Don't be a tourist. Be our guest!

We are now in Barcelona on day 6 of our painting workshop.

Today, we didn’t expect to met the giants. Not the sport team from San Francisco but the giants from Barcelona, the ones made out of wood and clothing.They are part of the Catalonian tradition. They use them on special occasions. They walk and dance in the streets. So Dee and I had the chance to see them perform on plaza Reial.

In the evening, I had a surprise for the group. We were invited at Julius’ house for dinner. We were served an incredible dinner with Catalan and Spanish specialties. It was a real feast.

Julius presented us the fresh fish and sea food he will use for the dishes.

We had a private dinner with 8 different tapas, 2 main dishes and dessert. The least we can say is that we were stuffed but in heaven…

Dee is presenting the Cocal de escalivada, the Catalan version of our pizza.

Karen decided to dress up to go to this very nice place, a clandestine gallery in the Barri Gotic.

One of the main dish was the Catalan Fideua with sea food and aioli. It is the “noodle” version of the paella.

We could barely walk back to the hotel after eating all that food but it was an unforgettable experience.

Join us on one of our tours to either France, Spain or Belgium at www.frenchescapade.com

As the temperature drops a bit, so does the number of students following Keiko. Here are a few more pictures of the people who are still painting. Some got tired and went off to do something else while 4 participants made it through.

From L to R: Diane, Sandy, Dee, Keiko and Valeria:

Shine or rain, Keiko paints her way through:

On the sandy beach, the number goes down even more. We are now down to 3 participants.

There is more than painting on this tour. A little culture too. We went to Figueres to see the Dali museum. It is actually the biggest surrealistic museum in the world. Very impressive and very crazy too.

Tomorrow, we are off to Barcelona. We are leaving this quiet paradise for more a much busier but beautiful place.

Hasta Luego.

All our trips, in Spain but also France, Belgium and Switzerland are listed on our site at www.frenchescapade.com

Yesterday we went to the medieval village of Pals, considered one of the most beautiful villages on the Costa Brava.

On the way, we saw fields of red poppies. The group made me drive through little narrow streets in the country side in order to get closer to the poppies. Well, that was not very successful. That didn’t stop them, they walked on the high traffic road to arrive in the poppy field. While taking the picture below, Sandra said that it could be a picture advertising for a discounted trip!!!! (walking by cars, in an non friendly environment rather than on a scenic road!).

The good news is that we finally made it to the poppy field.

In Pals, some of us got distracted from painting by the shopping of scarf and jewelry….I will not give any names!!!

Finally, we are in Pals.

Keiko did a demo in the main square of the village:

Judy, aka the general and also my photographer, played a trick in this picture with her mother. I would never dare to take that picture …

Picture of Judy and her mom on their terrace, back at the hotel. It is hard to leave that view even to go on day trips!

Stay tuned for more adventure as the trip continues. The full program of the trip can be found on the site www.frenchescapade.com

Today is day 3 of our painting tour.

Here are some of the paintings Keiko Tanabe did during these 3 days on the trip with French Escapade. Some of them were the demos. All have been done in one hour or less. Amazing isn’t it?

Demo in the medieval village of Pals:

View of the country side, from the medieval village of Pals:

Beach in Calella de Palafrugell (view from our hotel!):

Sunrise in Calella de Palafrugell (Keiko has time to do at least one painting before breakfast):

Boats in Calella de Palafrugell:

Mr Velcro’s house in Calella de Palafrugell: This painting is already SOLD!

Mid day in Calella de Palafrugell:

Streets in Calella de Palafrugell:

Cafes in Calella de Palafrugell:

To see more paintings by Keiko Tanabe, click here.

To see more details of the painting workshop to Spain, click here.

Our second day on the Costa Brava started with a beautiful sunrise. Here is the picture taken from the terrace of the hotel (I didn’t even have to photoshop the picture, the colors are just real!).

Let me introduce the group of artists on the trip:

From L to R (bottom row): De and Diane (Top row): Judy, her mother Lois, Karen,Keiko, Sandra and Valeria.

