Deguster.

So, if I've whet your appetite for a trip to Uzes here's my insider's guide to hanging out and imbibing in this beautiful, medieval village.

Our life in Uzes has centred around the Place aux Herbes, which is tucked away in the pedestrianised heart of the town, inside the Boulevard:

Every house that we looked at renting was measured on a scale of how far away it was from the square. We ended up in a four storey town house, the one with the dove grey shutters....conveniently it's equidistant from the square and the children's school and so close to the Ducal Palace that we can hear the flag on top of the tower being whipped by the wind:

Most mornings, after I've dragged myself through the surrounding countryside in the Valee de l'Eure, jogging, I rendezvous with my husband in the square and I negate any beneficial effects the strenuous exercise may have caused, by pulling up a chair at a cafe....either 'Les Terroirs' which has WiFi or 'L'Oustal' which does not yet which has better coffee.... and drink a cafe creme....or two. And then we are back again at the end of the day, for an evening apero....a glass of crisp pink rose for me and a pastis for my husband. This tends to be relatively soon after we've placated the children, who are usually in full cry about how hairy their day at school was.....with a Nutella crepe at 'Passion Vanille' (1 Place aux Herbes, Uzes):

This has proven to be such a fail proof way of winning them over to the bright side of being in France that we have inadvertently assumed the mantle of 'Passion Vanille's' best customers. So frequently has our family descended on this shop, that last week, when they were photographing ice cream sundae concoctions for their new menu, they were taking photos of the various ice creams and then feeding them to our children.....for free. 

OK, so a common theme running through our time here has been bribing our children to endure school....where we plunged them for one term, initially friendless and unable to communicate, into four achingly long days a week from 8.30am - 4.30pm, doing lessons in unfamiliar French, suffering the hardship that is the canteen when their parents wouldn't rescue them and bring them home for the two hour lunch break and instead they had to stay and be dished up a three course meal.....and surviving teachers that shout. We may have also had to resort to other means, beyond the Nutella crepe, with the next most popular being the occasional trip to the 'Haribo Factory', which is very conveniently located just on the outskirts of town (Pont Charrettes, Uzes):

In our defence, you can count our number of trips to the 'Haribo Factory' on the one hand. The French nurse a national addiction to sugar and it is an overwhelming sight to see laden boxes crammed with confectionery leaving the outlet shop. I've never seen anything like it. Next to the boutique, there is also a 'Musee du Bonbon' which is a pleasant enough way to while away the afternoon although it's not really 'Charlie in the Chocolate Factory' esque as you don't actually see them making the famous gummy bears.....although, if you are so inclined, in a museum environment, you can try your hand at twisting a liquorice strap or coating a Tagada in sugar. Regardless, children love it....especially as there is a generous dose of free lollies.

Anyway, I digress....on Wednesday and Saturday the square is overtaken by the market:

I have just finished wading through a biography of the late English cookery writer, Elizabeth David, who it transpires, was responsible for suggesting that Le Creuset be coloured in that iconic shade of blue....the same blue as a packet of Gauloises cigarettes....and who wrote about the market in Uzes and how it 'sells delectable food and how she was able to buy at least fifty different cheeses, the bakery sold seven varieties of bread and the pate in the charcuterie was delicious'......I'd agree with her yet add that in addition to all of this you have to get your hands on some of the spectacular olives (especially the green ones stuffed with big slices of garlic), steel yourself to fork out at least 10 Euros for the stingiest yet best piece of nougat that you will ever taste (on Saturday they were road testing a new flavour...tiramisu) and DO NOT, I repeat, do not leave without buying some of Cyril's snails either in the shell or in a biscuit.

Our family has scaled to new heights of snail worship, as on the weekend we all drove out to have dinner at Cyril's snail farm 'Les Escargots de l'Uzege' which is transformed into a restaurant on Saturday and Sunday nights over summer:

We sat at our table and gazed out over the 'parc' where 45,000 snails are in residence, we saw them being watered and relentlessly nagged out children to be careful not to upset the snails.....or be electrocuted by the fence:

For entree, I had snails stuffed with melted butter, garlic and  parsley while my husband had his snails with truffle:

Main course was Escargots a la Provencale, snails in their shell cooked in a thick ragout of onion, garlic, wine and tomato:

Followed  by a dessert of snails...OK, not really, however on the assiette gourmande there was a snail shaped biscuit filled with chocolate ganache:

Since we have been in Uzes we have been eating our way around most of the cafes and restaurants in town....I say most as I'm hoping that in the last hurrah of school we can synch the babysitter and manage to try out a couple more. Until now, our favourites have been 'Le Comptoir du 7' (5 Boulevard Charles Gide, Uzes) where we went for lunch soon after we arrived...back in the days before we had a babysitter, during the middle of a tempestuous thunderstorm and where we accidentally drank a litre of red wine.....from what I remember though, the food, service and atmosphere were very good....in a town where most of the food is overpriced, over fiddled with and touristy. 

You won't find 'Au Petit Jardin' (Boulevard Gambetta, Uzes) in any guidebook yet, as it only opened a couple of weeks ago....it was the babysitter who put us on to it:

It has a beautiful, little garden in the courtyard out the back, where parasols vie for space and pots and mixed borders spill flowers, herbs and greenery:

The food is interesting, delicious and decorated with flowers....look at this fish carpaccio garnished with lavender sprigs:

And this magret de canard with caramelised raspberry compote, eggplant and mashed potato which was unexpectedly studded with fresh raspberries:

This traditional looking creme brûlée was perfumed with orange flowers and tasted gloriously like summer:

We have also had some perfect picnics up on the garrigue with afar off the the rooftops and towers of Uzes in the distance:

Nothing beats a glass of champagne and some serious patisserie from either 'O Saveurs de Mon Enface' (Centre Commercial Pont de Charrettes, Uzes):

or from 'Deschamps' (17 Boulevard Gambetta, Uzes):

Trust me on this....although, if you have a penchant for drink and cake, like I'm afraid that I do, you can easily recreate a similar experience anywhere and make your heart sing.

