Gorgeous Provence Rug Giveaway

One of the many joys of blogging is how it encourages connections, virtual or otherwise, with other bloggers. I "met" bloggers Delana Nelsen and Libby Wilkie online, long before I met either in person. Delana (who's from Wisconsin, like me), writes about her expat experiences in Aix-en-Provence; Libby blogs about design and decor. Delana and Libby met online as well and quickly became good pals. Now they've become business partners in ProvenceRugs.com, importing and selling these vibrantly beautiful handmade rugs from Provence. Their line also includes coordinating home accessories such as serving trays. Check out all the goodies here. 

A passionate Francophile living in Fearrington, North Carolina (yep, that's the place with the lovely little ads you see in the New Yorker), Libby first spied the rugs in a Provencal market a few years back--and knew immediately they were special. She suggested that Delana find the woman who makes them...and she did. Delana bought "a bucketload" of rugs and shipped them to the U.S., where the two women opened a test shop. Their supply sold out within two months so they knew the demand was there. But it was clear that an online shop was the way to go.

Delana sorted out all the e-commerce and shipping issues while Libby found a small factory to make acrylic accessories using the same French-fabricated fabrics. Now their lovely website is up and running and the orders are rolling in. More products will be added so check back often!

To celebrate the launch of Provence Rugs, Delana and Libby are offering one medium-size rug as a giveaway. To enter, simply leave a comment below and the winner will be picked next week. Be sure to leave your email address in the text box with your comment; signing in with your Google account or your website is not enough. Depending on what's available, you'll be able to choose your color.

I'm so glad the blog world brought these two cool women into my life! Meanwhile I say bravo to my sweet new friends and much success with your new adventure!

Great Big Grenache Tasting Next Thursday

If you're free on Thursday evening November 17 and you love red wines, you need to be in Avignon for "G-Night," a grand Grenache degustation. Twenty-five winemakers from France and Spain will be pouring their hearts out, serving up tastes of their best Grenache-based vintages along with small nibbles. The event is sponsored by InterRhône, the Grenache Symposium, Tavel and Châteauneuf-du-Pape. It's just 10€ per person and my friend Kelly McAuliffe, an American sommelier and Rhône wine expert, tells me it's going to be a blast. It's at Le Grenier a Sel, 2 rue du Rempart Saint-Lazare, and it starts at 7:30. Tickets are limited and there may be some left at the door, but it's best to reserve your place by emailing: marlene@grenachesymposium.com. For more info, call 06-61-60-95-96. If you need a map, there's one here. See you there!

One Restaurant I Love in Arles

Looking for a light dinner on a wet and chilly October night a few years ago, a friend and I popped into Cuisine de Comptoir in Arles because it looked casual, warm, inviting—and a little hip. And, unlike all the other spots nearby, it had customers.

A long room with wood floors, bare wood tabletops, leather banquettes, a simple chrome light dangling over every table and a small open kitchen/bar in back, this all-day café specializes in the crunchy open-faced sandwiches known as tartines. The 10 choices included something for every taste: grilled foie gras with onion confit, grilled chicken breast, magret de canard with cantal, brandade (mashed saltcod and potato), Parma ham, smoked salmon and one or two appealing vegetarian options. All the tartines were served on Poîlane bread--made at the famous Parisian bakery and delivered daily--and came with a choice of homemade soup or salad. All the desserts—including a moelleux de chocolat and a baba au rhum--were homemade.

A couple weeks ago, with a few hours to kill in Arles, I went back to the restaurant for an early lunch. This time, it was a gorgeous sunny day and I made sure to arrive early to get a table. I needn’t have worried: I found just one lone customer, eating and reading the paper. “Uh-oh,” I thought. “Bad sign.” When I left just after 1 p.m., however, virtually every table was full.

The menu still offers 10 different tartines, the prices are still low and the food is still fresh and satisfying.

I had the daily special: a warm, crunchy tartine of tiny crevettes atop avocado spread, sliced into easy-to-eat pieces and served with a bowl of greens and red cabbage. Remarkably, the tartines had only inched up in price one euro. You can get a sandwich, homemade soup or salad, a glass of wine or ½ liter of mineral water and coffee for just €10.50 or €12.50, depending on which sandwich you choose. It’s a really good deal on a nice simple meal. 

I was also delighted to also see that Alexandre Perucca was still behind the counter making sandwiches and Vincent Barjolin was still serving. At one point the two partners—born and raised in Arles--had planned to expand to other cities but they’ve since decided to just sit tight. Having the owners on site keeps the quality high and makes the atmosphere far more convivial.  Alex and Vincent have hit on a perfect formula and the packed restaurant proves it. Here in Provence restaurants tend to come and go quickly so it’s nice to find one just as you left it, still doing well after a number of years, rain or shine. Here’s to Alex and Vincent’s continued success!

