Provence Se Prononce

There are many things that I am sitting here wanting to write about today. I want to write about how in the last few weeks in Vancouver, my city, we had both amazing sun and surprise of rain. So the one part, I will write about a dish that was just a slice of sun to my palate. And the other thing I will write about are the foods I crave when Vancouver has its rain. Let's start with my blog.
Continue reading "Heaven on a plate. Sun on a ... »

Like every pretty girl, I, similarly, enjoy good fanfare and appropriate commotion. To my luck, without prior notice really, the Olympic Torch was carried, passing right in front of my restaurant, Provence Mediterranean Grill, on West 10th avenue, Point Grey, Vancouver, British Columbia.

I excused myself from my staff, I am always polite, and went outside to see the torch bearer. The torch was very unique. I had seen torches before. It was curvy. The whole torch was white. I could not believe that that flame came all the way from Greece. There were hundreds of people on the street watching the torch bearing and it was all just so happy. My bonus at the end of all the this was that 7 ,8 torch watchers, Olympic participants, walked right into my restaurant after all was said and done. I enjoyed particularly serving them. Some of them ordered the restaurant's Beef Tenderloin and some of them ordered Tuna Risotto. It was rainy and slightly cold outside. They warmed up.

You cannot imagine the pride we Canadians are living today. To have the Winter Olympics with a torch, a torch bearer, Olympic stars, international organizing committees, right outside your backyard, is a joy. I will share my food with this any day. From Provence Restaurants.

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As passions go mine is cooking. On Valentine's Day at the restaurant, Provence Mediterranean Grill, I see every year people showing their love for family and friends and it just touches my heart. To be part of all this takes my love way beyond the usual day. A plate of Prawns Provencal becomes an occasion with family and groups of friends. Of course you know that here I'm talking about Valentine's Day.
Continue reading "It's Valentine's Today" »

It's been more than 11 years since we opened our first restaurant and if there is one thing that still holds true to our mission, it's that we want to give people a place that serves good tasty food in a warm friendly environment. A home away from home. Which is what we wanted to simulate in our cookbook "New World Provence, Modern French Cooking for Friends and Family" So it was such a pleasure to receive a recent email from a customer who had just bought our cookbook and wrote to tell us of the recipes they tried. I would like to share that email with you as it totally mirrors our own journey.

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Continue reading "A Family Coming Together" »

Skip the flowers, the jewels, the chocolates, all I want is to be fed Mediterranean Sea Urchin off a rock in Corsica. Well, I guess I can honestly say this dream has already come true for me. It's the best romantic gesture my husband ever made. There have been others since then but that was truly off the scale! Here is an excerpt from our cookbook "New World Provence, Modern French Cooking with Friends and Family" on our first vacation together.....
Continue reading "A Dream Recipe for Love!" »

First I'd like to wish everyone a very Happy New Year! As usual, time keeps passing at a ridiculous rate. Keeping this blog up to date has been a challenge but at the same time please know that my husband and I are always on hand to have a dialogue with you. Please send us your comments or concerns or just drop in the say hello in person at either of our restaurants.

Continue reading ""Dine In" Provence" »

Last week I had the privilege to sit down in my own restaurant and be treated to a wonderful meal created by my husband and his talented team to showcase the wines of "Paul Jaboulet Aîné." I also had the honour to meet Mr. Nicolas Jaboulet who was on a promotion tour and came to the restaurant for the dinner to talk to the group about the winery and the wines we had matched with each course.

Continue reading "Heard it through the Grapevine" »

First allow me to explain where this request comes from. We recently had a customer come in for dinner with his family. And according to the letter I received two weeks after the fact their dinner was a big disappointment or as he put it "this was a disaster. It was not even an alright experience on any account." However the first paragraph of the letter praised Provence and he said he has been a long time customer with many pleasant experiences in the past. But this one time was "sub par."
Continue reading "I have a request..." »

As we know, all good things come to an end. Like our vacation for example! Yes, we're back in Vancouver missing the sweet smell of lavender fields in Provence. But there really is no place like home. And "home" for us is Vancouver.
Continue reading "A Passion for Picnics" »

