Food, Glorious Food!

As well as being "Le Perle de France," (The Pearl of France), Menton is the citrus capital of France, with a climate mild enough for a citrus festival in February... and citrus is perennially in bloom here (it blooms and is harvested all year round).

Being right on the Franco-Italian border, it also has this amazing fusion of French and Italian food. Last night, Paul & went to our favourite restaurant (how we resisted until now? It was closed Tuesday & Wednesday!), Sotto le Stelle (Under the Stars) and we both had the amazing Pizza Diablo (the devil's pizza). It has a wonderfully thin yet chewy crust (How do they do that????) topped with a piquant tomato sauce, a heavy hand of cheese, and spicy slices of capiccolo and nicoise olives. It's wood-fired and always singed at the edges (sort of like a tarte flambee), the charring adding a particular deliciousness to the final result.

Today's photos are food-oriented. There is a shot of authentic Menton lemons (taken at the covered market), the daily special board at our favourite creperie (more on that in a later post) and a photo of those oh-so-delicious Diablo pizzas. I'm also incuding a video of Sotto le Stele. It doesn't accurately portray its beautiful setting in the middle of the marina (and notice how the people chatting at the next table are speaking Italian, not French!).

May Day (May 1st) is a holiday here and in Italy, so the town is about to be over-run with holiday makers. We want to get out and get in groceries, as we won't be able to get a seat in any restaurant until about Tuesday of next week (Everyone will have Monday off as May 1st is on a Saturday.

Yum, yum... wonder what we'll find?

A Room With A View

... Well, more accurately, a roof with a view. Yesterday I promised you some photos from our roof-top pool - and here they are. Yesterday was beautiful weather-wise, however the afternoon turned a bit hazy, and therefore so are the pics. No complaints, though.

There is a beefcake photo of me sunning by the pool, a photo of Paul with the marina and Italy behind him, a photo of me with the village of Menton behind me, some views of the pool/view, and a video of Paul to enjoy. I'm not sure if I can post of these, but I'll give it a try!

This morning is sunny and clear, with expected Hi's of about 24 or 25, so another beautiful day. The birds (they are some sort of little swallows) are all ready chirping and flitting about, and right now the air (as well as being clear) is heady with the fragrance of orange blossoms in full bloom. One thing that a blog can't convey is the sense of smell. Around here everything is so fresh - and its a bit of sensory overload for those of us from the Great White North. The angle of the sun is different and the colours of everything more intense. There are sounds of Vespas mixed with the chirp of the birds and the waves crashing on the shore. Food - even the same things we have at home, taste somehow different, and the aroma of the sea, the french lavender (in full bloom right now), the orange blossoms - are so unlike the aromas of home, that you actually stop in mid-stride while walking, breathe deeply and say "Can you smell that?"

This morning for breakfast we had a couple of beautiful croissants that we purchased form a new boulangerie that we discovered when taking our evening stroll last night to the Italian border. The view back over Menton from the border is amazing (although if you go in the evening the sun is behind the village and its more in shadows). Last evening there was that haze that I was telling you about, and it was a complete chiaroscuro effect - each cap in the distance (Cap Martin, Monte Carlo and Cap Ferrat) got progressively hazier... and of course I didn't have my camera.

Not sure what today's plans are... yesterday we picked up the most amazing real estate journal (yes, Anthea, we thought of you and Don!) and think perhaps that we'll make some appointments to view some properties while we're here. Just look, like. Well, it's nice to fantasize....

Menton - Wednesday April 28/10

Hello world, and welcome to my little corner of the World Wide Web!

Right now, I'm writing you from the beautiful village of Menton, France ( www.tourisime-menton.fr/-English-.html) on the French Riviera, literally on the Mediterranean sea, on the Franco-Italian border. I'll be posting (sometimes daily, sometimes not) words and photos (snapped on my cell phone camera - so they won't be the best...) of our holiday here. When I'm at home in Elora, Ontario, you'll get my notes from there.

Thanks to the www, no matter where I am, we can be together. Pretty cool, eh?

So - day 1 (yesterday) and today are GLORIOUS as far as the weather is concerned. Sunny, cloudless skies and hi's of about 26 degrees.

This morning, Paul & I wandered into the covered market to select the freshest ingredients for our lunch and supper. For lunch we'll be having a slice of zucchini tart (a local specialty), an individual pizza and a lovely fresh green salad with a fine herb dressing. Along with this there is fresh baguette (of course!), most likely washed down with a fine Mentonaise rose (for some reason the blog editor won't allow me to use french accents - how rude!). For dessert we have a MAMMOTH chocolate beignette, which we'll split! For supper we found a wonderful fresh artichoke and cheese ravioli, that I'll make up a fresh tomato sauce for this aft. We'll head out later to see what we can find for dessert.

I must mention that the rose (rose-ayyy) is a gift from our host, Phillipe, who kindly left it for us as a welcome gift.

I think this aft we'll probably head up to our private(!) roof top pool that comes with our apartment, for some tanning and perhaps a dip, if the water isn't too cool. I'll snap a photo of the view from up there (although a morning photo would be better because of the sun).

In the mean-time, I'm attaching a photo of Paul that I took yesterday. Perhaps not the best photo of Paul, but I want to use the photo-feature part of the blog. He's standing in front of the Queen Victoria monument here in town (she used to spend time here - as did thousands of British people in Victorian/Edwardian times).

Hope everything is well with everyone who drops by to have a read!