LISA SIMONE: CONCERT REVIEW

Music in the vines...

Billed as a private party, we joined about 200 lucky souls who spent a most pleasant summer evening on the grounds of Mas de Daumas Gassac, one of France's most unique wineries. We nibbled a variety of hors d'oeuvres, drank as much wine as we thought prudent, enjoyed bits of salmon and herb-encrusted tuna from the plancha, dressed rounds of bread with freshly sliced ham and aioli, gathered around cheese boards that were at least two meters long, and if that wasn't enough, spent an hour and a half or so listening to Lisa Simone both being herself and channeling her mother Nina.

First, a word about Mas de Daumas Gassac. You can read the history HERE. It's the story of a family that just wanted to produce the best wine possible without regard to the rules of French classification. Matching great vines from other areas of France to their impeccable terroir, they proved that the Languedoc was capable of producing wine that challenges the greatest vintages of the rest of the country. If that meant that their wine had to be labelled vin de table or vin de pays, so be it. They would simply produce the best wine that they could produce and let taste decide its worth. As a result of their dedication to craft, their winery is a destination for wine lovers from around the world, offering bottles ranging from under 10€ to over 40€ and more.   

Given that their dedicated following has lifted up Mas de Daumas Gassac perhaps beyond expectation, it's fitting that the Guibert family has decided to provide their friends with something special in return. We were fortunate to have discovered the concert on Lisa Simone's website and knew the venue. We arrived just after 8pm and enjoyed what was billed as a cocktail dinner until the sky darkened. The ropes dropped, we found our seats, and the concert began with an intro from one of the Guibert boys. The musicians came out one at a time, giving us a sample of their individual skills, and then came Lisa.

"Vous etes vous," shouted one of our neighbors in the audience as Lisa talked about her mother. (You are you!) But although Lisa displayed due deference to the memory of her mother, covering Leonard Cohen's Suzanne as her mother did and closing with a rousing rendition of Nina's classic The Work Song, Lisa was Lisa. She's basically a pop singer with a strong voice that contains overtones of blues and folk along with jazz. She plays no instrument but she plays the audience, and does it well, at one point coming down from the stage and roaming up and down the aisles, shaking hands while singing.

Her backing trio displayed their talents individually at various times during the show - an amplified acoustic guitar player, a bassist who played both electric and upright bass, and a drummer with an electric smile and a facility with the variety of rhythms in Lisa's songbook.

In sum,if you have the opportunity to see Lisa Simone, don't delay. She's a treasure.

Not a bad seat in the house, if you don't mind plastic...

Men in blazers and men in shorts, ladies in Capri pants and cocktail dresses...

Fish on the plancha...

Ham like you can't often find in France...

Nothing flashy, just the music...

Into the audience...

Yes, a bit of her mother in that face...

More about our life in France, including concert revues, HERE and HERE.

AUBERGE DE MADALE, COLOMBIERES-SUR-ORB: RESTAURANT REVIEW

Just go there. There's nothing that I can say, nothing that I can show you with pictures, that can sufficiently explain why you should go there. Just go. You will understand.

Oh, there are those who will quibble. This plate had too many flavors. That plate was not properly seasoned. Our server wasn't cheerful. Phooey! If you are looking for something to complain about, you will find something to complain about. If you are that sort of person, then don't go. Stay home. Eat a sandwich in front of the television.

Enough of that.

The driveway leading to the Auberge de Madale is just west of Poujol-sur-Orb off the road to Orlagues. Not well marked. Not well paved. Madale closes after lunch on Sunday and doesn't reopen until lunch on Wednesday. Lunch at noon. Dinner at 20h00. One seating for each meal. Reservations only. (Seriously. RESERVATIONS ONLY.) Cash or check, no plastic. Set menu that changes every two weeks. If you don't like surprises, it's posted on the website. You sit down, you eat what's put in front of you, you drink the house wine, and three hours after you began you are presented with the bill. And the bill is 32 euros per person inclusive of wine and coffee and maybe an aperitif and/or a digestif. Each time, every time. I've heard that special dietary restrictions will be honored. Arrangements must be made beforehand.

