Petite balade en France … Mr Grianan’s 60th birthday!

[lorger]

Thanks Gerry, yes that’s where we thought we’d go. We’ll try to arrive before lunchtime.

Should have mentioned when you drive in you’ll see pitches on your right, if these are full which they normally are then turn left at the end and enough room for another 15 vans.

 

[Grianan]

Should have mentioned when you drive in you’ll see pitches on your right, if these are full which they normally are then turn left at the end and enough room for another 15 vans.

Brilliant, thank you! hopefully we’ll get in …

 

[Grianan]

Not much of an update today … we had hoped to cycle out to the seafood place at the end of the canal but the weather was just too ominous and a tad chilly in the wind.

So a chilling day, then the thunderstorms caught up with us so we felt obliged to crack open a nice bottle of red.

It’s sunny and torrential now … with the occasional crash of thunder overhead

 

[carolyn]

I do love France, we’re just back from our 7 week trip. Only a few days of France at the beginning and end but as soon as we crossed the border from Germany on our way home we felt happy. Mind you we really don’t like Germany! The food is ghastly whereas France is wonderful. We did enjoy all the other countries we visited I hasten to add and only passed through Germany!

Please post more photos and enjoy your trip.

 

[MichaelT]

I do love France, we’re just back from our 7 week trip. Only a few days of France at the beginning and end but as soon as we crossed the border from Germany on our way home we felt happy. Mind you we really don’t like Germany! The food is ghastly whereas France is wonderful. We did enjoy all the other countries we visited I hasten to add and only passed through Germany!

Please post more photos and enjoy your trip.

We love Germany and the Germans but must agree about the food, ok if you like pork, sausage and cabbage

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[Landy Andy]

I do love France, we’re just back from our 7 week trip. Only a few days of France at the beginning and end but as soon as we crossed the border from Germany on our way home we felt happy. Mind you we really don’t like Germany! The food is ghastly whereas France is wonderful. We did enjoy all the other countries we visited I hasten to add and only passed through Germany!

Please post more photos and enjoy your trip.

100 percent agree.

 

[Grianan]

If I slept a full hour last night I think I’d be exaggerating . The wind howled all night, the halyards clanked and I was terrified the van was going to blow over. So sheer relief when the alarm went and we set off for Uzès.

After 2 hours drive (crossing over the raging Gard river) we pulled into the vineyard site at Uzès and were lucky to get the last pitch at the edge of the vines. We had a quick chat with Madame at the domaine to say thank you and check times for dégustations then headed into town for lunch. It wasn’t quite 12 but we had skipped breakfast so were starving.

I remember the slight disappointment of seeing the cafés on the busy road through and wondering if there was more. One of the delights of this site is that it’s pretty well pedestrianised all the way in. And the nearer to Place aux Herbes you get the more beautiful it is.

Indecision … so many restaurants, so few menu du jour … we plumped for Le Café de l’Oustal and its ‘suggestion’ of coquelet with mushroom sauce, green beans and garlic laden roast potatoes. Beyond delicious. Especially with a generous pichet of rosé. And who can resist a café gourmand to finish …

 

[scousebird]

who can resist a café gourmand to finish …

I can't! If there's a café gourmand on the menu I have to have it.

 

[Grianan]

Being market day today, we had to stay! Stocked up on meat, figs, globe artichokes - need to give them a try though we can’t find sauce hollondaise anywhere!

There was a medieval parade along the Main Street with some jousting in a town square … the video is too large to attach though so I’ll leave it up to your imagination. Nala the dog thought it was interesting.

To be honest if most places are shut Sunday/Monday, and it’s so nice here, there’s not much point moving on to L’Isle sur Sorgue until Monday afternoon to spend the day there on Tuesday before we need to start heading slowly north …

 

[Grianan]

Lethargy prevails today … we will move on tomorrow. It is indeed a sleepy Sunday. Some photos of lunch … bread warm from the oven and fresh figs from yesterday’s market … a new foodie experience for us. One to be repeated I think.

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[carolyn]

Being market day today, we had to stay! Stocked up on meat, figs, globe artichokes - need to give them a try though we can’t find sauce hollondaise anywhere!

There was a medieval parade along the Main Street with some jousting in a town square … the video is too large to attach though so I’ll leave it up to your imagination. Nala the dog thought it was interesting.

