It’s been the week of the Michelin stars and everybody in Provence is very excited. Le Petit Nice on the old port in Marseille has become the only restaurant in the region to achieve the coveted three stars and the Luberon has two new starred restaurants - Le Vivier in L’Isle Sur La Sorgue and Les Bories near Gordes.
Like Obelix and the magic potion, Patrick Fischnaller the newly starred chef of Le Vivier, whose lifelong love of cooking took him to London for 15 years working for the Conran group, said: “I fell in the fish soup when I was a little boy.”
It’s also been a very windy week…so windy in fact that gusts reached 110km an hour in Avignon knocking chimneys of roofs and enabling Antoine Albeau to break the record for the fastest speed for sail powered travel on a windsurfer on the Saint Maries canal in the Camargues. The speed reached was 90.91 kmh, the fastest ever over a 500m stretch of water.
Thursday 6 March 2008
Tuesday 26 February 2008
Hold the front page again!
You may remember the earth shattering news that greeted the readers of La Provence a month ago - a new speed camera had been installed on the route de Sarrians outside Monteux.
Great journalists are blessed with a sixth sense as to what makes a newsworthy story. You and I might scoff at such a front page but the editor cleatly knew that he had a story that would run and run.
This week in the depths of the night somebody stole the Monteux speedcamera, there was of course outrage and another story meaning that the speedcamera has now had more column inches devoted to it in the local papers than Marion Cotillard the first French actress to win the best actress oscar since Simone Signoret in 1960. In the face of the breaking speed camera news Marion was relegated to page 38.
Great journalists are blessed with a sixth sense as to what makes a newsworthy story. You and I might scoff at such a front page but the editor cleatly knew that he had a story that would run and run.
This week in the depths of the night somebody stole the Monteux speedcamera, there was of course outrage and another story meaning that the speedcamera has now had more column inches devoted to it in the local papers than Marion Cotillard the first French actress to win the best actress oscar since Simone Signoret in 1960. In the face of the breaking speed camera news Marion was relegated to page 38.
Wednesday 20 February 2008
Crocs away
The almond blossom is on the trees, the first greenhouse strawberries are appearing in the markets and the crocodile breeding season has arrived! Yes as spring hits the Luberon and Les Alpilles, it's a little known fact that the warmer weather begins to make the giant reptiles frisky. The 35 males - each weighing over 400 kilos - at the Pierrelatte crocodile farm indulged in some macho posturing as they searched for their mates. The result a juvenile male croc with a broken jaw and a page 3 La Provence story. It's been another busy week!
Monday 18 February 2008
TAXI....
Have you ever wondered why it was so difficult to get a taxi in Provence? Stuck in a village restaurant at midnight having had a few too many to drink, the waiter first looks horrified at your request for a taxi, then spotting an opportunity offers to take you home himself - it will give him a chance to demonstrate the peculiar genetic ability of the Provencal to take hairpin bends without a hand on the wheel, and to earn a few extra euros.
The good old days of life threatening trips home nearly came to an end this week when the “rapport Attali” proposed to liberalise the taxi profession. The problem is Vaucluse taxi drivers have paid up to €100,000 for their licence, and because of the strictly limited number in circulation, they represent most driver’s retirement plans - sell the licence on and buy a nice beach hut.
Attali threatened all this by proposing to allow new drivers to circulate without a licence. The response from the taxi drivers was a strike. So for now at least, unless you’ve booked your cab one week in advance, the waiter still represents the best way to get home. Just watch he hasn’t had as much to drink as you.
The good old days of life threatening trips home nearly came to an end this week when the “rapport Attali” proposed to liberalise the taxi profession. The problem is Vaucluse taxi drivers have paid up to €100,000 for their licence, and because of the strictly limited number in circulation, they represent most driver’s retirement plans - sell the licence on and buy a nice beach hut.
Attali threatened all this by proposing to allow new drivers to circulate without a licence. The response from the taxi drivers was a strike. So for now at least, unless you’ve booked your cab one week in advance, the waiter still represents the best way to get home. Just watch he hasn’t had as much to drink as you.
Monday 4 February 2008
Hold the Front Page!
It’s been a slow news week, as illustrated by the front page of La Provence on 31st January, a photo of a speed camera and the following story: in the middle of the night (very cloak and dagger!) a speed camera entered into service near the exit from Monteux in the direction of Sarrians. Presumably the editor of La Provence lives somewhere nearby.