If this sounds a bit regimented, I suppose that it is. But it works for us. The food is superb in presentation and execution. Each time. Superb. Every time. The wine is quaffable if not remarkable, from a local vigneron so it doesn't double the cost of the meal as is so often the case. Knowing exactly the number of covers reduces waste to the bare minimum, also contributing to the more than reasonable price. And if you take the time to get to know chef/owner Stephane as he visits your table after your meal, you realize that his formula allows him to play with textures and tastes in a way that's designed both to keep his creative juices flowing and to keep you surprised and amazed. (Raspberries and cherry tomatoes really do complement each other when brought to the mouth together. Who knew?)

There's no sense in discussing in detail each dish that's pictured below. The menu will change by the time that you read this. (In fact, vacation begins 17 September and runs for a month.) Quick notes in the captions will suffice. For more info, visit the website of the Auberge de Madale HERE. For more of my restaurant reviews, you can bring up that page on my blog HERE.

Did I mention? Just go.

Simple, tasty starts. Pickled beet and cured ham. Spread the sun dried tomato puree on the crispy chips standing in that rock

.

Did I mention that the raspberries and tomatoes...? And straw mushrooms wrapped in cheese and gaspacho...

You can just see the oyster leaf covering the green curry at the top.

The fishiest fish dish that I have ever eaten. Perfectly cooked cod. The crabs for the sauce died nobly.

The lemon cream was divine. Had you heard of those little hand grenades of citrus called lemon caviar?

LE GRENIER DE PEPE, TOULOUSE: RESTAURANT REVIEW

Walking into the little space that Le Grenier de Pepe occupies just outside of the old town in Toulouse, you can believe that the dodads and gimcracks that make up the decor came down from someone's attic. Old tools, advertising plaques or plaques with humorous sayings, rusty lamps and broken clocks, all make for the type of atmosphere that some roadside restaurant chains in the US aim for but fail to pull off. In Pepe's Attic, it's genuine and it works.

We arrived at about 7:30 on a weekday evening without a reservation. Naughty children. And since we were a party of three, small two-person tables would have to be pushed together, leaving an empty place in a small room that probably needed to be filled in order to make the single sitting pay. After some thought, we were allowed in. We were fortunate. Within fifteen minutes, at least three other parties without reservations were turned away. 

 Le Grenier de Pepe advertises as a galette and fondue restaurant and those are your choices - an assortment of those fine savory French buckwheat galettes to choose from with crepes for dessert or fondues featuring either cheese or meats. Cathey chose the cheese fondue Normandy - a full pot combining livarot, camembert, Pont l'Eveque, and cider. Hot and tangy and cheesy good. Both Connie and I went for the meat, Connie the duck and beef for me. Connie's hotpot combined herbed cider, mine was white wine based. Connie's full duck breast was sliced quite thin and only required a few moments in the hot broth to cook through. Sweet, sweet duck. My beef was a bit chunky, requiring a bit longer to cook sufficiently, but well worth the wait. We shared from each other and we all agreed that the experience was unique, a fun and rewarding culinary find.

Fun? We were warned by our server that the cheese pot required constant stirring and that I, as the man at the table, was charged with the task. She would keep an eye on me, she said. And she did, pointing to her eye and back at me each time she bustled past our table. She also told us that if we didn't finish our entire meal, we would be required to do go back in the kitchen and do the dishes. Some might have found that sort of server interaction on the familiar side. We didn't and I think that she understood that.

Our dinners came with a choice of a salad or a charcuterie plate. Either made a satisfying start. The mains came with roasted potatoes. I finished with a couple of scoops of ice cream to ease my heated mouth. No other dessert. No coffees or digestifs. Rose en pichet for the girls and a beer for me. 80,50 euros total.

Well worth the price. Recommended.

Read the rest of my restaurant reviews HERE.

