Travel another way

Provence is the perfect inspiration for many painters. If Cezanne  and Van Gogh are the first names you would associate with the South of France, Picasso was not indifferent to its charms and spent a lot of time in Provence and the French Riviera..

In the beginning, the Spanish painter would often visit friends in the area before he eventually moved  there,  where he  painted some majors works inspired by the spirit of the place.

Here are his Provence landmarks:

• In 1912, he stayed with Braque in Sorgue near Avignon and painted “L’Arlésienne”
• In Vence , he would often meet Matisse
• In Saint Tropez,  he drew the “Odalisque” sketch
• In 1919, he stayed in Saint Raphaël for a while.
• In 1923 and 1924, Cap d’Antibes and Juan les Pins were his summer destinations, where he painted “Paul as Arlequin”
• In 1939, he spent some time at Man Ray’s home in Antibes and painted ” Antibes port at night”
• In 1946, he stayed in Menerbes , the village made famous by Peter Mayle’s books.
• In 1948, in Vallauris, he discovered the art of ceramics 
• In 1955, he moved to Cannes. There, he worked on his series “les Ménines” and also did  “Peace and War “ 
• In Les Baux de Provence, he acted in a Cocteau movie.
• In 1960, he finally moved  to Mougins, his last residence, near Aix en Provence, where he could see Cezanne’s dear Mont Saint Victoire. He died therenin 1973.
• He is burried in the park at his Vauvenargues Castle, in Mougins.

After the extremely successful “Picasso and the masters” exhibit  this fall in Paris,  mentioned on this blog on November 25, 2008, Provence will celebrate Picasso in 2009.

Here are the major events:

• May 25 – September 27: Picasso – Cezanne exhibit at Musée Granet in Aix en Provence
• May 27 – September 25: temporary opening of Vauvenargues Castle (reservations required)
• March 28 – June 28: Picasso 1945-1949 exhibit, 200 pieces from the Happy Years, at the Picasso Museum of Antibes .
• Starting February 29: the Cathedral of images in les Baux de Provence will project Picasso’s  works in the amazing quarry used as an exhibition room. Always a superb experience!

Both our regular tours and painting trips in Provence include Les Baux de Provence, Menerbes, Avignon, the Cathedral of Images and Sorgues.

Our painting teachers in Provence; For 2009: Jann Pollard; in 2010 Victoria Brooks

Poster for the new show at the Cathedral of Images, Les Baux de Provence.

Painters and art lovers                can discover                   Provence                    through           art, gastronomy     and painting workshops               organized by          French Escapade.

From Valerie,           our chef on our      French Escapade Tours

Leek is not regarded as the king of vegetables in the US. I have often heard this question from the cashier when I put my bundle of leeks on the conveyor: “What do you do with that? Are these onions?”

Leeks are used a lot in French cooking. It is one of the main ingredients in “Pot au feu” , in many sauces and in our vegetable soups. They are also eaten boiled and served cold with a vinaigrette as a starter. But since we are in winter, in the northern hemisphere anyway (but our Australian friends can serve the following recipe as a “cold vichyssoise“) , here is the recipe for Leek soup.

Leek Soup recipe

Ingredients: 1 cup of chopped leeks (some people only use the white part; I personally use some green too for color purposes). 1 cup of milk 2/3 cup of water ¼ cup of cream. 3 tablespoons of butter . 1 teaspoon of chicken stock. 1 boiled potato. Chopped chives or parsley and cream to garnish.

In a large pan, melt the butter over medium heat.
Put the leeks in the skillet and cook for 5 minutes.
Add the chicken stock and the water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat.
Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
Stir in the milk and cream.
Add the potato and use a blender at low speed to crush the pieces.

Pour the soup in plates and garnish with cream and chives or parsley.

Bon appetit!!

Here is some update from the Vendée Globe sailing race. As I mentioned it in my post of november 16, this race is the toughest of all. Alone, no assistance possible and no stop around the world !

