Villefranche-sur-mer fall 2021 - 6 Mac and Cheese à la Côte d'Azur

 Dear Friends,

Sundays are usually days with nothing on our schedules so we often go out to lunch somewhere.  We particularly like to walk to the marina in Beaulieu-sur-mer.  Over the years we have found that the restaurant that we prefer the most is La Maison de Beaulieu (here).  Last Sunday, we went there again.  

One of our favorite dishes at this restaurant is the "Mi-cuit de thon rouge, sauce Bon'gù", that is to say seared tuna.  Jane really prefers her tuna more like medium and has a hard time convincing chefs that she will not complain if it is a little dry.  In fact the last time we were at the restaurant the chef agreed to cook her tuna a little more and then apologized profusely about the slight dryness.  This year Jane was prepared and told the server that she wanted her tuna more well done.  They then went on to negotiate how well done her tuna would be.  They agreed to half way between mi-cuit (seared) and bien cuit (well done).  So here is how they came out.  Here is the dish done as it should be.

Here is the compromise dish.  You might also notice that Jane ordered the vegetables, and I ordered the salad.  The salad was fine, but the vegetables were great.

Jane's was perfect for her, mine was perfect for me, and the chef and server were happy.  Of course we had to have some wine.  Unfortunately for the rest of our day, I ordered and we drank a whole bottle.

As you can see, Jane was very pleased with the beautiful day and the wonderful meal (as was I).

I splurged and had some mousse au chocolat.  It was just as beautiful, smooth and rich (but not overly sweet) as it looks.

But now to get to the point of the whole blog  -  Mac and Cheese à la Côte d'Azure.  It is clear that if you are on the Côte d'Azure you can't just have Kraft Macaroni and Cheese or even Annie's.  You need something more special.  Well La Maison de Beaulieu has just the dish for you  -  "Linguine dans la meule de parmesan" to which you can add truffles for just another 8 euros.  It is made table side.  The word meule has several meanings in France.  This morning we bought a meule de pain - a round loaf of bread.  In this case it is referring to a whole wheel of parmesan cheese.  In this picture the server has just rolled out the cart with the meule de parmesan on it.  As you can see it is quite big and has been hollowed out a little over time.

The next step is to flambé some Jack Daniels.  

Once you have gotten the Jack Daniels flaming hot and the alcohol burnt off, you add the liquid to the meule de parmesan.

The hot Jack Daniels will melt the cheese, and you begin to scrape it off the inside edge of the meule.

Once you have scrapped most of the cheese that you want, you add the fresh homemade pasta.

You continue to stir the pasta and scrape more cheese off the sides until you have just the right amount.  At which time, you put the pasta and cheese mixture onto the serving plate and add the cream sauce (with truffles).

The final step is a few homemade croutons.  

Et Voilà!!

If you have a meule of parmesan, fresh homemade pasta, some wonderful cream sauce with truffles and a few homemade croutons, you can make Mac and Cheese à la Côte d'Azur faster than Kraft out of a box.

Thanks for reading and please comment,

The Unabashed Liberal

PS The photos of the making of the linguini dans la meule de parmesan were taken by Jane.

Villefranche-sur-mer fall 2021 - 5 Les Trois Corniches

 Dear Friends,

There are three roads that are built into the mountainside that runs from Nice to Menton along the French Riviera.  In this area, the mountains drop precipitously into the sea.  The lowest corniche (Basse Corniche) runs very close to the sea in some places but in some places it moves back a ways from the sea and can be quite high.  The top one (Grande Corniche) runs along the top of the mountains.  The middle one (Moyenne Corniche) runs sort of in the middle of the other two.  They are all rather incredible engineering feats.  They are both dangerous and beautiful.  Hence they have been used in many movies and have had many accidents over time.  Think "To Catch a Thief", "Dirty Rotten Scoundrals" and several James Bond movies.  Probably the most famous accident was the one in which Princess Grace died in 1982.  You can learn more about Les Trois Corniches here.

