Yummy in Saint Remy. Food tasting...

When you know the right places to go to... Here is what you could discover....

A taste of honey.

- The chesnut

- The rosemary

- The Lavender

Some Macarons or Meringues ?

A glass of wine from St Remy

Red, white or Rosé ???

Home Made Jam 

Fig....

A café gourmand

Olive Oil

Calissons

And much more.....

A Nougat class in St Remy

That's it, we did our first Nougat Class...

Aurélien the Patissier, who unfortunatelly doesn't speak english (so you might need to be escorted or practise your French prior to the course) shows you how to make the traditional Provencal Nougat.

First you get to be admitted to the Patissier "sanctuary", his tiny winy laboratory (patissier kitchen).

The class lasts for  hours where you get to weight, mix, smell, cook, taste....

When the class is over, either you come back 3 days later when Your very own Nougat dried up. Or you are given a Nougat that was previously made.

While the ingredients are mixing or warming up, you'll get to taste many of the house delicatessen, such as the different Calissons, the many kind of biscuits, whose recipes were digged in old books. The oldest one, the Coeur au Safran is a 14C recipes. At that time, you had to bake your bread in the Communal oven. When the fire was put off, locals made use of the "cooling down oven" to cook the first kind of biscuit, a way of preserving food.

Cost of a 2hrs workshop : 50€ per person
Minimun 2 persons, max 5 persons
Mail us for more info

A Nougat Class in Saint Remy de Provence

Et Voila !

Plus the other sweet you'll get to taste....

Sunday morning in Isle sur la Sorgue

Yesterday morning, I was off to Isle Sur La Sorgue market for Linda.
Weather was gorgeous and she really enjoyed her time.
Since she was coming from Marseille, we arrived a tiny bit late around 10.30 and I didnt expect such a crowd so early in the season... It took us a good 20 mn to find a spot (and I was coming out of ideas of where to go since my "special spots" were already taken...).

Isle Sur La Sorgue (literally Island on the Sorgue river) is also known as the "Provencal Venice" since many canals meander through the village centre (prepare your camera...).

It is of course well known for its many many Antique stalls spread out in the village. I can't really give the proper number of shops.

Some other Antique dealers will join in the Sunday market which take most of the streets of the Village, making it huge.

==> Every Sunday morning from 8.30ish till 1pm
==> Take a Valium prior going as finding a parking space can be challenging
==> Dont forget to visit the "proper antiques stall" located in the buildings around the main boulevard
==> When Mass is over, just take a second to visit the church
==> Don't forget to visit the antiques stalls on the market after the Caisse d'épargne, on the main street
==> Be prepared to spend all morning there, so allow enough time

 Welcome to Isle sur la Sorgue's Village centre

"le Village des antiquaires de la gare with 100 stalls"

Henri Milan Wine. One of my favorite in Saint Remy

Henri Milan is a "local" (i.e. he was born in Saint Remy) and is "mad about wine". He took over this winery which was opened in 1958 and has, for a number of years now,  been working on improving his wines, allways trying out something news.

Tucked away, just on the exit of the Village, by a canal, the plot is secluded but very accessible.

What I love is that the winery is one of the smallest in the region and you can feel the love of wine every step. Some of the plot harvested will only make about 2 000 bottles per year !

There you can walk into the "chaie", understand how wine is made, get to know the story of each of the bottle and how they were created (some of them, just by chance)....

Wine starts around 15€ and are available for sale worldwide.

Visit here can also be arranged (on appointment) during the harvest, when you could even pick up a few grapes, see the "other Henri" pouring the grapes into the pressoir... or whatever is to be done on the day. Proper wine workshop can also be arranged upon request.

What I like there :
==> The friendliness and the love of sharing
==> The cute and quiet location
==> The fact that eveything is natural there and they are producing organic wine
==> When I get to organise a picnic there after the tasting with our market purchases
==> That you can get easily to the plot of land where grapes are growing

Domaine Milan in Saint Remy de Provence

Outside view from the winery

The "Pressoir"

the juice go then under this in the

 "swimming pool under the ground"

The second stage of creating a wine

Third stage

 Aging the wine

Bottle up

Ready to ship

Hiking in Saint Remy de Provence

Hiking in the Alpilles from Saint Remy de Provence is so nice.

You can get a "plan des randonnées pédestres" (i.e. Hiking map) at the tourist office for 2 euros and discover the 7 differents trails around Saint Remy.

However hiking in the Alpilles is subject to authorization from the government
- Orange : authorized all day,
- red : only from 6 to 11 am)
- black : access forbidden (mostly on windy and/or dry day).

A walk to Les Baux is about 3hrs. So back and forth and here is your day gone....

However I found a nice way of squeezing a one hour walk in the Alpilles (back and forth) in order to get a spectacular view of the village and the whole region (Avignon and the Mont Ventoux) and I love it...

See for yourself...

==> Dont forget sunscreen and plenty of water,
==> Avoid afternoon when possible,
==> And don't forget a plastic bag in order to illegally pick-up some rosemary and thym in order to bring back your own "herbes de Provence".

Starting point

A rosemary (romarain) bush in flower

Saint Remy de Provence from the sky

Hiking under Pine trees....