Win a Copy of the 2021 French Country Diary

Every day I hear from people telling me how they can’t wait to travel again...and can’t wait to get back to France. Meanwhile, I thought the newest French Country Diary by Linda Dannenberg might take the edge off the cravings. So I dropped a note to Linda and asked if she’d like to offer me a copy or two of the 2021 edition, to give away here on my blog. In classic Linda style, she came back tres vite: “Oui, bien sur! How about three of them? And I’ll sign them, of course!” 

Linda is one of the biggest Francophiles I know, the author of 12 books on French design, lifestyle and food. She was bitten by the bug early, during a post-grad year in Paris spent working at a couture textiles firm. “I fell in love with the bistros and cafés on every corner, with the galleries on the rue de Seine, with the smell of Gauloises in the air, with the Paris Métro,” she remembers. When her Gallic escapade was over, Linda moved to New York and launched a media career, starting at CBS News and moving on to editorial jobs at Family Circle and Working Woman.

“The jobs were amazing and fulfilling,” she says, “but eventually the Lorelei call of France, and a book contract, proved impossible to resist!”

Linda returned to France to write The Paris Way of Beauty (Simon & Schuster) and more than a dozen books followed, including a quartet of iconic Pierre Deux French Country titles. Her Paris Boulangerie-Pâtisserie was nominated for a Julia Child Cookbook of the Year Award while her book with 3-star chef Alain Ducasse, Ducasse: Flavors of France, was nominated for a James Beard Award and went on to win the Versailles International Cookbook Award.

She’s also written on cuisine, design and travel for Town & Country, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Travel & Leisure, House Beautiful, Harper's Bazaar, Elle and Departures.

And every year, for 33 years now, Linda has published the much-loved French Country Diary, a weekly hardcover calendar showcasing sumptuous interior design, lush gardens, extraordinary landscapes and lots of “poetic art de vivre.” Published by Abrams Books with photos by the Paris- and Brittany-based photographer Guillaume de Laubier, the latest edition takes us to a thatched-roof farmstead in Normandy’s Marais-Vernier to the majestic Château de Montgeoffroy in the Anjou (a time-capsule of 18th-century style) to a gardener's cottage in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence. Among the amazing private collections featured are 19th-century faience in Bordeaux, Napoleonica in Paris and a home devoted to parrots (!!) near Dieppe. The Diary also notes nationally recognized holidays and observances, with ample space for notes, appointments, addresses and reminders. As in years past, the book is embellished with Provençal textiles from Olivades. It has a cloth spine, a ribbon marker and 58 gorgeous photos.

“My readers tell me they use it as much for decorating ideas and planning French travel itineraries as they do for recording important dates throughout the year,’’ Linda tells me.

Madame Dannenberg, for her part, says the thing she misses most when she can’t visit France (she hasn’t travelled more than 10 km from her home in Westchester, NY since mid March!), is definitely the bistro cooking.

“I miss the ambiance and romance of an iconic bistro such as La Fontaine de Mars in Paris or Le Bistrot du Paradou in the Alpilles,” she says. In place of the real thing, Linda reaches for books filled with evocative descriptions of memorable meals, such as A. J. Liebling's classic Between Meals: An Appetite for Paris, Amanda Hesser's The Cook and the Gardner and Martin Walker's Inspector Bruno series.

“And when I’m truly inspired and longing for Paris,” Linda continues, “I pull out one of my own early cookbooks, Paris Bistro Cooking, and prepare a family meal of classic bistro favorites: a Salade Verte au Chèvre Chaud (Wild Greens Salad with Warm Goat Cheese) from Michel Rostang's Bistrot d'à Côté; Boeuf à la Mode (Braised Beef and Carrots) from Benoît; and a Tarte au Citron (Lemon Tart) from Polidor."

Lucky family!

So speaking of luck...on to the contest! To win a signed, personalized copy of the 2021 French Country Diary, simply leave a comment below and tell us what you miss most about France when you can’t be here...and what do you do to visit virtually. Do you cook French? Lose yourself in French music, movies or books? Do you brush up your French skills with language-learning apps or an old textbook? We want to know! This contest is open to anyone in any country, including France.