We get to enjoy the view from the Basse Corniche often, mostly because it is closest to the sea.  However for the most part, we prefer to walk right by the sea because the Basse Corniche can be very crowded with the cars and trucks driving very fast.  If you are in a car, the driver needs to concentrate on driving and if you are walking, you need to pay attention to the cars.  The other day, we were sort of forced to walk along the Basse Corniche between Beaulieu and Villefranche in an area where we can and usually do walk along the beach.  

This panoramic view was taken from almost the highest point on the Basse Corniche (the lowest of the three corniche) between Beaulieu and Villefranche.

This picture was taken at a lower spot on the Basse Corniche.  I include it because it has a nice view of the apartment that we usually rent when we are in Villefranche.  It is circled in blue.  Keep in mind, our apartment is 6 full stories above sea level.

Here is a commercially taken photo that is probably taken from the Moyenne Corniche.  Our apartment is circled in this photo as well.  Notice how much higher it is without going any significant distance inland.  These hills are really steep.

Here is a map of the three corniche which I think gives you a perspective of how steep the hills are as they rise from the sea.

Thanks for reading and please comment,

The Unabashed Liberal

Villefranche-sur-mer fall 2021 - 5 A couple interesting things

Dear Friends,

Jane and I are still in Villefranche and having great adventures.  From time to time, we are surprised at things that we notice in every day life.  The other night we had dinner at our favorite restaurant.  It serves pizza as well as different specials every day.  It is not fancy, but the food is good and the servers and owner are great.  Since it is warm and the pandemic is ongoing, we ate outside on a covered patio that is also the street although there are no cars.  We noticed that directly over our heads was someone's laundry put out to dry.  We do this every time we do laundry, as does everybody else in the old town.  We, of course, should have noticed this before but had not.  

Once we noticed this phenomenon, we were more aware of how often it occurs.  A couple of nights later we went to a fancier restaurant and noticed the same thing although this time the laundry was not directly above us.

This restaurant has been in Villefranche for a long time, but we had never eaten there.  It has new owners and was recommended to us.  We went to have some fish and the mushrooms which are in season here.  Unfortunately, the fish selection for the day was very limited.  The restaurant features local food and wine. The catch of the Villefranche fishermen that day was small so we could not have the fish that we had anticipated. However, I did start with camembert with mushrooms.  It was quite rich but very good.

Notice the small amount of lettuce on the side.  Now look below to see how much lettuce can be put into a very small bowl,

For our main courses,  Jane had an entrecôte.  Please notice the inventive way that Jane uses some bread to hold her silverware so as not to soil the placemat.  Also notice how the bread was delivered in a paper bag.

I had duck breast done rare as it should be.  Please notice the wonderful haricots verts (green beans) wrapped in bacon.   

We needed to have a bottle of local wine since that is what the restaurant features.

And of course it would have been rude not to try their desserts.  I had a profiterole, and Jane had wonderful vanilla ice cream with fresh strawberries.

I am afraid that I have strayed far from the laundry hanging over your table at a restaurant, but it was a great meal even though it was not what we expected.  

We took the train the other day for an adventure that I will write about soon.  We are used to seeing dogs everywhere as is a well known occurrence in France, but on the train we experienced something new.

Yes, you are correct that is a rabbit being served a meal of lettuce on the train.  In the car we were in, one side was a cushion running parallel to the train.  Normally it would have held 4 people, but a woman had set up house here with half the settee for her and half for her rabbit.  At least she put out a towel to hold the rabbit's food.  It was about 4:30 in the afternoon which is the time for the first wave of people returning home after work.  The train we were on was heading to Nice and was fairly empty until we stopped at Monaco when lots and lots of young people got on heading home after work.  The woman made no attempt to use up less space.  Even when a man asked if he could sit.  She said yes but made no attempt to move her rabbit.

