September 19, 2026 Breakfast - Croissnts and Yogurt with figs and Mirabelle Plums. Lunch - L’ Ormea in Lourmarin Dinner - Restaurant Estellan, near Gorges

September 19, 2026 Breakfast - Croissnts and Yogurt with figs and Mirabelle Plums. Lunch - L’ Ormea in Lourmarin  Dinner - Restaurant Estellan, near Gorges

We woke up early and heated croissants and sliced figs and mirabelle plums and added them to a bowl of yogurt and ate on the patio.

We left at 9:30 for the hill towns north of the coast just as the regatta of historic boats were leaving the harbor.

We stopped in Lourmarin first. It was about noon when we walked to the center.  Billy and Elaine went walking to the chateau while Suzette and I found a table in the shade in what appeared to be the largest restaurant That had been in existence since 1884 named L’ Omrea. Suzette and I were not terribly hungry so we shared a daily special of slices of local melon with prosciutto and arugula with two mounds of port foam. It was an interesting and delightful light meal. I drank a rose’ wine and Suzette drank a limoncello spritzer flavored with two basil leaves, two slices of lime and a slice of grapefruit that she liked very much. The restaurant had an ice cream store attached to the end of it and we each ate a scoop of ice cream, Suzette ate apricot and I ate toasted pistachio.

We then drove to and around the hilltop town of Menares but did not stop and drove on to Gorges that was a plus cite beautiful hilltop town that has become immensely popular and apparently quiet pricey. The buff stone houses must be very popular because we saw both a Christie’s and a Sotheby’s real estate office.

We walked from the parking lot down to the chateau and then through a tunnel under the chateau to to plaza restaurant next the chateau and ordered drinks. I waited while Billy, Elaine, and Suzette walked to the garden at the end of Gorges.

We then drove to the country inn where we had booked rooms for the night near Gorges. It was recently purchased and refurbished by a couple. I had not slept well last night so I fell into the bed for a one hour nap.

                Billy and Elaine slept in the upstairs room on the right with blue shutters

Suzette and Elaine showed their dedication to exercise and swam in the cold water of the swimming pool and then dressed for dinner.

We assembled at 6:45 at the tables in front of the Inn and were offered a bottle of rose. We had a quick drink and then drove to Restaurant L’ Estellan near Gorges, a fine dining restaurant with a three course meal for €54, which we all ordered.

We were served tapenade as a pre-appetizer with lovely toasted olive oil doused thin rounds of baguette.

We picked three different appetizers. Suzette and I chose warm foie gras served on a warm dark bread with hazelnut toast point, a slice of plum, a mirabelle plum, and a pile of fig and apple preserves that was the best dish of our meal. Elaine ordered a carbonized slice of focaccia with ancient vegetables and Billy ordered a squash and chestnut soup with bits of chorizo.

Here are the descriptions in French:

Escalope de foie gras poêlée, réduction de porto, chutney de pommes et prunes

Velouté de girolles et potimarron, poêlée de châtaignes et dés de chorizo

Focaccia au charbon végétal, légumes anciens, crème d'oignons pickle

Then for entrees we ordered these three plates in French:

Langoustines rôties, choux fleur vanillé, tuile à l'encre de seiche, émulsion de pinces

My dish was pleasant but not very filling, three small slipper lobster tails sautéed in butter and served with flowerets of  pleasant vanilla flavored cauliflower, two interesting tuilles or thin wafers of cooked squid ink and two mounds of foamed turnip.

Pièce de veau rôtie au beurre, polenta parfumée à la muscade et parmesan, jus court

Billy and Elaine ordered the veal that was excellent, slices of tender veal sauced with a wonderful Demi-glacé sauce and served with creamed Polenta flavored with nutmeg and Parmesan cheese

Pavé de maigre cuit sur la peas, choux farci noix et champignons, jus légèrement fumé

A corvina steak cooked with its skin on and garnished with a vegetable foam and served with a ball of mushrooms and nuts wrapped in a cooked savoy cabbage leaf. The savoy cabbage roll was very unique and interesting.

