Rose Cantine

I’m turning 47 this week, and as my friend, mentor, former client and now “Junior” Advisor to my company, as well as corporate party band leader, Ray McKewon-co-founder (retired) of Accredited Home Lenders likes to say “life is good.” I’ve taken it one step further and have proclaimed that Life, Is Very Very Good for me.

In less than a year I’ll wed a wonderful woman who shares my passion for life, food, wine and technology, Dr. Helene Malabed. Our wedding, will take place somewhere that’s special to me, at the vineyard of a longtime friend who grows grapes and makes incredible wine in the Languedoc region of France, Domaine d’ Aupilhac.

This past Friday a dozen of my friends gathered for to start what is tabbed now, The Helene and Andy Birthday Month. What used to be a week or so when I was single has rapidly expanded into an almost non-stop daily gathering of friends. On Friday we took over the Private Dining Room at The Del Mar (CA) Marriott’s Arterra and Brian Pekarcik, the new chef whipped up a dinner worthy of royalty, dishing out, or I should say plating up incredible treats ranging from Lamb Four Ways to go with the vertical of Domaine de Trevallon to the Duck Four Ways to match up perfectly with a vertical of Sang de Cailloux reds, the Opah Tartare and Opah Belly that was my pairing with Rieslings of the World (Austrian, Australian, French-Alsace, German MSR and USA-Santa Barbara).

As the night went on I surprised Helene and company with wines from the vineyard our wedding ceremony will take place in as well as the 2001 Domaine de La Modoree Lirac La Rein de Bois from the Rhone Valley, which was the wine Helene and got engaged officially over last year in Avignon at Restaurant Christian Etienne.

Last night, nearly 40 people showed up, creating an overflow crowd at Carl Schroeder’s new restaurant, the soon to be differently named Blackhorse Grille that he purchased just two weeks ago. Along with a cornucopia of wines I chose from my own collection, came food that Carl somehow managed to whip up that was mind boggling. His crab cakes,cedar plank Salmon and mouthwatering Kobe Beef Flat Iron steaks and even the side dishes were outrageous. Wines from Spain, France, Australia and the USA were poured but what flowed the most was the love of our friends and their joy in gathering around for a special night.

But what really made it special was the people. From all walks of life, at all stages of development, coming together to celebrate and enjoy the art of wine and food. That and an early morning birthday present made it very, very special and a great lead up to my real birthday on Tuesday, August 8th, 2006.

Here’s the song of the week: Jardin d’Eden by a French two-member band called Arom.

Click here to listen.

Marseille is one of the least touristy places along the Mediterranean coast, partly because of its reputation as a nasty, crime-ridden city. But when you go there and see it for yourself, you realize it’s just like any other big city. It has the ugliest concrete high-rises I’ve even seen, spread out all over the hills and in the city, but the older neighborhoods near the port have been neglected long enough not to have suffered a concrete invasion.

What I like about Marseille is that it feels authentic. It has not yet been gentrified or made safe for upper-middle class tourists like the rest of Provence and the Côte d’Azur.

One of the things I noticed about Marseille is how much the city belongs to its residents - a multi-cultural mix of immigrants from Morocco, Senegal, Algeria and Tunisia, and Marseillais whose families have lived in the city for centuries. Their families stroll along the Vieux Port (the Old Port) on Sunday morning and hang out on the beaches at the end of the Corniche Kennedy. The city is so mixed and chaotic that you will find an Hermès store two blocks from a noisy North African market where men in djellabas and babouches (pointy slippers) hang out all day. And unlike most places in Provence, it has a very young population which means lots of places to go out at night, fabulous bars and a vibrant café scene.

Many neighborhoods are run down and dirty, even around the Vieux Port. The Panier neighborhood on the hill above the port is still very atmospheric and filled with characters that one would find in a Joseph Conrad novel. Joseph Conrad lived for several years on the rue St. Ferreol which is two blocks from the port. That street unfortunately retains no traces of old Marseille. It’s a shopping street filled with chain stores such as Virgin Music and H&M (click here to see St. Ferreol).

There is a massive urban redevelopment project near the Panier and the rue de la Republique. The city government is keen on wiping out the grotty neighborhoods and replacing them with fancy loft apartments, underground parking garages and a shopping center. In a few years, large parts of Marseille will resemble Barceloneta: clean, sterile, safe for tourists. So go there now before it’s too late.

Read this article about Marseille from The Guardian and go to the Marseille website which has good photos. This site has even better photos.

Places to visit

Vielle Charité: an old hospital for beggars and orphans, it is now a museum with temporary exhibitions. You can thank Le Corbusier for helping to save this building from demolition.

Unité d’Habitation: Cité Radieuse, modernist residential building complex designed by Le Corbusier; click here for more info and photos

Le Panier: old neighborhood around the Vieux Port that has not yet been taken over by designer shops and trendy restaurants

Notre Dame de la Garde: this 19th century basilica perched on top of a hill overlooking the city is the best place to get a 360-degree view of the city

The calanques (small rocky inlets) along the coast: get there by boat from the Vieux Port — note however, that in the summer, the fire department may close the walking paths to most of the calanques and the boat service may not be running because they’re afraid of forest fires in the area. Check with the tourist office before you go. If in doubt, just go to Cassis, a beautiful town not far from Marseille — there is regular boat service from Cassis to a number of calanques.

