France – Page 10 – Tales and Travel

It’s a feline fairytale come true, a rags to riches story. From life as a stray cat wandering in the alleys of Cereste, a Provencal village in the Luberon, to that of a pampered pet in a posh apartment in Paris. And, not just any apartment. Sam’s new home is with the famed pianist and conductor Philippe Entremont and his wife.

There must be millions of homeless cats in France. How did this husky gray tomcat get so lucky?

The saga began last December when I decided to adopt Sam. Friends Marten and Jessica had been feeding him, but they have four other cats. Sam was especially friendly and affectionate, however he was becoming a nuisance, fighting with their cats. They needed to find a home for him.

I was in mourning at the loss of Buddy, my big black male cat, whom I had to have euthanized due to cancer. Sam seemed to be the answer to cure my sorrow. He was a delight with people, loved to be petted, purred loudly. But, he quickly decided he must be king. He made life hell for my two female cats. This would not work. I called friends, sent emails, put up posters. I was determined to find him a home. All to no avail. Some friends, including cat experts, said the kindest thing would be to have him euthanized. I could not bring myself to take this step. Since he had been surviving as a street cat in Cereste for years, a town where kind souls do feed strays, I took him back to the village with great remorse and feelings of guilt.

Sam was born under a lucky star. Along came Anne to the rescue. Shortly after his return to the streets, this kind English woman arrived to spend the winter in the apartment upstairs from Marten and Jessica. Anne and her friend Martine came to Cereste from Ireland with their dogs and horses. They have been spending the winter training for a 500 kilometer charity ride on horseback across France to raise money for the Program for Assistance Dogs for Families of Children with Autism. http://thewanderlywagons.blogspot.fr/

Anne took to Sam, who was hanging around and hungry. He soon moved in with her and her canines: Fionn, a huge lab/Rottweiler cross, and Roxy, a lab/retriever mix. Sam detests cats, but dogs are his pals. All became friends, even sleeping together. When Anne walked the dogs, Sam would follow.

But, Sam’s time was running out. Anne would soon be starting her horse trek, then return home to Ireland where she has two cats – no hope for Sam there. Once again I started the search. Friend David, a photographer with expert computer skills, made beautiful professional posters with Sam’s photo which I distributed to numerous vet offices and shops in the area. Again no response.

I also told my friend Jude Reitman about my plight with Sam. Jude is an award winning journalist and author – and devoted animal rescuer – who has been living part time in France. www.judithreitman.com She put me in touch with Amelia Tarzi, a lawyer born in Afghanistan who gave up law to work as an interpreter, the latter allowing her more time for her passion: animal rescue.

Amelia has lived in the states and Switzerland, but is now at home in Paris. However, she spends as much time as possible at an animal shelter in central France, DPA-Refuge de Thiernay, www.refuge-thiernay.com

I sent photos of Sam to Amelia who soon announced that she had found a home for the fortunate feline — but it was in Paris, some 610 kilometers away. A friend of Amelia’s is a friend of Mme. Entremont, wife of the noted musician Philippe Entremont. She had just lost a cat. The friend quickly put her in touch with animal rescuer Amelia who sent photos of many cats needing homes to Mme. Entremont. She zeroed in on Sam because he looked like the cat she had just lost.

How to get Sam to Paris? Amelia said she would pick him up at the TGV train station in Aix en Provence en route back to Paris after a job in Nice.

Sam needed to be vaccinated, micro-chipped and tested for disease before departing for the City of Lights. The first attempt to cage him for the trip to the vet failed. (See Anne’s blog at the above address for more on this fiasco.) The next morning Anne succeeded, and I took Sam to the vet where he was a prince, a surprise to all. Then, husband Bob (a dog person and a saint to put up with my cat capers), drove me and caged Sam to the train station, more than a hour away. This normally very vocal cat was amazingly subdued during the journey.

Shortly after 1 p.m. Amelia met us in the train station café, and soon street cat Sam was on his way to a new life in high-class surroundings. Released from his cage in the Paris apartment, he ran to hide behind a bookcase. During the night he emerged and, according to Amelia, got the shock of his life when he walked across the keys of his esteemed owner’s piano. He’s adjusting to life with the upper crust, and Mme. Entremont is “thrilled” with her pet rescued from Provence, says Amelia.

Jude Reitman has recently started a company, La Bedouine, specializing in skin care products handmade by Berber women in Essaouira, Morocco. http://www.labedouine.com She has moved back to her home in North Carolina where she is active in finding homes for abandoned dogs.

One of the reasons we were happy to move to France is food. The cuisine here is hard to beat. When we lived in Germany and were both working, hence a better income, we loved to make eating excursions to nearby Alsace. The dollar was stronger back then, too. Sometimes we would splurge and eat in a Michelin starred restaurant.

Since moving here and living on a fixed income, we’ve been happy with local restaurants, most of which are reasonable. But, since the dollar is faring better these days, and since it was Valentine’s Day, I wanted to try a Michelin one-star restaurant, La Petite Maison, in nearby Curcuron. I called and learned they had a special multi-course menu for Valentine’s Day – 120 euros ($159) per person. That did include wine and champagne, but nonetheless way beyond our budget. On regular days they offer a three-course menu for 46 euros ($61) per person, excluding wine.