Thanks for reading and please comment,

The Unabashed Liberal

Villefranche-sur-mer fall 2021 - 4

 Dear Friends,

I am afraid that I am giving the impression that all is always perfect here in paradise.  Unfortunately, there are some troubles.  

We encountered this (unlucky for him but lucky for us) dead rat in the street.  You can imagine that there must be lots of rats in la vieille ville (the old town where our apartment is located) parts of which date back to 1295 when Villefranche-sur-mer became a tax free port.

There are also the normal problems of a water heater not working.  Here I am late a night trying to find a switch to add water.  

The good news is a real repair person will be arriving in about an hour.  In any case, if the troubles are getting you down, you can always stop by a fancy butcher shop that has wine and some fresh produce in Beaulieu called Les Halles.  You can just pick up a quick glass of wine in style.

Thanks for reading and please comment,

The Unabashed Liberal

Villefranche-sur-mer fall 2021 - 3 Mon Anniversaire

 Dear Friends,

Yesterday was my 75th birthday.  I had a great day!!  

I started the day with half of a croissant and half of a pain au chocolat because I couldn't decide which I wanted more.  I got them from Marie Claire who is the owner of the pâtisserie just up the hill from our apartment.  She wished me a happy birthday, but I am sure she was thinking that I was still pretty young as she is older than I am.

After breakfast we went for a walk to Darse (the marina) and took the stairs up to the main street of the town.  The main street is about 200 feet above the Darse.  The steps are very steep and go straight up the hill.  I think that there are about 400 steps in all.  We made it without any heart attacks but with rather tired glutes.  We then walked back down to the patisserie for some bread for lunch.  For those of you who do not understand the need for fresh bread  -  in the morning you can buy croissants, pain au chocolat, etc. but you cannot buy a loaf of bread for lunch because they are baked to be ready just in time for lunch.  Thus the need for two trips to Chez Marie Claire within a few hours of each other.

After lunch we decided to go for a walk along the beach and a quick swim.  See if you can guess from these pictures which one of us actually went all the way in the water for a swim.

I want to note how nice the French are.  As you can tell from the fact that we went for a swim, the French provided us with a beautiful day.  Here is the view of the weather and the bay from the balcony of our apartment.

Please note that the mega yachts and cruise ships were gone, but some of the most beautiful and useful remained to celebrate with me.  Here is one of my favorites.

After our swim and a rest, we went to dinner with our French tutor and her family.  We went to a restaurant called La Corderie located at the Darse.  It was a beautiful evening so we ate outside.  In addition to the new scarf modeled by me here, the kids each gave me a drawing.

We had a great dinner complete with a big sparkling candle since they did not have 75 regular candles.

It was a wonderful dinner and evening as well as the perfect ending to a great day.

Thanks for reading and please comment,

The Unabashed Liberal

Villefranche-sur-mer fall 2021 - 2

 Dear Friends,

When we are in Villefranche, we try to be as French as possible.  There are two metrics that we use to see how successful we are.  So far this trip we are doing pretty well.

The first metric is whether or not people we speak to in French respond in French or in English, particularly in a real conversation.  It doesn't really count if you just say "bonjour", "ça va?" or respond with "ça va et vous?"  So far this trip we have been doing quite well, and today was a super day.  Right before we left Minneapolis Jane got a new glasses prescription but did not have time to get new glasses.  Today we went to the optical shop in Villefranche.  Jane found a pair of frames that she liked, decided on the various add-ons and discussed the prescription in detail with the very nice optician all in French.  He only uttered a couple words of English.  Although the sign on the door said that he spoke English, he clearly preferred to speak French.  I was very proud of Jane. 