Today we went to the botanical garden of Cap Roig. It was designed by a couple, a Russian and his wife from England, in 1929. They built a castle and imported over 1000 plants from all over the world. The place is now a botanical garden open to the public. In July, they have concerts with artists worldwide. This July, Elton John is coming. Tickets are already sold out by the way.

Here is one of the paintings from Sandra Stohschein. She is the fast painter in the group. Four paintings yesterday and one painting this morning before breakfast!!!! This one is a painting of the castle in the botanical garden, painting number 6 already! Click here to check her web site.

The garden is so beautiful: cactus, flowers, trees and view on the Mediterranean!!!

Below is a whole in a blue door with the dramatic cliffs behind. It is not a painting or a picture. It is the real view you get from the garden!!

Keiko gave a demo about value and colors, with the castle being the subject.

Some people paid very good attention:

Some, even more serious, took pictures of it so they won’t forget:

While some others were more interested in having ice cream:

Ok, I am just kidding, the ice cream was at lunch time, not during the demo!!!

This was day 2 of our watercolor plein air workshop in Spain, taught by Keiko Tanabe.

Bon dia y Benvingut en Catalunya!

I am practicing my Catalan (I know about 10 words!!!) because I am now on the Costa Brava, running my  new trip.

It is a watercolor workshop with art teacher Keiko Tanabe. We are spending five days on the Costa Brava and 2 days in Barcelona.

Our little home base village of Calella de Palafrugell is a gem. The view from the hotel is breathtaking.

But let’s start with the most important: …painting…NO, food! Breakfast!

Here is a picture of the buffet at the hotel. It is actually only one part of the buffet. I couldn’t take a picture of everything.

For dinner,  we went to the best restaurant in town. You could choose your fresh fish of the day. You know for sure you are not eating frozen fish, from last year!!!! It was delicious.

Ok, let’s get serious and let’s paint.

Keiko, the art teacher, is a not only a great watercolorist but a very fast painter. Here is one of her paintings from this morning.

Everyone’s has been busy painting, inspired by Keiko’s demo and of course, the ocean.

I have also included Judy and her painting. Judy had never painted before. She watched Keiko this morning and then decided to give it a try. What do you think?

Ok, I am just kidding. The painting is of course from Keiko!!!

Stay tuned for tomorrow. I still have to take pictures of some of the other painters on the trip.

If you want to see the complete itinerary of this painting workshop to Spain, check www.frenchescapade.com

I continue my serie of pictures with what guests in my group do in Provence.

During their downtime, Cathy and Sandra like to rest and have a glass of wine:

Kaye prefers to just watch the world go by…

…while Carol spend her free time painting and making postcards:

But what are Kay and Susan doing? Nobody have seen them in awhile. Finally we got a phone call from Susan asking what is the name of the hotel we are staying at. What???? Where are they? They actually went to town, the town of Saint Remy, for some shopping and to buy a pizza for dinner. They walked back with their pizza, and walked and walked but didn’t find the hotel.

They finally stopped in another hotel and told them that they were lost. The gracious owner from the other hotel asked them what hotel they were looking for but they didn’t remember the hotel’s name…..They told the lady that the hotel had 2 swimming pools, the food was excellent and the garden very beautiful!!!! Well, that didn’t really help the owner to locate the hotel. They also told her they were part of Jackie’s group. I wish I would be so popular that the enitre town would know who Jackie is….The owner showed them a brochure with different hotels but they couldn’t find it.

Kay was concern….Not about  getting lost but she was worried her pizza would be cold! They finally asked the woman if they could use the wifi connection there and they called us to get the name of the hotel. So they walked and walked till they made  it home with ……a cold pizza.

Besides a cold pizza, the story has an happy ending. They made it back before dark.

On the trip, everyone has different interests. Lupe visited every church. When she could…because some of the doors were quite huge and heavy, too heavy for Lupe’s muscles:

Laurie preferred to go up and down the stairs:

Really, I mean it, she likes stairs:

Judy and Megan preferred to explore the culinary flavors of French food like lavender ice cream:

But Judy also liked to paint some wonderful watercolors:

And you? What would you like to do when you come to Provence with French Escapade?