To be honest if most places are shut Sunday/Monday, and it’s so nice here, there’s not much point moving on to L’Isle sur Sorgue until Monday afternoon to spend the day there on Tuesday before we need to start heading slowly north …


View attachment 967430View attachment 967431View attachment 967432

Fartichokes, as a good friend calls them, are rather delicious. Very good for you as well.

 

[lorger]

We really enjoyed our stay there, if you have the bikes it’s not far to the Voie Verte that goes for miles and nice and flat.

 

[Dorwyn]

Here’s an interesting fact … years ago I worked as a buyer with Heinz. I was over in Holland and we were determining BBE dates for mayonnaise. The date for the UK was set shorter than that for other EU countries as the Brits don’t like the more intense mustard flavour which develops over time.

It tastes wonderful in France. Bring it back it's too strong!

 

[Grianan]

Fartichokes, as a good friend calls them, are rather delicious. Very good for you as well.

Super delicious they were too … reading DBK posts about them gave us the confidence to cook them ourselves. I’ll let you know tomorrow if they were, indeed, ‘fartichokes’! They’re certainly the only vegetable I can think of that create more volume of waste after eating than you start with …
we couldn’t find any Hollondaise Sauce in Uzès so used Mayonnaise de Dijon instead … great combination!

 

[bellabee]

Hope you enjoyed them. I like the flavour but find them too fiddly.
My French pen friend's mum used to cook them as a starter.

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[Spriddler]

Indecision … so many restaurants, so few menu du jour

 

[Peavy]

Super delicious they were too … reading DBK posts about them gave us the confidence to cook them ourselves. I’ll let you know tomorrow if they were, indeed, ‘fartichokes’! They’re certainly the only vegetable I can think of that create more volume of waste after eating than you start with …
we couldn’t find any Hollondaise Sauce in Uzès so used Mayonnaise de Dijon instead … great combination!

View attachment 967963

We eat them a lot around here.
We remove the bigger external leafs and the stem, give them a beat, put them in the microwave in a plate with water and salt for 10 minutes and served them pouring some olive oil

 

[MR BLO]

Only just spotted this thread. Happy belated birthday Tim.
The foodie fotos have me truly salivating. Oh to be in France You have firmly placed Uzes on my where to go next radar. Plus you seem to have mastered the art to a good food foto. Whenever I take one it looks like it should be on a menu in one of them downmarket caffs full of a certain clique of British tourists.

 

[DBK]

Fartichokes, as a good friend calls them, are rather delicious. Very good for you as well.

Wrong artichoke I think. It is Jerusalem artichokes which are famous for an encore.

This happens because much of the vegetable can't be broken down by the gut apparently - but the gas producing bacteria love it.

Why do Jerusalem artichoke make you fart?

Today, I did my first bit of gardening of the year. I broke up some spring planting garlic and put it into pots, dug up some Jerusalem artic...

sfnottingham.blogspot.com

 

[carolyn]

Wrong artichoke I think. It is Jerusalem artichokes which are famous for an encore.

This happens because much of the vegetable can't be broken down by the gut apparently - but the gas producing bacteria love it.

Why do Jerusalem artichoke make you fart?

Today, I did my first bit of gardening of the year. I broke up some spring planting garlic and put it into pots, dug up some Jerusalem artic...

sfnottingham.blogspot.com

It’s the Inulin, a polysaccharide, a fibre . Globe artichokes have it just like Jerusalem artichokes.

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[Grianan]

Wrong artichoke I think. It is Jerusalem artichokes which are famous for an encore.

This happens because much of the vegetable can't be broken down by the gut apparently - but the gas producing bacteria love it.

Why do Jerusalem artichoke make you fart?

Today, I did my first bit of gardening of the year. I broke up some spring planting garlic and put it into pots, dug up some Jerusalem artic...

sfnottingham.blogspot.com

Well it must be the figs then … elbows out at dusk in the rush for the privy!

and thanks MR BLO

 

[DBK]

It’s the Inulin, a polysaccharide, a fibre . Globe artichokes have it just like Jerusalem artichokes.

Can't say I've ever had any after effects from globe artichokes. Jerusalem artichokes however...

It probably needs a controlled experiment in a confined space (MH?) for a resolution.