To comment, click where it says COMMENTS just below. If your name comes up in the little box, choose that. If it doesn’t, choose NAME/URL from the drop down. (If you don’t have your own website or blog you can leave URL blank.) Please be sure to leave us your email or we can’t contact you if you win. If you have any problem commenting at all, drop me a note (provenceblog@aol.com) and I’ll help. Or send me your name and your thoughts and I’ll be happy to post them for you. Linda and I will choose three winners, confirm your mailing address and send your beautiful Diary right off. (I told Linda I’d be happy to help with shipping and she said “Oh don’t worry...just send me some Herbes de Provence!”)

For those of you who prefer to enter on Instagram, the contest is on my page here. (To follow Linda, her page is here.)

Bonne Chance! And if you'd like to just go ahead and buy the Diary, you'll find it on Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com, Calendars.com and in English on Amazon.fr.

Photos: (1) You deserve to win this more than anyone! Actually if you win and want to give the Diary as a gift, Linda will inscribe it to your giftee and ship it directly to them. (2) Linda and her photographer Guillaume de Laubier shooting a holiday meal in Paris. Photo by Françoise Hontebeyrie. (3) One of Linda's favorite Paris bistros is La Fontaine de Mars. (4) A thatched-roof farmhouse and B&B called Les Cigognes, in the Normandy countryside near Honfleur. (5) Vintage wooden sailboats, for rent at Le Grand Bassin in the Luxembourg Gardens, have been delighting Parisian children for over a century. (6) Le Perche, a bucolic region tucked into the southeastern corner of Normandy, makes a perfect destination for a weekend trip from Paris. An essential stop when you're exploring the area is the lovely hilltop village of La Perrière, where you'll find La Maison de L'Horbé, this restaurant and antiques emporium. (7) Linda writes: "At sunset, when Deauville's vast white sand beach is tinted pink in the rosy light, the large, vibrantly-hued parasols are closed and wrapped with swaths of contrasting canvas. It's a gorgeous time to be on this iconic beach." (8) Hôtel d'une île is a small rustic inn set in the deep woodland of Le Perche, near the town of Rémalard. (9) On a sun-dappled terrace, crusty breads await you at breakfast at the three-star L'Oustau de Baumanière in Les Baux. * All photos, except as mentioned above, are by @guillaumedelaubier and appear in either the 2020 or 2021 edition of the French Country Diary. 

Another Fine French Book Giveaway!

Whether you fancy yourself a modern-day Escoffier or rarely set foot in the kitchen, the new book Dejeuner en Provence (Lunch in Provence) will definitely get your jus flowing! Just published by Flammarion in French and in English, it's a cookbook, scrapbook, photo essay and love letter to the exquisite food, wine, people and traditions of La Belle Provence. From petanque to pistou, from lavender-drenched landscapes to lemon-confit tarts, the book captures all the evocative ingredients (both culinary and otherwise) that make the South of France one of the world's most-beloved destinations.

I've got three copies of the English version to give away so read on...

Lunch in Provence? ''The meal need not be grand but the experience can surely be,'' writes author, critic and cooking teacher Patricia Wells, in the book's introduction. ''...In Provence we have the chance--not the promise--of dining outdoors at lunchtime 365 days a year. Even in the winter months of November through March, the blazing sun might decide to shine warm and bright, and that's when we take out our crisp, white, monogrammed linens, ceramic knife rests, silver cutlery and fine wine glasses, and construct a culinary celebration.

''Lunch in Provence always offers the potential of bringing you new levels of happiness, discovery, contentment,'' Patricia continues. ''The possibilities are endless.''

This new 232-page hardcover was a labor of love between Rachael McKenna, a New Zealand-born author/photographer now living in the Languedoc region of Southern France, and Michelin-starred chef Jean-André Charial, who earned his world-wide reputation at the L'Oustau de Baumanière, the legendary Relais & Châteaux hotel and restaurant nestled in the valley below the medieval hilltop village of Les Baux. Wolfgang Puck and Georges Perrier are just two of the many well-known chefs who worked there over the years.

