Aix-en-Provence

When I first started thinking about moving to France, I thought I would like to live in Aix-en-Provence. I didn't really know anything about France, but I had heard stories about the beauty and tranquility that can be found in the South. However, as things progressed, my opportunity to live in France landed me in the forest just outside of Paris. It is beautiful here, and I am grateful for this experience, but last weekend I finally had the chance to travel south and see what I had dreamt about for years.... Aix-en-Provence.

It was everything I had imagined and then some! The weather was warm and sunny. The people were kind and generous. The atmosphere was calm and relaxed, and I had time to simply enjoy all of these things.

As a true foodie, I managed to eat my way around the city, doing plenty of sightseeing along the way. My first morning I found a delightful patisserie that was very reminiscent of a Denver coffee shop, and it was just a few steps away from my hotel, so this became my morning hangout. The baristas were friendly, the pastries were delicious and it was a great atmosphere for some quiet morning reflections.

The best almond croissant I've ever had!

 I was fascinated by the creativity of the various flower and herb gardens I saw around the city. I'm definitely copying this when I have a place to call my own again.


Creative gardening

Before I went down to Aix, I was connected with several "friends-of-friends". One of the best surprises was the couple who own a delicious shwarma shop - La Goullette. I was told by a friend to stop by and order a specific sandwich that's named after him. I assumed I'd get a good sandwich, but I also made new friends. After lunch, they insisted that I stay for tea, and then they joined me every day for some sightseeing and each afternoon we did a little language exchange conversation - French, Arabic and English.


Tunisian mint tea

Aix is known for it's many open-air markets. There is one that supposedly has been open every single day for the past 700 years!! And don't even think about trying to get a spot to sell your wares, as they are handed down amongst family from one generation to the next.

 

Cheese, cheese and more cheese!

One of the many things I love about France are the plates du fromage et charcuterie. After a day of tasting my way around the city, I wasn't really hungry for dinner, but needed to eat something.  This was the perfect conclusion to the day.

Cheese, meat, salad, bread and wine - the perfect dinner

After all of the grey days this winter, it was wonderful to be in the warm sunshine and surrounded by rainbows of color at the flower markets. I was so tempted to by myself some fresh flowers, but I decided they wouldn't travel well.

This reminded me of Seattle's Pikes Place Market

Aix has so many beautiful fountains. You can find one in nearly every square and intersection. Some were funny sculptures with water shooting out, others where serious pillars of granite with cascades of water, but this one caught my eye.... It was a big ball of ferns and moss with this sweet little spurt of water bubbling up from the inside and quietly dripping down the sides.

 

 

The food in France is delicious, but one thing I've missed has been the organic, local, vegetarian, natural food scene from Denver and Boulder. So maybe in addition to being a foodie I'm also a little bit of a hippy.... Anyway, one of my new friends in Aix recommended this delightful epicerie - the woman buys her ingredients at the market each morning and then creates beautiful meals that are organic, vegetarian, gluten-free, and so good! I arrived late in the afternoon and these were her "left-overs" from the day. 

 

Sweet potato quiche, lentils, herb potatoes, and a beet, carrot salad

 

 I am so thankful that I hired a guide (yet another friend of a friend) to do a walking tour of the city. We spent two hours roaming all over the medieval parts of the city and I learned so much history and saw things I never would have found on my own. When we finished the tour we stopped for tea and pastries just as the sky opened up and poured down rain. It rained for the rest of the afternoon, so I took the opportunity to check out one of the museums.

 

The wind and rain at one of the markets

On my way out of town I made one last stop for one more crepe from this amazing little crepe stand that can be found under ground at the edge of this fountain.

 

All of the people who said I would love Aix were right - this city has captured a little piece of my heart and resonated with my soul. I felt at home here. It is a beautiful, interesting city where nobody seemed to be in a hurry, but instead everyone seemed to be intentionally enjoying life.... or maybe this was simply me projecting my personal joy and contentment onto my surroundings. Whatever the case may be, I am grateful for this adventure and the beauty I experienced.

I Might Be a Foodie....

As I reflect on my recent vacation, I think of time with friends, beautiful architecture, and FOOD! I have kept a personal journal for many years, and when I don't have time to journal my thoughts and experiences in detail, I take a few minutes to jot down the food I've been eating, and with these notes my senses are stirred, and I can recall my thoughts and emotions at various points in time based on the food. Food done right touches my soul, and it not only evokes emotions, but it also captures emotions that I can share through my baking experiments.

