Fricassee Of chicken & figs with camargue red rice pilaf Camargue red rice pilaf 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 red onion, finely chopped 2 sticks celery, finely chopped 2 cloves garlic, chopped 1 cup Camargue red rice (available from good supermarkets) 1 teaspoon salt 1@3/4 cups chicken stock or water 70g slivered almonds, toasted 1/2 cup flat-leafed parsley, coarsely chopped In a medium saucepan heat the oil and gently sauté the onion, celery...

Well, it had to happen sooner or later and better for being later. After Easter, the tourist buses have finally appeared. All the back country roads aren't a deterrent and even in little Roussillon that we have tries to visit on two previous occasions had one at 10.30 am. But that's still not what I'm talking about. We have also noticed an increase in rental cars, so the self drive tourists like us are also increasing in numbers and the mix of overly cautious (n...

Tom was going to be on a very short leash today. He still managed to provide misinformation that for the second day in a row set us off on the wrong road at the same roundabout. Despite this, it was a quiet and un-eventful drive across country and up the motorway to Orange. It was market day and yet we had no difficulty parking on the fringe of the old town centre, just a 500 metre walk into the centre of town where the markets were set up. We had the feeling t...

For the first time this holiday, we had to set the alarm on my phone to make sure we could get away by 8.30 for a 1.5 hour drive north to Vaison-la Romaine. Thankfully this was an uneventful drive because Tom took us across country on a "yellow" road and then on the motorway north before a leisurely cross county last 20 minutes through pretty farming countryside. We arrived in the carpark where there were only a dozen or so cars at around 10.15 and with no publ...

The title of today's entry doesn't really tell it like it was. We had booked for lunch at La Closerie at Ansois; a 1 Michelin star restaurant. It's half an hour away via our usual gorge drive. Always a good experience, and I am getting faster. We pottered around this morning and set out at just after noon for the restaurant. I had anticipated that we would be finished by 2;00 or 2:30 and therefore had said to Ches that we would have to make L'Isle-sur-la Sorgue ...