The gardens of Chateau Val Joanis have been voted the best gardens of 2008 by the Association des Journalistes du Jardin et de L’Horticulture, The gardens consist of three different terraces each with a different theme. It’s three years since the gardens of Val Joanis were classed as Jardins Remarquables by the minister of culture.
And finally for wine lovers, the Orange Concours de Vin tasted 3060 cotes du Rhone 2006 and 2007 vintages and the following Luberon domaines were awarded the Medal D’Or
Cave du Bonnieux
Chateau Blanc Rousillion
Chateau La Canorgue Bonnieux
Cave de Lumieres a Goult
Valdeze La Tour D’Aigue
Domaine Le Coulet Rouge Rousillion
Domaine de La Garelle Oppede
The gardens of Chateau Val Joanis have been voted the best gardens of 2008 by the Association des Journalistes du Jardin et de L’Horticulture, The gardens consist of three different terraces each with a different theme. It’s three years since the gardens of Val Joanis were classed as Jardins Remarquables by the minister of culture.
And finally for wine lovers, the Orange Concours de Vin tasted 3060 cotes du Rhone 2006 and 2007 vintages and the following Luberon domaines were awarded the Medal D’Or
Cave du Bonnieux
Chateau Blanc Rousillion
Chateau La Canorgue Bonnieux
Cave de Lumieres a Goult
Valdeze La Tour D’Aigue
Domaine Le Coulet Rouge Rousillion
Domaine de La Garelle Oppede
Thursday 24 January 2008
January 2008
Each week I am going to post my favourite local news story, but to begin with here is a selection of January’s news.
Marseille: In the summer it gets so hot that you don’t really need a chef to heat your bouillabaise, even in January, you can sit outside in shirtsleeves and yet strange as it may seem the 2018 Winter Olympics closing ceremony could be held in Marseille. The southern Provencal Alps are being put forward by France as possible hosts - skiing in Serre Chevalier, Ice Hockey and Ice Skating in Briancon and the closing ceremony in the Stade Velodrome where everyone will be in t-shirts.
Menerbes: Apparently the residents have had truffles on their mind. First they announced the world’s only municipal truffle field. 150 green and white oaks were planted with the aim of bringing truffles within the reach of every single villager. They will have to wait 8 to 10 years for the first crop and invest in some good guard dogs.
Secondly hot on the heels of the municipal truffle field announcement Menerbes hosted a climate change conference with a difference - experts from around the world gathered to discuss the effect of global warming on truffles. The conclusion - wildly varying annual temperatures are lowering yields.
And the solution to this problem - typically French - protectionism. The EU should restrict the import of low grade foreign truffles.
Gourdes - People were peckish in Gourdes and so 9 potters in the region produced a special mould which was then used to create the world's largest terrrine. Measuring 3 metres long, 70 centimetres wide, and 45 centimetres high it was a monument to French gastronomy, until it got eaten.
Carpentras: And finally French judges staged a sit in at the Carpentras sub prefecture, protesting over proposed cuts in the judiciary. The gendarmes, took the softly softly approach they are renowned for, and tear gassed most of the higher echelons of the Provencal bar.
Marseille: In the summer it gets so hot that you don’t really need a chef to heat your bouillabaise, even in January, you can sit outside in shirtsleeves and yet strange as it may seem the 2018 Winter Olympics closing ceremony could be held in Marseille. The southern Provencal Alps are being put forward by France as possible hosts - skiing in Serre Chevalier, Ice Hockey and Ice Skating in Briancon and the closing ceremony in the Stade Velodrome where everyone will be in t-shirts.
Menerbes: Apparently the residents have had truffles on their mind. First they announced the world’s only municipal truffle field. 150 green and white oaks were planted with the aim of bringing truffles within the reach of every single villager. They will have to wait 8 to 10 years for the first crop and invest in some good guard dogs.
Secondly hot on the heels of the municipal truffle field announcement Menerbes hosted a climate change conference with a difference - experts from around the world gathered to discuss the effect of global warming on truffles. The conclusion - wildly varying annual temperatures are lowering yields.
And the solution to this problem - typically French - protectionism. The EU should restrict the import of low grade foreign truffles.
Gourdes - People were peckish in Gourdes and so 9 potters in the region produced a special mould which was then used to create the world's largest terrrine. Measuring 3 metres long, 70 centimetres wide, and 45 centimetres high it was a monument to French gastronomy, until it got eaten.
Carpentras: And finally French judges staged a sit in at the Carpentras sub prefecture, protesting over proposed cuts in the judiciary. The gendarmes, took the softly softly approach they are renowned for, and tear gassed most of the higher echelons of the Provencal bar.
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