Seven Days in Provence!

Oh la la. Provence is so beautiful. I'll try to find the words to describe how picturesque it is with the help of some of our photos. I can only say that S and I finally found the summer that we had been waiting for. Everything is infused with sunshine, from the people to the landscape to the food.

The Provençales are a warm-hearted people. Susan and Hermann, our hosts at Les Tuillières, the bed-and-breakfast where we stayed and took cooking classes, were especially welcoming and were very generous. Their classes were incredible and I will tell you more about them soon.

We were lucky in weather during our first few days because the whole landscape was drenched in hot summer sunshine. When you drive from village to village there's field upon field of sunflowers, grape vines, corn and herbs. The country air smells of lavender and rosemary, both of which feature prominently in Provençale cooking.

The villages are so charming and quaint, and the buildings are in some of my favourite architectural styles — stone and stucco, sun-bleached shades of peach, yellow and white, and cerulean blue, that classic Provencale blue that is the most preferred colour for shutters and doors.

The pottery is also the most cheerful and bright that I have ever seen. Suffice it to say that everywhere I looked, I wanted to take a photograph to capture the moment. In fact, S and I took hundreds during the seven days we were in Provence, and these are some of my favourites.