Mary James en Provence

This first blog was written in August of last year when I thought I would have the time to share my thoughts on a regular basis. Well, only one entry was completed. so here we are in the Spring of 2007 and again, I have the best of intentions. We'll see. Enjoy this teaser from last year and I will do my best to get this blog going.

August 2006....Am back in Provence and loving every minute....Il fait beau ici.....the sky is a rich, bright blue and the sun is pouring down....but it is not too hot, and there is definitely no humidity. What more could I ask for?

Before the blog started, I shared with many of you the trials and tribulations of my American dinner in Provence...where buying ribs required the butcher to buy whole pigs for every 2 slabs of ribs I requested. And his concern was, of course, how to sell the rest of the pig. Well, Xavier helped out by buying one of the heads...yes, the head. which he used to prepare Fromage de Tete.....a wonderful terrine that could be a first course or great light lunch... see photo of Petunia and Fromage de Tete de Porc.....I imagine some of you are saying they don't look like our ribs and indeed they didn't. Xavier trimmed the slab and this meat was cubed and used for yet another dinner .... Waste not, want not.....c'est si vrai en France (so true in France). Boy, do we take for granted all those packages of baby backs piled up at Costco! Note to our guests in France...it is doubtful that this would appear on one of your menus...so don't worry

I can't believe that I have finished THE cookbook and at the end of it (finished 3 hours before flight to France), I thought I never wanted to see or write another recipe. Well, I think it is just like having a baby....lots of people have more than one child! And I now know that the second book is in its infancy.....am working on the concept of Xavier and Mary James Dish it Out in Provence. This will include local Provencal favorites and also those foods that have been so popular with our tour groups. I thought there was no way that this would happen but have already begun to write and photograph... Thus this blog will mainly focus on food and be a helping tool for me in getting this book started....but then again I do not think that Fromage de Tete will make the book.

The simplicity of what we eat here is appealing to me....along with Petunia today, we had a simple salad of tomatoes from the garden, a few steamed haricot vert and a few new potatoes all finished with the very famous vinaigrette. YUM!

Now about the wine......Ro-zay is flowing.....my thumb has a callous from pushing the button on the box....more about the virtues of box wine in France in a later entry.....and I am missing my ice machine.. harvesting ice is a big responsibility here......Rose on ice. C'est le mieux. Have also had several good local Syrah's but we'll talk about red wine more when we get to my house on the 'other side' .......closer to the Rhone Valley...