Baumanière was founded by Jean-André's grandfather, chef Raymond Thuilier, back in 1945, the year Jean-André was born. The family business later expanded to include the restaurant and hotel La Cabro d'Or (Les Baux), the restaurant and hotel La Prieuré (Villeneuve-les-Avignon) and the restaurant La Place (Maussane). But the beautiful Baumanière remains the family's flagship, having held three Michelin stars for an astounding 35 years. While Jean-André handed over day-to-day kitchen duties to chef Sylvestre Wahid in 2005, he remains involved in every aspect of operations.
 
To create the book, Rachael crisscrossed Provence for a year, photographing the markets, farms, waters and vineyards that produce the essential elements of Charial's cuisine. (''A dish, a meal, is only as good as its ingredients,'' the chef proclaims.) Then the duo settled into the kitchen at Baumanière to carefully select and photograph the 35 recipes that best capture the essence of Jean-André's sun-drenched, Mediterranean menus.

''Great chefs express their feelings through their food,'' Charial says. His thoughts on cooking, dining and Provence are scattered throughout the book, along with those of Frédéric Mistral, Alexandre Dumas, Peter Mayle and many others.
 
For this giveaway, the fine folks at Baumanière have offered me three copies of the English-language version of the book. To enter, simply leave a comment below, under ''comments.'' And please don't forget to leave us your email address, so we can reach you if you win. (Signing in with your Google account is not enough.) Tip: The more creative your comment, the better! And if you'd like to go ahead and buy the book, you can do that on Amazon US here, UK here or France here.

Bon Chance and Bon Appetit!

Calling All Foodies in France

 














In France, September 17^th, 2012 kicks off the week-long nationwide dining-out promotion called Tous au Restaurant, which means "Everyone to the Restaurant." Launched in 2010 by superstar chef Alain Ducasse, it's meant to motivate people to eat out: in mom-and-pop bistros, in top Michelin-starred restaurants and in everything in between. Organizers hope it will be particularly appealing to young people and others ''discovering the world of gastronomy for the first time.'' The first Tous au Restaurant event drew 82,000 diners; by last year that number had swelled to 400,000. This year, roughly 1,200 restaurants across France will participate. The promotion ends September 23rd and the reservation ''hotline'' opens Wednesday, September 5th. 

So what's the deal? Diners who reserve can enjoy two prix-fixe meals (appetizer, main course and dessert) for the price of one. Pas mal!, as the French would say, when something is very good indeed.

As of this writing, there were 69 restaurants in Provence participating. These include some of the top tables in the region, many of them with Michelin stars :  Restaurant Marc de Passorio at the Hotel Vallon de Valrugues (St. Rémy), Le Croc Chou (Verquieres), the Auberge de Noves (Noves), La Fenière (Lourmarin), Le Petit Nice (Marseille), Crillon le Brave (Crillon le Brave), Hièly Lucullus (Avignon), Le Saule Pleureur (Monteux), L’Hostellerie Berard (La Cadière d'Azur), the Chateau des Fines Roches (Chateauneuf-du-Pape), La Cabro d'Or (Les Baux), L'Oustau de Baumanière (Les Baux), Restaurant Prevot (Cavaillon),  La Bastide de Moustiers (Moustiers Sainte Marie), Hostellerie de l'Abbaye de la Celle (La Celle en Provence), Le Moulin de Mougins (Mougins) and many more. 

Organizers say the week-long festival is not designed to be a money-maker—many restaurants just break even--but rather to get people out dining, discovering and enjoying. It’s a great opportunity to sample a restaurant you’ve been wanting to try...or to act like a big shot and treat a friend to a fancy meal. 

New this year is a bus transformed into a mobile restaurant--the "Resto Truck"--that will park at ‘’emblematic’’ spots in the French capital and serve 80 meals at lunch and dinner, each prepared by a different chef, some of them quite famous such as Thierry Marx. 

Reservations for all participating restaurants will be available online only, starting September 5 at 10 am…and they go fast. So eyeball the list, pick your favorites and get your tables booked, people! Details about each restaurant’s specific promotion (lunch vs. dinner, what days, what price) are currently being posted as they’re sorted out. The Tous au Restaurant website in English is here. 