It is not everyday that you travel to France and get invited into someone’s home. When you travel to France in a small group with French Escapade, you do.

Our guide, Jackie, had a surprise for us. She invited us into her house in France. Valerie, her friend was our host and had prepared a wonderful lunch for us.

Smoked salmon, rice salad with tuna and beans, hams, tomatoes and mozzarella, corn bread, cereal bread, walnut bread and of course wine. Here, Lupe, Susan and Kaye:

From L to R: Judy, Valerie (our host in the back), Carol, Laurie and Cathy:

Sandra and her mother Kaye:

Christine and her daughter Megan:

The other surprise was the celebration of Carol and Lupe’s birthdays. Valerie had bought some pastries made by the chocolate maker we visited in the morning. Delicious!!!!!

Here is our entire group with our host Valerie (front  right).

It was such a wonderful event and really unexpected. Make sure you go on a French Escapade tour to France to experience the same.

Two days ago I mentioned the surprise I had for the group. It was a dinner and light show on the lake. Here are some pictures of the incredible event:

Here is the picture of the boat during the day. We went on the boat at night.

Here is a picture of Lupe and Laurie at dinner on the boat:

Below are Carol and Cathy on the deck watching the show (well, laughing first!!!):

The cliffs of the wild coast of the Bourget Lake were lit up by the boat to give an amazing  show. Everything in music….Just sensational!

Today, we went to see a chocolate maker in La Cote St Andre in the Isere department of France. Pierre Jouvenal created the first chocolate museum in France, in 1996.

He explained everything about the history of chocolate, the biology of the cocoa tree, the difference between bad and good chocolate made of 100% cocoa butter.

Kaye and Susan bought candies made out of white chocolate and strawberry, the new specialty from the chocolate maker. Susan bought so much chocolate that Pierre asked her if she was going to open a store in the US!!!

Here is our group with Pierre:

But where is Lupe? She is not here? She was still inside the shop and Pierre has already locked the door of the museum, ready to go home. Luckily, Laurie, her roommate on the trip, noticed that Lupe was missing. I guess, it could be worse than being locked in a chocolate store….

Find out about our culture tours to France, Spain, Switzerland and Belgium on www.frenchescapade.com

Yesterday, the surprise was a boat ride  with dinner on the Bourget lake. It was also Lupe’s birthday. There was someone else celebrating his birthday, the pilot’s father.

Her came to congratulate Lupe, took a picture of both of them and asked Lupe for her email so he could send her the picture. Nice way to get someone’s contact info. Just kidding!!!  The guy was really friendly and said he loved America.

Today, we went to Chanaz. It is the cuter village in Savoie (in my opinion).

There is a canal going through the village, going from the Rhone river to the Bourget lake, the biggest natural lake in France:

The village is from the medieval time but they have now built very cute wooden houses on the water. You can rent them for holidays. I think I might, they were too cute and in my favorite village…

Before visiting the 19th century mill where walnut oil is made, we stopped in a little cute pottery. The new design of the pottery maker was inspired by the drwings of her 10 years old daughter. She called her new collection “sales gosses”, meaning “mischievous kids”. Kaye felt in love with the design and couldn’t resist her shopping temptation:

The other Kaye and her daughter Sandra felt for for mugs with a different design. It is not made in China but made in Chanaz !

If it was not pottery, it was tea with wonderful exotic flavors, or candies or, of course, the walnut oil that we bought (it is hidden in the orange plastic bags that everyone is carrying):

This morning, we were in Annecy, the little Venice of the Alps: more water and more canals:

Here is the entire group. From L to R: Sandra, Lupe, Kaye, Susan, Carol, Laurie, Kaye, Christine, Judy (you can only se her hair…),  Megan and Cathy.

It was market day so we got a chance to taste all the specialties from Savoie: cheese, salami, honey, …

The weather was very nice. Another wonderful day.

