September 8, 2026 Breakfast - Toasted Honey bread with yogurt. Lunch - Winery Divine Pleasures. Dinner - Cassoulet of Rabbit, sausage, veal, and duck with salad
I discovered today that Suzette has mastered the recipe for Cassoulet. Her definition is, white beans with all the leftover meats.
In the morning she walked to Portosolis beach and swam while I ate yogurt and a slice of the honey bread spread with pear jam I bought yesterday with a cup of Earl Grey tea with Collagen. Then I picked her up at the Portosolis parking lot and drove her up the hill to the villa. After a shower she dressed and we drove to the market in Bandol. When we arrived it became clear that it was lots of cheap Chinese clothing mixed in with a dab of Local booths, so we navigated out of the parking lot and drove up the hill to the hill top village of Castelet where the Maison De Vin for Bandol is located in an agricultural zone among vineyards far from the commercial activity along the quai in Bandol.
We were the only guests in the Maison de Vin, so the knowledgeable attendant led us through an excellent tasting of two whites, two reds, and two roses. By the time we finished it became clear that the wines were not randomly selected but were selected for their contrasting flavor profiles.
For example, when we finished tasting the roses Suzette said, “I want to buy a rose in the middle between those two”. And we did plus one of the reds we liked. The reds in Bandol are usually 80% to100% Mourvèdre. The red we bought was 80% Mourvèdre, 10% Grenache, and 10% Syrah. The Syrah smooths out the acid and gives the wine a more earthy finish.
It was approaching noon, so as we paid for our two bottles, we asked the attendant for his recommendation for lunch and he suggested Winery Divine Pleasures in the next hillside village of Beausset. It took us some looking but finally we found the restaurant. The three tables downstairs were taken so we were shown to a table upstairs with a view of the vast shelves of wine downstairs. It reminded me of Marty’s in Dallas, which was also a restaurant in a wine shop.
We ordered glasses of roses and the waiter brought two for us to choose between that he thought would go well with the fish. We both picked the same Vents rose.
Suzette ordered the mackerel appetizer (entree) and I ordered the fish of the day (plat) that was red mullet flash fried and served with a delicious herbed greenish cheesy risotto that we loved. The mackerel seemed to be served in a Moroccan style. But my red mullet was served on a bed of a very interesting onion, sugar, and vinegar sauce. The clean, tender white meat of the red mullet was wonderful.
After lunch Suzette was in the mood for something bubbly, so we bought a bottle of champagne from the. Wall of champagnes. We loved lunch and the three glasses of wine seemed to be included with lunch as well as a spoonful of white chocolate mousse garnished with toasted almond slices.
We returned to the Villa and napped until 6:00 when we prepped dinner.
Dinner - we had the uneaten salad and the now throughly cured shallot balsamic dressing, so we only had to make cassoulet for dinner.
I sliced one large leek, 1/2 of a small green pepper, three cloves of garlic, and one large mushroom and then I deboned the meat from two rabbit legs while Suzette diced the 1/3 duck breast and 1/4 veal cutlet plus one pork sausage.
She added the rabbit bones to the stock she was cooking and then sautéed the vegetables and rabbit and duck meat and added the veal with fresh rosemary leaves. She drained the can of white cassoulet beans and added them to the cooked meats and vegetables and then added some stock. She cooked the mixture until it began to thicken. Then she poured it into a deep pie dish and covered the surface with cubes of bread and drizzled them with olive oil and baked it for an hour in a 300 degree oven until the flavors had blended into a thick sauce and the bread became delicious olive oil soaked croutons.
The bits of rabbit were incredibly tender and the mixture of beans, vegetables, and meats was amazing. I can not imagine a better cassoulet, although the one she made for me on the Valentine’s Day when we first fell in love was pretty special.
We ate outside in the warm glow of the evening light on the bay.
The fabulous food tour of Provence is continuing in vigor.
Bon Appetit
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