September 7, 2026 Breakfast - Pain au Chocolate and toast with Tomme De savoie cheese Lunch - BLT Dinner - Sautéed Veal chops and Smashed Potatoes with Caper, red bell pepper, green onions and wine reduction

September 7, 2026  Breakfast - Pain au Chocolate and toast with Tomme De savoie cheese Lunch - BLT  Dinner - Sautéed Veal chops and Smashed Potatoes with Caper, red bell pepper, green onions and wine reduction

Another amazing day and the best parts were not the food. We went swimming at Portosolis beach around noon and did a tasting at Domaine Terrebune at 4:30.

I slept until 10:30 and ate a toasted pain au chocolate and a slice of boule white bread with butter and slices of Tomme de Savoie cheese at 11:00

Then we drove to the Portosolis Beach. Suzette swam and I waded.

When we returned to the villa at 1:00 we made BLT sandwiches. We sautéed two slices of bacon and toasted three slices of bread. We then spread mayonnaise on the toast and lay slices of tomato on the Mayo and then the fried bacon and finally lots of lettuce.  We drank Kronenburg 1664 beer with the sandwiches.

The fluffy white bread did not stand up to the juicy 1/2 inch slice of tomato and soon collapsed into a soggy delicious mess as it absorbed the ripe tomato’s juice.

We rested until 3:30 when we drove to the local coop store where we bought a fancy brand of olive oil, Marc De Provence, a honey spice cake, and a Vermouth made in Provence.

We then drove to Domaine Terrabune for a tasting. Although Suzette made the reservation for tomorrow, they offered us a tour in English. We tasted six wines, a white, two reds (2020 and 2016) and three Rose’s (2020, 2024, and 2021). We liked the 2016 red the best, rated 97 points (€52) and the 2024 rose’ (92 points). We bought a bottle of the 2016 red and a newly released 2025 rose’ (€23) that, our hostess said, “Was better than the 2024”.

The vineyard is in an agricultural area high on the hill above Sanaray, where the hostess said there is a base of limestone that is a relic of an ancient sea bed that gives the wine its strong minerality and even slight saltiness, similar to Cambados, Spain.

We needed toilet paper and a couple more items, so we stopped at Instamarche on the way home. I went a little wild, I saw veal rib chops and bought two, plus two bars of milk chocolate with raisins and hazelnuts to go with the Marc. Suzette bought Riciola lozenges and oranges for the vermouth. We also bought ham and duck pate for snacks.

When we arrived at the Villa at 6:00 Suzette fixed us each a vermouth with a slice of orange. This Provence vermouth was incredibly herbal and did not appeal to me much until the ice cubes melted some and the vermouth absorbed some orange flavor after about 1/2 hour. Suzette drank her vermouth on the patio between the living room and the garage in a lawn chair.

At 7:00 we started preparing dinner. I sliced two green onions, a large mushroom, the last 1/3 of the red bell pepper, and 2 T. of parsley. Suzette sautéed these ingredients with a small handful of capers to make a sauce.

She smashed and sautéed in a different skillet six or seven potatoes boiled yesterday in butter and then removed the sauce ingredients and sautéed the veal chops in the sauce skillet.

When the veal chops were cooked she removed them from the skillet and returned the sautéed vegetables and reduced the sautéed vegetables with rose’ wine at high heat AndI deglazed the veal pan drippings and join them with the vegetables until slightly thickened to form a sauce. She returned the veal chops to the skillet to warm them and coat them with sauce. This is the type of cooking that can rarely be found in restaurants that we love to cook precisely because no shortcuts are taken.

We ate at the table on the patio beside the kitchen with its exquisite view of the bay.

We also made a salad from the 1/4 leftover heirloom tomato from lunch’s BLT and 1/2 of a yellow tomato, plus cucumber and I minced two T. of shallot and added it to a balsamic dressing Suzette made for the salad, but I could not finish my veal chops, so the salad and the dressing went into the fridge for tomorrow with my leftover veal chop.

We opened another Pallatier rose for dinner that we liked two days ago that I had bought two bottles of at Instamarche, because the hostess at Terrabune said a good rose’ complements veal well. We agreed.

After dinner I drank a sip of Marc with some of the chocolate bar and Suzette drank another glass of rose’ while we watched an episode of the Tina Fey directed Four Seasons series on Netflix and went to bed at 10:00.

I awakened at 11:30 to finish this blog. I wonder if President Trump had such a pleasant day?

I am feeling much better today and Suzette says she wants to swim in the bay every day. The sandy beach at Portosolis cove is only about a ten minute walk downhill from the villa, so the plan for tomorrow is for Suzette to wake me and then walk to Portosolis and swim while I eat a snack and then join her for a wade while she swims and then drive her back to the villa for breakfast of a veal omelet.