 

LENOVO TAB 3 710F ESSENTIAL (7" Tablet): PRODUCT REVIEW

I don't normally do product reviews. You see, I'm not the typical American consumer. I live quite simply. I wring the life out of everything that I buy and only replace when I can't repair. On top of that, I'm quite the dinosaur when it comes to electronics. That's not to say that I'm not adept. I'd call myself a moderately proficient user. Before I retired, I was the in-house IT first call at my agency. When a co-worker had a problem with their desktop, they called me in and I was the one who decided if more professional (and costly) assistance was required. 80% of the time, I could find the problem and get things up and running again. And I could do more than turn it off and turn it on again.

But I don't own a smart phone. Being connected everywhere, all of the time, is not my idea of a peaceful retirement. I'm not a gamer...not even the simple Facebook stuff. And I don't stream videos from my tablet except for the occasional bits and pieces that come up on news and sports sites. When I want to watch a movie or binge Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, I hook my laptop up to my TV.

I do make significant use of my tablet, though. In the morning with my coffee, I check my email, cruise Flipboard, and scroll through the headlines on Yahoo Sports! I respond to any comments on  my Facebook page or my blog. When I go to a doctor's office or the vet or accompany The Southern Woman That I Married shopping, I bring my tablet and read from my Kindle library. And, of course, I take pictures. Seldom selfies. I know what I look like. But it is nice to have a camera handy in the south of France.

Don't worry. I'm getting to it.

My trusty Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 died recently. Yes, I'm an Android guy. And I decided to remain an Android guy. My wife's iPad is nice enough but I just don't think that it's worth the money. She'd still be using her Nexus 7 if our niece hadn't gifted her the iPad. I don't find the iPad to be intuitive to operate and I do find it to be as buggy as any other operating system if it decides to be. So when my Samsung died, I went up on the tech sites that published reviews, cruised Youtube box openings, and read buyer reviews on Amazon and elsewhere.

The object of the exercise? A simple, cost-effective internet cruiser for the purposes outlined above.

The result of my research? The Lenovo Tab 3 710F Essential. About two months ago, it was available on Amazon (.fr) for 69,99 euros plus 12,50 for a good cover with magnetic closure.

What do you get for pennies compared to the big names in tablets? In my view, a surprisingly useful device. Internet browsing is quick and efficient. 1 GB RAM and the quad core processor seem to be quite enough. I've gathered all of my email accounts into the Gmail app and never miss a missive. Flipboard loads and flips properly as do the pages of my Kindle books. The reviews give the tablet's display resolution poor marks but I find graphics crisp and clean enough. Bluetooth streaming from TuneIn to my stereo works as it should. And whether or not the cleaning program that I use regularly is helpful, after two months of several hours of daily usage I can detect no slowing.

And don't forget, although Lenovo is owned by the Chinese, it is IBMs former personal computer manufacturer, it partners with NEC to provide personal computers for the Japanese market, and is the world's most prolific unit vendor of personal computers. 

There are flaws. At 69,99 you would expect there to be. It's plastic. Well put together but plastic all the same. You really need a good case to protect your investment, minimal as it is. The volume and on/off bars are not particularly well placed but are not inaccessible. The camera isn't very good and won't save directly to a micro SD card should you choose to install one to save space on your 8 GB hard disk. I did. I solved the problem by deleting the camera app and downloading one that had the features that I wanted. I carry a camera most of the time anyway. But that's about it as far as flaws are concerned...for me, anyway. In my estimation, the Lenovo works as well as my Galaxy Tab 2 did when it was new and the Lenovo costs about one-third as much. What's not to like?

Recommended.

AUBERGE DE REALS - RESTAURANT REVIEW

One of the pleasures of living in this part of the world is discovering new places to enjoy well-prepared, reasonably priced meals in pleasant surroundings with congenial hosts. Auberge de Reals typifies that pleasure. The restaurant is located near a picturesque bridge over the Orb River off the main road between Cazouls-les-Beziers and Cessenon sur Orb. The view from the terrace must be quite nice in summer but we came in late January and so had to 'settle' for the main dining room with its crackling fire, stone walls, wooden beams, and tile floors. Be aware, in winter the Auberge is closed Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. We joined a healthy Thursday lunch crowd, very congenial, many of whom seemed to be local regulars.

