Another Fine French Book Giveaway!

Just in time for the 2016 travel season in the South of France comes Markets of Provence: Food, Antiques, Crafts, and More by Marjorie R. Williams. This charming guide is perfect for anyone living in Provence...traveling here...or still dreaming of visiting "some day." 

The book comes out May 3 and the publisher, St. Martin's Press, would like to gift two of my lucky readers with free copies.

Marjorie is a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based travel writer who believes that exploring markets is one of the most-rewarding ways to immerse oneself in a foreign culture. It's a passion that goes back to her very first sojurn in France around 1980...and one she has explored extensively through the articles she writes for magazines such as Afar, France Today and House Beautiful.

"My first French market was in Fontainebleau," she tells me. "I bought a sundress and a blue mesh bag which I still use...and they always take me back to memories of that trip."

Marjorie's first book was Markets of Paris, written with Dixon Long and published (second edition) by Little Bookroom in 2012.

The new book--which I already have and love--is the result of Marjorie's many months criss-crossing Provence, learning about the villages and markets, talking to the vendors, trying their wares, exploring surrounding areas. And while this research trip wasn't exactly a hardship, she says it definitely had its moments. Such as?

"Well, my rental car had GPS so I didn't think I would need a printed map," Marjorie tells me. "I was following the GPS and not paying attention when, to my great surprise, it led me onto a car ferry. I had no idea if that was mistake and, if so, where I'd end up! Everything turned out okay--it was just a 10-minute ferry ride and indeed a good shortcut--but the shock of it taught me to always carry a printed map.''

And then of course there were all the typical tiny misunderstandings, which happen even to those travelers who speak terrific French. "At a fromagerie stand in the Tarascon market," she remembers, "a vendor kept urging me to try his 'cheap cheese.' And I held back until I realized he was saying 'sheep cheese!'"

Popping up over and over again at all the various markets like certain vendors do, Marjorie got her share of curious looks; they couldn't quite figure out why this woman with notepad and camera was everywhere, asking questions and tasting everything. "And then one day in Arles I had the opportunity to shop the market with Michelin-starred chef Jean-Luc Rabanel," she recalls. "He's very recognizable and well known among the vendors. They certainly took notice of me then!"

The charming 300-page soft-cover features 30 of Marjorie's favorite market finds--the very-best ones and the B list as well. She also serves up local specialties, practical tips, interviews with popular chefs and farmers, delicious photos, maps, restaurant recommendations and more. It's organized by the day of the week to make itinerary planning easy...and small so it can popped easily into a handbag, backpack or glove compartment. You can read more about it here.

Peter Mayle, author of A Year in Provence and many other books set in Provence, finds it "thorough, accurate and mouth-watering."

Luke Barr, author of Provence 1970, calls it "an indispensable...authoritative and seductive guide."

So how to win a copy? Simply leave a comment below, where it says "comments," and tell us why you'd love to have it. Please be sure to leave us your email so we can reach you if you win; signing in with your Google account is not enough. If you're not sure which way is best to sign in, choose "Name/URL." Then put your name or any name in the first field...and your website or blog in the second field. If you don't have a website or blog, you can skip that. Then type your message...but be sure to leave us an email somewhere in your message.

If you want to go ahead and buy the book, it's on Amazon here. 

Marjorie will be doing readings and signings in various US cities in May...see the list here.

And to learn more about her or connect with Marjorie online, check out her website, blog, Facebook and Twitter.

Good luck in the giveaway!

Another Fine French Book Giveaway

Hillary Davis traces her fascination with the cocotte--the enameled, cast-iron French version of a Dutch oven—to early memories of her grandmother: 

“She was pulling a hot pot out of the oven and was swinging it around heavily to land with a thud on the wooden kitchen table. Her pot was bursting at the top with a golden crust that oozed bubbling brown gravy down the sides. Ever since that pot had been brought to her as a gift from Europe, she had not gone a day without using it. If she was the queen of the kitchen, this pot was the queen of her cuisine...”

