The France I like

Do not get me wrong: I love France, the whole country...
But I have my heart set to some southern places, like Arles, the Causse du Larzac, Aix-en-Provence...

Another part of it: wines!

Of course, having a husband sommelier, we couldn't, by any possible mean, skip the French wine cellars! Those in the picture is just a little taste of the many we visited... And the many bottle we tasted and bought!

And that's only a part of it!

Of course I've eaten much more than this!!! And many many more dishes of foie gras, even fresh, just seared: heavenly melting in the mouth!!! France has many many layers of astonishing gastronomy, from Michelin starred restaurants (in which, of course, I haven't took picture: I have my own ethics!) to street markets, to village's fairs serving grilled beef to a series of places where you think you are going to eat something absolutely not remarkable and then you are pleasantly surprise by a maîtrise that you'll never imagine! But about the Many Wonders of French Gastronomy, or The Gourmet Traveller, I shall speak about in other upcoming posts!!!
Here we go!





For Robyn! :-)


The only Italian look like coffee we had! For Sigrid (mainly for the Speculos! ;-D)!




The last bite of this gorgeous Foie Gras terrine, just when I remembered that I had a blog and not only a greedy stomach!!!





One of the few picture I took the only day we were in Spain, in Pamplona




And they were grilling Blonde (a French cow) just beside the alive cows that were there for the awards for the most beautiful Blonde... How nasty are those French??? ;-)


Piment d'Espelette: a tasty treat!

My eternal and only love

Mirabelles for ever and ever! I find them only in France and only during August! And they are so good!!!



Bowl from the Limonge porcelain assemble of my inlaws, mirabelles from the local market in St. Afrique, Aveyron, France, tablecloth from some Provence's shop

Warning: no food realted post

Update: and at this point, will our super chic, super wit, super bright heroine win over the ugly, nasty and evil hobbit? (No offence to hobbits)
Sorry, after watching all the debate, my nice inspirational mood of early morning was washed away by too many "Madame, are you nervous? Why?", said with that nasty smile on his face... Grrr...

I'm married with a French man, we live in Italy, and this Sunday he is going to vote for the second round of the French presidential election at the Milan French Consulate.
I'm watching the debate that took place yesterday night.
I'm almost in tears... Happy tears!
6 month ago I told my husband that if Ségolène Royal was going to win, we were moving to France.
Watching the debate, honestly, I would like to live in France even if Sarko (and I assure I don't like him AT ALL) wins...
Such class, charm, wit, both of them use their brain.
Of course Ségolène says what I want to ear form the head of the state I would like to live in, but I realize that even the Sarko point of view is understandable.
Let's speak clearly: they are both great politician, they know what they are doing and what they are going to do. Italian politicians don't: they don't know what they are doing, they don't even know what they would like to do...
W la France!
And now I'm going to look how much will it cost a nice little flat... Toulouse, maybe Lyon... Paris is to expensive, but we'll never know... ;-)
And if everything goes wrong, there is always the possibility that Hilary will win in 2008!!!

Verrines, strange stuff and other food pics...

Well, verrines are absolutely at their highest in France! You see them everywhere, salted, sweet, to take away... They put inside a verrine practically anything!
And maybe in two, three, four years some "clever" Italian chef will begin to use them telling everybody how smart he is... Well, we'll know he's wrong!



Now tell me: who on earth we'll be attract by something that taste like a chewing gum or banana bonbon??? I found it quite strange to see those horrible stuff in French display, but apparently those are Mediterranean flavours...



Some patisserie, just randomly taken from a BAKERY display! Understood? They sell this in bakeries in France... Try to find something like this in an Italian bakery, or even in a patisserie...

Road Food

Just a sandwich, made with some cold smocked turkey and a frittata (Disclaimer: I don't complete agree with this wikipedia entry... I cooked mine entirely in a skillet, turning it once...) I made with courgettes and gorgonzola.

And some wonderfully tasty strawberries we bought in a street shop in Camargue!

P.S. Both pictures were taken by Il Francese, my sweeeeet hubby...

Easter madness

For Easter, in Italy, we don't decorate much... No bunnies in the courtyard, no eggs search... Just some chocolate eggs...
But in France, they are mad about Easter decorations! They were everywhere!

Camargue, I love you!

For our Easter vacation we've been off to France: Alsace, Rhone valley and Camargue.
I was long awaiting to visit Camargue, and I was fully rewarded!!! A tour along the little streets, far for tourists, surrounded by nature, birds and wild animals, altogether with unknown people that tell you how to spot a little frog on a tree or a family of wild boars...
Just wonderfully amazing!
Soon the rest of the trip, with a short visit to the bistot of one of the most famous, three Michelin stars French chef!