Cuisine de Comptoir

10, rue de la Liberté (Just off the Place du Forum)
Arles 
04-90-96-86-28
contact@cuisinedecomptoir.com

A Canadian Artist in Love with Provence

The Quebec-born artist Claude A. Simard first discovered Provence in his early 20s, traveling around France with a friend. “There was little time for sketching since those were the days when girls were more important than the sights and the history!” he recalls.

He returned in the 1990s, but says the trip that really hooked him was a one-week stay in St. Rémy about ten years ago.  “This time, I was traveling with my wife Huguette, my daughter Roseline and Roseline’s husband to be,” he says. “I took the time to walk around and discover the beauty of the village and its surroundings, with my sketchbook and a box of watercolors. I found the place so attachante that I’ve returned several times since…for two or three weeks at a time so I have time to explore and sketch to my heart’s content.” The title of one chapter in Claude's newest book, in fact, is One Never Returns from St-Rémy. 

So what is it that draws him back again and again?

“It’s the ambience and the people,” he replies. Their love of life. The pleasure of the moment. Walking in the oliveraies where Vincent spent hours painting. The softness of the landscape. The food. The chocolates.  The olives of all kinds. The market. I love Wednesday mornings in St.-Rémy when everyone goes out to make provisions for one day or one week. The accent of the villageois. Everything inspires me in St. Rémy. I feel like a kid who fell in a box of candy when I sit on the steps of the Hotel de Ville and draw draw draw the market.

“In Provence,” Claude continues, “all places are full of beauty. The most banal road and the smallest village turn into subject matter. I like driving through the Alpilles and looking at the stones that time has created and the olive trees that tint the grey landscape a tender green…”

Professionally, Claude has an international reputation. He has had 25 solo exhibits since 1974, done eight postage stamps for Canada Post and completed a number of major mural commissions. His career and garden (called Jardin Bon Accueil) have been the subject of several major articles and TV shows. He has also published two books--Inspiration and Painting and Planting the Garden--and been the subject of a third: Claude A. Simard by André Juneau (Presses Université Laval, 1991).

Should you find yourself in Canada this month, you can catch Claude’s newest exhibit, at Galerie Walter Klinkhoff in Montreal, November 5 to 15, 2011. Claude's page on the gallery website is here. His website is here and his blog is here. Meanwhile, I’ve shared just a few of his Provence paintings and sketches above...but there are many more. 

Claude’s next voyage to Provence will be a three-week trip this Spring. While he has no plans to lead a formal workshop, he might arrange a get together with five or ten people who love the region and want to bring it back in a sketchbook—“along with a few extra inches around the waist!” Interested? Contact him at claudeasimard@sympatico.ca.

Photos: A few of Claude Simard's Provence paintings and sketches, plus a shot of artist in his element.

Another Fine French Book Giveaway!

Claude Monet (1840-1926) spent the last 43 years of his life at Giverny, an hour northwest of Paris, creating the paintings for which he is most revered. He had rented the house in 1883 and by 1890, was successful enough to buy it. With two acres of land, Monet composed his famous gardens with an impressionist’s care for color and form. He had his large family and seven gardeners to help him, but always remained the visionary choreographer, providing precise designs and layouts for plantings.

Drawing upon the words of Monet and his contemporaries, the just-released Monet at Giverny (Garden Art Press) is a celebration of this unique artistic mind…and offers a wealth of horticultural detail. With more than 150 illustrations (photos, engravings, garden views, etc.), this gorgeous 192-page hardcover will delight any art or garden lover….and every Francophile.

Monet at Giverny was released in the UK early this month and is just now hitting bookstores in the US. 

Author Caroline Holmes is a garden historian, lecturer, author and designer. Her other books include Victorian Gardens, Follies of Europe—Architectural Extravaganzas and A Zest for Herbs. She lives in Suffolk and lectures regularly at the Institute of Continuing Education at the University of Cambridge and the Royal Horticultural Society.

Because getting free stuff for you, dear reader, is one of my biggest pleasures, I rang up the publisher and finagled a few books to give away. To enter, simply click COMMENTS below and say something nice…three lucky readers will win a copy. Please be sure to leave your email address--signing in with your Google account is not enough. (Hint: Be creative and you stand a better chance of winning.) 

To read more about this beautiful book, click here. To order it from Amazon US, click here. To order from Amazon UK, click here. To see what other lovely books the same company distributes, check their website here.

Bonne Chance!

More Reasons French Women Don't Get Fat

Paris & Chocolate. What's Not To Like?