Today the New Hampshire-based author has grandma’s pot proudly displayed in her own kitchen...along with a vast collection of French-made cocottes she has collected over the years.

And, as of a few weeks ago, she has a gorgeous new cookbook devoted to cooking in them. Using techniques such as braising, stewing, roasting, baking, stovetop and frying, the 224-page hardcover Le French Oven will help you create tantalizing appetizers, soups, main courses and desserts, no matter the size, shape or make of your own pot. 

Hillary’s publisher, Gibbs Smith, has given me two copies of this beautiful new book to give away.

Hillary works as a food journalist, cooking instructor and publisher of the popular food blog Marche Dimanche. She's a long-time food columnist and restaurant critic for New Hampshire Magazine and her work has been featured in many national and international magazines.  She has an economics degree from Columbia, a Masters from Cambridge (yikes!) and two previous books to her credit: French Comfort Food and Cuisine Niçoise.  

When she’s not at home in New Hampshire, Hillary’s almost always in France. Having lived along the Cote d’Azur for more than eleven years and in Paris for three years, she now spends two to three months every year exploring different regions of the country she considers her second home.

In the book’s intro, Hillary gives us some brief background about the object of her passion: “The best [cocottes] are made in France and those are the ones I collect,” she explains. “It’s a subjective and personal opinion based upon years of trying different ones. Mine are French ovens and are 100 percent made in France.”

She also tells the stories behind the top brands-- Chasseur, Emile Henry, Fontignac, Le Creuset, Mauviel, Revol, Staub—and provides info on how to choose and care for their wares.

“I never realized they are like snowflakes," she says. "Each one is unique and hand made. Emile Henry even has its people sign the bottom of the cocottes they make. It makes me appreciate them even more.”

And then it’s on to 80 tantalizing recipes for full-size cocottes and mini-cocottes, including Warm Mushroom Custards with Garlic Toast, French Carrot Rice Soup, Basque-Style Paella, Two-Hands Praying Rack of Lamb Roast, Lemony Braised Chicken with Green Olives, and Beef Pot-au-Feu. Dessert recipes include Raspberry Clafoutis and Hot Brandied Peaches Over Ice Cream.

To illustrate Le French Oven, Hillary turned to her long-time collaborator, the photographer Steven Rothfeld, whose other titles include The Tuscan Sun Cookbook, Bringing Tuscany Home, Hungry for France, Simply French and French Comfort Food.  In addition to photos of the finished dishes you’ll find wonderful images of French villages, people, landscapes and more.

To enter to win a copy of the book, simply leave a comment under “comments” below. Tell us why you simply must have this book...or why you want to give it as a gift...or what you remember most about your own grandmother’s cooking...or how you came to have your own cocotte. Make sure to leave us a way to reach you; signing in with your Google account is not enough. Winners will be chosen in the next month and the publisher will send the books out tout suite.

If you’d like to go ahead and buy the book, it’s on Amazon here.

To learn more about Hillary:

Hillary-Davis.com

Marchedimanche.com

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Another Fine French Book Giveaway!

The new Monet's Palate Cookbook is being released this week and the publisher has offered me three copies to give away.  

Produced by filmmaker Aileen Bordman and garden writer Derek Fell, the book includes 60 recipes linked to Monet's two-acre kitchen garden near his home at Giverny, France. Between the covers are lots of luscious details about the vegetables he grew, along with gorgeous photos and descriptions of the house interiors, the gardens and the artist's extraordinary lifestyle. 

“Our goal was to bring Monet's kitchen garden back to life," Aileen tells me. "His desire for fresh garden produce extended beyond the flavor and health benefits that they could provide. His need to cultivate a kitchen garden, plant seeds and work the soil with his fingers allowed him to connect with nature in a spiritual way, feed his soul and see beauty oblivious to others.”

Immersed in the world of Claude Monet since 1980, Aileen has more than 35 years of experience at the property in Giverny. Her first visit there was in 1980, when the museum first opened. Her mother, Helen Rappel Bordman, was one of the handful of Americans responsible for the renaissance of the home and garden, which had fallen into complete ruin.

