• Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Snapchat
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

MsMarmiteLover

  • Food
    • Recipes
    • Vegetarian
    • Vegan
  • Travel
    • France
    • Italy
    • Spain
    • UK
  • Wine
  • Gardens
  • Supperclubs/Events
  • About
    • Press
    • Books
  • Shop
    • Cart

A diamond wedding anniversary in Provence: love and recipes

September 11, 2019 2 Comments Filed Under: Food, France, French, Lifestyle, Recipes, Supper clubs, Uncategorized, Vegetarian

  • Diamond wedding diner en blanc, L'escalet beach, France pic: Kerstin Rodgers/msmarmitelover.com

I spent five weeks in France this summer at my parent’s house near Port Grimaud in Provence, Var. Sadly, this is the last time as they are selling the house this autumn. Having a second home is a brilliant fantasy but the reality is you spend your whole time fixing, repairing and cleaning. My parents are now nearing their mid-80’s and they can’t continue.

I’ve been going virtually every summer since 2005. When I look back at my photos, they are repetitively beautiful: the full moon in a dark starry sky, provencal markets, cocktails by the pool, sunset at the beach, plates and rusty metal things from Jas de Robert, chestnuts and mushrooms in autumn, fireworks from the terrace, leafy yet regimented grapevines that will be squeezed into pink and grey wines, rambling family dinners, frogs in the pool, bloated blinking toads in my bedroom, wasps in my car engine, snakes dropping from pastel shutters, boars and cork oaks, the gleaming white yachts of Saint Tropez.

  • Var, Provence pix: Kerstin Rodgers/msmarmitelover.com

My mum hates it. She hates the weather, the French, the terrible restaurants, the expense, the traffic, the isolation. She’s very deaf and although when she was younger she was fluent in French, it’s difficult for her now.

My dad loves it. He watches football on the giant telly. He likes the English ex-pat blokes down there (in the winter it’s all men), the music, the heat. As he eats meat, he likes the restaurants too.

  • Saint Tropez bay, Var, Provence pix: Kerstin Rodgers/msmarmitelover.com

I lived there for a year in the mid-noughties, putting my kid into the local French comprehensive. It was miserable as a single mother. In winter there is no work, everything is shut: the restaurants, the bars, the shops. The French aren’t that friendly, even if you do speak fluent French. Most of the English ex-pats are criminals and alcoholics. Everybody is on the run. From England, from child maintenance and children, from the law, from drizzly northern cities, from ordinary unglamorous British lives. Every oddball, renegade, chancer and fantasist lives down there on the Cote d’Azure. Everybody has a past, and nobody wants to acknowledge it.

It was so lonely, I spent all day watching made-for-TV movies and drinking rosé. Rosé quaffing would start at 11am, after the mums had done the school run, and the shop. We’d meet in the cafe opposite Leclerc in Cogolin and start on the apero. The women, all married, would bitch about their husbands and wonder aloud about plastic surgery. God it was boring. After a few months of this, my kidneys started to hurt.

As a Londoner I found it difficult to live in a small community. Living in a city of eight million people, I’m used to a certain amount of anonymity. During the off-season months, I was part of a community of around 50 people. Fifty bored people who gossiped viciously about each other and of course, about me, the weirdo single mum who read books and didn’t drink much.

  • jas de robert, Provence, Var pix: Kerstin Rodgers/msmarmitelover.com

Every Sunday morning I’d visit the Jas de Robert brocante market, the highlight of my week. It’s where I gathered my collection of antique French kitchenware. One thrilling morning Johnny Depp turned up with his kids. My daughter and her friends shook his hand. He waswas very charming and friendly, and interested in meeting other bilingual children. The entirety of Port Grimaud knew about this within the hour. Nothing is private in a small community.

If I lived there today, it wouldn’t be so bad, at least I’d have the internet, although it never works consistently. Power cuts and mud slides are also regular events. It’s a strange place- somehow simultaneously rural and built-up.

  • Diamond wedding picnic on the beach, Provence, Var pix: Kerstin Rodgers/msmarmitelover.com

This year the outstanding event was my parents 60th wedding anniversary. Perhaps they will get a letter from the Queen. Although the big celebration will be in October, the actual date was in July. I decided to host a ‘diner en blanc’ on the beach.

  • live music at L'escalet beach, Provence, Var pix: Kerstin Rodgers/msmarmitelover.com

Every Monday night throughout the summer there is live music, free, at l’Escalet beach. This is a particularly unspoilt place, unlike some of the beaches further up the coast which are actually builder’s sand, rough and yellow, plonked next to the sea. At l’Escalet, the water is clear and the band play backlit by the setting sun, framed by rocks, gentle waves and boats on the horizon. It’s absolutely gorgeous.