Rx

Details.

We've had the builders in. Late yesterday, I didn't think that I could bear looking any longer at those nasty security stickers that they are required by law to stick on large glass doors. I was envisaging a long night getting rid of them.....but then Google came to the rescue. In no time at all I had removed the firmly stuck on stickers and all of the gluey residue, using a secret pantry staple.....peanut butter.

So here's my housewife tip for the day:

To remove stickers from glass:

1. Scrape the stickers off with a flat blade as you don't want to scratch the glass....I used a Laguiole pate knife.

2. Smear sticky mess left behind with peanut butter. At this stage the baby toddled over and couldn't resist rubbing her fingers in it for an impromptu snack. Leave for about ten minutes while the peanut oil seeps in and then scrape off.

3. Wipe off peanut butter, Google suggested a tissue yet I used what I had to hand.....nappy wipes....and then finished off with a cloth.

Amazing. It took all of twenty minutes.

Last week I couldn't find a babysitter for Friday night. I tried all of the usual sources and they tried all of their friends. To no avail. So then, as things became more desperate, my husband went to work and tried everybody in the office with teenage children, while I asked around at the yoga studio and at the health food shop in the village. When no babysitter could be found, I went out for dinner with a group of friends leaving my husband at home on babysitting duty. Before you jump to the wrong conclusion and think that I was skiving off.....I did cook them all dinner before I left.....and I brought my husband home a takeaway tiramisu.

Dinner was with friends at the Italian Pantry in Federal Street in North Hobart. By day it operates as an Italian food warehouse/provedore/cafe and on Friday nights they fill it with tables and chairs and red and white checked tablecloths and have a restaurant:

I wore this:

And yes, my white Victoria Beckham Denim jeans were on their second outing between washes. The jeans and By Malene Birger jacket are from The Outnet. The top is Morrison......I actually went into a shop (Luxe) in Hobart and bought it.

I ate this, well actually we all shared the antipasti platter:

Rabbit, hazlenut and Frangelico risotto:

And the ladies shared the pistachio cannoli:

On Saturday, Mimi and I sported our colour block jeans:

Mine are JBrand, that I bought from Revolve, way back before they upped their prices to match Australian retailers, and Mimi's were $18 from Tarjay (Target)....and are one of the nicest shades of pink that I have seen. See, Target isn't all that bad......although I will admit that most of their tween clothes are designed to make your daughter look like a tart. You have to have the time and the inclination to sort through racks and racks and then there's also an element of luck involved. Occasionally, all the planets align, like on the day that I found my leopard print espadrilles for $14. Most of the time it's just too hard and I can't be bothered.

Milly wore this:

I fervently wish that I had a skirt like this. Back in February, I found a Dolce and Gabbana pale pink tulle ballerina skirt on Net -A-Porter. My heart started beating faster and my palms became clammy. I made haste and ran downstairs to get my credit card, only for them all to be sold out. Utter desolation. I live in hope......meantime if you have any leads.

Then on Saturday afternoon, the weather really set in:

So I did this:

I was facing the fire reading Ordinary Thunderstorms by William Boyd. The rest of the family may have been facing the other way watching the AFL Grand Final. This is Hobart, after all.

Rx

Nice.

Look how nice it is here in Port Fairy:

This has been the view from our beach house for the last ten days:

It has been a shame about the weather. I had deluded myself into believing that Port Fairy existed in it's own unique Gulf Stream which meant that it would be warm and sunny. It doesn't. It has been cold and wet. I've reached the conclusion that sometimes the ocean is at it's most beautiful and dramatic when the clouds are dark grey and the wind shrieks.

Last night the babysitter came good so we went on a dinner date to the Merrijig Inn. If you ever find yourself in Port Fairy you MUST have dinner here. It was monumentally good. Their use of the heirloom vegetable and garden grown fruit was impressive. In the Spirit of the Famous Five we ate tongue - not in a sandwich but in a terrine:

This charcuterie platter also had fromage de tete (which loosely translates as head cheese.....it is all the bits of a pig's head cut up and set in aspic). I hesitated, yet in the quest to add another first to my already impressive list, I ate it.

Look at what we had for main course. Pork chop with crackling, anchovy butter, roasted root vegetables and cheesy polenta:

Kim had duck, three ways:

And then for desert, quince and gingerbread trifle:

And apple and quince crumble:

Today was market day in the village:

Look at Camelia's cute new hat, knitted from alpaca no less:

The very talented Granddad's from the Port Fairy Men's Shed had a stall all set up where they were helping children make toys out of wood offcuts. They weren't scared to share their drills and hammers and expertise:

What a fabulous idea. It was an incredibly touching and generous act of public spirit. Our boys were in seventh heaven.....and the old boys were really enjoying themselves too. Three cheers for the Port Fairy Men's Shed!

Needless to say we spent most of the afternoon floating boats in the river:

Tomorrow it's back in the car, no doubt to the accompaniment of The Very Best of Cold Chisel (thank's Meigs). We are struggling with what else to listen to on an Aussie road trip? All suggestions warmly welcome. Just so long as our children don't know all the words to Khe Sanh by the time we get all the way back to Hobart.

R