Abra

Since I'm in Uzès, I'd be very interested to know where you had them. I've never heard of nor seen anything called navettes here except shuttle buses!

I love the Klink's Rub linked to above. In fact I was just regretting the fact that I can't seem to find any sumac here. Sunday we're going to try to introduce our French friends to ribs, and I'd love to have that rub. But I'm really appreciating the other recipes posted here, and one of them will probably be on the menu for the party.

I picked about 25 kilos from the cherry tree at our house here in France. We definitely bought a pitter! I made everything I could think of with them and wrote about it here, which might give you some additional cherry ideas. Let me know if you need recipes for anything I made.

I did end up making a really good currant jam, and then an even better currant jam tart with the jam that I hadn't already eaten on toast. The recipes for both are here.

Well, when is the dinner and what are the wines you'd want to share? That's where I'd start, with the wine, then with what's best in the market at the moment. In general, the foods that make me feel special are the foods that take a lot of work on the part of the cook, small things that are stuffed, or puff-wrapped, or things that have been smoothed to a velvet consistency. I guess to me it's the effort and attention that go into the food, as opposed to the cost of the ingredients, that make me feel special.

Good to know that it's the right recipe, John. I'll make it for sure now, right after I get done with the currant jam I'm starting.

The Google translation looks pretty good. I'll just add a couple of clarifications: Equetez means remove the hulls/stems Obviously, you cover the macerating berries with food film, aka plastic wrap, as opposed to "film food" Pour the berries, sugar, and lemon juice into a pot, not a bowl After you remove the berries and cook the syrup to 105 C you add the fruit back into the pot for 10-15 minutes (I'd do this as a very slow simmer to keep the fruit whole) The recipe wants you to turn the jars upsidedown for 24 hours after you close the lids.

Here in the south of France the season is just about over. When I first noticed them the fuzzy pods were already too tough to even think about eating, and the little interior nut was kind of bitter. I didn't know the salt water trick, which might have helped. And they got a ton of mold on the pods after sitting on the counter for 3 days, so I doubt they'd travel well.

Can you read French? I think this recipe will get you what you're looking for. I think I'll even try it myself! Let me know if you need a translation.

So far this year I've only made cherry jam, but now I have some really nice currants, and the apricots are gorgeous. I'm thinking of doing them together, but only because I don't have a really good currant recipe. Is anyone doing jam or jelly with red currants?

Two questions: SLKinsey - I simmer the pea pods in stock all the time, but are you saying that you then pureed the pods as well? That's a cool idea. SobaAddict - what the heck is red sorrel?

I did this for lunch today, adding sweet onion slivers to the cucumber. I used 1/2 cup of cider vinegar for 3 T of sugar and found the sweet/sour ratio just right. These went great with a lunch of hummus, fougasse, and leftover potato salad. Now I've got some thinly sliced little zucchinis marinating in the same bowl with the remaining cucumbers. I'm thinking of adding radishes, but I'm worried that they'll wilt too badly.

Sorry, I forgot to mention that it's on the Quai Colbert.

It's going well. The cherries gave all their color to the liquor, which is now an appetizing red. I recently added apricots, and am thinking of adding some currants next. Mine's kind of "vieux garcon" as well, since I've used rum, brandy, and kirsch so far, much as a bachelor might. I've got one big jar started and I too am not sure what I'll do with it all, but I also started half a dozen jam jars, with smaller bits of fruit, and those will definitely be for gifts.

We were down at the beach for a hot day of La Fête de la Musique and happened into Le France. With a large covered and refreshingly breezy terrace right on the water, it's just what you'd look for in beach food, presented by a competent and attentive staff. Charcuterie and dorade for my husband, salad and moules marinière for me, ice cream for us both, a Coke and a half litre of house sangria: 34 Euros total. Get there early for lunch as the place filled up fast. I didn't hear a word of anything but French.

I love freekeh, although I haven't seen any since we've lived in France. Here's how I cook it, totally simple and basic, really wonderful. Fabulous Freekeh 2 cups whole freekeh (as opposed to cracked) 5 cups water 1 tsp salt 1 tsp olive oil Bring all to a boil, cover tightly, and simmer for 45-50 minutes, or until all water is absorbed. Remove from heat and leave covered for 5-10 minutes. Fluff with a fork before serving. This produces a drier grain than what ChefCrash shows in his delicious-looking recipe above.

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That's an interesting looking recipe, Genny. Do you make the whole salad, or just the garlic? The markets here are overflowing with fresh garlic, huge bulbs of violet-tinged and pungent stuff. I wonder whether fresh garlic, with its much higher moisture content, would work in this recipe.

Right, it's L'Étable. No wine -I've almost never seen wine included on a menu du jour.

This kind of says it all. A 14 Euro lunch with lots of excellent choices. The welcome was friendly, the service was quick and efficient, the food was very good, and they have a nice outdoor terrace. Grignan is a very pretty little town, well worth a visit.

That's good to know. Next time I see the silicone molds I think I'll give them a try. I can get cannele in the bakery here but they're not that great.

Gosh, that's a really pedestrian-looking menu! I'd expect to find something more interesting at any good restaurant even here in the boonies. The wines were impressive, however.

I almost hate to do it, but I have to disagree with the recommendation for Auberge du Cedre. We were there last week and really didn't enjoy it much. As Margaret Pilgrim states above, the Garden Room is probably nice, but it's only available for a 2 night stay. The remaining rooms are on the down side of basic, and you have to leave the room and go either up or down steep stone stairs to the toilet, and more stairs to the shower. The welcome was on the cool side of friendly. And someone was mowing about a 2 acre field around the auberge with a hand electric mower, which made an amazing racket for at least 4 hours from our arrival until dark fell. But the restaurant was the real disappointment. The entire menu wasn't available, just the demi-pension, and it too was the down side of basic. They served the main course family style and I not only had to ask for clean plates to put it on, not wanting salad dressing on my couscous, but the server acted amazed that I'd even request such a thing. There were lots of things available for breakfast, but several of the items mentioned above cost extra, 1.50 Euros per egg, extra for cheese. I wouldn't go back there unless I happened to be already passing through and there was nowhere else to stay. Not sure why our experience was so different, but that's how it was.

We just spent a week driving throught the Drôme Provencal and upper Provence, staying at little places that offered dinner. While Venasque isn't a destination in itself, being an extremely tiny town, it's in a lovely perched setting and makes a nice stopover for the night. Plus, a room for 2 at Les Remparts was only 59 Euros, which included breakfast, making it a real bargain in a part of France where bargains are rare. Les Remparts has only 8 rooms, charmingly simple. It's the restaurant with it's beautiful view and its sweet terrace that were really the draw for us, and the food was very good and reasonably priced. From a menu at, I think, 29 Euros I had a puff pastry with assorted tiny shellfish, duck in red wine sauce, an enormous cheese plateau with a huge variety of goat cheeses (be sure to get this if you eat there) and a nougat glacé for dessert. It's cheerful and very well executed home-style cooking with friendly, helpful service.

Beautiful. Pille, does he do them in proper copper molds? The molds are just as deadly expensive in France as they are at home, so I still haven't gotten any. If there's a way to succeed with a lesser mold, I want to know about it!