In 2005, Aileen wrote and produced of the documentary film Monet's Palate: A Gastronomic View from the Garden, which was broadcast in the US through American Public Television to all 350 PBS stations...and was re-released this year. It features Meryl Streep, legendary casino operator and art patron Steve Wynn, and chefs Alice Waters, Anne Willan, Roger Vergé, Daniel Boulud and Michel Richard. It screened in Cannes and New York and was featured during the six-month "Monet's Garden" exhibit at the New York Botanical Garden in New York in 2012. The 58-minute film is available on DVD here.

The book brings the farm-to-table tradition--lived passionately by Monet--into the 21st century, with recipes inspired by his cooking journals and the places he visited. And of course, by his garden's abundance of fresh herbs and vegetables: zucchini, cherry tomatoes, radishes, pearl onions, Brussels sprouts, asparagus, rosemary, mint and more.

Aileen's partner in the book project, Derek Fell, is the author of The Magic of Monet's Garden and Secret's of Monet's Garden. One of America's most widely published garden writers, his titles on gardening, travel and art have sold more than 2.5 million copies. He divides his time between Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and Sanibel Island, Florida.

The book has been earning lovely reviews...along with praise from big names in the food and gardening worlds. "There's no thrill that compares to growing one’s own food," says journalist, cooking teacher and author Patricia Wells. "Planting, caring, harvesting and bringing the treasures to the table. Monet’s Palate Cookbook provides all the inspiration anyone needs to go out and dig, plant, absorb the joys that soil offers each of us. Whether a garden novice or seasoned expert, this book offers a wealth of advice and recipes destined to improve all of our lives.”

Meryl Streep wrote the foreword and the recipes were beautifully photographed by Steven Rothfeld. 

Published May 1st by Gibbs Smith, the hardcover has 176 pages in full color and 60-plus recipes. It lists for about $30 and you can buy it on Amazon here ...or direct from the author here. 

To enter to win a copy of the book, just leave a comment below. Tell us about your garden. your connection to Monet, your passion for the Impressionists or anything else you care to share. Be sure to leave your email so we can reach you if you win; signing in with your Google account is not enough. Winners will be chosen and alerted towards the end of May. 

For more info about the book, click here.

To reach Aileen directly: abordman@monetspalate.com

Claude Monet's Gardens at Giverny are open daily until November 1st, 2015. To visit, all the info is here.

Photos: (1) The new book comes out this week. How can you not want a copy? (2) Tulips, irises and water lilies in Monet's garden; today some 200,000 different flower varieties are rotated regularly by head gardener James Priest and his team, which numbers as many as 30 people working daily, year round. Always on the look-out for rare varieties, Monet bought young plants at great expense. "All my money goes into my garden," he said. But also: "I am in raptures." (3, 4) Two dishes from the book: moules marinière and chilled asparagus salad with olives. (5) Aileen shot this Bowl of Beauty peony at Giverny last year.

Another Fine French Book Giveaway!

Clotilde Dusoulier's new book just came out and knowing her, I'm sure it's wonderful. Since the New York Times just did a big story on it (see that here), I'll skip over the background and just get to the juicy part: Clotilde's publisher wants to give one of you lucky folks a copy. 

Since the book is about French culinary idioms--meaning, phrases such as prendre de la brioche (gaining brioche), entre la poire et le fromage (between pear and cheese) and manger son pain blanc (eating one's white bread)--leave a comment below and in it, tell us your favorite French idiom, phrase, colloquialism or even word. Or, just tell me why you'd love to have this book in your collection...or to give it as a gift. Your comment will be your contest entry and you'll get extra points for creativity! Also please make sure to leave me your email so I can reach you if you win; signing in with your Google account or web URL is not enough. 

To learn more about the book, visit the companion site here; it has excerpts and audio recordings of the expressions. And if you'd like to just go ahead and buy it, you can do that here. Bonne Chance!

