What’s On

NOTE CHANGE IN DATE

We are revisiting a lovely restaurant, beautifully situated by the river and weir in L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, where the menu is 48€. For full information, or if you would like to be on the Foodie mailing list, please contact me.

We have internet access working in this room. If you have any computer issues or questions come along as usual and we shall do our best to help you. If you want to email us first so we can be better prepared, that would be great.

Contact Michel or Trevor.

Come and join us for lunch at another of our favourite French restaurants in Aix. This one is just off place des Prêcheurs. Hopefully we will be outside in the shade of the large tree drinking some ice-cold rosé. A menu of starter plus main or main plus dessert is 22.50€, or for those hungry ones amongst us, 3 courses including the famous millefeuille de la maison for 26€.

Please contact me by Tuesday 5th June to book your place. This will be the last lunch before the summer break, but we will be back in September with hopefully some new finds. Looking forward to seeing you. If you have a favourite place that you would like to share or would like to organise a lunch, please let me know.

Please contact Marietta if you would like to join us.

It is almost a year since our family set off with our grandson to the St Louis Children’s Hospital, USA. For new members the story is on www.talsgoodfeet.org. We had tremendous help and support from the AAGP membership, so we have asked if we can host a potluck lunch on June 10th. This will give Taliesin and his family the chance to meet some of the people who worked so hard last year.

Please book through Jan as usual to arrange the platter sweet or savoury to bring.

It would be fun to see some of the dishes contributed to the fundraising cook book that was such a success. We look forward to welcoming you in Puyloubier and ask as usual that you carpool where possible. Thank you.

We will be reading ‘Mother Courage’ by Berthold Brecht. Please acquire your copies well before time, and contact Una let her know if you wish to come.

Enjoy some afternoon tea & ice cream with us! Please contact Marietta if you would like to come along.

Some of us are getting near the end of our projects and some of us are branching out with new and unusual yarns …..and spending a lot of time undoing stuff and starting again! Did you know that wool has a right side and a wrong side? No, me neither – and this is the first instance that I have ever knitted from both ends of a ball of wool at the same time! Come and join us for another lovely gathering; the hostess provides tea and coffee and you bring your own lunch if you want to. At the time of going to press, we have not yet decided a venue, but if you would like to come along, please contact me and I will let you know where we will be meeting up.

Steph will introduce ‘The Sense of the Ending’, Julian Barnes’ Man Booker Prize winning novel in 2011. The prize was well deserved having already been shortlisted three times for ‘Flaubert’s Parrot’, ‘England, England’ and ‘Arthur and George’.

Barnes, born in 1946 was educated at the City of London School. He was born in Leicester but lived as a teenager in Northwood, Middlesex, the ‘Metroland’ of his first novel and went on to study Modern Languages at Magdalen College, Oxford. After working as a lexicographer on the Oxford English Dictionary, he began a career as a journalist, reviewing for the Times Literary Supplement and became a contributing editor for the New Review in 1977. He was assistant literary editor and television critic for the New Statesman magazine (1977-81) and deputy literary editor for the Sunday Times (1980-82), before becoming television critic of The Observer, where he worked until 1986. He was London correspondent for the New Yorker magazine (1990-95). A collection of these articles were published as Letters from London 1990-95 (1995). During his time at the New Statesman, Barnes suffered from debilitating shyness, saying: “When there were weekly meetings I would be paralyzed into silence, and was thought of as the mute member of staff”. (Wikipedia). Both his parents were French teachers and Barnes' work has been more successful both commercially and critically in France than in his home country. ‘Flaubert's Parrot’ was awarded the Prix Médicis and in 1995 he was made Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. His book ‘Something to Declare: French Essays’ (2002) is a series of essays about French life and culture. He has also edited and translated the first English translation of the French 19th-century novelist Alphonse Daudet's ‘In the Land of Pain’. His wife, literary agent Pat Kavanagh, died of a brain tumor in 2008. He has also written crime fiction under the pseudonym Dan Kavanagh and Edward Pygge.

