Living Stylishly Well

Simply (Snowy) Provence

Simon — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 05:00:36 +0000

A little bird house in the garden at Bastide les Amis

A Week in Provence Winter ‘12 [5]

Simon — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 05:00:48 +0000

Down the D900 national road from Menerbes lies the old Roman town of Apt. To-day, it boasts a great Saturday market, an atmospheric old town and some great little restaurants, some dear friends but certainly is not a tourist hub.

Industrial areas encircle the town of 12,000 people and, unfortunately as a consequence of the European economy, unemployment is high. It was into one of these industrial zones that we went in search of the headquarters of the lighting company, Blachere. It’s situated just off the little road to the hill top village of Saint Saturnin-des-Apt and you can;t miss it - a huge green building covered in bright stars and twinkly things.

Blachere is a world leader in festive, Christmas and ornamental lighting. amazing to believe that this factory is not in Chine, but in Apt! Think Times Square, the Ginza, thousands and thousands of large Christmas displays are all crafted and manufactured in the Apt workshops.

We popped in. The wedding needs lights! The store is a wonderland and we picked out a few gems for approval.

A few weeks ago, Mark and Arnem came to stay for the weekend. Last week, the telephone rang and our friendly DHL man was in the parking area - ‘une colis pour vous’. Two cookery books tumbled out of the amazon packaging - Otto Lenghi’s The Cookbook and another Otto Lenghi Plenty.

It takes a lot to get Madame away from the latest Ken Follett or her Provençal books, but these have succeeded. This weekend saw two delicious creations -and they were vegetarian!

Roast potatoes and Jerusalem artichokes with lemon and sage

Close up. These artichokes came out of a can

Surprise tartin. You see, this is it upside down!

And, flipped over to look just like the book - tastes better though!

We have been busily painting the Doll Museum and, as happens, either you run out of paint at the moment critique, or the suggestion is floated that the final coat should maybe be a different colour to that originally selected! Of to our local paint shop Arc-en-Ciel in Coustellet and what do we find outside? An example of local creativity! Quite different you must admit!

Fountain outside Arc-en-Ciel, Coustellet

Quite quirky, quite fun

Au bientot : Lovonne and Simon xx

Madame’s Magic Moments

Simon — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 13:10:23 +0000

A bust outside the Maison de La Truffe et Vin in Menerbes, Luberon

The ‘Paris’ has gone up a Notch

Simon — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 05:00:28 +0000

So-named in honour of the great street food in the French capital, the Paris has long been a firm favourite amongst our family and friends - especially the boys. A superb lunch or supper dish, it is a baguette, with mustard, ham, viennas and melted cheese all grilled together and served piping hot with the obligatory tomato sauce (or if your name is Will, then you add Tabasco).

Over the weekend, Madame decided to lift the bar and created the Bastide -

Here we go:

Baguette sliced and smothered in Maille 1747 mustard

Lay over sliced ham, folded to add quantity (this is more important than presentation)

Thinly sliced red onion (I’m told that the red one is very important for taste) placed on top

Sliced knackis (the French derivative of a good old-fashioned vienna sausage) on topSprinkle over grated Compte or Gruyere cheese

Use up the remainder of the onion on top

Grill in the oven till crisp (don’t burn - a catastrophe!)

Serve hot with lashing of Heinz tomato sauce, and if you’re feeling healthy, raw sliced tomato

Note the lashings of mustard at the bottom

Ready for the oven

Nicely grilled - a thing of beauty

Ready for the Heinz - note that the tomato does not need to be overdone

Madame’s Magic Moments

Simon — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:08:36 +0000

The Petit Luberon mountains, close to Menerbes

Madame’s Magic Moments

Simon — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:08:20 +0000

1 February 2012 - Menerbes in the early morning light.

La Neige! Snow in the Luberon

Simon — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 02:00:22 +0000

Tuesday 31st January 2012. Back came the snow and the rest of the week sees temperatures sliding down as far as -12 degrees C. They say it’s a front from Siberia. We live in Provence and do not like Siberia.

However,it’s very beautiful. Let’s hope that it melts quickly and that there is now collateral damage. At least the olive trees have had their branches shaken to prevent cracking and breaking.

The village of Menerbes may only be 150 metres away but it seems miles in the snow

Outside Maison Blanc, Bastide les Amis

Our front entrance!

The pool house shivers in the distance

We have some renters from South Africa - sheltering from the heat, not they're sheltering from the snow!

Our 350 year old olive tree has seen it all before

Footsteps - Essential Luberon Valley Guide

Simon — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 05:00:05 +0000

Here’s a great Review of Footsteps from www.2oceansvibe.com:

Everyone knows the greatest holidays are the ones where “we bumped into this local guy, who knew about all the secret spots and gave us bits and pieces of information and facts that no-one else knew.” Nobody wants to go to every single tourist hotspot and, if they do, they want to tick the right boxes as swiftly as possible and indulge in the more region-centric quirks and people.” This book IS that guy who you bumped into.

It’s a highly personal thing, when it comes to choosing what to do and where to go when you visit a region of the world. Especially when it comes to a place like Provence and the Luberon Valley, where the language is different and some genuine local insight is all you really need.

The beauty of Simon Burrow’s Footsteps is that he actually lives in the Luberon Valley – Menerbes, to be exact. Ridley Scott the Hollywood director lives in the same area. And yes it is the same place that Peter Mayle lived when he wrote the famous A Year In Provence. The difference here, is that Peter Mayle’s book was never written as a guide. Footsteps is meant to be a guide but, to be honest, a few friends have borrowed my copy and they all seem to read it cover to cover. And they weren’t even planning on going to Provence. Now they are! it’s thatgood.

CLICK HERE for “Footsteps” on Amazon and Kindle

Some stunning highlights:

- Lou Luberon in Robion – owner is Lou the retired Marseilles heavyweight boxer there is no service from the bar at lunch between 13h00 and 13h15 (peak of lunchtime) due to the news being on TV.

- Then there is Ridley Scott and the Avignon Professor with his chickens. Ridley complained 6 times in court – it was thrown out, he tried to give the Prof €60,000 to get rid of his 36 chickens who crowed each morning and so the Prof refused and bought 80 more – now he has erected a statue of a crowing rooster outside Ridley’s entrance road!

And just wait until you learn about the roundabouts on the roads and how they are the link between the government and the freemasons!

Contents:

- A (very) short History of Provence
- Day Trips – The Golden Triangle
- Day Trips – The Grand Luberon
- Day Trips – Les Alpilles
- Day Trips – The Pope’s tour
- Day Trips – The Mediterranean, Cassis, the Calanques and the Foreign Legion
- Day Trips – Horses of the Camargue
- Day Trips – The Lavender Tour
- Your Home from Home – The Luberon Valley
- Les Marches – The Markets
- Something different – The Turnarounds
- Something different – The ‘Hullo’ Magazine Tour
- Something different – The French Huguenots Tour
- Something different – The Artists’ Tour
- Something different – The Waters of Provence
- Something different – The Childrens’ Tour
- Finding your way around a French Supermarket
- Special places to eat, drink and smell
- The Ladies of the Road

Merci bien, Seth!

Madame’s Magic Moments

Simon — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 05:00:57 +0000

The Menerbes parking lot paving is now complete along with some very sexy new street lights - well done Dominique, our local blacksmith!

Madame’s Magic Moments

Simon — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 05:00:39 +0000

Normally hidden by dense foliage, the little Menerbes chapel overlooking the cherry orchards has been cleared and stands proud