The Burgundy Ox: Food is King..And Wine Too

I need to get caught up for sure... the days have been zooming by and Jamie and Audrey arrive tomorrow which means I am less likely to keep up the posts. And I want to talk some more about the food we have been enjoying as it is not all about the wine...well really it is but the food has been right up there.
After our tasting at the Aureto Winery we, like all Frenchmen, whipped through the countryside to find a restaurant for lunch. If you have never been to France please believe me when I say the speed driven just before noon is considerably higher than it is at say 10 AM... and even then some drivers are pretty speedy...compared to us anyway. Everything closes at noon or demi noon..1230 and the streets are practically deserted. Road workers leave their machines where they are and take off...construction workers take out their very large coolers and find a place to sit and spread out their incredible lunches... and the tourist like us hightails it to the restaurant to make sure they have a seat because the restaurant will close by 1:30 for the afternoon...this is not eating at all hours like it is in North America.
So we found a spot in Rousillon and although the weather was gorgeous we sat inside to be away from the smokers..Germans.. smoking is permitted on terraces and balconies so the non smokers are condemned to the inside on lovely days. Lunch was simple and afterwards we strolled the town...lots of height to Rousillon.. another hilltop town so you are always climbing.
On the way down though we stopped to look in a dark shop full of Provencal food products...we were the only customers and the owner was delightful. She proceded to give us an olive oil tasting and we were actually blown away by the products... and you have guessed it ..we are now the proud owners of severl kinds of olive oil... our favoite was one from a place just south of here called Les Baux AOC Vallee des Baux...we have been there on other trips and knew it to be full of olive trees. This is what they call fruit noir as they pick the olives and then hold them for 2 days while they lose some of their water... and then they press...wow...it is so unique, fresh, delicate..in fact we had it last night on pasta with nothing but a very fresh parmesan cheese... and we have also been dipping bread in it...
The second one we bought has just a more greener taste..also from the Vallee des Baux but made the traditional way ie pressed right away...it is stronger in taste and better for salads...this last one, produced by Denis Fage..won a gold medal recently... and is also an AOC product....by the way AOC..operation controllee...a set of rules that must be followed in the way the product is produced... well AOC is now AOP... even for wines...it is an attempt to introduce EU terms for individual country terms... so in the past in France wine and foods were Apellation Origin Controllee AOC...but now it is called Protected...AOP...a controlled product garuanties that it is grown a certain way and made a certain way...you, the consumer, know what you are getting.. and usually a better product.
We are going to do a little blind tasting of the oils in a few days ourselves...just to see what we think because we also have an everyday olive oil from the grocery store to add to the mix.
On Thursday we were hitting Menerbes..climbing to the top of the village chateau.. buying picnic items at the market and heading for an AIRE... the name they use for car stops with lovely views and picnic tables... and we were going to have a picnic....at all the markets they have these machines that roti the poulet... and Menerbes was no exception so we bought half a chicken..a baguette, some fruit and we were off... the chicken came with vegetables..zuchini, onions, peppers, and was delicious... this is my go to meal... we even had one today from the Sorgue Sunday market...I thank Bruce for putting up with my chicken craze..
Menerbes by the way is the town Peter Mayle made famous.. in A Year in Provence... I reread it just before I came over... the people in the area were offended by the book and he eventually moved about 15 km away to a town called Lourmarin...we found his first house and at the end I will show you a picture of it... but mostly I am sure that after he made his millions from the book he could afford something way better and Lourmarin is a pretty upscale place..at least it looked that way to us when we went the next day to their very upscale market..
In the afternoon we had a huge hike...through cherry orchards..beautiful...but actually too hot...it was close to 28... and we were pretty drained when we got home. Not drianed enough though to stop at the Bonnieux cave Cooperative nd taste some Roses...
Friday it was off to Lourmarin for thier market which I must say was over the top...lots of food items but also lots of artisans with pottery, art work, jewellery and clothes... and jazz musicians.. and pasteries,it took us about two hours to walk through and see everything. Our favorite was an older gentlmen selling ancienne grain breads... the line up was huge... they were long loaves about a foot..maybe more... with seeds and nuts and apricots and dates and olives... by the time we found him he was almost sold out so a picture was not really possible... he weighs the bread and you buy by the kilo...we bought a nut and seed bread.. about 4.5 Euros it cost... and is dark and dense and wonderful... tonight we said we will go back in a week and buy more but this time get the whole loaf and cut it and freeze it... should do us till we have to leave.
And finally today was the Sorgue market... not as crowded as last Sunday when the weather was so beautiful...it has taken a cold turn and windy...but everybody has moved their stalls... it is a game of musical chairs... and believe me when I say this market is huge... street after street.. so it is not easy to find your seller if you have some loyalty thing going here... and the strawberries...better than ours in NS and that is saying somthing...but they are coming on now so they are selling bigger baskets full which is what we bought today... for 10 Euros...I would say about 3 quarts if not more... but they weigh them and sell by the kilo... we had them as dessert tonight.
So the cheeses we are liking are of course the Epoisse from Burgundy...have always loved that cheese...and the Basque goats milk cheese ..from south west France...at the Spanish border.
Yogurt has given us a problem... there are so many kinds of things in that area in the store Creme fraiche, fromage blanc,...we ended up with Activa which I would never buy at home( by Danone and now owned by the Chinese) but I am just not reading the labels well enough...
And speaking of grocery stores..we have been watching what people are buying...Eggplant, Zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, fish, well actually sardines... not a processed anything... and these are 20 to 30 year olds... but man do they love the ice cream... our little town has about 3-4 ice cream parlours... I am sure it is not the sweet stuff we get at home... so neat the way it is all laid out.. I will get a picture...I am sure it is like the Italian ice cream , Rob.
and even though it was cold today folks were sitting outside these shops eating these great looking sundaes... various configurations of dishes and toppings... we go for a walk 6-7 before our dinner to see what everyone is doing... and that was what they were up to tonight.. ENOUGH.. I will tire you out... thanks for listening..reading... I am reading Above All Things..by Tanis Rideout... about the George Mallory expedition up Everest... a Globe and Mail Best book... I am hooked... not on mountain climbing but the process for sure.