But wait, there’s more!  Next we have the Fête de la Gastronomie on September 22, with almost 900 culinary events currently planned in France and other countries. The idea here is to celebrate the diversity of French cuisine and food traditions. The program was inspired by the format of the nationwide Fete de la Musique, when open-air music fills streets all over France. Ths year’s patron is famed chef Michel Guerard. Among the many events are free food samples at stores all over France, special markets, live cooking demos, lavish picnics, an amateur cooking competition and discounts at restaurants. It’s a little hard to figure out what’s what on the website so I’d wait a couple weeks...then click here and plug in your postal code to see what's being offered near you. Bon App!

Provençale Food Festival Sunday July 1st

The 20^th annual Festival of Provençale Gastronomy will be held in Châteauneuf-le-Rouge on Sunday July 1st. The location is a beautiful little village 20 minutes southeast of  Aix en Provence and all events are open to the public. Last year, more than 10,000 people attended.

This year’s guest of honor is the Michelin three-star chef Gilles Goujon, of L'Auberge du Vieux-Puits in Fontjoncouse, near Narbonne.

But plenty of other top chefs will be attending and cooking as well, including the two-star chef Christophe Bacquié (L'Hôtel du Castellet), Jonathan Wahid (L’Oustaù de Baumanière), Fanny Rey (La Place des Maisons de Baumanière), Geoffrey Poësson (La Badiane in Saint Maxime), Alexandre Mazzia (Le Ventre de l’Architecte in Marseille) and Pascal Riss (Côté Jardin in Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume).

General admission to the festival is free. Tickets for sampling the chefs specialities will be 1€ and 2€ each; most dishes are 5€ or less.

In the "Chef's Village," the chefs mentioned above will be doing cooking demos. Throughout the day, there will be stands selling all sorts of other regional specialties such as wine, olive oil and sweets. 

The festival begins with a ½ hour inauguration at 11 am. The stands open at 11:30 and shut down at 6 pm.  A cocktail party with all the chefs will be from 6 to 7:30 pm. At 7 pm there’s a dinner prepared by some of the guest chefs. 

The event is officially part of the festivities surrounding "Marseille-Provence European Capital of the Culture 2013." 

For more info, call the Town Hall at 04 42 58 62 01 or check out Gastronomie Provencale on Facebook here. 

Happy Trails

Summer travel-planning season is in full swing and if you're thinking of coming to Provence, you better get crackin' because the best places (and many of the crummy ones) are filling up fast. From the number of calls and emails I'm getting from people looking for travel-planning help--and from my conversations with hoteliers and the owners of villas, gites and B&Bs--this season is looking to be one of the best in years. (If you're coming to Provence and could use some help sorting out the details, click here.)  In the meantime, I wanted to share something that could be very useful if you're planning a trip or you're already here. Relais & Chateaux has asked some famous foodies and other travelers to create itineraries for some of the most-popular tourist regions in the world, which of course include Provence and the Cote d'Azur. It's all part of a new program called the Routes du Bonheur (Roads of Happiness) and you'll find some great ideas for Tuscany and Napa Valley as well as the South of France. Most of the folks featured are members of Relais & Chateaux, meaning they run restaurants or hotels that belong to the prestigious group, and most of their suggested hotels are members too. But these travel experts also propose lots of fantastic things to do, see and eat along the way. So without further ado...

First we have a five-day itinerary created by Jean-Andre Charial, chef/owner of the Oustau de Baumaniere in Les Baux. Charial suggests a tour and tasting at a local olive oil mill, a visit to the gorgeous Italianate Villa Gallici (Aix), a calisson tasting at the famous Confiserie Léonard Parli (Aix) and much more. Take Jean-Andre's route and you'll take in Tarascon, Boulbon, Chateauneuf-du-Pape for wine tasting (of course), a hilltop village in the Luberon, a gorgeous hotel in a historic abbey, Cezanne's studio in Aix and much more.

The sommelier at Oustau de Baumaniere, Gilles Ozello, also proposes an itinerary. His,  called My Wine & Vineyards Tour Through Provence, takes you through some of the prettiest villages of the Côtes du Rhône region and into some of his favorite wine domaines. 

