The First of our Plus Beaux Villages

For anyone reading my blog, did anyone notice that we did NOT visit a market yesterday? A milestone!
Today, however, we made up for that and returned to the market in Ste. Cecile les Vignes. We’ve decided that Margaret is right about this being the perfect market, because although it’s a fraction of the size of Vaison la Romaine, it’s got everything you need on market day.

The girls got heavily into the clothing stalls again and meantime I found the best perches for the wait.
We also did the local thing and sat down at the local bar for a coffee. There was a very pretty French girl near where we were sitting selling her buns – er, her dainties – er, her breads and gateaux.


We then set out for lunch in Seguret, which is our closest Plus Beaux Villages. We chose the restaurant at the top of the town that Michelin gives three knives and forks, La Table du Comtat.

We sat on their terrace overlooking the next village of Sablet. Their location was quite stunning!
I think some food photos are in order today. We had three and four course menus. Dawn started with a fresh gazpacho with chorizo, followed that with a surf and turf with langoustines, scallops and duck with a orange/ coriander béarnaise. Her dessert was Peach Melba with a vanilla ice cream. The surf and turf is shown below.

Jackie’s appetizer was scallops in a veloute while I had - guess? – foie gras with apple.
Both Jackie and I had a veal cutlet with braised endive.
Next was a Roquefort cheese course with a cheese brioche.
Dessert for Jackie was Pear with crème anglaise and caramel, while I had a trilogy of plums – ice cream, mousse and tart, shown below.

The food was outstanding and the service was excellent. Although this used to be a hotel, they now only operate the restaurant. We would highly recommend it.
Following lunch, it was time for a walk through the picturesque village. There weren’t an overabundance of tourists today, so the walk was quite delightful.


Find the kitty in the photo above.
Since we were in the neighbourhood, we drove up the hill to Walter McKinlay’s Domaine Mourchon, where Walter, as usual, was minding the fort. We discovered that he now qualifies as a negociant and can therefore bring in grapes for a white wine that he’s never had before and a Chateuneuf du Pape. Apparently Chateuneuf sells 50% of their grapes to outside negociants, because this provides upfront cash.


Back at the ranch, we once again worked on avoiding the heat and Skyped with the White family in Canada. Gotta love this service!
Dinner, like we needed it, was fresh pasta from the market with sausages and sauce. We have to eat to keep up our strength to walk the markets, to buy the goods, to fuel the economy. That’s our story and we’re sticking to it!