 

As an aside, he was a really good optician.  Since Jane is an ophthalmologist, she knows when an optician is really good.  He asked all the right questions.  He showed her in trial frames the difference between her old and new prescriptions, and talked with her about potential changes in the progression based upon how she was reading using the prescription.  I should also say that the price was incredible.  The new frames and the lens with transition to dark in the sun, etc. totaled 508 euros, and they will be ready in less than a week.  So the moral of the story is - if you need new glasses and you want to have them done well for a great price, come to Villefranche.  His shop is right on the main street of Villefranche, Avenue du Maréchal Foch.

Jane is not the only one with a success today (although her's was much bigger than mine).  I went into a store looking for a hat.  It was a tourist store.  After exchanging pleasantries with the owner in French, we proceeded to discuss my head size and the fact that the style of hat that I was looking for was too small for me.  They never once uttered a word of English.  I consider that a victory.

By coincidence, we ran into our French teacher as we were looking for a place to have lunch.  She invited us to join her.  She was waiting for her partner.  Since they are young parents, we were afraid that we were intruding on a nice date that they could have without their children.  She assured us that was not the case so we joined them.  Her partner is also a French teacher.  Needless to say, we spoke French the whole time, and still were able to have a normal conversation.  I wanted to do my best because I wanted her partner to see what a good teacher she is.  So that was another success.

The second metic is doing things that the French who live here do.  In this regard, buying glasses counts as a big victory because it is an everyday, non-touristy thing to do.  In addition, we have now received our first packages from Amazon ordered from amazon.fr versus amazon.com and delivered right to our apartment door.  How much more French can you be then to have Amazon deliver to your apartment in France (even if it is a rented apartment).

I am afraid that despite these recent victories, we are not really fooling anybody that we are French.

Thanks for reading and please comment,

The Unabashed Liberal

Villefranche-sur-mer fall 2021 - 1

 Dear Friends,

We are back in Villefranche-sur-mer.  We last left Villefranche on February 29, 2020, not because of COVID but because it was our scheduled departure.  We finally returned last Saturday, October 2, 2021, 19 months later.  I am very happy to report that this wonderful little town has survived the pandemic quite well all things considered.  All of our friends, all of the shops and restaurants that we frequent and all of their employees have survived and are now open.  There are of course even in this paradise anti-vaxxers, but in general the population went along with the stringent confinements imposed by the government.  While in Minnesota, we closed the schools and kept the bars and restaurants open, here they kept the schools open by closing the bars and restaurants and otherwise greatly restricted the ability for the virus to spread.  In addition, the businesses and employees were paid by the government to enable them to survive.

Now things are open, but with restrictions.  In order to go to a restaurant, bar, concert, movie, etc. you must show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test.  Our CDC cards work, but I am happy to report that we have now received our pass sanitaire which is a QR code on our phones which proves our vaccinated status.  The system works quite well.  Before we got on the airplane in Minneapolis, we showed our CDC cards.  We never had to show them again to be granted entry into France.  When we have been asked for our pass sanitaire we have shown the CDC cards and have been admitted.  It takes just a few extra seconds.

The rule is that you must be vaccinated to go to a restaurant, bar, etc. and that the establishment is to ask to see your pass sanitaire.  We have only been asked to show our card at one place.  The other places all knew us so did not ask.  You do not need the pass sanitaire for stores.  So you can shop without one, but you must wear a mask.  In this little town that rule is generally followed, although there are a few people who wear their masks below their noses.  We have not yet ventured into Nice so it may be different in a big city.  All in all we feel quite safe here as the number of cases per population is dramatically less than in Minnesota and the rate of vaccination is higher.

So now to make you jealous.  We arrived Saturday at about 1.  It was 75 degrees, sunny and a nice breeze. We immediately donned our bathing suits and headed to the beach.  On the way we stopped at a nice restaurant just at the beginning of the beach called l'Espuma for lunch.  We sat outside, of course.  Here is the view from our table.

For lunch I had a salad with ham, burrata and tomatoes.  It was even better than it looks in the photo.

After our lunch we took a nice swim in the ocean before returning to our apartment to unpack and get ready for dinner.  As it was our first evening, we had dinner at Le Serre, our favorite restaurant.  We were as usual welcomed as old friends and enjoyed a wonderful pizza and salad.