Service was attentive without being intrusive, pleasant without being overly familiar. Given the nearly full house, our orders arrived surprisingly briskly, not hurried but not as leisurely as some restaurants in the region.

We ordered from the daily formula. Our salads came with a chunk of buttery fresh bread topped with a slice of quality goat cheese broiled just right. Simple greens, small wedges of tomato, slices of mushroom, and a mustardy cream sauce. Cathey ordered the fish casserole, chunks of white-fleshed fish (cod?) in a creamy sauce with carrots and with a lightly breaded crust. Tasty and a proper portion. Her side of rice was delicately flavored, not the typically bland side carb. I had the andouillette, a funky trash-meat sausage grilled properly and accompanied by a mound of crisp fries and another little taste of dressed greens. For dessert, Cathey had a flan-like citrus cream chock full of orange zest and I had the floating island topped with shaved, roasted almonds. Fitting endings.

With a demi of rosé (presented in a bucket of ice) and coffee for me, our total bill came to 33 euros. That's 12,50 each for the three-course formula plus wine and coffee. More than reasonable. We'll bring friends. Often.

Read more of my reviews HERE.

LE TERMINUS, CRUZY - RESTAURANT REVIEW

When Cathey suggested that we have lunch out on Sunday and that we stick close by, Le Terminus immediately came to mind. It's just down the road, we've eaten there on several occasions, and we've always enjoyed it. So I was surprised to find that I'd never fully reviewed Le Terminus as I searched through my blog. True, it appeared on a couple of lists of restaurants worth a visit. But a formal review? Nope. Couldn't find one. So here goes.

Located in the old train station between the towns of Quarante and Cruzy, the new young owners have created a thriving, bustling dining experience. In the summer, there are tapas nights with music. Special meals are featured on major holidays, even for take-out. The 16 euro lunch menu is always interesting. So Le Terminus is a local hotspot. On the Sunday that we arrived, the shabby-chic main dining room was fully packed. (And a bit noisy...) And the 16 euro weekday formula menu had morphed into a 30 euro menu. But one expects paying a premium for quality weekend dining.

I was a bit surprised at the extent of that premium, but more on that later.

A small dish of lucques, local olives fresh off the tree, greeted us at the table. No amusée bouche was forthcoming. We chose from the aforementioned 30 euro menu. Cathey started with the rouget (red mullet). Properly (barely) cooked, the two little filets came on a bit of greens with a slice of grainy toast,\ with red pepper tapenade and a chunk of chèvre de Combebelle (the especially fine local goat cheese) underneath. Just perfect. I chose an off menu recommendation from the server, an assortment of cured hams. Tasty, enough for two, and the cause of the aforementioned premium. (Wait for it...)

We both chose the Charolais beef tartare for our main, topped with shaved Parmesan, light greens, and bits of dark toasted olive crumble. You either like tartare or you don't. We do. To be special, the tartare has to be fresh, really fresh, and naturally sweet. It was. We were both quite happy.

I chose a chocolate confection with a caramelized crust at the bottom for dessert. (See the pic.) I've said it before. The French know chocolate. Scrumdiddlyumptious. Cathey's baba was the one disappointment. For us, a baba is about the sponge and the rum. This baba was confined to a cutesy Mason jar and covered in a thick and unnecessary layer of chantilly. It's considered a specialty of the house and, from the number of servings that came out of the kitchen, it's a customer favorite. Had she known, however, Cathey would definitely have tried something different. Not a total loss, mind you. Just not Cathey's idea of a baba.

With a bottle of Mas de Cynanque rose (local, clean, bio, at 13%) and a bottle of still water, the total bill came to 92,65 euros. That's about 12 euros more than I expected. Why? Apparently, my choice of the cured hams at the start meant that I was off the formula and ordering a la carte. Maybe my French wasn't good enough to understand that would be the case when the server announced the choices. But it was a surprise and frankly, if I had realized that would be the case, I might have ordered differently.

