If world-famous artists like Paul Cezanne and Vincent Van Gogh fell in love with Provence, Montana wildlife painter Monte Dolack says it’s got something to do with the luminous landscape and the culture he too found so captivating during recent trips there. “There’s a sense of wildness, but almost no natural forest. It’s shaped because of people planting things, so it has a different look that’s kind of intriguing,” said Dolack (who has stayed twice in our rental apartment in Lourmarin). “The vegetation is subtropical– palm trees, oranges, lemons. And the French are terrific at taking care of it.” Lourmarin And in the Lourmarin area…

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This week’s posting is written conjunction with David Scott Allen, Editor of Cocoa & Lavender, who is posting a two-part series on truffles entitled, “Life in Black and White.” This past Wednesday (11/24/10), he discussed black truffles and featured his wonderful recipe for Fettuccine with Truffle Butter. Next Wednesday (12/1/10), he will focus on white truffles with an accompanying recipe. Towny and I have had the pleasure of enjoying many meals with David and Mark—I assure you that you will not be disappointed with any meal one or the other might suggest. Enjoy The Trobador’s posting on our truffle adventures in Provence, including how to…

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  Chapelle St-Sixte As one drives toward Les Alpilles, along the D24 between the tiny villages of Orgon and Eygalières, about 30 minutes from Lourmarin, there’s a very tiny chapel. Framed by lovely cypress trees van Gogh surely would have painted had he ventured a little further from the hospital in St Remy, the 12th century chapel stands atop a stony knoll now dotted with olive and almond trees and an occasional patch of grass. Chapelle St-Sixte was erected on the site of a pagan temple that was built in reverence to a nearby spring. Rituals involving that spring still exist today: a couple must…

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One of Lourmarin’s most celebrated residents was French writer-philosopher Albert Camus. But 50 years after his tragic death in a car crash at only 46, questions linger about his still-emerging multiple identities as doomed Resistance hero, compulsive womanizer and consumptive Algiers slum boy turned advocate for the underdog. Born in French Algeria in 1913, Camus first came to Lourmarin in the wake of his philosophy mentor Jean Grenier, a writer who had taught Camus in Algeria and whose ties to the quaint Provence village (where La Bonbonnière is located) dated back to the 1920s. Captivated by Lourmarin’s “bewildering” beauty and village life, Camus bought a…

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“Elle travaille de la cafetière!” “Ah, occupe-toi de tes oignons.” “Mais, elle pédale dans la choucroute….ça tourne au vinaigre.” “Oh, purée, mon petit chou. Quelle salade!” “Bien, bien…les carottes sont cuites.” You may wonder if I am working from my coffee pot or pedaling in sauerkraut….another post on food? You thought this blog was about France. Ah, mais oui, it is about France; but, in France, mes canards, it’s all about food! Let’s face it: The French are obsessed with food. Debates are passionate about the best restaurant in the village, the best baguette in town, and where to buy the best saucisson de sanglier.…

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“What are Herbes de Provence?” I was asked. Lori, who has had the unenviable task of cleaning chez Manfull for nearly twenty years, raised the bag of herbs to her nose again, waved it back and forth, and inhaled deeply. The small bag of fragrant herbs that we had just purchased a few days earlier from the Lourmarin market reminded Lori that she really wanted to know which herbs defined herbes de Provence. She also wondered why she had never heard of them until we gave her a similar bag about ten years ago and why she had never seen them in the States until…

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Over the hill, past the Château d’Ansouis, and through the vineyards and sunflower fields, you will find not the house of Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother, but the home of La Famille Perrière, where over sixty flavors of ice cream and sorbet are regularly offered to their very happy patrons. Nestled into the Luberon hillside, about 5 km past Ansouis (and about 20 minutes from La Bonbonnière in Lourmarin), is L’Art Glacier. Customers who make the trek to this most unlikely location for an ice cream parlor are richly rewarded by the award-winning ice creams as well as the expansive views of a beautiful patchwork…

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The annual Fête Votive rolled into Lourmarin last week, completely consuming this tiny Luberon village, as it does every year on the last weekend in August. Unfortunately, the mistral blew into town around the same time; but nothing could dampen the palpable excitement that fills the hearts of the inhabitants of Lourmarin and their guests during this festival.   Every village in Provence has a fête votive, each slated for a particular weekend every year. These fêtes or festivals probably had their origin in the Catholic practice of honoring the patron saint of the village, but are now clearly more secular than religious. “Votive” refers to the…

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Ahhhh, Pastis….The sweet scent of anise wafts from the tall heavy-bottomed glasses on our tiny table in Café Gaby.  Memories of a subtle licorice flavor laced with fragrant herbs are called forth.  Our thirsts on this very warm late August day will soon be quenched. We arrived in Lourmarin yesterday afternoon and are now sitting in our favorite café, in the heart of this Luberon village, where we will mark the start of our vacation with—what else? —a little pastis.  We sit, nestled among locals and tourists,  in this lively café where people have come for generations for their pastis. “Since the war,” the waiter…

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Twenty six years ago today, August 15, 1944, Allied troops landed in Provence to help liberate Europe from the Nazis and end World War II. The Allied invasion of Provence, code-named Operation Dragoon, got overshadowed by the better-known D-Day invasion in Normandy two months before (June 6, 1944). So much so that it got dubbed “The forgotten D-Day.” Yet 66 years later, Provence is strewn with memorials to the Provence landings. And this August 15, at least one community will devote the whole day to remembering the historic military campaign that freed southern France from occupation. Two hours from our rental apartment in Lourmarin, the…

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