Another Fine French Book Giveaway

I met writer Luke Barr a few years ago in New York, at a panel discussion at NYU.  Luke was discussing  his ongoing research for a book partially about his great aunt--the legendary author M.F.K. Fisher-- and a very specific chapter of her life in the South of France.  Listening to Luke’s anecdotes,  I knew the finished book would be a terrific read. It finally came out (in late October, in hardcover) and has gotten  wonderful reviews.

Luke and his publisher, Clarkson Potter, are graciously offering three copies as a giveaway to the readers of Provence Post.

In the course of her long career (she died in Glen Ellen, California in 1992 at age 83),  M.F. K. Fisher wrote 27 books, starting with Serve it Forth in 1937.  Her style was a unique combination of food literature, travel and memoir, and W. H. Auden once remarked: "I do not know of anyone in the United States who writes better prose.”

The American-born Fisher was a frequent traveler to France, returning again and again, for months and even years at a time. She lived in Dijon in the late 1920s and early ’30s, then returned to France--this time to Aix en Provence-- in 1954.  Between 1955 and 1971, she bounced back and forth between France and St. Helena, California (and lived for a time in Lugano as well). Contemplating her future in a letter to a friend, Fisher once wrote: “I know, at this far date in my life, that I was meant to live and if possible to die on a dry, olive-covered hillside in Provence.”

In the fall of 1970, M.F. (as everyone called her) and her sister Norah (Luke’s grandmother) rented an apartment not far from Plascassier,  near Grasse, where Julia Child and her husband, Paul, had built a vacation home five years earlier. Julia had come to Provence to escape her American fame… to cook for friends…to shop the markets…to relax. The Child’s house sat on the estate of Simone “Simca” Beck, Julia’s great friend and co-author of the two volumes of Mastering the Art of French Cooking. The Childs named their vacation home La Pitchoune. 

“For a few weeks in 1970, the kitchen in the Childs’ house in Provence was the epicenter of the American food world,” Barr explains, in an April, 2013 Travel + Leisure article entitled Return to Provence.  “James Beard and M.F. came to dinner, or stopped by on their way back from a day at the Fondation Maeght museum; Richard Olney, the reclusive American author of the just-released French Menu Cookbook, who lived a few hours away outside Toulon, came to pay his respects. Judith Jones, the editor at Knopf who’d discovered Child and Beck, visited with her husband, Evan, staying at a nearby inn.  

“The trip that fall of 1970 was a fateful one, not only for my great-aunt, but for the entire American food establishment,” Barr continues. “They were all there in Provence together that fall and winter, more or less coincidentally… the people behind the seminal cookbooks and food writing of the era. They ate and drank and cooked together (and talked and sniped and gossiped, too), and they were all, in one way or another, rethinking their attachments to France, where they had each fallen in love with food and cooking to begin with.”

To write Provence 1970, a project that took him three years on and off, Barr (who was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and in Switzerland and now lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two daughters), took two leaves of absence from his job as an editor at Travel + Leisure. He combed archival research, interviews and the letters and journals of his great-aunt to re-create this pivotal moment.  He also used  the journals and letters of Fisher, Child, Olney, Beard and Beck…and the pages of Paul and Julia Childs’s “Black Book” (an “astonishing” binder of details about their home in France).

Luke also made multiple trips to Provence. “A few were trips in summertime,” Luke tells me,  “and one wonderful trip in November, when the weather was cool and beautiful, and there were no tourists or traffic. I had tracked down Raymond Gatti, who was the chauffeur everyone hired to drive them anywhere in the ‘60s and ‘70s, and who still lived in Plascassier. We spent days driving around together, visiting places that come up in my story, like the Fondation Maeght and the diet clinic where James Beard was enrolled in 1970, which had been torn down and was now the Grasse police headquarters. Raymond also showed all his old photos....’’

Luke also rented Julia Child’s home La Pitchoune  and you can read about that experience here.

And while the book itself has no photos, Luke has some wonderful images on his website here.