Nothing was ordinary. In fact, many of the ingredients were rather ordinary but treated in interestingly unique ways that created unique flavors, such as the cauliflower flavored with vanilla, the savoy cabbage wrapped mushroom and nut filling, and the wafer made from squid ink.

The desserts were a bit disappointing. I had my heart set on the half poached peach with chocolate sauce but was told I should select a different dessert because the peach sauce was flavored with black pepper for which I have a strong dislike. So I selected the Brioche of French toast that was accompanied by several mounds of coffee flavored whipped cream, chunks of nut and chocolate candy (Mendiant- mendiant is a traditional French confection composed of a chocolate disk studded with nuts and dried fruits representing the four mendicant religious orders. Each of the ingredients used refers to the color of monastic robes.), chips of prailine and a scoop of yogurt flavored ice cream from Isigny. The brioche was very uninteresting but everything else was grand.

Suzette ordered three types of sorbet, and Billy and Elaine ordered an elaborate napoleon layer cake with a layer of passion fruit and passion fruit gel, white cake, garnished with powdered yogurt

Brioche perdue, mendiants de fruits secs au praliné, crème glacée d'isigny

Entremets noix de coco et fruits de la passion, et powder de yaourt

What the French do with yogurt is amazing.

We ordered a 2024 Chateau du Chanorgue rose that had some character and was our introduction to the wines of Luberon and was an organic wine.

After dinner we drove back to the Inn and fell asleep in the cool country air quickly.

Bon Appetit

 

 

September 18, 2026 Breakfast - Almond Croissant. Lunch - Leftover vegetables and steak. Dinner - Sautéed Fish filets with Tomato and Burrata Salad and Sautéed Zucchini, opinion, and tomato

September 18, 2026 Breakfast - Almond Croissant. Lunch - Leftover vegetables and steak. Dinner - Sautéed Fish filets with Tomato and Burrata Salad and Sautéed Zucchini, opinion, and tomato

I awakened around 8:00 after a good night’s sleep.  Suzette heated the croissant, the almond croissant, and the raisin sweet roll in the oven and Elaine peeled and sliced 1/2 melon. We each made a hot drink and ate breakfast at the table on the patio.

Then around 11:00 Suzette and Elaine walked to Portosolis Beach and swam and Billy and I walked to the market in the town center. It was a line that ran from the central gazebo to the parking lot with stalls on both sides selling all type of food stuffs.

Billy bought two types of fish fillets, tomatoes, green olives and capers. I bought a leek, mirabelle plums, a salami and green beans. When we returned to the villa I was sweating bit recovered with a drink of cold water and accumulated almost 4500 steps and over 5000 by the end of the day.

We worked on the puzzle a bit.

 I read Tables for Two but Amor Towles until 1:30 when I chopped up the small piece of leftover steak and Suzette added it to the leftover vegetables she was heating that we ate for lunch with glasses of Ray-Jane Bandol rose’.

After lunch I rested until 4:45 when Billy awakened me to chop onion, garlic and tomatoes for his zucchini and vegetable Le sauté for dinner.

Soon Suzette arrived from her haircut appointment and wanted me to help chop the ingredients for the burrata, mirabelle plum, and tomato salad she was making for dinner.

After she and I completed preparing the salad that also included toasted pinon nuts and a balsamic, parsley, and vinegar dressing, I chopped garlic and parsley for the sautéed fish and Suzette dusted the filets with flour and sautéed all the fish 7 or 8 filets and then deglazed the pan with capers and lemon juice to make a light piccata sauce for the fish.

I poured rose’ wine and Billy sliced baguette and we had a huge but pleasant meal.

After dinner Suzette was able to connect her computer to the TV set and we watched the Jimmy Kimmel and Rachel Maddow interview with James Talarico who is running for LBJ’s seat in the U.S, Senate and watch a lovely sunset.