Water under the bridge. A fine meal, prepared well, presented well, served well. We'll be back...and be more careful when ordering off menu and choosing desserts.

Read more of my reviews HERE.

LE FAITOUT, BERLOU - RESTAURANT REVIEW

Beautiful setting. Good friends. Agreeable service. Tasty food. End of review.


That's never the case, is it? You deserve more.


Berlou is a small village in the hills well north of Beziers. You just find the village, park, and there's Le Faitout, an old stone building on the Rieuberlou, a fast-flowing stream that eventually finds its way to the Orb. We chose to eat outside on a mild spring day so we can't report on the interior amenities. No need. Beautiful day. Beautiful views.

Five of six in our party chose the special of the day. We began with an amusee, a puree of anchovies and tomato. The start consisted of a ring of mackerel salad with a bit of fresh minced radish arranged on top. A small duck breast followed, covered with honeyed onions and sitting on olive oil-infused mashed potatoes. All courses arrived with edible flowers. Our host ordered the trout, presented to him whole before cooking for his approval. I was the only one in the party to try the dessert - vanilla-bean panna cotta with strawberries. (The sacrifices that we make for our art.) Coffee came with a frozen chocolate confection. During the meal, the six of us finished off two bottles of suitable pink from the local cave cooperatif.

All was prepared properly, served properly, and properly priced. A most pleasant meal. I can't be more exact about pricing. I was a guest and didn't ask. But the menu listed combinations for the menu du jour - starter and main, main and dessert, or all three - starting at 16 euros. Tasting menus ranged up to 52 euros for five courses.

Visit Le Faitout. Beautiful setting. Agreeable service. Tasty food. End of review.

Read more of my reviews HERE.

LA TARTINE, ALBI - RESTAURANT REVIEW

Tourists in France are fortunate that they are touring in France. Unlike restaurants in other places that can count sightseers as a captive audience, restaurants in France simply will not succeed unless they pay more than minimal attention to the quality of the food that they are serving. As a result, and as I have said before, an average restaurant in France is better than most restaurants in other parts of the world. A case in point is La Tartine in Albi.

Let's face it. If your restaurant is located in a UNESCO World Heritage Site, right across from the entrance to the beautiful riverside gardens and the Toulouse-Latrec Museum, in sight of the cathedral, you could serve corn dogs on a stick and sell them out most days. La Tartine does not sell corn dogs on a stick. It does serve reasonably solid food at a decent price. That's not meant to damn with faint praise. That is exactly what La Tartine should be doing.

Of the four of us in the party, two chose the cassoulet de Toulouse and two chose the menu of the day. Connie started with a green salad topped with Roquefort and walnuts followed by a joint of chicken from the plancha and frites. I had an onion tarte with a small side salad followed by a grilled link of Toulouse sausage and frites. For our desserts, Connie had sugared crepes and I had a small slab of dense chocolate cake with creme Anglais and whipped cream. The crust of the cassoulet may not have been broken seven times but the cassoulet tasted as a cassoulet should. The frites were reconstituted but hot and plentiful. My single link of sausage, though tasty, did look a bit lonely on the plate. The most telling commentary may be that the only truly noteworthy dish of all of the dishes was the chocolate cake.

With two demis of wine and coffees at the finish, the tab ran just under 80 euros.

This is France. Average can be a good thing.

Read more of my reviews HERE.

AUBERGE DES JACOBINS, NARBONNE - RESTAURANT REVIEW

Saunter along the renovated pedestrian spaces bordering the Canal de la Robine in Narbonne and you'll find a variety of restaurants vying for your business. We've tried a few. We have a few more to try. But the other day, about a block off the Canal on the Les Halles side, off the beaten track and out of view of the Canal, we came upon the Auberge des Jacobins. We're glad that we did.


The Auberge is a small space, just a few tables outdoors on the sidewalk, about three tables indoors in the shade looking out, and some tables up a few steps in a room in the back that we didn't inspect. On a midweek day, having arrived a bit after noon for lunch without a reservation, the trade kept the single waitress hopping. But she was attentive and timely. And when we finished, as busy as she was, she was happy to spend some time chatting with the Americans.