They were 30 to join the race 67 days ago: 28 men and 2 women. Today only 12 are still in : 9 men and 2 women. The leader, Michel Desjoyeaux, has long passed Cape Horn and is now sailing north along the bazilian coast.

The second half of the group is passing Cape Horn  right now and about to experience a big storm with strong gusts.

A special salute  to the 2 female competitors, Dee Caffari and Samantha Davies, ranking 8 and 4 so far, still in the race when 18 men have abandoned.

 Samantha Davies, 34, Britain /1st Vendée Globe entry / Boat: roxy

Here is an exerpt from Dee’s website on her latest race conditions:

“Dee and Aviva have now made their way through the first of the anticipated violent storms as they continue their journey towards Cape Horn.

Dee has spent a nightmare twenty four hour period in winds gusting between 50 to 65 knots.”   to be continued at http://www.deecaffari.co.uk/

 Dee Caffari, 35, Britain / 1st Vendée globe entry /Boat: Aviva

You can also view videos from Dee and other skippers live from their boat on the following page:

http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/media/videos/

As for the virtual race, over 200,000 people joined the race. My French Escapade boat is ranking 98, 159 !!!!

For complete detailed information, visit http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/

If sourdough is said to have appeared as early as 1500 BC in Egypt, and was widely used in the Middle Ages to make bread, it was brought to California during the Gold Rush, and became one of the city’s landmarks thanks to  Isidore Boudin, a French baker from Burgundy who settled in San Francisco during in1849. Growing from 1,000 to 20,000 inhabitants in 2 years, the population needed food, especially staples such as bread, and the city counted some 60 bakeries in 1849.

But what is sourdough?

In San Francisco, sourdough refers to bread  that is baked using wild yeast from a dough or batter, with a long, slow rising process so that it develops a characteristic sour flavour. By adding flour and water to it, this starter dough can be kept indefinitely, which was very convenient for the gold miners. Some pioneer stories mention people wearing the dough in a bag around their neck to keep it warm and favor the bacteria culture.

Today, San Francisco is still famous for its sourdough bread, and even the 49ers mascott’s nickname is Sourdough Sam. Boudin is still baking its famous bread in the city at many locations: Market street, Geary Boulevard, Fisherman’s wharf… San Francisco sourdough is particularly tangy and is well appreciated with seafood, clam chowder or chili.

If you come to the city of hills, you can’t miss it!

San Francisco Tours

For information about tours and vacation packages in San Francisco and California,  check   http://www.frenchescapade.com/california.html .

French Escapade offers now a great variety of visits in Northern California, from privately guided custom tours to pre-established tours.

All pictures are from the Boudin bakery ’s website .

In 1929, the most celebrated surrealist Belgian painter wrote this caption on his oil painting representing a pipe, and called his piece: “the Betrayal of Images”.

His name? René Magritte.

On June 2, 2009 , Brussels will open a new Magritte Museum. Located by the Art museum on Place Royale, within walking distance from the famous Grand Place,  the museum will hold 200 works, the largest collection of Magritte paintings, plus archival material, letters written by the painter, photographs and drawings.

Born in 1898 in Lessines, Belgium, Magritte firts studied art at the Belgian  Academy of Fine arts. He later met  the French and Spanish surrealists in Paris in the 20s and  joined their cultural and political movement . His first American exhibit was organized in New York in 1936, but he  only set foot in the States  in 1965, for a retrospective of his works at the Chicago MOMA. Magritte died in 1967 in Brussels.

Inspired by both the bizarre and the absurd, Magritte evokes a wide spectrum of themes to entice the observer.

Visits of the museum are available on French Escapade tours to Belgium in 2009: August 22-29 (Cultural tour), August 14- 21 and September 5-12 (Painting tours).

Useful links for Magritte in Brussels

• http://www.visitbelgium.com/mediaroom/NewMagritteMuseumBrussels.htm Future Magritte museum to open in June.
• http://www.magrittemuseum.be/   Present Magritte museum in Brussels

Illustration 1: the new Magritte Museum in Brussels

Illustration 2: Oil on canvas from http://www.lacma.org/