We've now moved on to Marrakesh, Morroco. Many of our friends warned us of the heat in July and August and yes I will confirm that it is very hot. But really not unbearable. We are staying at tranquil oasis called Villa Vanille, outside of the Medina. Our first evening we went to the Medina not really knowing what to expect other than whatever we buy we must bargain with the vendor. We arrived early and within minutes we were whisked away by a friendly Morrocan gentleman who charmingly offered to take us to the "Riad Des Epices" How did he know this might interest us??? He guided us down some narrow pathways until we got to the entrance of the Riad. Continue reading "Marvelous Marrakesh" »

Two days in Nice was certainly not enough but so much appreciated either way. We were spoiled by our friends Dominique et Danielle Le Stanc. The first night we had the pleasure of eating at an old friends' restaurant called Rendezvous chez des amis. The owner Isabelle is a chef JF and I worked with her at the hotel Negresco 18 years ago! Most restaurants have set menus, as did hers. For 25 Euros you get an appetizer, main course and dessert. Danielle and I had the Loup de Mer with a fresh mediterranean salsa. JF had a delicious Chicken stew with Saffron and Pastis flambee. To accompany all the main courses they served the most delicious creamy polenta I have ever tasted. Very low cal I'm sure!
More to come about Nice......

It didn't take long before the flavours of Provence that can really only be found in Provence were upon us. Mamie Suzanne had a simple dinner ready for us when we arrived on Friday night. It was a quiet dinner juste "en famille" so we could get re-aquatinted. She served a very blue Roast Beef studded with garlic and some hand made raviolis aux cèpes (porcini mushroom sauce). As well as my favourite saucisson de l'Ardeche (dry salami) with an abundance of Rosé to wash it all down.
Continue reading "Eat, Drink and Eat again..." »

My vow to only eat insanely delicious and mouthwatering French food while on vacation was quickly broken as soon as we got to YVR. In an effort to clean out the fridge before leaving we were quite famished when we arrived at the airport around 4pm. We decided to stop in and have a bite at KOHO bar on the departures level. All I really wanted was a soup while the boys opted for burgers and wings. As soon as our food arrived it was obvious that just by the looks of the Minestrone I wasn't going to like it. My kids quickly reminded me that "whilst in a BAR just order BAR FOOD!!" Their greasy wings were looking real good to me! So I sent back the soup and ordered a plate of wings of my own. Ok, so we got the airport food out of the way. Thoughts of my mother-in-law's tasty slow cooked delights kept me optimistic that I would survive yet the next culinary disaster--PLANE FOOD!!! "Chicken or Pasta" asked the flight attendant. Oh ya, my favourite, Chicken Piperade with overcooked grey broccoli and white rice! The only consellation to the meal was at one point I looked outside the window to my right, praying for strength to get me through this flight, there before me was an incredible vision of our moon rising!! Then suddenly a few bright rays of light drew my eyes to the window to the left side of the plane where simutaneously there was the brilliance of our sun descending upon the horizon. It was magical. Now, what did I say I was eating?? No matter, see you in Marseille...

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Barely made it through June, in a good way! If you haven't seen my husband or I too much around the restaurant its because we had so many events going on in the last few weeks of June. My son Matisse graduated grade 7 so we hosted the "Grad" party, had a staff party for our wonderful employees a couple days later, catered a lunch for all the teachers at our sons' school a couple days after that, then the very next day hosted a birthday for Matisse and his friend Natalia of which they got their picture in Saturdays Sun! Then ended the week with a party for my very dear friend from San Diego who is staying with us for a couple of weeks. So needless to say its been buffet to barbeque and back several times with only joy in our hearts to be able to share our love for food and friendship and celebration!

My girlfriend and I decided to plan a little surprise culinary outing for the men in our lives yesterday. It was a little tricky because I wasn't sure how I was going to get JF and my son Remi (Matisse couldn't come because of a dance rehearsal) up at 6:30am on a cold Sunday morning in order to meet our friends at the Caulfield Safeway in West Van. At which point we would all get into one car and head for the Nanaimo Ferry departing at 8:30am.That was all the info I could give them in order to keep it a surprise. With a few moans and groans the boys pulled themselves together and we made it on time. Upon arriving in Nanaimo there were a few stops to make before going to our final destination. Our first stop was the "True Grain Mill" Bakery in the Cowichan Bay Village.
Continue reading "Fab Fare at Fairburn Farm!" »