‘The Sense of Ending’ (short at only 163 pages) is, for me, a typical English novel that conveys the “inwardness, awkwardness and social anxiety that constrict British mores like a very tightly wrapped cummerbund. This suffocating self-consciousness lies at the heart of British humor, whether in the farcical scramble of trying to keep up appearances or the risible but sincere terror of being mocked — which sniping English schoolboys still fear, even when they’re grown up, bald and 70”. (L. Schllinger review. NYT, 10/11/11). This is a novel about the mystery of memory and missed opportunity. I agree with the head judge of the Man Booker Committee, Stella Rimington: “‘The Sense of the Ending’ was a beautifully written book and the panel thought it spoke to humankind in the 21st Century”. The judges took just 31 minutes to decide the winner!

This is the last meeting for the summer and even though we are always a big group, everybody is welcome who has read the book. I would also like to ask everyone to bring the title of a favorite novel for next season. Please let me know what you will be bringing for the pot luck lunch 2 days ahead.

We shall meet at the car park in a little village on the coast, just off the D5 between Le Rove and Carry-le-Rouet. We will start our hike from here taking the coastal footpath towards Méjean, which is another charming village. Somewhere along the way, according to weather conditions etc. we will stop for our picnic lunch and (maybe) enjoy some bathing. Bring the necessary food, drinking water, and sun protection, and wear proper hiking gear. The path is not difficult and the altitude changes are insignificant. At Méjean there is a bar where we will be able to have beverages, and after that we will return to Niolon via the same route. Total hiking time will amount to approximately 4 hours. For any further information please call Roderick. Many thanks.

A ramble is an excuse for a breath of fresh air, some exercise and a picnic in good company. Cornillon Confoux is an ancient village which retains much of its original charm. It is situated at a height of 118 metres. From the town there are wonderful views of the Alpilles, the Ventoux, the Berre d’Etang and the Sainte-Victoire. We will walk through a historic settlement of dry stone huts which were used as stores and shelters long ago.

We insist that walkers wear sturdy walking boots (not tennis shoes). We are fair weather walkers, so if it is wet and windy, the ramble will keep for another time. Always bring plenty of water, as well as your picnic lunch and perhaps something to share (cake or chocolate or a bottle of wine).

It is not necessary to sign up, but if you need a lift, please phone Annie a few days before. Please allow enough time to arrive, park, and sort out your picnic things. We leave on time (in fairness to everyone) and do not wait for latecomers.

June’s book is ‘The Girl in the Polka Dot Dress’ by Beryl Bainbridge. The cost of the meeting will be 4€ to cover costs. If you would like to come along and join our discussion, please contact Marietta.

I am hosting a book discussion group in the evening at my place in Aix. Everyone is invited to present something cultural, which interested them during the month: art, cinema, politics, literature or society. We will consider these topics in the light of multiculturalism - American, English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Indian, Chinese..... I suggest that you read ‘Through Black Spruce’ by Joseph Boyden. Please contact me for further information.

This year will be an Annual Picnic with a difference……..we are going back to the beautifully appointed venue a lot of you will remember from last years` celebrations for the group`s 40th Anniversary. It is now a theme park for children with many attractions which we are able to use free of charge.

The owners of the park request that parents are responsible for their children at all times.

Please remember though, there is not much shade at this venue so you should come prepared with a sunshade and perhaps a picnic table and chairs or blanket. Anything for your comfort ...AAGP caps will be on sale should anyone forget to bring theirs!

There will be a barbecue (for which we would need some of you men folk to volunteer!). Coals and lighters will be available but please bring your own cooking utensils. The group will supply the meats, cheese, bread, soft drinks, wines and beer, with plenty of ice.

Please reserve early as we are hoping for a large turnout for this occasion. There is plenty of room for us to take up a picnic spot and let me know what you will bring for the table, something to accompany the barbecued meats or a dish should you not wish to eat meat. Desserts too! Just let me know.

This is not the cheapest or most generous bar in Marseille but it is a wonderful place to have an evening drink! Please contact Marietta if you want to join us.

‘Tis a Var, Var better place…’

Having journeyed down to the sea last month, we wanted to take you into the heart of the countrified Var in June, for a sunny journée champêtre.

Best laid plans and all that. Unfortunately, the vigneronne who was going to meet us and greet us and treat us to her vrai pistou in her farm cannot do so, as she is currently detained in Draguignan prison, for doctoring her wine, which has been deemed so undrinkable that it has been shipped down to the vinegar factory in Lunel. Though taken aback, your gallant ‘excursionistas’ were undeterred, and have found an interesting alternative for the final excursion before the summer break.

