Padi and Didou let me sleep late today which was oh so sweet of them. Bad thing is that I am sleeping in the upstairs room until they arrive and their door is one of those wooden sliding doors with the panels…which does not keep a noisy 3 year old out. It is times like these when I am glad I don’t live with the family. It definitely has its pros and cons, but not having to wake up when they wake up is a pro!
We had some delicious bread for breakfast. It had all kinds of seeds in it and Padi went and got it fresh from the boulangerie this morning. In the summer Padi makes different types of jam, and today we had strawberry. Oh my gosh. I could have just eaten it with a spoon it was so good. There were lots of whole strawberries and was perfectly sweet.
After lunch we brought the Christmas tree inside. It was so cute and tiny. But the size didn’t matter I was excited to have a tree besides the one my Granny made me! Marie-Cesare had a time with me helping put the tree up. Maybe it’s an attention thing and I am taking some of that away from her? Anywho, it looks great. They have this thing here in Provence about mushrooms. So their tree is decorated with all kinds of champignons in shades of red and white.
For lunch Didou made stuffed tomatoes. Even better than the confiture des fraises. It was stuffed with some sort of local sausage, garlic, fresh parsley, fresh rosemary, brioche, eggs, and milk. The sausage had it going on. It was delish. I would have been satisfied with a ham sandwich and an apple, but stuffed tomatoes with risotto was alright too.
We went to Les Alpilles after a late lunch. The Alpilles are the mountains surrounding one side of the Provencal area. We drove up the mountain on a road much like Hwy 64 from Cashiers to Highlands except there were no guard rails and no yellow lines and we stopped at a random parking area. We started walking on a gravel path and I see rosemary, thyme, and even sage growing EVERYWHERE! It suddenly dawned on me that this is why they call it “Herbs de Provence.” Okay, surely I’ve thought about it before…and call me a ditz but I guess I never put the two together. I was amazed at how much rosemary and thyme were just growing there! And, how I can kill a rosemary plant at my apartment in Oxford, and it just grows freely there without having any care. (Truly shows how black my thumb is…) The mountains were incredibly beautiful and so different than anything I’ve ever seen. On the way down we passed the actual village of Provence (can't wait to go!) and a sea of olive trees and vineyards.
We had a quick snack that Didou brought with us (like a good grandmother always does) and headed back to St. Remy for shopping at a Christmas market and to see an outdoor play. We bought some olive oil (which I could have had by the spoonfuls) and fresh olives from the Provencal region, foie gras from the southwest of France, miel (honey) from the southeast of France. We ate some chocolate and bon bons along the way of course. Around 6 we went to this outdoor theater that the town of St. Remy had set up. They put on this production of a cross between the story of Jesus and an ancient Provencal traditional story which is called the Les Pastorale des Santons de Provence. The accents of the people of the south of France are much different than those in Paris. Parisians speak sharply and are very firm with their words. The accent in the south is very drawn out and has a “twang”…much like in the States! Since I struggle with understanding regular French, I didn’t understand much of the play at all…Didou had to translate. Afterwards everyone was invited to have vin chaud and pea soup. They played traditional Provencal instruments and everyone joined in dancing the farandole…a traditional Provencal dance of course. I felt as if I were in a movie…or some sort of fairytale dating back centuries ago.
As I was sitting there freezing my tail off watching this strange play mixing baby Jesus with a poissonier, I couldn’t help but think to myself, wow…I am spending Christmas in Provence!! It sounds so crazy! And I am fortunate enough to do things not as a tourist, but as if I belong here or something. Of course I am missing my family now more than ever! But, I can always recall…..oh yea, that Christmas I spent in Provence…
Every Saturday and Sunday night it is a tradition in the family while in Maillane to have an aperitif before dinner. Tonight I joined in and had white wine with pistachios and Marie-Cesare had jus de pomme. She got so excited when Padi mentioned an aperitif, it was so funny! They said that Gaspard likes it just as much…and that he feels like a grown-up. I’ve been missing Gaspard! I’m sad he won’t be here with us, we can always console with each other about Marie-Cesare and be embarrassed together when she is out of control!
I really, really hate that it takes so long for my pictures to load. Because I’m sure it is much better to see everything than having me explain it! I’ll keep trying because I have been trying to take pictures of everything we do! So I can remember….oh yea, that Christmas I spent in Provence…
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