All across France today, on January 6th, parents are asking the youngest member of the family to sit under the table as dessert is being served. Pourquoi? Because it is the Day of the Epiphany and the Galette des Rois (the Cake of Kings) is being served. “Je ne comprend pas,” you say. In France, the Day of the Epiphany–the end of the Twelve Days of Christmas–marks the day that the Three Kings brought their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the manger in Bethlehem where the little Lord Jesus was asleep on the hay. The word epiphany comes from the Greek word epiphaneia…

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Chez Manfull The allure of Provence for many of us is its wonderful cuisine coupled with an unfettered life that we imagine leisurely unfolds every day from the time we stretch to greet to the morning to the moments before we close our eyes to dream about the next day. We think of strolling through vibrant markets, baskets laden with fresh produce, cheeses, olives, and baguettes that will later find their way to our table; savoring long lunches in courtyards dotted with terra cotta pots of lavender and rosemary; sipping pastis alongside artists and writers in cafes à la belle époque; and enjoying exquisite multi-course…

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At Le Castellas, to guess who else is coming for dinner is always part of fun.  You can count on the goats, but we’ve also been joined by cats, dogs, sheep, and pigs. On our last visit, a horse came to the table and a fox watched from a short distance. Deep in the very heart of the Luberon, about 22 kilometers (a little over 12 miles) from our favorite village Lourmarin, lies the tiny village of Sivergues.  With an elevation of 584 meters (1917 feet), it is the highest inhabited village in this area.  Last count, there are 49 people who call Sivergues their…

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We began at Cave Aureto where we met our friend Pierre Schott, the retail cavistes of the winery’s cellar.   After a very interesting tour of their uncommonly modern winery and a tasting flight of their award-winning wines, we made our way to the terrace overlooking the vineyards from which the grapes were harvest.   Just before we eked out the last light of the setting sun, we moved to Le Jardin dans les Vignes, the wonderful restaurant that lies under the vine-covered arbor and stands above the long rows of lavender—it is the casual companion to the property’s gourmet restaurant with the newly acquired…

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MacaRONS versus MacaROONS First, let’s establish that I am referring the famous Parisian macaron that, in recent years, has become trendy on this side of the big pond: the colorful meringue-based cookie that forms a sandwich around ganache, buttercream, or jam filling. The other cookie, the macaroon, is an American creation: the dense, thick single cookie made with coconut. Macaroons are delicious but they are no macarons. There is some confusion here because the English translation of “macaron” is “macaroon.” Most French words that end in “-on” become “-oon” in the English language. Think balloon (French: ballon) and festoon (French: feston). By the 1500s, the…

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Superfluous piece of information for the benefit of readers who stumbled upon this blog in a completely unrelated search: Bastille Day, also known as La Fête Nationale or Le Quatorze Juillet, is a French national holiday that marks the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille (prison) in 1789 and the symbolic birth of modern France. It is celebrated on July 14th with fantastic pomp and circumstance in France, in many cities around the U.S., and in our home.  Yesterday was Bastille Day. I know I should have been thinking red, white and blue—thick swaths of each color—as I arranged our small French Tricolors around…

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Serendipity, according to the Oxford Dictionary on my iPhone, refers to “the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.”   The French don’t have a direct translation; but “un heureux hazard nous a réunis” or “a happy chance has brought us together” works just fine. It was pure serendipity—un heureux hasard—that landed us in Mille-feuille, a bakery in New York’s Greenwich Village, last Sunday morning.  We were early for a rendezvous with our daughter and decided to have a couple of lattes with our New York Times.  It was already very hot and, as we walked toward an espresso…

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Lunch at Le Chateau in Sormiou When the summer temperatures begin to rise in Provence, one of our favorite destinations for lunch is Le Château, perfectly placed atop Sormiou, one of the region’s best known calanques. Located just 15 minutes from the Old Port in Marseille, you will find dramatic views of aqua-colored water dotted with sail boats next to towering white cliffs as well as cool breezes and terrific food. It is just an hour and a half from our beloved Lourmarin, so it can be a quick jaunt or the focal point of a wonderful day trip.  Calanque de Sormiou Calanque means “inlet”…

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I was in the Lourmarin market one Friday many Junes ago when I first noticed them. There, in the midst of the gloriously fresh produce—the bright green clusters of lettuce leaves, the plump red tomatoes, the huge heads of perfectly formed cauliflower, and an impressive pyramid of dazzling green cucumbers—were these dark purple bulbous things. The misshapen balls, each encased in what looked like a very thin and slightly shriveled leathery skin, appeared dense and heavy. The outside covering had wrinkled up just a wee bit on a couple of the balls to reveal a very pretty, glossy purple color, reminiscent of beets. I made…

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While we are in Provence, we spend a lot of time around the table, thoroughly enjoying the food before us. Most of the time that table is our own (although we are also fortunate to often find ourselves around the table in Pierre and Muriel’s home!). Readers of The Modern Trobadors know that we love to go to local markets and fill our baskets with goodies to take back to our own kitchen to cook. But, we also love to eat out. Several people with whom I correspond are each planning a trip to Lourmarin in the very near future—Kirsten in California and Sharon in…

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