Then I drank a cup of tea and ate the last bit of the most unusual cookie I have encountered in France, cookie dough wrapped around a core of chocolate that becomes a solid cookie in the shape of a fig Newton.

Later I blogged and drank another cup of tea with a small shot of Marc to give it a higher octane.

The NYSE closes at 10:00 in Sanaray. I stayed up to watch the Close and instead of the usual Friday big sell off, the market actually rallied a bit toward the close, especially AMD, to stay positive for the day and hold the gain the portfolio made yesterday plus a small increase of .057%.

Bon Appetit

September 17, 2026 Breakfast - Yogurt, a plum, and a slice of bread with cheese. Lunch - Le Salle in Hyères. Dinner - L’ Authentik in Tamaris

September 17, 2026 Breakfast - Yogurt, a plum, and a slice of bread with cheese. Lunch - Le Salle in Hyères. Dinner - L’ Authentik in Tamaris

I woke up at 7:00 and watched the sun rise. I opened the door and windows to air out the end of the house we stay in until around 10:00.

I ate a breakfast of yogurt and a plum and a round of Parisian baguette spread with butter, pear jam, and slices of Leyden cheese plus a cup of tea.

Then at 11:30 we drove to Hydres.

When we arrived, we walked to the Banque Museum, but 

it was closed. Apparently we had read the time wrong. Since it opened again at 2:00 we split up. Billy and Elaine walked to the old town where they ate lunch and Suzette and I walked across the street to the nearest restaurant we could see from the museum, named Le Salle.

We were in luck. It turned out that Le Salle was ranked a 4.9 out of 5.00 and its dishes were the most creative of the trip so far. It had a smoker oven and many of its dishes were smoked. We passed on the smoked salmon and smoked ribs. Instead, we selected the daily special of filet of black cod  and a filet of duck and glasses of rose and a glass of red wine.

Soon we were served a small bowl of tapenade made with both chopped green and black olives in seasoned olive oil with 1/2 inch  thick baguette rounds. This was probably the best tapenade I have ever tasted.

Then in about thirty minutes our dishes were served. The tender black cod filet sat on a tower of sautéed vegetables, including eggplant, zucchini, onion, and morel mushrooms the pile sat on a base of sight sautéed red and yellow tomato slices in a thick olive oil sauce.  Forkfuls combining, fish, vegetables, tomato and sauce were unbelievably delicious.

But the duck filet was even better, entering the pantheon of amazingly interesting dishes. 

It was slices of a duck filet lightly seared on the fat side sauced with a thick fig sauce, served on sautéed slices of sweet potato dusted with smoked paprika with a mound of smoked yogurt mixed with honey garnished with alfalfa sprouts served on one side of the plate sprinkled with pieces of candied walnuts. We had never eaten smoked yogurt, nor had we ever encountered the combination of fresh of fresh fig sauce, smoked paprika seasoned sweet potatoes, and smoked yogurt and honey and candied walnuts before. The combination was beyond delicious. It was revelatory. 

Both the rose’ and red wines were delicious. Everything was served in fancy old mismatched glasses and china, just like in an old family home, which was the intended atmosphere of the restaurant.

We sat on the outdoor patio, covered with a tarp for shade, surrounded by bushes and palm trees on a raised wooden plywood floor covered with fake green grass. I guess the decor was pleasantly funky, but removed from the center of town by elevation and foliage.

We loved the meal and since we finished the entrees at 1:30, leaving 30 minutes until the museum reopened. We decided to order dessert and a cafe Macchiato for Suzette. Suzette selected fresh figs for dessert. We were soon served a small plate filled with thin slices of dark and green figs garnished with a mound of regular yogurt mixed with crème fraiche, dusted with crushed sugar praline and some fresh flower pedals.

The dark red figs were much sweeter than the green fig slices and Suzette decided in that moment that we would plant a dark fig bush when we returned home.

I ordered a kir of crème de cassis and white wine that the waiter mixed with a bit more cassis to sweeten the drink that was served in a tall old cut glass champagne Flute that was lovely to look at and feel and tasted great with the fresh figs and yogurt and crème fraiche.

