Blue Sky Living

New addresses

Still struggling with my camera, so it's a photoless blog and sweating in the heat - so it's a brief blog with just a couple of new recommendations. 

Firstly at Les Puys des Arts vineyard outside Ansouis the vigneron has opened a wine bar. The location is lovely with views over the Luberon and the food is based on local produce - smoked salmon from Grambois and goat's cheese from Cucuron Le Puy des Arts

Secondly I was handed a flyer this morning for a new restaurant on the terraces of the Chateau at Lauris. There are already plenty of craftshops in the courtyard and the restaurant should have a magnificent view over the valley of the Durance. Another new venue is La Petite Cave in Saignon which offers a limited but reportedly excellent daily menu of food fresh from the markets. La Petite Cave

Finally the old pizzeria next to the fire station at Cucuron has been given a makeover and is now a bar and music venue serving salads at lunchtime. 

I'd write more but since starting this blog three hornets have tried to invade my study. I have an aerosol pointing at the door like a canon but with each salvo the atmosphere is getting more toxic.

Michelin stars

Until late yesterday things have been going very well for the new magazine. Everybody who has read it says they really enjoyed it and the director of Avignon airport called to say he was interested in giving it to all passengers. Feedback from advertisers was also good and I was feeling fairly self congratulatory. 

Then at a cafe we encountered a PR man for some of the local restaurants. He took me aside and said that he hadn't really appreciated Blue Sky Living issue 2. He found the writing superficial and in the food and wine section we didn't respect the grand tradition of French cuisine. The magazine in general had a very anglo-saxon view.

Fair criticism I thought - after all I am English - and so I explained that in England restaurant criticism is as much about the story the critic tells, as the restaurant itself. References to food are habitually left to the last paragraph of thousand word articles.

The conversation continued and moved on to a small newspiece at the front of the magazine, where I'd noted that a local restaurant recieved a Michelin Star. The chef I was told wanted to keep his restaurant the same and was not interested in Michelin. If I was up to date with the local restaurant scene I should have known this.

We politely said our goodbyes, but afterwards I was really angry, hence this rant. BSL has always tried to be inclusive. It's written by Brits but we spend a lot of money translating the text into French. We also try as much as possible to help local businesses. Yet to the PR man mentioning a Michelin star was like libel. 

Surely all publicity is good publicity and while it might be trendy to disparage Michelin, getting a star is good news. What's more I am sure the chef doesn't share the PR man's views. 

Le Grand Retour

Provence is currently full of Parisians and Londoners dreading le grand retour. From mid August onwards the roads clog with tourists heading home. We've just done the opposite. It's a little weird doing holidays in reverse, arriving from rainy England back to sun-drenched Provence is so disconcerting because everybody is enjoying themselves and for us, despite the weather and the full cafe terraces its back to work, which means a car full of magazines to distribute (still 5,000 left out of the 15,000) and a couple of new book proposals to send to publishers.

There was one great surprise on our return: together Tanya and I had managed a feat which unless I am mistaken has eluded every resident of Provence for the last century or so. What's more the work happened without us knowing about it, on the initiative of a local company who were so keen to get on with the job that they started before we had even signed a contract. Most importantly they ignored the fact that it was August, a month when it is traditionally impossible to achieve anything....

I wish I could post photos but unfortunately our camera is broken so instead you will have to take my word for it - the building site to construct our house was officially opened!