What are we eating? A Friends Edition.

How about a palate cleanser for your newsfeed.

If you’re asking yourself if that pun in the subtitle was intentional, the answer is yes. You’re welcome.

Pastis and gin tonics in Saint-Remy-de-Provence.

This email is also full of pictures, so some of you will need to open it in your browser to see the whole thing.

A couple of weeks ago we had our third group of friends come for a visit, right before (up to the day we left, lol) we had a very whirlwind trip back to Nashville. Katy and Ryan are dear friends who both work in agriculture and love food (growing, eating, and working with it), so I felt it would be perfect to meld a recap of their visit with our autumnal “What are we eating” post. Because, let’s face it, that was a huge focus of their visit. Much fun and many antacids were had all around!

Popped in for a tasting at Cave des Vignerons de Montfrin, a wine co-op cellar/seller (ha, did it again) that represents 20 or so growers across the Southern Rhône valley and Costières de Nîmes AOP growing areas. 5 euros for a super informative and delicious tasting. Wine was at excellent prices and delicious. We bought…a lot.

Because I’ve been a bit shy to take photos of the boulangeries, market stands, and cheese shops that I visit regularly (you never know how some people will take it) it was great having friends in town who don’t mind doing it for me. All of the photos in this post are theirs/Ryan’s, so send a huge thank you to Ryan Keiffer for the food porn that follows, as well as the two photos above. Thank you, Ryan!

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We kicked off their visit with my favorite burger in the city the evening they arrived, not pictured, and had an assortment of pastries the following morning from my favorite boulangerie that also happens to be just around the corner from our apartment, Boulangerie des Canuts. I’ve talked about them before. Bless.

Clockwise from top left: Millefeuille and eclairs, a delightful quiche lorraine, an assortment of patissiers (desserts), and our breakfast bread board of pain au chocolat (chocolate croissant), viennoiserie de chocolat (chocolate sweet bread), chausson au pomme (like an apple turnover), and pain au raisin (swirled raison bread with creme).

I’ve mentioned the cold and rain to several of you directly, and wrote about it in my last post. The rain finally took a break last week, but the chilly temps have stayed. Soo, the markets have not disappointed with tons of lovely fall produce. All the meats and cheeses you could ask for are still a staple, with the fall/winter cheeses coming out (like raclette, shown below, which is akin to fondue, sort of, where you melt it and pour it over almost anything unlike dipping it in fondue).

I love that the market vendors slice and sell pumpkins, so you don't have to buy a whole thing.

Meat and cheese. A dream. The meats shown are mostly terrines with some pâté en crôute in the background. Cheeses are mostly raclettes with a smattering of other options.

We also enjoyed a scheduled wine tasting with a tour guide, where we got to be tourists in our own city, which was super fun. Then, the perks of being friends with a guy from Bordeaux really came through and we got to do our own little tasting out of his personal collection.

Clockwise from top left: A 2010 Pauillac, 4 of the 6 wines in our tasting-all of them Côtes de Rhone and a Bourgogne (burgundy in english), a 2016 Margaux, and finally the 5 of us at our tasting even though you can only see 3 whole heads.

I’m sure France conjures images of fancy chocolates in most people’s heads, but did you know France has a fairly robust olive oil industry? I didn’t. But they do, and it’s really good.

We ate chocolates and sampled Provençal olive oil.

A while back I at least kind of explained the French menu, or formule, or menu du jour. Basically it’s a pre-defined list of entrées, plats, et desserts (that’s your appetizer, main course, and dessert) at a fixed, reduced price than if one orders à la carte. This eating style is very common at lunch. It’s rooted in feeding the working people a quality, well-rounded meal at a price that’s doable. For anywhere from 20ish-40ish euros, depending on the place, you get 2-3 courses. You can choose entrée+plat, plat+dessert, or entrée+plat+dessert. And you can get this usually any day of the week. So, we did the very French thing and had this very French lunch at Restaurant Albert, a place I’ve been to before and really like. The menu price for all 3 this day was 35 euros I think. I broke from the formule slightly because I wanted the profiteroles, what may be my favorite French restaurant dessert. It’s choux pastry filled with vanilla ice cream topped with homemade chocolate sauce, and this place makes a *killer* chocolate sauce. Or, if I was talking to you in person, I’d say it’s f-cking delicious while holding back a small tear.

Clockwise from top left: a classic dish, oeuf meurette (poached egg in red wine and bacon sauce, love this dish, lighter than it sounds), a classic salade lyonnais (greens with huge lardon/bacon pieces, croutons, and a poached egg), a fish dish with autumn veggies, the MFing profiteroles, a French classic-the café gourmand (a dessert sampling platter that comes with a shot of espresso, highly recommend), one of the other main dishes, fish and automn veg.

So, that’s a pretty good representation of what we’ve been eating. We did other things during their visit, too, though.

We also went hiking in Provence and saw pink flamingos in the wild in the Camargues National Park (while getting eaten alive by mosquitos but it was worth it).

Until next time/ À la prochaine!