This was another great meal occurring without any planning, 

We finished at 2:00 and paid the very reasonable bill of 81€ and met Billy and Elaine and walked back across the street to the Banque Museum. Billy would not store his backpack in a locker so he waited outside, while we saw an amazing Calder exhibit organized from the extensive collection of the Foundation Maeght. The Maeghts were Calder’s gallery, publishers of his graphics, and longtime friends.  The first floor exhibit was extensive, including sketches for many of the pieces on his famous Circus work, now owned by the Whitney Museum, the original paintings used to make the Maeght posters, and many mobile and stabiles and steel and bronze sculptures. Then downstairs there were video clips of interviews wish Calder and Maeght that displayed additional works by Calder including a 6.3 meter (20 foot) high stabile at the Foundation Maeght in Saint Paul de Venice.

 It was the best Calder exhibit I have ever seen.

There was also an interesting permanent collection of mostly images of Hyeres or by artists associated with Hyeres.

It was 3:00 when we finished seeing the exhibit. When we joined Billy again outside the museum we decided to drive up the hill behind Hyeres to the fort (Chateau Hyeres) built to guard the town. It was on the top of the mountain behind the town with a view of the surrounding area and is one of the largest fortresses in Provence.  We drove up and up and finally arrived at the parking lot beside the gate of the outer wall. Suzette and I walked to a promontory overlooking Hyeres and the Mediterranean beyond, while Billy and Elaine walked up the hill to the inner castle and keep. It was a truly impressive fort.

It was 4:00 when we drove down the mountain and stopped at a Boulangerie on the outskirts of Hyeres on our way where we bought croissants and baguette for breakfast and cookies for dessert.

In rush hour traffic it took an hour to drive to L’ Authentik Restaurant located in the aquaculture production area where oysters and mussels are raised, processed, and sold in Tamaris.

We arrived around 5:30 for our 7:00 reservation. We were shown to a table and offered wine and oysters on the half shell, but told we would need to wait until 7:00 when the kitchen opened to order any other menu items.

Billy, Suzette, and I ordered one dozen oysters each (Elaine does not eat oysters) and a bottle of L ‘ Elegance white Cotes du Provence wine.

Around 5:50 I excused myself before the oysters were served and returned to our car and linked to our meditation group for our weekly meditation.

When I returned to the table at 6:20 Billy and Elaine had gone on a hike to the nearby park we passed on the road in where they watched a boules competition among older men.

My dozen oysters had been taken away and soon I was served a dozen of the freshest oysters I have ever eaten. The local oysters have a deep bowl on one side and all of the oysters I was served were either 2 or 3 size, not unlike the oysters at Cancale.

At 7:00 Billy and Elaine returned and we ordered steamed mussels in a Parmesan Sauce, a plate of large shrimp (gambas), and two orders of fried oyster beignets and a bottle of L’ Elegance rose’ that won a silver medal in the Paris wine competition that was quite good. None of the cooked dishes matched the fresh oysters. In fact we all agreed they were terrible, probably because the old drunk guy we met when we first arrived, who was not a chef, prepared them. The beignets were especially disappointing because they were covered in a thick batter that had neither the crispness of tempura coated with panko or U.S. fried oysters coated with a crunchy cornmeal batter.

We left disappointed and Billy and Elaine paid the 176€ bill. 

When we returned to the villa at around 9:00 and Suzette and Elaine immediately returned to finishing the big 1000 piece puzzle. Elaine cut the two  chocolate filled fig Newton shaped cookies but with cookie dough and we made tea and I took a sip of Marc de Provence. I checked my portfolio and found that it had a super day increasing 2.36% to very nearly an all time high.

The market seems to be on a trajectory unaffected by the war in the Middle East, the soaring inflation and National debt and the dysfunctional political drama.

At 9:45 I went to bed and awakened at 11:55 to blog this entry and went back to bed at 3:00.

Bon Appetit