We shall meet at the conveniently located Château (about 30 minutes down the DN7 from Aix), for a ‘corking’ wine visit with a bit of a twist. After José Garcia, the delightful vigneron, has shown us round his cave, we’re going to do a mise en bouteille à l’ancienne. Not on a modern bottling line, but, as in the old days, we’re each filling an individual bottle with rosé from a vat, corking it, sealing it with the capsule and labeling it, with our own personalised labels. After this, we’ll have a tasting of the wines of the domaine, accompanied by Béatrice Garcia’s nibbles.

Back in the cars, personalised bottles (and any others you might like to buy) in the boot, we are heading for a personalised lunch in the lovely surroundings of the Demeure de Cupidon, This is a private table d’hôte - where our locally-sourced meal is being prepared for us by the two charming young men who have been running this place for 3 years and where we’ll eat on the shaded terrace, overlooking the weeping-willowed greenery of the garden, with, in the distance, the village shimmering in the heat haze, surmounted by its impressive church tower. Our menu will be a farandole of melon and ham, followed by magret de canard with figs and gratin dauphinois, then a raspberry and lemon mousse – all served, naturally, alongside wines from Ferrages (and coffee)…

After lunch you’re free to explore Rians, or take in the majestic basilique and couvent cloisters of St Maximin on your way back – a must if you’ve never visited them before. To book your places, email me by June 19th along with the name you want to appear on the bottle label (whether it’s yours or a gift for someone else), & I’ll send you directions then.

Because much of the preparation is being done in advance, I’m going to have to ask you to send me a cheque to confirm your place, for €34 a head (made out to J. Young). This covers the morning tasting, lunch, and of course, your own personalised bottle of rosé.

Every Wednesday in July and August Marietta will be reading her newspaper on the terrace of a boulangérie from 10:00 to 11:30hrs. I will join her as often as possible and hope that you will too!

Any other Marseille functions over the summer will be announced via the One List.

We have been recommended to go to a restaurant in Ansouis in the Luberon. There is a daily market menu at 25€or a four course menu at 37€ with choices; both menus excluding drinks. For full information, or if you would like to be on the Foodie mailing list, please contact me.

We will leave from John and Claudine’s garden and have a walk through the forest for a round trip of about 2 hours and on our return will have our pot luck lunch. You do not have to carry your food on this ramble as we will be having our lunch on garden tables. You are encouraged to bring your swimming costumes and towels should you wish to enjoy the heated pool and Jacuzzi after lunch! What a luxury! As this is a joint ramble and pot luck lunch, it is necessary to reserve. Please call promptly as our numbers are limited for the table and unfortunately there will be no dogs allowed for this ramble. We will do a pot luck menu nearer the date and send directions when you reserve. Please contact me to reserve.

A restaurant in Istres has been making waves over the last couple of years, so we will try Sébastien Richard's menus at various prices between 28€ and 60€ excluding drinks. For full information, or if you would like to be on the Foodie mailing list, please contact me.

Once again, we are invited to the lovely home of John and Claudine for a summer pot luck supper. We are also invited to use their heated swimming pool and jacuzzi (30° and 35° respectively), so come prepared if you would like to use these facilities either before or after the supper. It is necessary to reserve for this event, so please call me. Menus will be sorted out nearer the date. Should anyone need a lift there, please give me plenty of notice and I’ll see what I can do. Directions will be given after reservation.

By popular request, we are returning to a restaurant in Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, well worth its Michelin star. For full information, or if you would like to be on the Foodie mailing list, please contact me.

As well as all the specials listed above, don’t forget the Regular Activities that offer new skills, fun and friendship all year round. Contact details are in your yellow Members’ List book.

Tuesday: Bridge 14:00

Thursday: Coffee (Croquemitoufle) 10-11:30

Wednesday (first): Computer Club 14:30

Friday: French (Aix) 14:30

Friday (last): Poetry Corner
Held in conjunction with Book In Bar

Saturday: Coffee (Croquemitoufle) 10-11:30

Sunday (first): Pétanque 10:30