Forget raindrops on roses: Paris and chocolate are two of my favorite things. If you feel the same way, check out the SALON DU CHOCOLAT (October 20 to 24) at the Porte de Versaille. You'll find top pastry chefs and chocolatiers doing demos, a workshop for kids, a chocolate fashion show, all the best chocolate books--and of course aisle after aisle of irresistible sweets to taste and buy. Admission is €12.50. If you miss it, you can catch the same show December 9 to 11 in Lyon. All the info is HERE. [Photo by RACHEL BEEN.]

A New Château Hotel in the Languedoc

I was delighted to find out recently that my old pal Anne de Ravel is the chef at the fabulous  Château Les Carrasses, a 19^th-century wine domaine near Beziers, in the Languedoc-Roussillon region of the South of France. It’s midway between Montpellier and Perpignan. The property has just been extensively restored and converted to a boutique winery and luxury hotel estate; it opened officially in late July.

Anne was a consultant for the New York Times Magazine, Part II, Entertaining (from 1984 to 1992) and a producer at Food Network in New York from 1992 to 2001. She returned to her native France in 2007 to open a cooking school called Saveur Languedoc, which she still operates.

At Château Les Carrasses Anne is using local ingredients to create classic Mediterranean dishes and tapas, which are served in a bistro or on the roof terrace with spectacular estate views.

“This is not a gastronomic restaurant,” she tells me. “I prepare simple dishes I would do at home for my friends using fresh seasonal ingredients I pick up at the market. The menu changes all the time.”

Also on the property are eight acres of gardens, an infinity pool, floodlit clay tennis courts, a boules court, an orchard and a vegetable garden. Olive trees are being planted. 

Château Les Carrasses has 28 apartments and villas, many with panoramic views, all fashioned from the estate’s original 19^th-century buildings. (Rather than traditional hotel services, the property offers what's known as "self-catering," which means there is no room service and no daily maid service.)  The château itself, like a fairy-tale castle, was built in 1886, on the foundations of a rest stop along the pilgrim Route de Saint-Jacques de Compostelle. Around two main courtyards are all the buildings traditionally found on a wine domain: the château, winery and cellars; a blacksmith’s house, stables, forge, granary and the estate cottages, which have been transformed into guest accommodations. The largest can sleep eight. All have fully equipped kitchens, air conditioning, free WiFi, flat screens, DVDs and fully loaded iPods. Most have sunny private gardens and terraces with BBQ, outdoor dining areas and sun loungers. Many have private heated pools. The amenities are by Fragonard. Rooms begin at 200€ per night in high season and 114€ from November to March.

Owner Karl O'Hanlon wants Château Les Carrasses to be a destination for wine lovers and he has already begun producing a number of Les Carrasses vintages. On Sunday September 25, he staged his first wine class: a one-day outing to a local domaine where the harvest was underway. The group learned about various varietals and how they’re picked and when; the differences between pressing and macerating; how oak barrels affect the wine-ageing process and much more. They also tasted and compared a number of wine grapes–Mourvedre, Macabeu, Carignan, etc.--and sampled juice from the vats at various levels of fermentation.

A gourmet picnic among the vines was followed by an afternoon session on wine blending, back at the château. The group then set out to blend their own wine from Syrah, Grenache and Carignan grapes. The wines were judged in a blind tasting by all participants.

The next wine class, with a focus on ageing and blending, will be the weekend of November 26. In December, the château will host a WSET II course, run by wine director Matthew Stubbs. Stubbs has 24 years experience in the wine trade and is one of only 300 Masters of Wine in the world. After years of buying and selling wine in the UK he decided to live the dream and move to the Languedoc-Roussillon, which he calls “the most exciting and spectacular place to make wine on Earth.”

Other courses are being added and will be posted on the Les Carrasses website when details are confirmed. Special food-and-wine weekends are also being planned.

Château Les Carrasses

LesCarrasses.com

Reservations from France: 04-67-00-00-67

Reservations from US: 011-33-4-67-00-00-67

Reservations from UK: 08-45-686-8067

resa@lescarrasses.com

Million Dollar Fender Bender in Monaco

Only in Monaco would you find a Bentley Azure T that’s managed to plow into a Ferrari F430, damaging an Aston Martin Rapide, a Porsche 911 Carrera S and a Mercedes S-Class in the process. (Don't you hate when that happens?) Thanks to Autogespot.com for the photos and to Jalopnik.com for letting me steal this post.

Le Kindle Français Est Arrivé

Yesterday Amazon launched its French Kindle Store with 35,000 French-language book titles to choose from. At the same time, Amazon unveiled the first French-language Kindle, calling it the smallest, lightest and most affordable Kindle ever. Priced at just 99€, the newest Kindle will be released on October 14 but you can pre-order it now by clicking here. The Kindle store now offers more than 825,000 books--including thousands of global best sellers--in English and other languages as well as Kindle versions of major French newspapapers such as Le Monde, Le Figaro, Liberation and others. For all the details, see the Amazon press release here and a full story on Wired.com here.