
Encore Provence: New Adventures in the South of France (Vintage Departures)

Gardens created from scratch can take anything from ten to twenty-five years before they reach the desirable, photogenic state of luxuriant maturity.
Peter Mayle • Encore Provence: New Adventures in the South of France (Vintage Departures)
The flavor of a truffle is the continuation of its scent, complex and earthy, neither mushroom nor meat, but something in between. It tastes, more than anything else I know, of the outdoors, and there is a nicely balanced contrast in the mouth between the crunchy texture of the truffle and the bland smoothness of the eggs. You will find truffles in
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His most celebrated client is Alain Ducasse, currently the most decorated chef in France with six Michelin stars. Ducasse has a restaurant in Paris (three stars), another in Monte Carlo (three stars), and more recently a third in Haute Provence, at Moustiers Sainte Marie.
Peter Mayle • Encore Provence: New Adventures in the South of France (Vintage Departures)
in these modern times everything from asparagus to venison comes to the table by plane and is available all through the year. Heaven knows where it all originates—hothouses, food factories, or different hemispheres, I imagine—but there it is, whatever you want, at a price. Or rather, several prices. It costs more, obviously. It won’t be as fresh as
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A wonderful, simple lunch. Nothing to it, really, apart from excellent ingredients and a chef with the confidence and good sense not to muffle their flavors with unnecessary sauces and trimmings. Leave well enough alone, serve plenty of it, and respect the seasons is his formula. When truffles are fresh, serve truffles; when strawberries are at the
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St. Antoine, the patron saint of truffle growers,
Peter Mayle • Encore Provence: New Adventures in the South of France (Vintage Departures)
the restaurant already crowded with winter customers, people from the town and nearby villages, speaking the winter language, French. (During the summer, you’re more likely to hear Dutch, German, and English.)
Peter Mayle • Encore Provence: New Adventures in the South of France (Vintage Departures)
Over the years, pépiniéristes, or nursery gardeners, have sprung up throughout Provence like the buds of spring. They are even more numerous than real estate agents;
Peter Mayle • Encore Provence: New Adventures in the South of France (Vintage Departures)
By eleven o’clock the market was over. Many of the truffles that had been bought were already on trains, racing against further evaporation as they left Provence for Paris; or, in some cases, for the Dordogne, where they would be presented as natives of the Périgord. Truffles from this region are considered to be superior—like Cavaillon melons or N
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A tree of great intelligence, he called it, a camel among trees, able to store enough water to keep it going through long periods of drought, an almost everlasting tree. There were some around Jerusalem, he told me, that are estimated to be two thousand years old. In Provence, the olive has gone through some hard times, suffering from both man and
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