A week in France.....

We are on holidays in a little french village in Provence. One week relaxing, good food, friendly people and beautiful places to visit. Exactly what I am looking for on a vacation. This year we are having our summer vacation a bit earlier than usual, spontaneously we decided to go to Provence, we have been here some years ago for couple of days and felt in love immediately. Ever since we were talking to go there again and here we are, fulfilling our dreams!!!
I do not know where to start about all the nice things you can see and experience in Provence, there are just too many. I can only urge you to come here and see it yourself. We rented a small charming house in Puymares, a small village next to Vaison la Romaine. The village is tiny in size but super huge in her charm. There is one bar, one restaurant, one bakery, a tiny market on Saturdays, a church with a fountain and this priceless view over the mountains. For a foodie like us, Provence is certainly the place to be....
Being inspired by all the nice food, nice people and atmosphere I decided to make a "Week in France" challenge,this week. Each day I will prepare another french dish by using local products, which can be bought from the local farmers...

The world seems to be different here, maybe because we are on vacation and there is always a certain charm to this....time is ticking different, people seem to have different kind of issues as we do and they will always find time to have a short chat with the people, even if they are not from here and do not speak any french at all...Pablo seems to love this, he actually repeats everything they are saying to him and it certainly looks like our son can speak french....

Our first morning in Puymeras we had a lovely breakfast in the garden...with some chevre cheese we bought at the market the day before, some fresh baguette which my boys bought early in the morning in the bakery, some scrabbled eggs, some fresh squeezed orange juice and fresh coffee....

Scrabbled eggs with tomato and onions

• 4 eggs
• 2 small tomatoes
• splash of milk
• half of young onion
• salt and pepper
• olive oil

Cut the tomatoes and onions in cubes. Put your frying pan on the heat, add some olive oil and add the onions, let it cook for a minute. Add the tomatoes and let it cook for additional 1-2 minute. Meanwhile crack the egg in a bowl, add some milk and season with salt and pepper. Pour the egg mixture over the tomatoes, stir carefully till cooked ready.

After the breakfast we spend some time in the garden enjoying the sun and the quietness, taking it easy. In the afternoon we took our car to the next town, Vaison la Romaine, to do some sightseeing and having something for lunch. In my mind I was already thinking about the first french dish I would prepare for my first day of the challenge....

Ratatouille was the dish I finally chose to have for dinner, as we still had some gorgeous eggplant, courgette, tomatoes, bell pepper and a garden full of fresh herbs.

Ratatouille

• 1 eggplant
• 2 small courgettes
• 2 bell pepper
• 2-3 tomatoes
• 1 young onion
• 2-3 gloves garlic
• 1 cup rose wine
• splash of balsamic vinegar
• salt, pepper, sugar
• fresh herbs (I used sage, oregano, rosemary)

Preheat your oven to 220 C. Cut the eggplant, courgette, bell pepper, tomatoes and onion in slices. Sprinkle some olive oil into the baking dish and put a slice of eggplant, than some slices of courgettes, followed by tomatoes and bell pepper. Continue till all used and the baking dish is full packed. Take the onions and the garlic (also sliced thinly) and plug them randomly into the vegetables till all used. Do the same with the sage and oregano. Season the dish with salt and pepper, sprinkle a teaspoon of sugar over it. Have a good splash of olive oil and balsamic venigar over the top. Finally pour in the rose wine and put some rosemary branches on top. Put the vegetables into the oven and cook for 60 minutes. Check if the vegetables are done by using your fork, if it goes in easy they are done. Serve with fresh baguette, chevre cheese and remaining rose wine. Or as a side dish to meat.

Enjoy!