Bon Appetit

September 6, 2026 Breakfast - Toasted Bread and Croissant Lunch - shrimp Nicoise Salad. Dinner - Seared Duck Breast with Braised Eggplant, and Red bell pepper, and Onion

September 6, 2026 Breakfast - Toasted Bread and Croissant Lunch - shrimp Nicoise Salad. Dinner - Seared Duck Breast with Braised Eggplant, and Red bell pepper, and Onion 

I spent much of the day on the couch with my legs elevated to reduce the swelling of my right leg and it worked.

And I walked over 3000 steps also.

Breakfast - I toasted two slices of baguette and Suzette toasted a croissant and we buttered them and spread Pear William pear jam on them. I ate mine with Earl Grey tea with steamed milk and collagen. Suzette ate her croissant with coffee and steamed milk.

Then at 10:30 we drove to the main parking lot at the center of town.

The most exciting event of the day was backing the SUV into a small space perfectly. Then we walked along the path by the beach and marina to the open area where the daily food market was located.

We had been craving a good BLT sandwich, so we stopped at a booth selling charcuterie items where we bought six slices of bacon, which is cured pork in France, and a fresh boule (round loaf of bread).

We saw lots of beautiful small melons, so at a produce stallwe bought one of them, plus a beautiful yellow tomato with red streaks, an English cucumber, and a bunch of green onions.

It was 12:30 when we finished shopping and we were getting hungry so we decided to return to the villa to prepare lunch. Since we cooked potatoes last night and had lots of tomatoes and four cooked shrimp, we decided on a shrimp Salad Nicoise.

Suzette blanched green beans and cut up several of the potatoes we boiled last night and added olive oil and lemon juice to the aioli we bought to make a creamy mayonnaise dressing.

I peeled and chopped a scallion, peeled, seeded and diced about 1/4 of the cucumber, a scallion, and peeled and diced the four cooked shrimp. Suzette cooked the green beans and fetched the lettuce and green cracked olives with herbs de Provence and assembled the salad.

I poured glasses of the Cote du Provence rose’ we opened yesterday and sliced the remaining 1/4 baguette.

The salad was light and delicious. We dabbed slices of bread in the remaining dressing after we finished eating the salad and ate them.

Then we rested for several hours. Suzette slept.

At 4:00 we walked to the end of our street and down the staircase that links our street to Sanary’s center the staircase has a wall and iron fence on the sea side and a series of terraced Cactus and succulent gardens between the staircase and elegant houses on the up hill side.

We walked about 2/3 of the way to the quai beside the marina near the center of town and then, with several stops, back up to our street and the short walk to the Villa that helped my log in more than 3000 steps for the day.

Dinner - It was 5:00 when we returned and we decided to sear the duck breast and serve it with a sauce Veronique (white grape and wine reduction) and eggplant braised with onion, garlic, red bell pepper. I cubed a small aubergine and a small white eggplant, 1/2 of a red bell pepper, two cloves of garlic, and 1 1/2 small yellow onions that Suzette sautéed in olive oil.  Then she sliced six slices of duck breast, leaving about 1/3 for cassoulet and seared the slices in oil and butter.

I opened the bottle of 2023 La Cabassonne Bandol red we bought yesterday at Instamarche that was a silver medal winner and let it sit to open up.

Suzette removed the duck slices from the skillet and added about 1/2 cup of Rose wine and a handful of white grapes cut in half and de seeded and reduced the sauce for several minutes until it began to thicken. She plated three slices on each plate garnished with sauce and added a small pile of braised eggplant. Both dishes were delicious and the wine was quite good also, mostly Mourvèdre.

We also ate several slices of a local Provencal fresh creamy goat cheese at the end of dinner.

We ate out on the patio beside the kitchen where there is no visible sunset, only a warm glow of sunlight and the sparkling sunlit waves of the bay.

After dinner Suzette worked on the puzzle and I read and blogged this entry.

At 9:30 I ate my chocolate eclair with a cup of Earl Grey tea with collagen and Suzette went to bed. I went to bed a bit after 11:00.

Bon Appetit

September 5, 2026 Breakfast - Macs Syms. Lunch - Burrata and Tomato Salad. Dinner - Grilled Loup, Potatoes and sautéed Green beans

September 5, 2026 Breakfast - Macs Syms. Lunch - Burrata and Tomato Salad. Dinner - Grilled Loup, Potatoes and sautéed Green beans

This was the first official day of our vacation spent shopping for provisions cooking for the vacation and without a moment thinking about the crazy politics of Trump.