  • beach picnic, Provence pic: Kerstin rodgers/msmarmitelover.com

My mum didn’t want a fuss so we had to do it secretly. My sister sneaked the chairs and tables into my van, plus vases of flowers, lanterns for candles, proper white china plates and bowls, snowy table linen and real glasses. Somehow my parents didn’t realise that half their furniture was missing from their villa.

  • diamond wedding beach picnic, Provence, Var, pix: Kerstin Rodgers/msmarmitelover.com

My sister-in-law Bernie, who is a domestic science teacher and a fine cook, and I made the food: potato salad with creme fraiche and fennel flowers; stuffed vegetables; melon and smoked salmon salad; beluga lentil salad with feta; watermelon, mint and feta ‘pizza’; caponata (so much nicer than ratatouille); heart shaped cheeses, white chocolate and limoncello cake and a giant fruit salad. My brother hoisted a magnum of champagne.

  • Saint tropez pix: Kerstin Rodgers/msmarmitelover.com

My friend Begs helped me set up on the beach so everything was ready when my parents turned up. The French loved it too, congratulating us as they descended to the rocky bay, ‘felicitations’ and ‘bon apetit’. I also heard one couple say ‘they have class, we can’t compete’. One man wearing white linen from head to toe asked to be invited.

  • saint tropez and Msmarmitelover pix: Kerstin Rodgers/msmarmitelover.com

As the weeks went on, more and more tables were set up. It became a mixture of Glyndebourne and Glastonbury. A beautiful setting for a diamond wedding anniversary. Here are some of the dishes we made:

stuffed peppers pic: Kerstin rodgers/msmarmitelover.com
Print
5 from 1 vote

Stuffed peppers

This sounds a bit 70s Cranks style veggie food, but carefully cooked and presented, is vibrant and tasty.
Course Vegetarian mains,, Vegetarian sides
Cuisine Provencale,, South of France
Keyword Provencale cooking, Stuffed Vegetables, Vegetarian dishes
Serves 6

Ingredients

  • 200 g rice, couscous, bulghar wheat, You can buy quick cook or packaged to shorten cooking time
  • 400 ml vegetable stock if making rice or bulghar wheat and 200ml for couscous
  • pinch saffron, ground finely in a pestle and mortar
  • 4 tbsps Olive oil
  • 4 shallots, finely chopped
  • 4 cloves garlic, finely minced
  • bunch flat leaf parsley
  • sea salt
  • 2 preserved lemons, finely chopped
  • large handful apricots, roughly chopped, Optional: marinate/soak in sherrry
  • handful pinenuts
  • 50 ml olive oil
  • 6 yellow, orange or red peppers whole, cut off the tops, keep as hats, remove inner seeds and pith

Instructions

  • Cook the grain you are going to stuff the vegetables with, using the vegetable stock. In fact slightly undercook it.
  • Mix the cooked grain with the saffron
  • Heat a frying pan with the olive oil
  • Add the shallots, garlic to the olive oil, fry until golden.
  • Preheat the oven to 180C
  • Mix this with the grain, the preserved lemons, parsley, the apricots, the pine nuts, the salt.
  • Put the peppers into an oiled baking tin, remove the hats and stuff the peppers with the mixture.
  • Add some olive oil to the peppers, replace the hats and bake for 40 minutes
  • Remove from the oven and serve.
caponata pic: Kerstin rodgers/msmarmitelover.com
Print
5 from 1 vote

Caponata

A good ratatouille is a rare thing. It's often slimy in texture. I prefer the Sicilian caponata, an agro-dolce sweet and sour riff on the same mediterranean vegetables. This is inspired by Claudia Roden's recipe. The artichokes are optional but god I'm passionate about them. I'd stick them in everything.
Course Picnic dish, Vegetarian mains,, Vegetarian sides
Cuisine Sicilian
Keyword Caponata, Mediterrannean, Picnic food, ratatouille
Serves 8

Ingredients

  • 100 ml olive oil
  • 1 brown onion, sliced
  • 2 aubergines, medium, sliced
  • 2 red peppers, cored, sliced
  • 1 yellow peppers, cored, sliced
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 100 g olives, pitted, green or black
  • 3 tbsp capers
  • 3 tbsp sherry vinegar
  • sea salt, to taste
  • jar roasted or marinated artichoke hearts, to garnish
  • handful fresh basil leaves, to garnish

Instructions

  • Prepare the vegetables. Put a deep frying pan with the olive oil on medium heat on the stove
  • Fry the onions until soft, then add the aubergine and peppers, until soft, the edges caramelised.
  • Add the bay leaves, garlic, olives, capers
  • Add the vinegar and sea salt to taste
  • Garnish with artichokes, basil leaves
watermelon pizza pic: Kerstin rodgers/msmarmitelover.com
Print
5 from 1 vote

Watermelon, feta and mint ‘pizza’

Course Canapes, Starters
Cuisine Vegetarian
Keyword Watermelon

Ingredients

  • 1 watermelon, cut into 2cm thick triangles
  • 100 g feta cheese, cut into squares
  • handful fresh mint leaves

Instructions

  • Assemble the watermelon wedges as pictured.

