Summer is sliding by quickly.
This past weekend, we joined Ellen’s siblings and cousins
for a reunion at Carol’s and Bernie’s lakeside house in VA. It was fun to see
relatives/friends and to enjoy stories and videos from times past. Carol had
prepared a variety of foods to which we added our potluck items. Great company
and wonderful food made it a perfect event. (It was nice that the weather
cooperated as well.) On the way to VA, we visited Ellen’s brother and his wife in
PA and then Ellen’s nephew and his wife at their house in NC. By the time we
got back to MI we had put more than 1800 miles on the car in six days.
Several weeks ago, we visited Marge and Charley in St:
Joseph, MI. Marge surprised me with an invitation to cook rabbit with her for
my surprise birthday dinner. This was not the usual 2+ pound rabbit one finds
in the freezer case at the grocery store. It was a fresh rabbit and weighed
over five pounds! Marge had found an interesting recipe in a Patricia Wells
cookbook (Patricia Wells At Home in Provence) calling for preserved
lemons. We used three of the five pounds of rabbit and had a wonderful dinner –
though we were both nervous at how salty the preserved lemons were… (The
flavors worked out okay. Marge and I decided to reduce the liquid portion of
the lemons to reduce the saltiness.) I brought home the remaining two pounds
with which I plan to make Terrine de
Lapin.
Ellen’s sister Tish has been staying with us for most of
July as part of her annual stateside vacation. This year when she leaves, she
will be going to teach in Nairobi (and we are
all relieved that she did not choose to extend her teaching contract in Cairo ). Tish said that
one of the things that she missed while in Cairo was live music. I could echo her
comment in referring to Vaison la Romaine though we know that there are a lot
of music venues in Vaison in the spring and summer (when we are not there!). We went to hear “The Delta Rhythm Kings”
and “Frog and the Beeftones” and enjoyed live music at the “Taste of Downtown Lansing”
gathering. We also went to see a friend’s grandson in a lead role in a local
production of “Next to Normal ”.
Local performers, world class talents.
We watched the Tour de
France on television and got to see the amazing riders climb Mt. Ventoux
and then depart from Vaison la Romaine on the stage that took them to Gap and
the Alps . Ma
belle soeur (Sister-in-law) found a charmingly funny video about the Tour de
France visit to Vaison. Go to: www.vaison-ventoux-tourisme.com
and click on “Les Romanus”.
While we were visiting we also had some very nice wines. While Mark and I were looking at the description of one that we had at John and Casie's house, the Tarima Hill, we noticed that it was made with 100% Monastrell grapes, one that we were not familiar with. When I looked it up later, I found that Monastrell is the Spanish name for Mourvedre. That one we do know! It was quite good---as was the Chateau Chevalier Cab. Mary Ann said that she also liked the wine that Mark and Ellen left with the young Newmyers--Tresor De La Riviere Cote De Rhone. That one was opened on Sunday when others of us were on our way home. So many wines...so little time!
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