Trie-sur-Baȉse

We just returned from our little house in Gascony, France. Nice and quiet. We are close to the village of Trie-sur-Baȉse. I was informed quickly after mispronouncing this little town’s name, that care must be taken saying the umlauted ȉ as "bah-eez", otherwise a faux pas results. A PG-13 example would be the Parisian phrase for overnight bag baise-en-ville which literally means “make whoopi in the city.”

We just returned from our little house in Gascony, France. Nice and quiet. We are close to the village of Trie-sur-Baȉse. I was informed quickly after mispronouncing this little town’s name, that care must be taken saying the umlauted ȉ as "bah-eez", otherwise a faux pas results. A PG-13 example would be the Parisian phrase for overnight bag baise-en-ville which literally means “make whoopi in the city”

Our French satellite dish picks up the UK stations. My favorite is the commercial classical radio station Classic FM. It is upbeat, classy and brilliant in its listener-friendly format. There is even an opportunity for kids to call in requests when they get home from school in the afternoons. We can take a lesson from them in this country. Maybe we would still have KMZT if they had modeled themselves after Classic FM. Check out their website classicfm.co.uk. Unfortunately you can’t listen to a live feed in the U.S. because of licensing issues. When in Europe, make sure you check it out.

Soprano Véronique Gens

Our Aix group also enjoyed a performance of Gluck’s Alceste conducted by our friend Ivor Bolton who has brought his Mozarteum Orchestra to us a couple of times. Soprano Véronique Gens was Alceste. What a gorgeous sound and superb acting! Here is sample of her remarkable voice as she sings Fauré’s beautiful Après en rêve (After a Dream). This was my first time to hear her live. Do you know of her voice?

Le Rossignol

Saw two amazing performances. The first was an evening of Stravinsky’s music staged by the genius Robert Lepage called "Le Rossignol e autre fables" (The Nightingale and other tales). LePage used finger puppets, mimes and even put the orchestra on the stage and flooded the orchestra pit where the action took place. Here is a video of Le Rossignol production we saw (click on the 3rd diamond in the time bar). Gorgeous music. Very unusual staging, reminiscent of Vietnamese water puppets. Please enjoy.

Cooking class at La Villa des Chefs

While in Aix, our group took a cooking class at La Villa des Chefs given by one star Michelin chef René Berger. It was a blast.


Among other wonderful ingredients, we used Limousin beef. This is an animal native to France from around the Limoges region. The breed is 20,000 years old and is portrayed in a number of prehistoric cave paintings. We have eaten it in Paris at Le Severo, the place for steak frites. We pan seared filets at our cooking class. The flavor was amazing because the filet was marbled with some fat, unlike the normally tender but blah tasting filets we get here. Look at the marbling on one of pieces before we put it on heat. Beautiful to behold!

We washed it down with some wonderful local red wine. Domaine Richeaume is a red produced just outside Aix, a very tasty blend of Cabaret Sauvigon and Syrah – rich, intense and deeply fun. The beef and wine you can find the United States if you put in an enormous effort. It is easier to go to Aix. Please enjoy.

Keeping your cool in Aix-en-Provence

We just came back from a festival trip in Europe with some of our Philharmonic Society patrons, something we try to do every summer. The festival in Aix-en-Provence is very cool. The town is fun. Hanging out in anyone of the cafes along the Cours Mirabeau is the thing. Sipping wine, sampling the local cuisine is what you do along with people watching. Jessica Alba walked into our restaurant. It’s hot. Very hot. For that matter, she’s hot. Here is a shot of a shady street which is highly recommended if it is going in your direction.

You can easily pick out the tourists. They are walking on the sunny side of the street, and dying. The locals of course stick to the shady side. It pays to be observant. Do avoid heat stroke. Please enjoy the shade in the OC this summer should it ever get hot again.