The best way to enjoy Marseille is just to stroll along the corniche. There are a number of restaurants along the rocky platforms below the corniche as well as beach clubs where you can rent a lounge chair and umbrella for the day. Had you been there during the World Cup this summer, you would have seen this gigantic mural of Zinedine Zidane, the local hero. Sadly, the mural is no longer there. If you like football, they have an excellent team - Olympique Marseille - whose football stadium is right in the city.

Food

I’ve never had better North African food than in Marseille. Because of the large immigrant community, you will find dozens of Algerian, Moroccan and Tunisian restaurants — some very simple, others fancier and more expensive.

I like La Femina on 1 rue Musée, a restaurant run by the Kachetel family since 1927. Their couscous and tagine dishes are divine! Another great area to eat out is the funky Cours Julien, a large square lined with bars and restaurants (e.g. Senegalese and Corsican food, tapas and seafood).

Seafood is Marseille’s specialty, especially bouillabaisse. There’s a lot of controversy over what constitutes a proper bouillabaisse and a number of restaurateurs in the city signed the bouillabaisse charter to protect and defend the authentic recipe, although this has been contested by other “specialists” (Larousse Gastronomique [2001], p. 144).

Waverly Root in The Food of France says:

Even the basic statement, that bouillabaisse is a sort of fish chowder, we shall have to qualify shortly; but for the moment we can let it stand. One indisputable fact is that bouillabaise should be brought to a violent boil and cooked quickly. It shouldn’t take more than fifteen minutes to cook a bouillabaisse. For the ingredients, only one fish is agreed upon by everyone–rascasse. It is also generally agreed that rascasse alone could not make a bouillabaisse — there must be other fish in the stew . . . rascasse is a coarse fish, armed with spines, which lives in holes in the rocks and would be allowed to stay there if it were not for bouillabaisse.

Where should you go for seafood in Marseille? Peron, a chic restaurant perched on the edge of a cliff, not far from the Vieux Port. Nothing can compare to dining at sunset while gazing out at the Chateau d’If, a fortress island you might remember from Alexandre Dumas’s Count of Monte Cristo. Make sure you find out what time the sun sets and ask for a table closest to the water, where nothing but a thin rail separates you from the ocean below. Reservations are a must.

Peron
56 Corniche J.-F.-Kennedy, Endoume, Marseille, France
Phone: +33 (0)4-91-52-15-22

Logistics

Marseille is only two hours by plane from Amsterdam. The airport is 30 minutes from the center of town by taxi or airport bus (which takes you to the central station). If you are going to other places in the Provence, fly into Marseille and rent a car at the airport. But try not to drive in the city; you’ll probably kill yourself and a few others as well. Driving in Marseille is absolutely treacherous.

This is a very delicious and easy dish to make. It’s enough for four (hungry) persons and with the couscous, can be quite filling. If there are only two of you, it should last for about 3 dinners. You can adjust the spiciness by adding more (or less) cumin and paprika. Serve with harissa (a spicy chilli paste you can buy at Moroccan or Tunisian shops).

• 500g lamb shoulder steaks (cut in cubes; no bones)
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 2 small onions, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 4 tablespoons of tomato paste (puree)
• 1/2 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1/2 tablespoon paprika
• 1 bay leaf
• 750 ml beef stock
• chickpeas - 2 cans of 425g each
• 300g chopped tomatoes
• lots of coriander (cilantro) - at least 4 tablespoons
• lots of flat leaf parsley - at least 4 tablespoons

Cut the excess fat from the lamb steaks; chop the steaks into small cubes. Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Stir fry the garlic and onions until the onions are soft (5 min). Add the lamb and saute until light brown.

Add the bay leaf, paprika and cumin. Cook until fragrant. Add the tomato paste and stir for 2 minutes. Add the beef stock, stir and bring to a boil.

Drain the chickpeas and add to the saucepan, followed by the chopped tomatoes, coriander and parsley. Sti and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 1.5 to 2 hours.

Right before you eat this, make the couscous. Place a small amount of couscous in a large shallow bowl and spoon the lamb mixture on top. If you want it more spicy, mix in some harissa.

Rodrigo Sepúlveda Schulz, founder of vpod.tv and residing in the Marais area of Paris is looking for a new scooter (the fastest way to get around Paris). He has posted a list of scooters on his blog and would like your advice on which one to buy. My personal choice is the Aprilia Scarabeo 125 in bright red or lime green, so taxi cabs, buses and other vehicles can see you and get out of the way.

Go to Rodrigo’s post by clicking here and if you have a recommendation, please post it on his blog.

I found this butter at our local fromagerie “De Kaaskamer” (Runstraat 7, Amsterdam). It is very good butter. Hard to go back to the ordinary stuff in the supermarket.

Original photo posted here and a related NY Times story (thanks to Xeni Jardin at BoingBoing)