Disclaimer: For those who don't really care about food, you can stop reading now because you just won't understand or appreciate this post, but for my fellow foodies out there, here's the highlights of my vacation:

Christmas Eve dinner was with a French colleague and her family - brothers, sisters, significant others, parents, grandmother - a tiny French apartment filled with kind people, much laughter, and delicious food.  The evening started with smoked marlin, a Spanish salami, bellini with herbed cream cheese topped with smoked salmon, and homemade froie gras. These appetizers were accompanied by the best white wine I've ever had. I didn't catch the name, but it was bottled in 1989. The entrée was confit du canard accompanied by a 1995 red wine that was the perfect compliment. We had homemade macaroons that melted in your mouth, and miniature rum cakes that were perfect as leftovers on Christmas morning with a cup of tea. And, in traditional French fashion, we finished the meal with a cheese plate.

I spent Christmas day with a couple of my American colleagues. They made a pot of chili that was surprisingly good - surprising because we bought the ingredients at a little Arabic store that was open on Christmas day, so we weren't sure what sort of spices we were actually getting. While the chili simmered, I made a pie - pear, cranberry, pistachio. In my family we have a pie bake-off at Christmastime each year, and so this was my long-distance entry.



A few days after Christmas I took a 6 hour bus ride from Paris to Antwerp and met up with a friend from Denver that was visiting her family in the area. We spent the day sightseeing and eating our way around the city.

 

 

I learned that there are several types of Belgium waffles - all of which are good! And there are more than 700 types of Belgium beer, none of which I tried, but I am still enjoying my various samples of Belgium chocolate! 

 

That evening my friend and her sister made me a traditional Japanese dinner that was perfectly delicious and satisfying after a day of sweets. A big bowl of sushi and some wonderful soup - which I learned how to eat with chopsticks!

 

 

The next day we took the train to Utrecht (near Amsterdam) where I met up with a longtime friend who I hadn't seen in many years. We spent the day exploring the town, stopping to warm up with a cup of rich hot chocolate that was served with a beautiful tower of whipped cream.  For dinner we went to a restaurant down on one of the canals. It felt like we had stepped into the 1920's. The atmosphere was swanky but comfortable, the service was pleasant, and the food was worth lingering over. The menu was a prix fixe, three-course meal. I had a creamy mushroom soup, tortellini with spinach and mushrooms, and crème brulee... although due to the French influence I nearly ordered the cheese plate for dessert instead!

New Year's Eve day we went to visit some friends who live on a true Dutch farm. They were smoking salmon out in the barnyard and we were invited in to one of the barns, where walking through the door felt like I was stepping into a movie set...... The room was maybe 6'x10' with a 7' ceiling and a large bar built right down the middle. There were about 12 people packed around the bar, some dressed in traditional Dutch outfits and others wearing oversized wooden clogs, music was playing and smoke was wafting around the room. I was handed a drink and welcomed into the circle, and then the hostess made me a smoked salmon sandwich, which was a soft Dutch roll split open and filled with hot, fresh smoked salmon.  I've often said I don't like smoked meat, but this didn't even have a hint of ashtray taste - it was just moist and full of flavor. I wasn't able to take a picture, but all of my senses were so involved that I have a strong mental imprint to savor the experience.

 

Over the next few days I had the pleasure of trying many traditional Dutch foods - mustard soup (for which I'm hoping to get the recipe), olliebollen (kind of like large donut holes), apple beignets, homemade apple flappen (apple turnovers), Stamppot (Dutch mashed potatoes mixed with endive and ham), and a Dutch sandwich - a roll slathered with butter and slices of a creamy white cheese, which was reminiscent of the sandwiches I used to get at a little Dutch bakery in Washington. And for the 5 hour car ride home, a bag of salted black licorice and a package of Stroopwafles. I think of my mom every time I eat black licorice (one of her favorite treats) and I realize this post is for her - because wherever I was living or traveling she would always ask about what I'd been eating, and patiently listen to me describe in detail all of my food experiences.

 

Many thanks to the friends who were part of this adventure. I appreciate your willingness to introduce me to your culture through food, and your patience as I lingered over a meal and savored each bite.