Among the flurry of positive reviews Library Journal calls Provence 1970 “…delightfully engaging, highly narrative, and intimate,’’ saying Barr does an excellent job of tying together the various threads of their collective stories through a blend of travelog, cultural history, and biography. “His account is quick and episodic in its pacing and feels vivid, authentic, and authoritative…” the review continues. “This small gem of a book is a fascinating delight.’’

And here’s what chef Alice Waters--owner of the legendary Chez Panisse in Berkeley--has to say: “Luke Barr has inherited the clear and inimitable voice of his great-aunt M.F.K. Fisher, and deftly portrays a crucial turning point in the history of food in America with humor, intimacy and deep perception. This book is beautifully written and totally fascinating to me, because these were my mentors—they inspired a generation of cooks in this country.”

My old friend Clark Wolf, a culinary historian and food consultant who splits his time between New York and Sonoma, knew all the characters in Provence 1970. So I rang him up to find out  what he thought about the book. “I love it but I may be prejudiced,” Clark told me. “For a lot of us it’s the pre-quel to our lives.  Like M.F.K., there is a real sound and feel to this writing that stays with you long after the story ends.  With food and wine we call it a long, fine finish.  With writing, we call it brilliant.”

To enter to win a copy of Provence 1970,  simply leave a comment under “comments” below. Be sure to leave an email address so we can reach you; signing in with your Google account is not enough. Tell us why you simply must have this book...or what the food and cooking of Provence means to you…or tell us about a fabulous French meal you’ll always remember…or which of M.F.K. Fisher’s books have been most-memorable for you. The more personal and evocative your comment, the better!

If you’d like to buy the book (288-pages, hardcover), you can find it on Amazon here or in the Kindle edition here.

Bonne Chance and Bon Appetit!

*Note: If you live in the New York area and are interested in food and food history, get yourself on the mailing list for Clark Wolf’s terrific discussion series at NYU. Called “Critical Topics in Food,” it’s held at the NYU Bobst Library on Union Square. Events (three or four each year) are open to the public and video archived. To get on the mailing list: assistant@clarkwolfcompany.com.

Photos: There are no photos in the book but Luke has these beauties and a few more on his website (lukebarr.net). 1. Julia Child on the terrace at La Pitchoune, her vacation house in Provence, in the early 1970s. 2. In the kitchen at La Pitchoune, Paul Child painted outlines of Julia’s tools and equipment on the pegboard walls. [Photo by Benoit Peverelli]. 3. Bert Greene, James Beard and Julia Child cooking together at M.F.K. Fisher’s Last House, in Sonoma County, in the late 1970s. Child, Beard, and Fisher remained lifelong friends, seminal figures in modern American cooking.

A Book Signing in Paris...and a Giveaway

If you'll be in Paris at the end of the month, Clotilde Dusoulier will be signing copies of her French Market Cookbook on Saturday, September 28 from 3 to 6 pm at the bookstore WH Smith (see the event on Facebook here). Wine and food from the book will be served, along with a toast to the 10th anniversary of Chocolate & Zucchini, Clotilde's extremely popular bi-lingual blog. No doubt lots of local foodies will be there, to schmooze around and show their support for Clotilde. If you can't make it to the signing, you can order the book on Amazon here.

Clotilde is a French food writer, based in Paris, who writes in both French and English. Her focus is on fresh, colorful and seasonal foods, with an eye on nutrition. She started Chocolate & Zucchini in 2003, which led to a book deal (Chocolate & Zucchini: Daily Adventures in a Parisian Kitchen, 2007) and then another (Clotilde's Edible Adventures in Paris, 2009). Today she pens food and travel articles for magazines and websites, writes and edits cookbooks and works as a recipe developer, public speaker and food-trend consultant.

