Adele abroad: Home Cooking.

So, given that I have been absent for the past two weeks from my blog I have had to come up with a plan to relay my adventures to everyone. I have decided to recount my journey by geographic location, so without further ado, I present the South-East of France. I have also decided for purposes of clarity that it will be easiest if I use names, however to protect the anynomity of all involved I have decided to only use the first letter of everyone's name. Not that I think people will be upset to appear on my blog, however I haven't recieved consent to write about them, so this seems like the best option.

So on Friday morning my friend S and I set off to visit her relatives, P&M. They live in a small town just outside of Perpignan called Thuir and were kind enough to come and meet us at the train station. The train ride was incredibly busy given that massive amounts of people were traveling home to visit their relatives and we ended up sitting in fold out seats across from the toilet. Its the area generally reserved from bikes and ski's, but since there weren't too many this didn't pose much of an issue. Our trip was however made interesting my the 4 men sitting in the same area of the train. France is quite different from Canada in that people are allowed to drink in public areas (trains, streets, buses etc) and pets appear to be allowed everywhere. So these men were rather inebriated and were drinking wine, their dog was also with them. They were quite a sight, but they definitely made that particular section of the train ride far more interesting (we changed trains 3 times).

Train trip aside, once arrive in Perpignan I got to see some really interesting photos taken by P&M of the Sanch procession. Its a tradition carried over from medieval times and happens in southern areas at Easter time every year. I believe that the tradition is that the clergy accompanies the condemned to the gallows. However, because at the time public stoning was common, everyone wore robes and hats to cover their faces a la KKK. This was to prevent the condemned from being killed before arriving at the gallows. The procession also involves what appears to be all of the churches statues and other important artifacts (for lack of a better word) being removed from the church and taken through the city. They are carried by loyal members of the congregation. The photos were remarkable, and I can only imagine what it would have been like in person. If you want to learn more about the Sanch procession this website has quite a good summary.

P&M were incredibly gracious and warm hosts and it was lovely to have all the comforts of a home. S and I each got our own room, both with very comfortable beds. We also ate and drank like kings (or rather queens). I was able to try boles de picolat (a regional dish), had some paté (not quite for me) as well as delicious bbq`d tuna steak and so much more. We were also lucky enough to have dessert every day and we sampled some delicious cakes purchased from a local bakery, had delicious baked apples with honey, almonds and cinnamon, chocolate lava cake as well a delicious panna cotta (with coconut and honey). Furthermore we were lucky enough to same regional wines and champagnes that we also often paired with local cheeses. I also finally sampled the local specialty alcohol which is called pastis. In the southern area of France it is the aperitif par excellence. For those who aren`t aware, and aperitif is almost exactly like and appetizer but consists of alcohol instead food. Anyhow, pastis is an anise based, very strong alcohol that tastes exactly like incredibly strong black licorice. Luckily for me I really like black licorice, otherwise this experience would have been very unpleasant. Anyhow, it is always served over ice and diluted with water. Definitely not for the weak of heart, or those who don`t appreciate the taste of anise.

From the above description it might appear that all we did was eat. This was however not the case at all, P&M were excellent guides and showed S and I many of the sights in the region. We visited the Market in Ceret as well as the modern art museum and enjoyed a lovely lunch in a picturesque outdoor square. The modern art museum was a little lost on me, but there were quite a few very famous painting by artists such as Chagall, Picasso, Miro and Matisse. It appears that Ceret inspired many of these artists and many of the painting were actually of Ceret itself. Quite cool. On the way back from Ceret we drove through the Pyrenees which were beautiful. Sadly I didn`t think to take any pictures from the car window.

We also went to P & M`s seaside apartment in Port Vendres another afternoon and were able to appreciate the lovely view`s. On our way back we passed through the very touristy, but equally lovely town of Collioure.

On our last day with P&M they were kind enough to take us to the Salvador Dali museum in Figueres (in Spain). For those who have never heard of Dali before, he was a very prominent Spanish surrealist painter. Though I am no expert, surrealism was explained to me as incorporating elements of reality in unusual ways, you`ll get a better idea when you look at the photos later on.