It is 5 am and I have been up for hours. I am catching up on emails and sorting through photos and making cookie dough so that I will be able to bake off some cookies for our reading time after school today. Then I will start on some pancakes for breakfast. The gift of jet lag. A still and quiet house. Getting things done.
Wanted to post the last few photos from my magical two weeks in Villefranche. I miss the markets and cobblestone streets and the stunning views of the sea. Most of all I miss all of the people whom I met, the stories and meals shared, the glasses of wine, the many, many laughs.
Luckily my sadness over leaving France is tempered by the hugs, flowers and love I received upon arriving home. It feels good to be missed.
Since I have been home I have been cooking some family favourites. Sunday night garlic pasta last night and roasted salmon with lentils and spinach tonight. I need to post a new recipe here and hope to have one up in the next few days. Don’t be surprised if it is somehow influenced by the foods of southern France… xo J
It is Monday and so I am back in the thick of things at school but wanted to post a bunch of photos from my day yesterday. After spending Sunday morning working on my homework and trying to formulate some ideas for the 15 minutes talk that I will have to give later this week (God help me) I headed out to clear my head and explore the neighbouring town of Nice.
I walked for an hour or so to reach Nice from Villefranche and my first stop was the Sunday morning Farmer’s Market. There was a profusion of flowers and seafood, honey and olive oils, cheese, meats and beautiful vegetables. I am sorry that I’m not staying longer and that I don’t have a bigger kitchen so that I could buy some of the beautiful ingredients that were displayed but was so glad that I at least got to take in the splendour of such an amazing place.
Upon arriving in Nice I had serendipitously run into one of my fellow students from The Institut and so we walked around the market together and then found a place to have lunch together. I had only met Ben once, on the first day of classes, but we had a truly wonderful time sharing stories and talking about our respective worlds in Ohio (near Cleveland) and Vancouver. Ben had been to Nice before and so he was able to not only show me around the city a bit but, more importantly, steer me back to where I was able to catch the bus (only 1euro) back to Villefranche.
I’m hoping to have a day to wander around Nice on my last day in France but am not sure if I will have the time. If not, the memories from this magical Sunday afternoon will certainly suffice… xo J
Just back from a delightful dinner with Cathy, one of my classmates, and wanted to post a few images from the day’s events before some much needed sleep.
This morning I went on a walking tour of the Citadel, the Antoniucci Volti museum and the old town of Villefranche which was organized by the school. The weather was glorious, the company was lovely and our tour guide Julien, who is one of my teachers, was charming, patient and and luckily explained all the wonders we were seeing in both french and english.
Tomorrow I am going to do some homework and then set off by foot for Nice to check out the Sunday morning market. The weekend is speeding by and soon it will be Monday. I’m wishing I had just a bit more time…
After class today I hurried home to have a much anticipated Skype call with my sweet son Max before he headed off to school. As my overloaded brain needed a bit of a reprieve before diving into my homework I put on my coat and scarf (it is chilly here!) and went off to explore Villefranche’s old town with it’s narrow streets, picturesque Eglise St. Michel, Rue Obscure and the many shops and restaurants along the seaside boardwalk.
Now I am back at the teeny table in the tiny flat with a cup of mint tea (wishing I had some chocolate) ready to tackle my grammar homework. Now if I could just figure out how to use partitive articles…
This morning started with tea and tulips and ended with a glass of wine. In between I learned and struggled and had a lovely lunch and then learned and struggled and learned some more. I feel very tired yet very grateful.
I had hoped to post some photos last night but by the time I arrived back at my sweet little flat I was feeling somewhat tired and quite overwhelmed after the full day of orientation. Luckily, today after my first day of classes and speaking french for eight hours straight, I’m excited about the coming days and full of energy. I feel that I am very much in the right place at the right time.
The Institut is truly an amazing environment with a beautiful terraced garden featuring spectacular views, a fountain, orange and lemon trees, lavender and rosemary bushes, silver leafed olive trees, and plenty of benches where you can lounge in the sunshine. Not that there is a whole lot of time for lounging.
After the intensity of yesterday’s oral and written exams I am very, very thankful to have been placed in a group filled with 10 wonderful people who are very much at my learning level. There are lawyers and veterinarians and interior designers and business owners and educators and writers and students. Our instructor, Evelyn is smart, funny, patient and spirited.
I have a decent amount of homework to finish for tomorrow and so I must go. I hope that these photos can convey my feeling of enchantment with this very special place. More soon.
It took a couple of flights to get here and I did manage to get horribly lost in Heathrow but after 14 hours I made it, safe and relatively sound. I landed in Nice and spent the night in a hotel there, exploring the city, just before falling into a much needed 12 hour slumber.