Recent posts

Book for my first supper club since the pandemic: Midsummer

May 19, 2022

caponata budget gourmet recipe pic: Kerstin Rodgers

Two delicious budget recipes for the cost of living crisis

May 13, 2022

budget gourmet recipes pic Kerstin Rodgers

Cost of living crisis: three gourmet dinner party recipes that serve 4, for around £2.50

May 6, 2022

Previous Post: « How to do Salad Dressing- 7 rules and 4 recipes
Next Post: Autumn windfall at Hampstead Ladies Pond »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Margo

    September 23, 2019 at 4:11 pm

    5 stars
    To say the French are not friendly is an understatement. Do they think it is cool? Or do they really feel so miserable?
    We drove home and nearing Calais someone smiled at me and I knew they were not French. Give me Italy every time.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. A weekend at Little Cote House, Wiltshire says:
    October 23, 2019 at 4:14 pm

    […] may recall that my parent’s had their diamond wedding anniversary earlier this year in Provence. The celebrations aren’t finished! Sixty guests, one for every […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

MsMarmiteLover aka Kerstin Rodgers.

Chef, photographer, author, journalist, blogger. Pioneer of the supperclub movement.

This is my food and travel blog, with recipes, reviews and travel stories. I also stray into politics, feminism, gardening.

Subscribe to my mailing list

msmarmitelover

Kerstin Rodgers/MsMarmiteLover
Me as a punk. #pinkhair @caplanmelissa Me as a punk. #pinkhair @caplanmelissa
Sniffin’ glue: Me n @Jaybladesmbe at the Loctite Sniffin’ glue: Me n @Jaybladesmbe at the Loctite pop up yesterday. I’m all about repairing and upcycling my brocante finds: this time a beautiful pale wood lamp shade stand which had broken off at the bottom. I’m going to rewire it with 2 core sky blue twisted fabric wire, pop on my hand sewn pleated lampshade I learnt to do @workshopminerva and it shall be beautiful. Don’t chuck out your chintz: repair it! #therepairshop #selfie #interiors #popup
in June I’m having my first supper club in two y in June I’m having my first supper club in two years: here is the link to book: https://msmarmitelover.com/product/midsommar-supper-club £50 18th June  Saturday night. Byo.
#chelseaflower coming up. Last year I bought these succulents and planted them in a vintage zinc garden sieve. Now they are flowering. My balcony is like a little greenhouse: I can grow aubergines & other plants that usually need to be under glass. #londongarden #may #plants #succulents in the garden
Lemon drizzle cake. The trick is not to stint on t Lemon drizzle cake. The trick is not to stint on the citrus. I used 7: 2 Italian lemons (from Lidl):some ordinary lemons and some limes (18p) at Lidl. Don’t be afraid to mix and match your citrus. I also used buttermilk from @fenfarmdairy in Suffolk from their honesty shop. Last night we ate it still warm from the oven. #cake #lemondrizzle #homebaking #citrus #buttermilk
A Simple tomato, goats cheese and basil salad, spa A Simple tomato, goats cheese and basil salad, spanking fresh asparagus / fried in olive oil, season, then add a little boiling water, not too much, put on the lid, dressed with lemon zest & Parmesan, @fenfarmdairy baron bigod cheese, good bread. This is how I like to eat. Claire’s plates found at the beccles brocante. #suffolk #suffolkfood #supper #dinnerwithfriends  #vintageplates
Can’t wait to see what they will be like when th Can’t wait to see what they will be like when they are fired. All my favourite themes: gingham and scallops. Thanks to @clairebelljar for a wonderful weekend and pottery workshop. Such fun! #workingwithyourhands #playtime #creativity #ceramics #pottery #suffolk
Making plates with talented potter & old South Ham Making plates with talented potter & old South Hampstead girl @clairebelljar in Suffolk. She has the most beautiful house I’ve ever seen. Such a joy to be reunited with her. #friendsreunited #makers #potters #scalloped #wildflowers #cowparsley #pottery
Another budget gourmet recipe, the Sicilian capona Another budget gourmet recipe, the Sicilian caponata, which is like a more interesting ratatouille, in which you add capers, olives & vinegar. £2.50p. I was asked to develop a series of recipes which were delicious enough to serve at a dinner party but also cheap. I shopped at Lidl. #costoflivingcrisis #budgetgourmet #recipe #vegetarian #vegan #lidluk
