This month I was just shocked that it’s already September. I know I’ve been experiencing the year as it has flowed but every once in a while I look up and think – how did this month get here so fast? How is this year passing so quickly? In thinking over the month, it seemed to be one focused around food instead of travel. But food here is a serious business. We really appreciate that.
The weather hit 80 on the first weekend and people were coming into town for the annual sales. Although the gigantic annual flea market, La Grande Braderie de Lille, was canceled, the shops were allowed to hold their own sales. Instead of the 2 million visitors, we had about an eighth of that amount – still a substantial amount of people on the streets.
We went out and saw Flo, who has taken over the shop area next door. He had ripped out the adjacent wall and now has two front windows of display, which he is really happy about. He had quite a bit on the sidewalk and sales were going well. In his store renovation, he pulled up the flooring to find a beautiful parquet – done by hand. It is stunning – as is the wall he uncovered which is half marble – just incredible anyone would have covered these things up. It had originally been a bank, with a huge vault door still intact in the basement. His shop redo is uncovering some absolute gems.
After seeing Flo, we walked through town – enjoying the weather and glancing at the store’s sidewalk sales. Found a nice white 100% cotton long sleeve dress shirt for G for 10 euros – great price. We bought an oil painting – our first real art piece, as we’ve only hung Paris art gallery posters in the apartment, which were lifted from those that are slapped on shop exteriors. After dropping off the painting at our place, we went out again, as G was hankering for some steamed mussels in a cream sauce – a Braderie and Northern highlight for this time of season. It was fabulous, as expected and we left happy campers. It was really heartwarming to see people about, doing their regular activities (albeit with masks). Felt like life, almost as we knew it before the virus.
We looked for and found a drop-leaf dining table on a French website which we ordered to be delivered. It is second hand and in better shape than we thought it would be. It fits perfect and now seats four people comfortably, and 6-8 when unfolded, and sits against the wall, out of the way, when not in use – which is the majority of the time.
Later in the month, we uncharacteristically got in the mood for a hamburger while out. We’d never tried a McDonalds here so we thought we’d go and pick up a burger to split and see how close it is to a US one. There is one in the Grande Place, so we walked there, to find that the line was incredibly long and we opted out. It is a constant attraction to the younger crowd who like the American association. Undeterred, we looked up the best burgers via internet on the phone – there is a great blogger called Lille Addict (https://lilleaddict.fr/) which covers that kind of stuff. The closest was a place called Canard Street and they were number 5 on the list. But of course, we only realized at the counter, that it would not be beef, it was duck. Hello? Canard….Silly us. But we bought two different types, went home and ate them at the table on the balcony as it was a really nice evening. The burgers were different from each other – one was ground and the other was shredded but the flavors on each were great.
On our first excursion out of town, one beautiful day, we made a trip to Roubaix to see the Musée La Piscine. A museum of art and industry, the collection of fine art, including ceramics, is housed on the bottom floor and the second floor contains the museum collection of textile samples from 1835, as Roubaix had been a textile hub.
The building is really a focal point as previously it was a textile factory, in which a public pool was built between 1927 and 1932, closing in 1985. In 2000, it was remodeled as an art museum before it underwent another major, €9.0 million remodel, opening in 2018. It was quite a stunning transformation.
Atelier Henri BOUCHARD 
As the days began slipping in temperatures, G and I decided to make a dish that we fell in love with years ago, from Susan Loomis’ French Kitchen cookbook. It’s a rabbit and sorrel dish that bowled us over and actually was the spark of a cooking group that got together at our home every second Sunday in the US. The group idea was started because we found it so tasty and it seemed a shame not to share it. Our group that met on those Sundays were focused on items completely new to us and made entirely from ingredients in season. It led to very tasty discoveries for all of us. Although we cast out a wide net of invites at the beginning, it eventually dwindled over time, like a simmering sauce, which condensed into the dozen who sat regularly at our table. So this rabbit recipe which started it all, we had not made since. When we first made it, I never would have envisioned that the second time we cooked it, it would actually BE in France. It makes me smile. And yes, it was still fabulous.
The following week, after we had a lengthy bank appointment to arrange new insurance for our apartment (l’assurance habitation – a requirement here in France), we naturally celebrated by going out for a glass of wine. Again we passed the McDonalds, which this time did not have a line and as a result, on a whim we got a takeout burger to share. It was a very good copy of the US, with two major differences; The sauce wasn’t right – it was a too sweet, tomato-type sauce – and it wasn’t greasy, an absolute requirement, and as a result it was a bit dry. But it satisfied our curiosity and we’ll never do that again because there are much better burgers here to be had if we are ever in the mood. I still don’t get the attraction of a McDonalds overseas or in France.
