Solveig chairs

Nice light.

Shifty shoppers, Saignon organic market

Every Thursday, Saignon has a small organic market in their parking lot. Lots of good produce, breads, soaps, wines from Domaine Allois which are wonderful and now teas, cheeses and flowers. The guy in the Moxie hat was escorted from the premises when he was found to be the infamous "Buy one, pocket one free, knife bandit."

60?

This little road sign struck me funny. Almost every road in Provence is either 30, 50, 90 or 130 kph. This is the only 60kph sign that I saw. It's very old so it was probably from before the EU standardized.

Weeds, Bonnieux walk.

 We passed this field and were puzzled. The earth had been so totally tilled and still these weeds persisted. (Or....it was the worst job of sowing seed that I had ever seen)

 So, I went down and pulled one. It was covered with seeds so it probably wasn't going to be lonely long.

As you can see it has a very tough, thick root that probably can regenerate from even a small piece. Sort of a super-dandelion.

Hedge, Bonnieux walk

A night at Maison Solveig, Saignon

 As a Vache qui Rit lover, I always get a kick out of the logo.

 Laura is a great waitress. This will be her last year at Solveig as it is time for her to move on. She is a rugby player and hopes to try out for the French women's team. She is 34 and very smart, fluent in English and Spanish.

 Interior, Maison Solveig

 Solveig is the woman who owns and cooks for Maison Solveig. When the weather gets cold she shuts for the winter and goes back to her main love, art. She is a wonderful painter and she made this delicate little chandelier that delights when it is on and blinking.

She also makes a mean daube.

Dinner in, Rue Cilly, Saignon

I got a lovely filet mignon du porc (pork tenderloin here in the US) and marinated it in lemon juice and olive oil (and, of course, herbes de Provence) for a day. I grilled it and cooked carrots and potatoes. I made a Dijonnaise sauce. A success.

Post prandial climb, Lacoste

After the lunch in the last post, Lacoste will gladly help you burn the calories as it is a very steep village and you must always go up.

Pasta carbanara, Lacoste

This is a truly tasty take on carbanara. The egg yolk makes it rich and filling.

Poppies, Lacoste

When the poppies are out in The Luberon, they are everywhere that a seed can land. These were in about 1/4 inch of rough dirt on top of the wall.

Fresh garlic, Saignon

While looking for a recipe online, I went to my favorite food blog, www.chocolatenadzucchini.com , and found a piece about fresh garlic, only available in the Spring. It happened that we were in Provence, in the Spring, so I went to a farmer's market and voila, there it was. I got four heads for the price Clothilde paid for one head in Paris! I only used one head and it was a lovely delicate take on garlic. I never used the skins to make an olive oil butter but I enjoyed the one meal that it enhanced. Read her blog, it's a treat.

Sylla, Apt The romance of wine.

For wine lovers there is the lovely image of grapes lovingly grown and then carefully picked, crushed, put in large wooden barrels to age to the peak of flavor and bottled. Here in Sylla, a wine co-op in Apt, there is a wonderful little restaurant and showroom with backlit bottles of their numerous wines. This is a little room to the side where locals come with three or five liter jugs and fill up from a hose coming out of a wall. Same good wine but a little less elegant.

Lunch at Thym te Voila, Apt

 We both had the minted fava bean soup and salad.  I had a ratatouille and Janie had a cucumber, avocado, smoked salmon and dill melange.

This is the modest front of Thym te Voila

Poppies, Rustrel....regular and oil paint.

 Photoshop has a rudimentary oil painting filter to change the look of a picture. A field of poppies lends itself to this. The original is below.

Menu, Thym te Voila, Apt

Thym te Voila, in Apt, is a wonderful restaurant. The chef has a wonderful imagination and makes different food every day. Most of the dishes are vegetarian, some are vegan and all are delicious. We usually got the formule express which was two appetizers (entrees in France) and a salad.