to cook too... all this time in France has given her a very good sense of these things. We had the tomato/avocado/blue cheese salad once again; a mix of barbeque and marinated chicken, rice, a bean salad, a saute of green and yellow courgettes; a cheese course (Vincent could identify every cheese); and one of Kelly's signature fruit and ice cream desserts.

Cynthia, Charley, Ruthie, Ian, Kathy, and Vincent (photo taken quite late in the evening by Kelly)

Our last dinner guests-- on Monday of this week-- were Eric and Michelle, owners of the other B&B we use for the Luberon Experience. They are really wonderful people-- he's from the French-speaking area of Switzerland and she's from Annecy, near Lake Geneva. We like them very much. Eric speaks English fluently from his years in the business world, but Michelle's English is about like my French. So with Kelly and Eric's help, we spoke a mix of English and French, and it was a chance for all of us to practice.

I had a great meal planned: melon and ham to begin; the marinated pork tenderloin, barley, bean salad and coco plat beans; cheese; and a Kelly dessert. Unfortunately, I had been feeling under the weather all day, going quickly downhill at the time they arrived. I had to excuse myself twice while we were drinking our aperitifs, and then I couldn't finish my melon. I managed to finish preparing the main course, but had to turn things over to Kelly while I went back upstairs. I never got back downstairs. I honestly couldn't function-- or move more than a few feet from the bathroom. I sent word via Kelly for them to continue and have a great time. Charley said Kelly was magnificent, a real hostess... she executed the rest of the meal perfectly.

Eric and Michelle (photo taken May 2008)

That was two days ago, and yes... I'm still a bit under the weather... though doing better today after some medicine from the pharmacy. Kelly and I are taking the TGV to Paris tomorrow morning, and then we fly home to the USA on Sunday. Charley will stay on here for a week until our friends return home, and then he'll travel on his own until I come back over in mid-September.

I haven't left the house in 2-1/2 days, and this definitely isn't the way I wanted to spend my last few days in Provence. But if I have to be sick, I guess I'd rather be here!