Although we started our time here with a car, we decided to try a slower lifestyle without one for awhile. After a few days of taking in the popular tourist destinations around here (watch the Flickr stream for photos) we needed to dump the car in the center of Aix-en-Provence. Armed with a little photocopied map provided by the car rental agent, we sallied forth, confident we could find our way easily. The signage is great around here. Wayfinding from town to town clearly marked at each junction (usually a well-designed roundabout). Aix-en-Provence turned out to be more challenging, though, since there didn't seem to be ANY street signs. I drove and Susan navigated. My role was to shout out "signs coming up!" and Susan tried to figure out where we were by the few clues that correlated the map with what we saw whizzing by. Then, shout out the appropriate instruction, After having done this through Germany, Austria and Hungary, we found that whomever was driving just had to trust the navigator and go with the directions, without, thinking, military style. Mistakes would be made, for sure, but at least we avoided truly irresponsible driving behavior.
Fortunately, there were several roundabouts, the beauty of which is the ability to circle round and round until you figure out where you want to go. The downside of this approach, however, is that it makes the navigator too dizzy to navigate. We'd wandered around, taken a few turns on pure hunches, and finally got to the point where we were sure we were utterly lost. Susan shouted "pull over here...we need to figure out where we are!!!". So, I pulled over onto a little frontage road. Looked up. And there, a half-block ahead of us, was the welcoming red of the Avis sign. If we had waited until we'd seen the sign, we would not have been able to get on the frontage road, would have had to find some way to double back among the cacophony of one-way streets, and would have had another half hour of confusion.
We looked at each other. Burst out laughing. And gave thanks with a long French kiss. Of course. Serendipity has been our companion on this journey, and we enjoy giving thanks.
Serendipity visited in the kitchen last night, as well.
Having eaten at restaurants for the last month, we're now thrilled to have a kitchen. We've been stocking up at the local markets and at the Hyper-U. I found some flageolets -- little greenish/white dried beans that I'd always wanted to try, and now that I was in France, some French beans were in order. We found some unidentified greens (seemed to be softer than bok-choy, but stiffer than swiss chard). And I had seen a recipe for beans and chard on 101 Cookbooks recently for something similar so I thought I'd give it a go. I ventured pretty far afield from Heidi's original, but hers was pretty far afield from her own source.
Beans were cooked in the afternoon, and then pan-fried till a little brown. Since the beans were green, and the greens were green, I'd add some color with diced carrots. And a little celery root for flavor. I was going to add garlic, but the garlic here in the rented house had been here all winter, and was only a papery shell, so I was short on flavoring, so i thought I'd add some diced chorizo that we picked up at the market. But this chorizo was mild compared to what I get at home, so it didn't add that much zing. I added a little harissa and some worcestershire sauce at the end, hoping to salvage the effort, but it was still blah.It was a disappointing meal, and I was glum. The fact that is was nutritious was not much consolation. I don't know where the thought came from, but serendipity was its name. There was a little bottle of vinegar with herbs-de-provence sitting on the counter. What about a splash or two? I'm often astounded by how much flavor a few splashes of vinegar will pack. It was the perfect final touch, bringing all the flavors together and adding the just enough tartness to wake up my mouth.
Serendipity.
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