Brangelina has clearly made Correns incredibly popular this year. The village is now a location for trendy photo shoots!
Recently in France Category
Heathrow Airport has suffered a lot in the press this summer (see Heathrow hell: Britain's Awful Airports). It's been criticised for its inefficiency in processing travellers, resulting in long delays and missing luggage. Given that it was built to handle 45 million passengers annually but now processes 67 million each year, it's not surprising that it sometimes has problems.
However I've always been impressed with Heathrow, particularly the speed with which it processes arriving passengers. The last thing a tired traveller wants is a delay getting home from the airport, and Britain's immigration and customs procedures have always been excellent in my experience (unlike the equivalent authorities in some other countries e.g. USA).
This summer's criticism has focussed on departures, but I have bad news for the critics. We passed through Heathrow in record time this month at the start of our holiday to France. We left home by taxi at 6:35 am and were sitting at the departure gate at 7:07, having travelled to the airport, checked our bags and gone through security in only 32 minutes! It's a 20 minute drive from our house to Heathrow at the best of times, so that means it only required 12 minutes to get through the Heathrow check-in palaver.
Of course it helped that we had checked-in online the previous day and only had to drop off our bags, which we did by blagging our way through the business class fast bag drop (the check-in attendant was sitting there idle). Nevertheless, the security procedures were working well and so we had almost two hours to wait for our flight. To top it off, our bags were among the first off the plane upon arrival in Nice. Travelling from the UK really can't get much better than that!
We're on holiday in the Var once again, and it's proving unbelievably lovely. Getting here was a different story, but having reached our destination we're clearly going to benefit from the transition of late spring into early summer. This photograph was taken yesterday just outside the village in which we're staying. It was less than a 10 minute walk. Here, the inspiration is all around you — particularly at this time of year.
Click the image above for a larger view of marinated mushrooms
There are some regional delicacies in this part of France (the backcountry behind the Riviera, known locally as La Provence Verte) that are simply delicious, and Sanguins du massif au vinaigre is one of them. Literally, it translates as "blood of the mountain with vineger", but in colloquial English it would probably be called something like "wild marinated mushrooms". When red wine vinegar is used, the olive oil becomes pinkish in colour so that may explain the French name, but it sounds much more enticing in French anyway.
Of course, the French aren't the only ones to marinate mushrooms. There's an Italian version that's very similar (Italy isn't very far away after all), and other mediterranean countries probably have their own variations too. Here the mushrooms always come from the local hills and mountains, and I'm reliably informed that the key is to marinate fresh mushrooms just after they've been picked in mid-October.
The following recipe has been attributed to the village of Plans d'Aups Sainte Baume, but there are lots of local variations. Some people use red wine instead of white; others exclude the wine altogether. Some people prefer to use chunks of larger mushrooms, rather than small ones whole. I'm sure its worth experimenting, keeping in mind that the best results will probably come from using the freshest mushrooms that you can obtain.
Ingredients
- 1 kg mushrooms
- 1 wine glass of vinegar
- 1 wine glass of peanut oil
- 1 wine glass of white wine
- 2 cloves of garlic
- Sprigs of thyme, rosemary, savory and bay leaves
- salt and pepper
- olive oil
Preparation
Clean all the mushrooms, but keep them whole. Blanch (place them in boiling water) for 1 minute and then drain. Put them in a casserole dish with the vinegar, peanut oil, white wine, the garlic cloves and the herbs. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cook on a low heat until the liquid has evaporated. Cool and then store the mushrooms in a bottle or glass jar, and cover with olive oil. They'll last for ages and taste superb.
We're in rural France for Christmas again this year, and it's a welcome break from the hustle and bustle of Europe's largest city.
The weather seems colder than usual, but there's still warmth in the sun despite it being very low on the horizon. Global warming seems to be bringing out the extremes everywhere these days.
It even seems to have affected Santa, who we spotted making his deliveries earlier than usual and without a single reindeer in sight!
Just found this article from the May edition of the Observer Food Monthly, but better late than never right?
The market in Cotignac
Top 50 Things a Real Foodie Should Do
To celebrate Observer Food Monthly's fiftieth edition, we asked some of our favourite bon viveurs what they considered most essential to do before they died. …
31) Get up early and go to market Preferably in Provence. The smell is a mix of pine and cigarette smoke with the occasional strong hit of goat cheese. Cogniscenti head for the Var area, particularly the markets of Cotignac (summer only), the bustling town of Salernes (Wednesday and Saturdays) and Aups (famous for truffles).
The village in the late afternoon
Having left the country, we're finally enjoying the Indian summer that we hoped we would have at home. Here in the south of France the sky is cloudless, the days are still warm and the vines are heaving with fruit.
Whereas a month ago this sleepy village would have been quietly dull apart from the occasional group of tourists canoeing downriver, it's now a hive of activity. The campers have gone home; the children have returned to school; and the 2004 harvest has finally begun. Every 10 minutes another trailer load of grapes arrives at the coopérative vinicole for processing, and the automatic picking machines can be seen travelling back and forth between the village and the fields. It's the busiest time of year here, and it shows.
The south of France is an amazing part of the world. My wife, Ann, and I have just spent another two weeks here and many things still remain to be discovered. For example, I have just discovered that one of the most highly rated vinyards in the region is located only 10km from the village in which my parents live. The wine is called Chateau Routas, while the vinyard appears to be known as Rouviere Plane. The whole place sleeps 12 and can be rented by the week in the summer, with or without the executive chef who used to work at Lalime's in San Francisco. Click on the image above if you want to know more.