Today, I re-packed my bags and, with the help of my rather delightful cab driver Gino, (who also drove me from the airport last night) I made my way up, up, up and over the hill to the incredibly charming and picturesque town of Villefranche sur Mer. We headed straight to Chez Betty at the Hotel La Régence to pick up my keys for the apartment where I will be staying for the next two weeks. With the help of Alice, my amazing french tutor in Vancouver, I was ready to ask in my halting french “je viens chercher les cles de mon appartement” but Gino was having none of it. He had secured the keys and a map to guide us to the apartment before I could even open my mouth. I was a bit disappointed that I had missed my opportunity to butcher the language but felt somewhat relieved as well.
The flat was just half a block up the street from Chez Betty and as I hauled myself up the three flights of stairs I discovered a very small but sweet bachelor flat. Upon opening the blinds and the windows and the green painted shutters I was stunned to see an absolutely breathtaking view.
I had done some shopping in the morning in Nice and so I unpacked my provisions that consisted of cheese and wine, baguette, french ham, Echiré demi-sel butter, some grated carrot salad. I sat at the tiny table before the open window and spent the next hour eating my lunch and staring at the view, feeling incredibly, overwhelmingly blessed.
I start school tomorrow and have all the butterflies of an eager first grader.
I would by lying if I said I wasn’t glad to see the end of this month of January. I usually love the beginning of a new year. A fresh start, a laundry list of resolutions, looking forward.
But sometimes, as they say, “man plans and God laughs”. This January was a real test of my inner strength and I fear that I came up a bit short.
Regardless, there is so very much to be thankful for. My Baba made it home from the hospital and this was no small feat. After she broke her hip she had surgery to repair the three breaks, she recovered from a heart attack that she had while in the hospital, and overcame a urinary tract infection and kidney failure. Did I mention that she is 99 years old?!
Now she is back in her own home and, with a whole lot of help (thanks Mom!), she is very slowly, very steadily getting better every day. I am so inspired by her strength and by her spirit.
Not to be overly dramatic but I am feeling somewhat spent. There have been a number of sleepless nights and a nagging sense of worry over the many decisions that needed to be made. There was my regular life that just kept on going and needed daily attention as well. I am feeling quite relieved that all of the important people in my life are still here, struggling to do our best and even celebrate the small moments of joy in each day.
Happily I feel like things have turned a corner. Some great things are planned for the month of February and I am ready, very ready, to embrace them.
I haven’t posted a recipe in a while and that is partly because, in times of stress, I tend to cook many tried and true recipes that I have previously posted here on the site. But here is a great soup that I just made today for my Baba that speaks of all of the good things to come. It is simple and warming and can be made ahead (for when you need a breather) and can even be successfully frozen so that you can borrow some comfort when you don’t have time to create some from scratch.
It is ever so tempting to try to tart this soup up by adding in pancetta or by using chicken stock or a fancy artisan bread. However, this is simply not that kind of soup. I have taken the liberty of adding in a Parmesan rind that I had kicking around in the freezer but it is good to keep in mind that this is a rustic, peasant style Italian soup. Easy and cheap to make and so very satisfying to eat. A soup with soul. Much like my Baba.
I do hope that the beginning of your year has been filled with wonder and adventure and love and ease. I’m counting of February to be just that kind of month for me.
3 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds, toasted and ground
1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
3 carrots, chopped
4 celery stalks, chopped
4 medium garlic cloves, chopped
1 14 ounce (400 ml) can of crushed, or whole, tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 Parmesan rind (optional)
Fine grain sea salt and freshly ground pepper
1 pound (454 g) cavolo nero kale, washed, leaves and stocks finely chopped
1/2 pound bread (day old works great here) torn into chunks
Zest of one lemon
Good quality extra virgin olive oil for drizzling
Grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
Chopped black olives (optional)
Add the soaked beans to a pot and cover with water by a couple of inches. Add in the bay leave and the squashed tomatoes. Bring to a simmer and cook until tender about 1 and a half hours or until the beans are nice and soft. Discard the bay leaf.
In a large, heavy bottomed pot combine the olive oil the the ground fennel seeds over medium heat. Fry the fennel until aromatic and then add in the chopped onion, carrot, celery and garlic. Season well with salt and pepper. Reduce the heat to medium-low and sweat the vegetables, for 10 minutes or so, until they are soft but take care not to brown them.
Add in the tomatoes and the red pepper flakes and simmer for another 10 minutes or until the tomatoes thicken up a bit. Add in the cavolo nero, the beans, the optional Parmesan rind and 8 cups of water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and add in the chunks of bread.
Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the bread breaks down and the soup thickens about 20 to 30 minutes. Check for seasoning and add more salt and pepper if necessary.
Remove the parmesan rind and stir in the lemon zest.
Serve immediately with a good drizzle of olive oil and the optional Parmesan and chopped olives or cool and refrigerate overnight.
Ribollita means reboiled and is wonderful (and much thicker) the next day.