We started with small salads, anchovy and smoked duck and chevre chaud. Three of our party of four went for the plat of the day, a chunk of fresh cod, lightly breaded with a parsley sauce, accompanied by potatoes pureed with artichoke. All properly done and well priced at 9 euros. I had the duck breast with frites. The duck had been grilled hot and fast and was just right. The frites could have been crisper but serviceable. For dessert, I had a loose custard with a burnt crust adorned with raspberries. Hot and tasty. The brioche pain perdue was a real hit.

With two demis of wine (Too expensive, but isn't it always?) and coffee at the finish, the tab just broke 100 euros. Just fine for a leisurely meal. So...

Better than average. Good but not outstanding.

For more restaurant reviews and foodie info, click HERE.

LA MENINO, CARCASSONNE - RESTAURANT REVIEW

It's hard to give a restaurant less than a sterling review if you had a perfectly adequate meal at a reasonable price. Isn't that what we all expect? But isn't that the point, as well? An adequate meal at a good price should be the average. And in France, it is the average.

So La Menino is an average French restaurant and that's OK by me.

La Menino is about the closest restaurant to the airport outside of Carcassonne that doesn't serve fast food. We couldn't find our TripAdvisor choices, Bad mapping or bad navigation, so we settled for what we could find. The joint was jumping when we arrived for lunch at about 1:00pm. We showed ourselves to the only available table, a table for two, in a room that had seating for about 40. The waitress found us soon enough and, upon learning that we were native English speakers, stopped her perfectly understandable French spiel and sent over her colleague, very pleasant and helpful. No menu, just the deals of the day. 15 euros, all inclusive. The mains were grilled pork; a casserole featuring cabbage, bacon, and onions; and a joint of roast chicken. Cathey and I both chose the pork.

We began at the simple apero buffet - charcuterie mostly for me, salad for Cathey. Nothing special but just enough to make up a plate. The pork was done properly, hot and fast. The chips (fries, for my American audience) were reconstituted but plentiful and hot. Cathey chose the fromage blanc with strawberry jam (homemade, not store bought) and I had a small dish of creamy chocolate (mousse?) with a side of creme anglaise. With a demi of pink (surprisingly good quality) and coffee at the end, the total came to 30 euros...15 apiece as advertised with no ups.

So, the food was proper. The service pleasant and timely. The price was right. All as it should be.

This is France. Average is just fine.

Check out all the reviews HERE.

ME GUSTA TAPAS, BEZIERS - RESTAURANT REVIEW

The Polygone in Beziers near the train station is about as modern a shopping experience as you will find in the region. There are dozens of little boutiques trying their best to be trendy on two floors surrounding an open atrium. There are chains like chocolatier Jeff de Bruges and book/CD/DVD/crafts vendor Cultura. There's a major grocer, a cineplex, and even a bowling alley. And, of course, a food court. On the roof. We passed up Subway and tried Me Gusta Tapas.

It's a nice space with outdoor tables, tables enclosed by glass but still with an exterior feel, and an indoor room. Comfortable chairs and well-spaced tables. Friendly service, attentive without being intrusive. Some English.

We both ordered from the tapas menu. Cathey chose the eponymous Me Gusta Tapas, one of several assortments. The full plate included green olives, black olives and cucumber with bits of feta, chicken wings, grilled red and green peppers, bread slices spread with garlicky diced tomatoes, Serrano ham, bits of pork on a skewer, and fried potatoes with a house sauce. Cathey especially liked the crusty croquettes of creamy mashed potatoes and bits of ham. I had meat - Serrano, chorizo, and bellota - along with the tomato bread and a small green salad. Meat. Lots of meat.

All in all, if not dazzlingly inventive, the food was fresh, tasty, and filling.

With a glass of sangria for Cathey, a Spanish beer on tap for me, and a coffee for me at the finish, the total came to 45.90 euros. Given a coupon that was worth 3 euros for parking, well worth the price for a hefty, enjoyable, leisurely food court meal.

Read more of my reviews HERE.