Category: france

Postcard from Aix-en-Provence, France: Vegetarian, Italian, North African, and, oh, French flavors

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A decorative postage stamp featuring a French baguette with a blue, white, and red ribbon.

Above: Shrimp risotto at Lou Mao

Off we go through the alphabetical list of restaurants we tried in Aix-en-Provence. The “c” ones clump together first – ones that would make a Happy Cow vegetarian list – but simply scroll down farther if you are vegetable-averse. Meat and fish are much easier to find than vegetable dishes when eating out.

The tomato Saint Marcelin salad and an ample vegetarian mezze bowl at the pleasant Cafe du Temps helped reward our quest for vegetables. The seitan burger was not to our tastes; we prefer veggie burgers that taste more like vegetables.

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Postcard from Europe: Home’s where the boat floats

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Colorful stamp depicting boats on water, with artistic brush strokes and a sunny backdrop.

Above: Houseboats docked along a London canal

Tensions have been rising between the managers of Britain’s canals, others who use them, and the nomadic narrowboaters, revered by some as bohemian travelers and disdained by others as maritime squatters.”

“Britain’s Canalboat Nomads Fear New Rules Will Sink Their Way of Life,” Steve Hendrix, The Washington Post, August 29. 2025

I had seen canalboats before, yet London was the first place I became fascinated with the lifestyle of those who operated them. Clueless as to how the system worked.

Now I know, there are boats with permanent berths, and then there are “travelers,” wanderers required to shove off after two weeks in one spot. Many of these are not short-term vacationers but long-term residents who rove about the canals tying up their houses fortnightly.

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Postcard from Nice, France: Keep diving for pearls of flavor

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A postage stamp depicting an open oyster with a blue background, labeled 'Les huîtres' and marked with a value of 0.50€ from La Poste 2004.

Above: A no. 2 oyster, probably a Charente Maritime, dressed with a dash of vinegar at Le Gambetta

And I had my first oyster. Now, this was a truly significant event. I remember it like I remember losing my virginity – and in many ways, more fondly….

I took it in my hand, tilted the shell back into my mouth as instructed by the now beaming Monsieur Saint-Jour and with one bite and a slurp, wolfed it down. It tasted of seawater…of brine and flesh…and somehow…of the future. Everything was different now. Everything. I’d not only survived – I’d enjoyed.”

Anthony Bourdain, Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, 2000

Anthony Bourdain credits an oyster tasted in France when he was ten years old for propelling him toward a lifetime obsession with flavor. While this Virginia Beach native loves oysters now, it certainly was not love at first swallow. I didn’t learn to enjoy them un-fried or un-Rockefellowed until late in high school.

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