In the middle of the month, we were off on a train to Avignon, in the Languedoc region (Occitanie), headed to Uzès. G had found a cooking class online that had two empty slots left and signed us up on impulse. Cooking With Class (Paris)/ Let’s Eat The World (https://letseattheworld.com), is run by Chef Eric and Yetunde Fraudeau.
Two years ago, we took a day long Paris class of theirs, led by Chef Patrick Hubert, which we enjoyed tremendously and it sparked our interest in this one. We picked up a box of Au Chat Bleu chocolates for our hosts and packed the remaining refrigerator items of celery, cucumber and cheese. It was a good thing we did as it turned out that the club car was closed and it was a four and a half hour trip. G bemoaned the fact that he couldn’t get any coffee but at least we had breakfast.
Landing in Avignon TGV, the station surrounded by rural areas was too far away from the town center for exploration. In the station, we shared a sandwich for lunch at the only cafe, during our 2 hour wait. The van arrived to take us to Uzès and we then discovered that all of the cooking class participants had actually been on the same train. We were a group of 6 – ourselves and four from the US. One couple was from Georgia and there were two sisters; one from Florida, the other from San Diego. The ride to La Capelle-et-Masmolène, 15 minutes outside Uzès, and the villa Mas Bosquet which held the retreat, took slightly over an hour and we took the time to get to know one another. One of the sisters had had a bad fall getting off of the train in Paris and was obviously in a considerable amount of pain, which concerned us all. Although she had not broken any bones, she was surely badly bruised.
After arriving and meeting Chef Eric, Yetunde and their young assistant, Aiden, we got a tour of the house and grounds and we relaxed in our room. We had the complete bottom floor which consisted of a bedroom, a living room and two bathrooms. It emptied to the outside grounds and also had an inside set of stairs to the main floor and kitchen area. After unpacking and resting, we all met on the grounds at the patio, set next to the pool.
Treated to sangria, wine and tapas, it was followed by a delicious Paella dinner, then cheeses and a dessert. All incredibly good dishes, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and talk never lagged. By the end of the meal, the one sister who had taken the fall at the station, was in a whole world of hurt and barely able to walk. Because of the past knee problems I had, my luggage always includes a folding cane, which I lent to her and it allowed her to make it to her room. With medication and a good rest, she was in much better shape the next morning, surprisingly reporting that she had very little bruising.
On the first day, after coffee, breads, ham, cheeses, hard boiled eggs and yogurt, we piled into the van and left to shop at the Les Halles indoor market in Nimes. The town of Nimes has a Roman amphitheatre (also referred to as a coliseum) , the Arena of Nîmes, situated in the French city of Nîmes. Built around 70 CE, shortly after the Coliseum of Rome, it is one of the best-preserved Roman amphitheatres in the world. They still hold concerts, and bullfighting bi-annually, and Nimes also has the oldest, most intact Roman house – Maison Carrée – which originally belonged to Emperor Octavia Augustus. The ancient temple Maison Carrée is a well-preserved testament to Nîmes’ former glory as a regional capital of the Roman Empire.
Crocodiles and palm trees are everywhere in Nîmes, on logos, in studs in the pavements, gates, doorways, there are crocodile fountains, confectionary, ornaments and souvenirs; they are pervasive. The reason for this is that the first coin minted in Nîmes had a crocodile chained to a palm frond on one side – the palm represented victory, the crocodile signified Egypt, and it commemorated the victory of the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, when the Egyptians were conquered. The symbol became the emblem for Nîmes in 1535, when the city was awarded a new coat of arms by Francois I, based on the coin. It was updated in 1985 to the more modern logo that it is today.
Its market hall is a huge space, filled with individual vendors, carrying every food stuff conceivable. Our market walk included a running commentary by Eric, about the variety of produce, cheeses, fish and meats.
Back to the villa, we enjoyed a simple lunch of some of the market purchases – breads, duck pate, cheeses, sausages. We separated for a good rest, then came back together for a lovely light dinner. The next day, after breakfast, we began our first cooking session. All of us were given separate tasks as we made a crepe batter for the next day’s breakfast, a bread dough as well, plus vegetable quiches and green beans in a tomato vinaigrette, which was our dinner. Again, it was utterly delicious. Cheese before macaroons, ended the meal. Lots of banter, odd stories and a lot of laughter. The crowd is a nice size – a Dr. Suess collection of characters who all share a love of good food – the most enduring bond of humanity. We went to bed completely exhausted, not an unusual occurrence we discovered, as the week went by.