Mackerel pâté, a recipe that cost under £2.50. Mackerel pâté, a recipe that cost under £2.50. Lemon & herb smoked mackerel fillets from @lidl (take off skin)3 big scoops creme fraiche from Lidl and juice of half a lemon. Blend. Plenty of black pepper. Serve with bread. #budgetgourmet #costoflivingcrisis #eatorheat
Just wrote a very personal piece for @hamandhigh o Just wrote a very personal piece for @hamandhigh on my decade as a single parent on benefits, how I learned to cook & how things are so much harder now because not only are ingredients pricier but the cost of cooking them is too. 3 budget gourmet meals serving 4, for £2.50 each. #costoflivingcrisis #budgetgourmet #povertyshame #singleparents #foodblogger
Easter Sunday. Daffodil skeletons. Easter Sunday. Daffodil skeletons.
Just made @davidlebovitz recipe for blood orange u Just made @davidlebovitz recipe for blood orange upside down cake as I had some to use up. It tastes very marmeladey. Probably used too deep a pan. #sundaybaking #recipe #thelastofthebloodoranges #april #easter
Today learning how to build a dry stone wall in t Today  learning how to build a dry stone wall in the cotswolds which is famous for the picturesque walls & hedgerows. My teacher, Richard Gray, told us about the different stones: face, foundation, pin & coping. It is a mortal ( mortar?) sun to use cement on a dry stone wall- it means the stones can’t breathe. These walls last 100 years- they cost £300 a metre. A pro can build 3 metres a day. Richard once did a quote for kylie Minogue. His firm is Hillrise stonework. This course is run by @notgroveholidays There is a world championship for drystone walling. #craft #building #drystonewall #cotswolds #staycation
Ukrainian inspiration: cabbage rolls stuffed with Ukrainian inspiration: cabbage rolls stuffed with rice, mushrooms, garlic, dill. Baked with sauerkraut & mushroom stock for 1.5 hours. Delicious comfort food. #cookforukraine #vegetarian #cabbagerolls #sauerkraut #easterneuropeanfood
Getting there. Making a pleated lampshade for @sie Getting there. Making a pleated lampshade for @siennamarla’s living room. Fabric from @clothshoplondon training by @workshopminerva frame #making #craft #sewing #lampshade #interiors
Stuffed peppers with roasted buckwheat, feta, dill Stuffed peppers with roasted buckwheat, feta, dill and a sour cream, tomato & smoked paprika sauce. Kasha or buckwheat can be bought at polish shops. It’s a grain but full of protein. I did a recipe with it in v is for vegan - a stuffed cabbage. You can buy plain or roasted. #cookforukraine #buckwheat #kasha #stuffedpeppers #vegetarian #visforvegan
Ukrainian quick cucumber pickles dipped in honey. Ukrainian quick cucumber pickles dipped in honey. Strangely addictive. Recipe from next weeks column in the ham and high. #cookforukraine #supperclub #slavaukraini #pickles #dronedowner #ukraine #recipe
An etched glass window in my bathroom to replace t An etched glass window in my bathroom to replace the very fashionable fluted glass I had. Thing is this glass works better in a flat dated 1906. Glass by @baronglass  #interiors #etchedglass #bathroom #trellis #londonflat
Making Ukrainian Easter bread, with sour cherries Making Ukrainian Easter bread, with sour cherries and saffron, adapted from a recipe in Mamushka by Ukrainian chef @oliahercules #slavaukraini #easter #baking #sour #sourcherries #supperclub
Making some Ukrainian inspired recipes for my next Making some Ukrainian inspired recipes for my next column. Quick pickled mini cucumbers & a herring, Granny Smith & egg salad from Black Sea by @edentravels on the way is the Ukrainian Easter bread by @oliahercules and in the oven are roasted kasha (buckwheat)stuffed peppers with a sour cream, paprika & tomato sauce by me. I’ve only been to Kyiv as a stopover on the way to Georgia but I’ve done various Eastern European influenced supper clubs in the past. Maybe I should do a Ukrainian one as a fundraiser? #slavaukraini #supperclub #sunflowerseeds&hope #stopthewar #blue&yellow
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Archives

Copyright © 2022 msmarmitelover