The French Market Cookbook--a vegetable driven take on French cuisine--has received wide press and praise, both in print (The Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the Associated Press, Food & Wine, Le Monde, France Magazine, Shape, Edible Manhattan, etc.) and online (PublishersWeekly.com, Saveur.com, Oprah.com, DailyCandy.com, SeriousEats.com). For links to reviews of this book and Clotilde's previous titles, click here. While she's not a vegetarian, Clotilde has chosen to eat less meat and fish...and is always looking for new ways to cook what looks best at the market. The book has 90 recipes organized by season, 70 gorgeous full-color photos and lots of charming stories about shopping and cooking in France.

New York-based chef Dan Barber, a leader in the sustainability movement, says ''Food blogger doesn't do Clotilde justice. True, she's amassed a cult following with her pioneering website, but she's also a journalist with her finger on the pulse of Parisian culture--and an expert and wholly original cook. The French Market Cookbook is a triumph of all Dusoulier brings to the table, as enlightened and joyous as the woman behind it."

To celebrate the book signing event in Paris, Clotilde's publisher, Clarkson Potter, has offered me a copy of the book to give away. To enter, just leave a comment under "comments" below. Make sure to include your email address; signing in with your Google account or website URL won't be enough. If you're hesitant to leave your email, use the word "at" instead of the @ sign or put in some extra spaces. We'll pick the winner in a week or two so do enter soon. Meanwhile, you can sign up to receive Clotilde's free newsletter here, get her updates on Facebook here or follow her on Twitter, as 58,317 other people already do. Bonne Chance et Bon Appetit!

Another French Book Giveaway + A Trip

Usually the giveaways I do here are French cookbooks…or memoirs about life in France….or books on French design and décor. So here’s something a bit different, for those of you who love fiction. And the cover says it all…this is one for the gals!  

You can read all about The Promise of Provence here. The tale encompasses love, expectation and betrayal; aging parents and the war; a lab named Picasso and plenty of lavender; charming Frenchmen, a rich Australian and lots of colorful locals. The action takes place in Canada, the Ukraine, the Luberon, Paris…and brings us finally to a fisherman's cottage, ancient and captivating, in Antibes on the Cote d’Azur.

Author Patricia Sands lives in Toronto. With a happily blended family of seven adult children and, at last count, six grandchildren, she knows a thing or two about relationships and the human heart! Patricia calls herself a travel fanatic and says she can pack a bag and fly anywhere in a flash …especially if it’s the South of France. Her love affair with France began more than 40 years ago when she spent a year backpacking with friends and the passion has  continued to grow. For the last 15 years, she and her husband have returned frequently for extended stays that allowed time “for exploration and valued connections with French friends.” Her most recent visits included three months near Biot and then five months in Antibes in 2011. She says she’s  counting the days until their arrival in Nice this September.

This is Patricia’s second book. Her debut novel, The Bridge Club, was a finalist in the Foreword Reviews 2010 Book of The Year (general fiction), 2011 Next Generation Indie Book Awards (First Novel) and 2012 Indie Excellence Book Awards. The Promise of Provence came out just over a month ago and as soon as I heard about it I knew it make a perfect giveaway. So I rang her up and she graciously offered us three copies, either print or e-book format.

So if you’d like to enter to win a copy, just leave a comment under comments, below. The more creative the better, of course, and if you share thoughts, memories or even fantasies of Provence, that's a plus! Winners will be chosen by Patricia so do your best to capture her fancy. And be sure to leave your email address so we can contact you if you win; signing in with your Google account is not enough.

If you’d like to go ahead and buy the book, you can do that on Amazon here. To learn more about Patricia, her website is here and her blog is here. If you’d like to meet her, she’ll be having a book launch party at the English-language shop Antibes Books (also called Heidi’s English Bookshop) in late September or early October so check her site and theirs for details. The books should be in stock by early September.

Finally, Patricia will be leading two tours, loosely based on her novel, of the Cote d’Azur and Provence in June and July, 2014. The groups will number 14 people each—all women--and at press time the first trip had just one spot left. To see all the info, click here.

Another Fine French Cookbook Giveaway!