In the week that followed, the itinerary was varied and packed with activity. One of the first trips was to Pont du Gard, an ancient Roman aqueduct bridge built around 19 BC, near the town Vers-Pont-Du-Gard. The Pont du Gard aqueduct was built to provide a reliable water supply to the city of Nîmes, which was then part of the Roman Empire. The aqueduct parts are well preserved and it is a designated UNESCO site.
We enjoyed a tour with Frédéric Duverger at the small vineyard Domaine Fortuné, meeting owners, Gilbert and Valérie Robert. Gilbert gave a thorough explanation of the process involved in making the wines. It was interesting to hear the the color of all wines depend on the grape skins – or lack of, in the case of white wine. It was a complete surprise to us to discover that any grape could make a red wine as well as a white wine, dependent on the process. Of course we went away with a couple of bottles, having tasted their marvelous product.
That day we also enjoyed a great lunch at a café in the main square of Uzés before plans to visit another small vineyard. Unfortunately heavy rain became a major issue creating flooding on several streets and blocked roads, so we had another wine instruction, with tasting back at the villa. Each evening we were able to help put together light dinners, in addition to the daily class instruction.
The rains continued to interfere or change the order of planned excursions. One canceled trip was to a goat farm known for it’s cheeses. When skies cleared on another day, we went to the nearby organic vineyard of Écurie Font Clarette. The owner, Emmanuel Pédeneau, treated us to a carriage ride through the fields and outlying areas, with the draft horses he uses on the farm instead of machinery. We passed through woods, abundant with low lying brick walls and stone shelters which are now used to shelter equipment- none motorized. The shelters were built in the 1500’s. A very picturesque area, it was a great treat, taking advantage of the good weather.
On another trip, to a producers’ farmers market in the main square of Uzès, we met many artisans who produced wonderful cheeses, meats, fruits and vegetables in the area. Returning to the villa after excursions always included a class instruction, followed by rest and another light dinner. Lunches were traditionally larger than the dinners, although we were always very VERY well fed.
In fact we ate more food than we thought possible and drank more than Bacchus. But what a delicious time !! BTW, this area, Languedoc in the Occitanie region, is the biggest producer of wine in France
As the week played out, the meals we prepared were extensive and widely varied. The incredible menu we learned to make over the week included; an appetizer of sardine filets marinated in olive oil, dill and shallot, a monkfish in a fennel creme sauce, baguette bread, Ratatouille, a cauliflower gratin, beef stew, a pear honey tart, a vegetable quiche, a veal dish, a crust encased pork/beef/chicken pate, a chocolate soufflé, always with fresh fruits and salads to accompany. There was a dizzying assortment of wines paired with dishes, included in every meal.
Eric also taught us how to play Bocce, which in France is called Pétanque. We played for a prize and I won – amazing if you knew me as I have negligent motor skills (as referenced in last months bike riding debacle) and took the prize bottle of white wine. On our last night, we had dinner in town at a favorite place of Eric’s . We started with Dill martini’s and oysters served 3 ways – raw, with ceviche and in a fried batter. The menu had a great variety of dishes, including pork shoulder, sea bass, cod and beef Wellington. Of course it included wines and desserts. It was a fabulous ending to a great week spent with a wonderful group of people who became our friends.
But.. fun IS tiring and it was time to go home. Saturday was a morning of goodbyes as people trickled out. We went to the train station with the two sisters, whose train departure was near the time of ours. Finding a shaded seating area, we four had a little picnic together of left over sardine sandwiches, pate, and cheese, with the bottle of wine that I had won at the bocce ball competition. It was just plain perfect.
Onto our train which was not air conditioned and too warm, we were just plain tired. We had good seats – two facing each other, without any others next to us and a table in between to put our water and books. We napped, ate the rest of our packed lunch as it was a five hour ride. Getting home was absolutely priceless and there was no unpacking until the next day. Just relaxing. We watched our hosts’ instagram posts and answered some texts from the other participants as we had made a text group during the week. There we shared photos and videos we each took.
On Sunday we went to see the Orient Express train which was parked at the Lille Flandres train station. The tickets to actually board it had sold out immediately, so we were only allowed to see it from behind a rope. They had people in late 1800 period costumes mingling about and the train itself was really beautiful. The trips on the Orient Express are out of our budget comfort but it was great to have the chance to see it. The inside looked very much as it was depicted in the Kenneth Branagh movie of The Orient Express.
With very little fanfare, the month came to an end. There are two main things we learned about ourselves in this month; the first being that we’ve gotten out of the habit of traveling – it requires more energy than we remember and the second is that after 18 months of sequestering in our apartment, major muscle groups and joints have suffered from lack of use. Hopefully we can address both issues in the coming months.
twokiddosoverseas.com 
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