We slept until 8:30 and I took a shower and dressed and we drove to a parking near the center and walked the five blocks to the market, stopping at Macs Syms, 10 Quai de General de Gaulle, Sanaray Sur Mer for a coffee and a pain au chocolate for me and a regular croissant for Suzette.

We then walked through the extensive Saturday market and then shopped our way back to its beginning. It looks a lot like the outdoor Santa Fe farmers’ market but with more extensive selections. Some, like cheese and sausage sellers operate out of specialty designed trucks with glass  display cases on one side and internal walkways and storage cabinets on the other side.

At a meat truck we bought a duck breast, two sausages, and two rabbit legs.

Then we stopped at an olive truck and bought cracked green olives with Provencal herbs, an expensive finishing olive oil, capers, and garlic in olive oil. 

The we stopped at a cheese truck and bought a small wedge of Tomme de Savoie, a lovely goat cheese from Provence, and a large fresh burrata in water.

Then we waited in line at a fish mongers booth and bought six large cooked shrimp and aioli.  We selected a fresh sea bass that was fileted for us.

Then we looked for produce. At one stall we bought leeks, green beans, eggplants, three types of tomato and two shallots and were given a bell pepper. At another produce stall we bought a peach and white  (green) grapes.

Finally we bought a baguette at a bakery stall.

Then as we walked the five blocks back to the parking lot, we stopped at a Boulangerie where we bought a croissant, a pain au chocolat, two meringues and a chocolate eclair.

Finally, at the green grocer across the street from the parking lot I bought a lovely head of lettuce. 

When we returned to the villa it was 12:30 and we were tired. We opened the tomato tapenade and cut slices of baguette and opened the olives and poured a glass of rose for a snack.

After a rest Suzette made a burrata salad with the fresh burrata, lettuce, and tomatoes we had just bought at the market and dressed it with a balsamic and olive oil dressing made with the fresh extra Virgin olive oil bought this morning that still excluded its low oleic acidity and four slices of fresh baguette.

We dipped our slices of bread into the tomato juice infused dressing left in the bowl to flavor the bread after we finished our salads.

Then we rested. Suzette slept and I blogged the September 3 and 4 entry and dozed intermittently.

Then at 5:45 we drove to the Intermarche supermarket in Sanaray, where we lbought lots of the staples we will need during the month, such as paper towels, paper napkins, shampoo and conditioner, onions, mushrooms, potatoes, beer, three bottles of red wine, three bottles of rose. I have never seen an entire row of rose’s running the length of the store until today. 

Chocolate mousse, pound cake, dish washing liquid, eggs, butter, milk, and on and one.. it took two hours to finish our shopping and return home.

Dinner - we decided to sauté the Loup (sea bass) filets and potatoes and green beans with shallot, and mushrooms.

Suzette boiled several pounds of the small pomme de terre potatoes, while I minced 1/4 shallot, two cloves of garlic, snapped a handful of green beans, and sliced one large white mushroom for the vegetable dish.

Suzette then floured the filets and sautéed them in cooking oil and garlic while I minced parsley for garnish.

When the potatoes were cooked she smashed seven or eight of them on two plates and added butter and I garnished with minced parsley.

Then she sautéed the green beans, shallot, and mushroom in the pan in which she had sautéed the fish. When they were cooked, she divided them into a pile on each plate. Then she added capers, parsley and some fish stock to the skillet and reduced the liquid into a sauce while I squeezed lemon juice on the fish filets. 

I opened a bottle of award winning Cotes Du Provence rose we had bought at the store and poured glasses of wine. The wine was a pale pink with almost any strong flavor, although it was made from the traditional blend of Grenache, Cinsault, and Syrah grapes.

We loved our dinner. The fish was tender and full of the natural juices of the ocean unlike the hockey puck filet of Loup I was served last night at Bard’ O.

Also the potatoes had a freshness of flavor bathed in butter and parsley and the vegetables were not overcooked. The light shallot, parsley, and caper sauce was subtle and gave the fish and vegetables a slight salty flavor.

I loved dinner. It was almost identical to last night’s meal but with everything I had wanted last night failing and everything tonight succeeding. 

The wine was almost like an elegantly subtle white wine that matched the elegance of the food. 

Finally, at 9:30 we were eating the fresh food of France prepared in its most appealing manner to our taste.

After dinner Suzette poured out a 1000 piece puzzle on the dining table and I helped her turn the pieces so the picture side showed and separated the edge pieces as I ate a cup of chocolate mousse.

Then I blogged a bit of today’s entry and at 11:30 we went to bed.

Bon Appetit