Here in Provence, chef Reine Sammut and her husband Guy oversee a glorious sun-drenched realm called the Auberge de la Fenière. The property is home to a four-star country-style hotel with 16 rooms; a fine-dining restaurant serving up traditional fare in a contemporary setting; a country-style bistro called La Cour de Ferme; a cooking school and more…all of it tucked into a gorgeous, unspoiled corner of the Luberon region, between the villages of Lourmarin and Cadenet. 

L’Auberge de la Fenière is known for the beauty of the surroundings, the charm of the main old mas (farmhouse), the warmth of the welcome and the quality of the cuisine. It’s also known for great impromptu parties, with Guy’s rock band on stage. Mention Reine and Guy Sammut in these parts and people smile. I don’t know them personally but I’ve long admired their accomplishments. And yes, her name means ‘’Queen’’—how great is that?

So when Reine’s publisher (Hachette Livre, Editions du Chêne) got in touch recently to see if I’d like to give away a few copies of her new book, I couldn’t have been more delighted. Reine Sammut: Mediterranean Cuisine comes out officially next month…but it's already popping up in bookstores and can be found on Amazon here.  It’s Reine’s second book, it’s available in French and in English, and it looks fantastique!

Born and raised in Frizon, a small village in the east of France (in the Vosges), Reine arrived in Provence when she was 14. She planned to be a dentist but fell in love with Guy…and his family…and Provencal food. She started to work at Guy’s family’s inn, the Fenière de Lourmarin, alongside his mom Claudette. Step by step, she mastered the flavors, techniques, ingredients and signature dishes—and became a serious Provençale chef.  (She also delves into the cuisines of Sicily, Malta, Tunisia and other Mediterraean neighbors.)

Eventually, Claudette passed the business to Reine and Guy…and they’ve been welcoming friends and strangers here for a remarkable 35 years. Daughters Julia and Nadia have their own careers but are often around as well.

To help her produce the 256-page book, Reine chose author Anne Garabedian (who who started cooking and baking seriously at age 10) and her husband, photographer Jean-Philippe Garabedian (also an accomplished cook). The two spent a full season at the Auberge, to capture in glorious detail the experience of learning to cook with Reine in Provence.

‘’We didn’t want to create an impersonal book, with recipes and a accompanying photos,’’ Anne explains. ‘’Rather, we wanted to tell the story of the cookery course so that readers would feel as though they’d taken part. A cookery course ‘as if you were there’, with recipes, tips, variations, know-how, and accounts from delighted students.’’

Peter Mayle, a neighbor and good friend, wrote the forward to the book. Peter says:

‘’I have admired and enjoyed the cuisine of Reine Sammut for at least 10 years – years during which I never had a disappointing meal, or even a disappointing mouthful…. I hope Reine will forgive me when I say that,  for me, what she produces from her kitchen is home cooking, but home cooking elevated to the highest degree of sophistication and refinement. It is generous, it tastes wonderful and, as you will see from the pages that follow, it is remarkably accessible. You don’t need a kitchen filled with test tubes, a team of assistants, or a university degree in multi-sensory perception. Good ingredients, enthusiasm, and close attention to Reine’s tips and advice will help you achieve a level of cooking that will surprise you.’’

OK, on to the free books!  The publisher and their US distributor, ACC Distribution, have offered me two to give away. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment under ''comments'' below. The more creative your comment, the better! And please be sure to leave your email address too or we won't be able to reach you if you win; signing in with your Google address is not enough.

Meanwhile, if you want to experience the Auberge de la Fenière, you can read all about it here. And if you go, don’t be surprised to find Mr. Mayle at the next table.  ‘’One of the great treats of spring, for my wife and I,’’ he writes, ‘’is the prelude to that first lunch eaten outside on the terrace of La Fenière,  menu in one hand, a glass of rosé in the other, taste buds tingling with anticipation. Heaven!’’

Photos: The book (which is available in French and English), the Auberge de la Feniere, Reine Sammut...and photos from the book, which is meant to capture the experience of a class at Reine's cooking school. All photos except landscape by Jean-Philippe Garabedian.

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