2007 - Culinary Vacations in Provence will be on sabbatical for 2007.

2008 - Please inquire by email if you are interested in Culinary Vacations in 2008.

Over the past few years, I've shared the experience of life in Haute Provence, its daily rituals, its food, and its slow pace through one-week long cooking school programs.

Haute Provence is located in the interior, the back country of Provence, where life is still paced by the rhythms of the seasons. I first bought a house here in 1970, when I was 27 years old. It had minimal electricity, but no running water, so we hauled our water from the well for our household needs and for our herd of goats. I learned to make artisanal goat cheese which I sold it in the local markets. My daughter, Ethel, who was three years old then, often accompanied me.

I learned to cook from the garden and from the market and to gather each season's bounty - wild greens and mushrooms in fall, truffles in winter, wild leeks, asparagus and dandelion in spring, and wild lavender and fennel in summer. Throughout the year, I discovered I could find wild rosemary, thyme, and savory. In spring I anticipated lamb and kid, and in fall and winter, wild boar and other game. Summer was devoted to tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, beans, and melons which were used to prepare such dishes as ratatouille and soupe au pistou. My neighbors shared their favorite recipes with me, like leek and salt cod gratin, Paté de campagne, pissaladière, and fig clafouti, and over the years we have cooked and eaten many meals side by side, often preceded by pastis and accompanied with vin du pays. Life still continues there with a respect for time, leisure, and one's relationship to the land.

During one-week long programs, held at Le Jardin du Couvent, a restored 17th century convent in the medieval village of Aups. In our common areas we have a huge walled garden to eat or to relax in, a glassed-in sitting room, several fireplaces, a large farm-style kitchen and dining area with a fireplace, and a long, vaulted living room, once the refectory, whose glass doors open onto the garden. The comfortable living quarters are on the second and third floors, and can accommodate up to seven people.

During the week we'll shop at the local open-air market, buy our bread from the boulangerie down the street, order fish from the fishmonger and meats from the local butcher. We'll visit my friends in the region who are artisan cheesemakers, olive millers, honey gatherers, wine-makers, and in season, we'll go to the forests and fields to gather wild herbs, mushrooms, truffles, and greens.

I've designed the weekly programs to let my guests sample and prepare the best of the regional, seasonal ingredients, and to experience the leisurely pace of daily life in Haute Provence. We'll still have ample time to visit antique fairs, faience-makers, and medieval abbeys. Most of our meals we'll prepare at home in a hands-on classroom setting in the big farm-style kitchen.