Jan 23, 2008

A Year in Provence

Peter Mayle,

BCID = 753-2032350

Taken from the back cover of the book:

In this witty and warm-hearted account, Peter Mayle tells what it is like to realize a long-cherished dream and actually move into a 200-year-old stone farmhouse in the remote country of the Luberon with his wife and two large dogs. He endures January's frosty mistral as it comes howling down the Rhone Valley, discovers the secrets of goat racing through the middle of town, and delights in the glorious regional cuisine. A Year in Provence transports us into all the earthly pleasures of Provencal life and lets us live vicariously at a tempo governed by seasons, not by days.

I love how they divided the chapters as per the months of the year. So he detailed the weather and the food of that month, plus what what have happened and their progress of the renovation of the house they have purchased.

I have been to Paris in 1997. Even though we had a long list of places to pay a visit (must go according to dad which I truly agree. To the extent that my officemate followed the same route - took my journal with her), but it does not pay true homage to France as a country. The author mentioned the two endeavors in which country leads the world: bureaucracy (it is the only country that have billed the privacy law) and gastronomy (which goes without saying. Every page whets up an appetite and not just for ordinary food though. My first experiment, to purchase a bottle of curried cheese in olive oil and dip in French bread).