We decided to celebrate Valentine Day’s in a more economical fashion, but try La Petite Maison a few days later. On February 14 we lunched at the restaurant at Lycée des Métiers Louis Martin Bret in the town of Manosque. This is a professional school with a department where aspiring chefs and restaurant personnel are trained. Several days per week at the school restaurant they offer lunches and dinner. The menu is fixed – few choices—but good and reasonable. The ambience is pleasing – fresh roses on the table, the young waiters and waitresses all looking spiffy in black jackets and pants, white shirts and baby-blue ties. This time there were two choices offered for each course. We chose the following. Our average rating on a scale of 1 – 10 (10 is tops) follows.

First course: Profiteroles à la mousse de foie gras sur roquette. Three rounds of chou pastry, each filled with a different type of foie gras mousse, attractively arranged around a mound of arugula, with threads of spun sugar on top for added flair. One was decorated with stripes of chocolate sauce. The others were accompanied by tiny mounds of chutneys. Yummy. In my opinion, you can never go wrong with foie gras. Rating: 8.5

Main course: Dos de cabillaud, semoule aux raisins, carrots fanes glacées. A slice of cod with a piece of the fried skin as decoration, served with a semolina/raisin mixture and glazed carrots. Tasty, but unfortunately we found the fish overcooked, which is too often the case with fish. Rating: 5.25

Dessert: Pêches flambêes sur glaces. Flambéd peaches served on ice cream. It was fun watching our young waiters, Nicolas, 15,(left) and Jimmy, 15, undertake the flaming procedure. They handled it like pros, and the result was delicious – the vanilla ice cream full of flavor and obviously homemade. Rating; 7.5

We began the meal with an ”apéro,” a before dinner drink that is de rigeur in France. We ordered the cocktail of the day, a concoction of rum, orange juice, coconut milk and sugar. With the meal, we drank a half liter of open white wine. After dessert, we each had a coffee. Total tab for two: 40 euros ($53).

Two days later we went for broke and had lunch in Curcuron at the renowned La Petite Maison with our friends Gayle and Ralph. We economized on the apéro – a pre-dinner drink at the village café next door. For two glasses of champagne, a beer and a Pastis, the bill was 14 euros ($18.50) La Petite Maison charges the same for one glass of champagne.

Two fixed menus were offered, at 46 and 68 euros each. We all selected the less expensive one. Beef was the main course. Bob is not big on beef, so he was permitted to substitute fish.

At this classy place, we were given an amuse-bouche ( appetizer ) a velouté de lentil et une tartine avec rillette de saumon. A creamy lentil soup topped with a toasted wedge of bread spread with a salmon pâté. Gayle thought it was outstanding. I wasn’t that overwhelmed. Rating: 7.8

First course: Céleri et pomme verte rémoulade rehaussé de dés de saumon fumé, oeuf au plat coulant. A colorful combination of diced celery and green apple topped with tiny morsels of smoked salmon, all crowned with the yellow of an egg. Definitely a work of art to admire, and it was good, but perhaps not as flavorful as it looked. Rating: 6.5

Main course; Pièce de filet de boeuf d’origine européenne poêlée au poivre, pommes de terre fondantes. Filet of beef ( European origin) pan fried with pepper and served with interesting potatoes. (fondant means ‘‘melted,” but there was nothing melted about these potatoes. Maybe this is just fancy restaurant vocabulary). We were not asked how we wanted the beef cooked. It was served rare, a tad on the bloody side. This is the way French gourmets prepare beef. I love beef, and this is just the way I like it, so I was happy. Bob, who went for the fish substitute, was horrified at the bloody meat and very glad he chose monkfish served on a mousse of cauliflower. Sharing the plate with the beef were sliced potatoes topping a tasty crumb melange which reminded Gayle of turkey stuffing. She noted that this dish would have been better with an added portion of vegetable – perhaps something green for color. Rating: 7.4

Dessert: Croustade aux pommes et figues aux parfums d’orient, glace à la rose. A crusty concoction of phyllo pastry filled with Oriental flavored apples and figs next to a scoop of rose ice cream. Bob is a dessert fan and this was his favorite. I thought it was good, although I did not detect any Oriental flavors and the rose ice cream did not send me. Rating: 7.75

With the dessert a plate of small pots of a lemony-creamy liquid surrounded by mini cakes was placed on the table for us to share. A nice touch.

The restaurant is in an old house in the center of a charming village opposite a pond. The dining room, all wood-paneled, is a bit on the bare side – no décor, just tables with white table cloths. Our waitress, all dressed in black, was pleasant – she even corrected my French. That I appreciated. Chef and owner, Eric Sapet, has impressive credentials in the world of cuisine.

We ordered the cheapest bottle of red wine on the menu: a 2007 Vin de Pays de Vaucluse, Domaine Hugues, Vendage des Chefs, 35 euros ($46). Total cost per couple, about $144.

Moral of the story: Forget the stars and save your money. We all agreed that we’ve had better food at la Table du Bonheur (see previous blog, “Table of Happiness”) for much less money.

Category: France

Sam’s Saga

Fine Dining à la Française