Tails From Provence
What happens when a horsemad Ould Wagon moves from Cork to Provence with 2 horses, 2 dogs and a Long Suffering Husband? Why, she gets a third dog, discovers Natural Horsemanship à la Française, starts writing short stories and then discovers a long-buried talent for art, of course…
How Many Cinnamons?
Sorry, I should have posted this earlier.
She was in six of the seven photos.
I hoped the ever-growing dot in these ones would give it away, and it seemed to work ok, most of you spotted her!
I think most people saw her in the bottom right corner of this one, but maybe not everyone :
and she wasn’t in this one :
So well done to Dee, Grey Horse Matters, The Dancing Donkey and sort of well done to Nicola, who suspected me of being much more devious than I actually am.
And by the way, the purple bandage is still, miraculously, on her leg, and she only had to wear the Cone of Shame for one night.
She’s in good form and enjoyed her walk in the snow today.
We fall over a Chateau
So there we were, driving along a narrow country country road in between Apt and Sault, literally in the middle of nowhere, and out of the blue, there’s this :
There’s NOTHING else around, just trees and fields, and a small house across the road.
It’s called the Chateau de Javon. It’s privately owned, and it’s been in the same family for five generations.
Do I need to add that it’s amazingly, stunningly beautiful?
And all you can say, really, is What a country.
Anyway, we took a whim today and went to Montbrun les Bains, which Anne and I rode through last year. It was looking very different with all the snow around.
Mont Ventoux was looking very picturesque
whatever angle we looked at it from
We ended up going back via the Mont de Vaucluse (more familiar Big Trek territory) and letting the dogs have a good run in the snow.
There were deer tracks everywhere in the snow. The ones that mystified me were these :
The extra “toes” weren’t visible in all the prints, just the deep ones. They were pretty big, donkey hoof sized, or bigger, I would say. Do deer have those extra toes? If not, my guess is Ibex or Chamois, but I would have thought we were a bit low for those.
Anyway, it was a fun day… I seemed to do more photography than the LSH. Go figure.
We’re going to see how clear the trails around the farm are tomorrow and might go for a ride… À demain!
Thank Friday it’s Lunchtime – Auberge le Luberon, Apt
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| One of my favourite Apt villas |
I have a soft spot for Apt. In the summer, it’s buzzing with of tourists, but in the winter, it’s a sleepy country town that only comes alive on a Saturday morning, when the market takes over the whole town. The N100 runs through it, en route from Avignon to Forcalquier, and parallels the river Calavon, which also pass through the town. On one side of the Calavon, the buildings are practical, commercial, almost industrial. On the other side, faded old villas snooze in the winter sun, shutters closed against the cold.
This was where we headed today – the Auberge le Luberon, a traditional hotel and restaurant, which looks across the Calavon to the business district of Apt.
We chose the Auberge le Luberon on a whim – we had parked in the nearby “submersible” car park (it’s a car park that’s prone to flooding if there’s heavy rain, there are warning signs all over the place, apparently it can flood in a mere twenty minutes!). Not knowing what to expect of the Auberge le Luberon, we were pleasantly surprised to find a welcoming reception area and a small, bright and nicely decorated dining area which opened onto a terrace. There was a neatly pruned platane (plane tree) at the side of the terrace, which must give very welcome shade in hot weather and we immediately said “This must be lovely in summer, we’ll have to come back!”
Our first impression was that it was definitely a bit posh, but actually, the menu wasn’t a ridiculously posh price at all!
We both had the same starter, Feuillette de Chèvre and Tapenade – goat’s cheese and olive pâté wrapped in filo pastry, with a little salad on the side.
It was nice except it could have done without the tapenade – it was too salty and clashed with the goat’s cheese rather than complemented it.
Hmm. Ok so far, how were the main courses going to be?
Going with the Menu du Jour, we had a choice of Duck Confit or Salmon. I went for the Duck and the LSH went for the Salmon. Both came with a little square of mashed potato, with a bay leaf sticking out of it at a jaunty angle. The duck had a garnish of choucroute/sauerkraut made with red cabbage, which gave made a nice contrast to the fattiness of the duck.
The salmon was dressed with a slightly mustardy sauce, with the LSH felt was superfluous. The salmon was cooked to perfection – not an easy thing to do – and he thought it would have been perfectly fine on its own!
He still had room for dessert – Chocolate Mousse Cake! It looked amazing – the gooey inside oozed out when he broke into it with his fork, I wish I could eat chocolate!
I had to settle for coffee.
Go on, you feel sorry for me, admit it!
It was a really good meal, very well cooked and presented, but in our humble opinion, the chef could have toned down on the contrasting accompaniments a bit – less would be more!
Value wise, pretty good for town dining in a place with a “posh” ambiance. We’d be very happy to take visitors there any time we’re looking for lunch in Apt.
We’ll definitely be back.
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Tails From Provence 