Jacques Chibois is the well-known, much-loved chef/owner of the five-star Bastide Saint Antoine in Grasse, and his itinerary is here. It includes gorgeous scenery, history, perfume (make your own scent!) and one of my favorite places in Provence, the Gorges du Verdon, known as the Grand Canyon of France. I love this itinerary!

Jean-Paul Passedat's suggested trip--rich in history,  gorgeous scenery and of course, great food--is here. Jean-Paul represents the second generation of the famous restaurant Le Petit Nice in Marseille, now one of just three Michelin three-star restaurants in the Provence region. His son Gérald has been at the stove since 1990.

Another well-known chef, Stephane Raimbault (who runs the marvelous L'Oasis in La Napoule, near Cannes, with his brothers Antoine and François) created a delicious three-night itinerary for the Cote d'Azur here. His route starts you at the celebrated Chateau de la Chevre d'Or then sends you down the coast, dipping up into the hills and back down to the sea. Suggested stops include the Matisee Museum, the Forville Market in Cannes, the pottery village of Vallauris, St. Tropez, the Cap d'Antibes Beach Hotel and a winery he loves in Bormes-les-Mimosas. And that's just for starters!

And for bikers, we have an itinerary created by none other than Cadel Evans. He suggests staying at Crillon le Brave, La Coquillade and Le Couvent des Minimes (with its L'Occitane spa), while visiting Mont Ventoux, the Nesque Gorges and some of our favorite Luberon villages such as Roussillon, Gordes, Ménerbes and Bonnieux.

All the details on the Routes du Bonheur are here. And you can see the full list of the Relais & Chateaux properties in Provence here.

Photos from Top: L'Oustau de Baumaniere, at the foot of the hilltop village Les Baux. Vendor in the Forville Market in Cannes. The stunning Gorges du Verdon, where you can canoe, kayak, raft, swim, fish and more. Roussillon's lovely color comes from ochre, which is mined to make pigments for paint. Grasse's favorite chef Jacques Chibois. Truffles in the Forville Market, priced at 800€ for 2.2 pounds; they're known in the region as "black gold." The hotel Villa Gallici sits on a leafy hilltop overlooking Aix. The Abbaye de Senanque near Gordes. Picasso made pottery in Vallauris from 1946 to 1973. Click any photo to enlarge.

Where to Propose in Provence?

I received this charming email the other day.  Anyone have any ideas to share?

Dear Julie,

I found your blog while researching food and restaurants in Provence. I'm in need of some serious recommendations.  I will be proposing to my girlfriend during our trip to France this summer.  We'll be spending our time all over Provence (Marseilles, Cannes, St. Tropez, The Luberon, etc.) and also on Corsica.  I'd love to propose to her in either Provence or Corsica, but I want it to be unique and one-of-a-kind.  I want to find that perfect place that just "sets the stage" for the most romantic proposal.   I want her engagement to be so memorable that no other will ever compare. Do you have any recommendations on where to propose in either Provence or Corsica?  The perfect restaurant, or natural setting, or experience?  I have a solid budget, but I'm am more concerned about the uniqueness of the setting. 

Some current ideas are the cactus garden in Eze, a hot air balloon ride in the Luberon or in Bonifacio, Corsica.  I'm leaning towards a place on the coast because she loves the ocean, but it's much more about the uniqueness of the experience/location.  I'm really trying to find a place that I could not find on my own with just internet research.  I hate the term "off-the-beaten-track" but I guess that's the best description...although I'm open to a more "touristy" location if there is a special experience I can arrange there.  Thank you in advance for any advice you can provide!

**Note from Julie: If you've never left a comment on my blog, this is a great time to do it! Let's help this adorably romantic man find the perfect place to propose. Leaving a comment is super easy. Click comments below.  Write your comment in the box.  Choose an identity. If you don't know which option to choose, tick "Name/URL." Then type in your name. Full name, first name, fake name: whatever. If you want your name linked to a website, type in the website or URL when prompted. Click "Publish your Comment." Et voila!