Les Lavandes

Bet you were getting all worried I wasn't getting fed, weren't you?  It was time for another gourmet lunch at Les Lavandes, or 'Lezzes' as the staff say it, 'cos of a silly man from Liverpool that called it 'Lez Leyvandees'

A nice cocktail du maison to start off with:

Accompanied by some tapenade, saucisson, tomatoes and wee bits of bread:

Some of us have staff wot treat them better than others, Jock got stuck with water - ha!

LT's mum and dad had wolfed all of these down before she remembered to take a photo, but there was little bits of melon with jambon cru in there, honest!  LT doesn't like melon, so she gave hers away.

Ahh, time for a nice glass of red:

To start, asparagus carbonara, it was very yummy, although the Provencale's bring the egg yolk in the shell for you to mix in yourself, very odd!

Then a main of courgette flowers stuffed with chicken mouse, served with a truffle and wild mushroom sauce.  It was actually another starter, but LT preferred this to the main course options, and it was big enough for us!

Ahh, a little ice bath for my paws on a hot day:

Umm, hello, what's this?!

Phew, dessert, strawberries and home made vanilla ice cream:

And finally with what was meant to be coffee, some wee biscuity things.  We just had these, who wants coffee on a hot day?!

Vaison La Romaine

We went to Vaison La Romaine the other day.  It's one of them hysterical sorts of a place, with a Roman bit, a medieval bit, and an everything else kind of a bit.  We headed over to the Medieval bit first, where they had all these really cool photos of the locals in various doorways and window arches scattered around:

After all that hiking about - we went all the way to the top of the hill, kind of like the Grand Old Duke Of York, but without the 10,000 men, we marched back down again to have a galette for lunch, which is a pancake stuffed with mushrooms and ham and cheese and egg to the rest of you:

We're still trying to work out what 'pippermint' is, but we think if must have seeds in it...

We did admire this sign from the Lions International (If you want my space, have my disability - LT)

But look what was parked in front of it!

Oh well, they served very nice ice creams:

Here's the Roman bit, but it's just a bunch of pillars, so we didn't go in:

I think this must be a Roman crossing:

We visited this shop after lunch though:

And look, I have wheels now, just like Sebastian:

Jock got some new wheels too:

And LT bought another weird car for her collection (she's cute! - LT)

Look, I can give people backsies too, so who wants to come for a spin?

Munch, Munch, Munch

It was LT's mum's birthday, so what else was there to do but go up the hill to have a grand dinner!  The weather was really overcast, as the mistral had blown in some clouds, so after the aperitifs we went inside to eat rather than enjoying the sunset that didn't happen (well it happened, we just didn't see it - LT)

To start, some champagne of course:

Jock had a glass too, and we polished off this goat's cheese and sun dried tomato mousse along with it:

Then we got some mini prawn samosas:

Which came with jousting sticks!  En guard:

Phew, warmer in here with our scallops:

How silly though, car makers making pepper grinders, it didn't even have a motor!

And really, why did we have a miniature garden of Eden on the table?

Time for a bit of red to pass the time between courses, Chateauneuf-Du-Papes anyone?

Perhaps some pig's cheeks with wild mushrooms and polenta?

Maybe I can interest you in what's left of the cheese after LT entirely forgot her manners and ate most of it before I got there!  And yes, that is a large clove of confited garlic at the front, we had no fear from vampires that night!

And to finish for me, some fresh strawberry mouse with fromage frais ice cream:

Looks what the birthday girl got though:

I got to help her blow the candle out:

Sheesh, you never know the minute when someone will creep up behind you and start eyeing up your coconut marshmallows and whisky truffles...

We get to do it again later this week...  I think without the candles though!

Gigondas

You may be forgiven for thinking that I'm munching my way round Provence.  Well I am, but I'm throwing in a bit of artwork for culture as well with this post...

We went to Gigondas for the day on Tuesday, a wee village, perched on a hill, with some very random art installations in it.

Look, someone got a Meccano set for Christmas:

And just below it was a Jack sized door:

LT's dad insisted on putting me there, but I think it was rather rude...

Look, I found another me there on the stairs.  He didn't seem to want to come out and play though :o(

LT thinks it's funny putting me in front of these signs, and then disobeying them...

This is what I wasn't meant to be climbing on:

Someone obviously got Lego for Christmas too.  Can you still see me?

How about now?  Don't be silly, I'm not even in this one!

We earned lunch after that: big hike up to the top of the hill (*ahem* who was hiking and who was hitching? - LT)  Details...

The staff quite forgot themselves with the camera, so eager were they to dive into these amuses bouches.  I don't know...

And others were quite stingy with their champagne...

LT did remember to get a photo of the mushroom and truffle ice cream 'prelude'

Under the foam was a giant 'open' artichoke raviolli, it was rather yummy:

LT passed on the main course (yes, the above was a starter!) and went straight for the cheese, although we didn't have any of the stinky blue stuff:

The stinky blue stuff left its sweaty mark behind though!

And then it was time for dessert, strawberries with strawberry macarons, mint slivers and basil sorbet:

*belch* another yummy day in the sun!