We were a little late getting up on Sunday due to jet lag and went straight to the waterfront for a quick pain au chocolat, yogurt, jus de fruits and café.  

But then it was time to get back to real life, such as it is in paradise.  So we went to the butcher, the regular grocery, the baker and the green grocer to provision.  Here is Jane with the green grocer.  His stall is kind of a dugout so sort of outside.  In this picture he is modeling the mask wearing method which we call "sous le nez" (under the nose) in this case in the extreme.

All of our shopping resulted in a wonderful dinner of steak, vegetables, potatoes, wine and dessert.

On Wednesday, we did not have our french lesson, so we decided to walk to the Villa et Jardins Ephrussi de Rothschild.  here  

It sits on Saint-Jean-cap-Ferrat.  If you look south from the villa across the gardens you see the Mediterranean all the way to Africa.  If you look west, you see the bay of Villefranche, and if you look east you see the bay of Beaulieu.  It is an incredible spot with a fascinating history.  The gardens are different in every season but always beautiful.  

We had lunch outside.  Here is Jane at our table.  

I had my favorite lunch, seared tuna with Chinese noodles.  

It was followed by the raspberry meringue with fresh raspberries.  Sorry in my haste to eat it, I forgot to take a photo.

Unfortunately, we had a sad experience last Tuesday.  We walked to Beaulieu for lunch and some grocery shopping.  We had lunch at our (formerly) favorite lunch place in Beaulieu.  After finishing our very nice lunch, the owner who recognizes us as frequent visitors over the last several years came over to chat. We have chatted before but never about politics.  

We were talking about how France handled the pandemic which led to our saying it was important for the government to take care of all the people as it had in France but unfortunately had not in the US.  After telling us that he only cares about his family, he proceeded to say that all those people from the former French colonies in Africa come to France and take advantage of the system.  He is Italian so he is an immigrant to France.  In addition when he was 13 his family moved to NYC where he spent most of his childhood as an immigrant.  He said that France was being taken over by these immigrants, obviously differentiating between immigrants like him who are white and immigrants from Africa who are black.  He also said that the US was being destroyed by the Mexicans and that soon the US would be a bilingual country (like that would be a bad thing).  His comments were amazingly straight forward and racist.  We were appalled at him as well as at the fact that we didn’t immediately cut him off and leave.

Then it got worse as he gave us his philosophy about why he was not vaccinated.  First, we were amazed that he could run a restaurant in France and not be vaccinate or even have a pass sanitaire.  He claims he never gets sick so why get a vaccination and that his smoking probably helps to prevent him from getting COVID.  His doctor who has not been vaccinated agrees with him.  Obviously, the “you should get vaccinated for the good of others” argument was not going to work.  Jane simply told him that she was a doctor, that his facts were wrong and that he should get vaccinated for himself and his family (he has a wife and three small kids-he is mid 60s).  We wish we had been more forceful and immediately left.  Unfortunately, we let shock and politeness stop us from doing what we should have done.  He was taken aback when Jane told him he should get vaccinated and changed the subject.  

To change the subject he told the story of the  "immaculate reception".  He was just 13 at the time, and he went to his first American football game, cheering for the Steelers.  When Franco Harris made the amazing catch, the crowd went wild and thousands of Italian flags appeared.  He was very pleased to see them.  Then Franco took his helmet off so that it was clear that Franco was black.  He said to himself, "what kind of Italians do they have here?  I need to find another team."  Neither Jane nor I have ever had a conversation with such an overtly racist person.  What a sad and depressing experience.

Anyway, we need to find a new place for lunch in Beaulieu.  It will be particularly difficult for me because after searching all of France, I determined that the best chocolat chaud is at the Gran Café.

Well it is time for our afternoon stroll by the sea.

Thanks for reading and please comment,

The Unabashed Liberal