If you too want to share a wonderful experience with French Escapade, check our tours at www.frenchescapade.com

Yesterday, a new group has arrived. This time a bit bigger: 11 people. I know it is still a small group but usually I take 8 so it is bigger.

We are staying in the charming town of Aix les Bains, by the Bourget lake. A real feeling of vacation.

Today, we went to Haute-Savoie in the town of Thones to visit a cheese factory. They make raclette, abondance, tomme de savoie and reblochon cheese. The cow in Haute Savoie are mostly the Abondance type. How do you recognize an Abondance cow? She wears sunglasses. Really, she has a brown stain around her eyes:

We had a chance to see the cheese being made then went to the cellar to see how long and how the cheeses age:

We saw a movie about the making of the reblochon and the unique story of how this cheese got its name that means “double milking”  and then …did the tasting of course, everything served with Savoie white wine:

In the afternoon, we went to the biggest ski resort in the world: Chamonix.

Did I take pictures of Mont Blanc? of the glacier? of the “Aiguille du midi”? Well, not exaclty. I took a picture of Mont Blanc but not the mountain but a pastry. Here it is, next to some other ones that are worth being in the picture as well:

Tonight, I have a surprise for the group so I can’t tell you what it will be!!!!!

To join us on our tours to the French Alps, Belgium Provence, Swizterland or Spain, check our site at www.frenchescapade.com

Today we spent the day in Cavaillon, the “melon” town.

After going to the market and finding out how to recognize fresh veggies, ripe pears and sweet melons, we went back to jJ Prevot’s restaurant and starting to cook.

The chef, Jean-Jacques Prevot, is the melon specialist. He is famous for all his recipe with melon.

We mad a melon flower with a losbster sauce for starter (served with ham):

What will be your reason to decide to live in Provence? The sunshine 300 days a year? The lavender? The olives? The nougat? The potteries? The art? or ….?

Well, Sherri M., one of our guests on the cooking tour for women in Provence has another reason for living here:

Sherri M. says:

“No cooking expedition to France would be complete without an exploration of that most precious of “mushrooms”
known as the diamond of the kitchen- the truffle. While many amateur cooks visiting France would be content to purchase truffle pieces or truffle oilat Fauchon or Hediard, we were fortunate to go on a truffle hunt in Gordes with Robert Florent, a third generation truffle hunter, and his son.

Our hunt took us in search of summer or white truffles, but Mssr. Florent educated us about winter or black truffles as well. We learned about truffles from the region, from Perigord, and the less desirable truffles from China. We now know how truffle oil is made, what truffle products to avoid at the grocery, and how to store and use fresh truffles.

This is not Sherri but Diane holding the truffle found by Robert’s dog.

(Sherri continues..): For me, it was love at first sight, or should I say at first bite. The unique flavor of summer truffles, which we tried thanks to the hospitality of Mssr. Florent who welcomed us into his home and served us savory truffle canapes, and winter truffles which I’ve been privileged to taste in the past, had made me dreaming about relocating to Provence and marrying the charming and entertaining Mssr. Florent :)!”

Here is a picture of Sherri cooking while dreaming of the truffle man!!!!!!

We are now in Saint Remy de Provence and a new group has arrived for….cooking in Provence.

Everyone has received an apron to be ready for the cooking sessions:

Today we went to an educative farm where we cooked a ratatouille, a typical Provencal dish. But first, we needed to go and pick up the veggies in the garden: eggplants, zucchinis, tomatoes, purple basil, pepers and more. Some were not small although everything is organic.

The farm has many different species of each veggies. For example, the tomatoes: you can see on the picture below some of the tomatoes we used for our salad: green tomatoes, black tomatoes, pineapple tomatoes, moroccan tomatoes, roma tomatoes and some whom I forgot the names:

Everyone took part of the cooking, even Stephanie who doesn’t eat tomatoes and Sherri who doesn’t care about cooking but only about eating:

September is also the time for the harvest of the grapes. That is what we did. We used the grapes along with figues and apples to make a fruit clafuti.

As for me, besides doing the translation, I picked up little tiny flowers…

Check the complete itinerary of our cooking tour in Provence.