Decadent. Mysterious. Bohemian. Dangerous. Romantic. Addictive. Poison. All are words used to describe that green devil of a drink, Absinthe. Its romance these days lies more in the fact that it is a banned substance in many countries of the world. Its reputation as an hallucinogenic crazy-maker, leading to the imagined downfall of late 19th…
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Out Of The Archives: Savon de Provence
Soap can be purchased anywhere in the world, even le savon from the South of France. Many shops carry it, many grocery stores carry it. But there is nothing like being in a street market in Provence, with tables full of various brand names and the plentiful aromas of Savon de Provence. Such was my…
Out Of The Archives: Tarascon
A water filled moat surrounded the castle, and as I walked across its bridge, through the large gate and into the courtyard, I was suddenly and irrevocably, for the time being, sucked back to the fifteenth century. That sensation comes over me often, in places like this, where history and mystery meet. But once inside…
Out Of The Archives: Les Alyscamps
Les Alyscamps, by Vincent Van Gogh Walking down the wide, poplar tree-lined path that leads through what is now a sort of jardin, I couldn’t help but notice that the place had not changed in the hundred years since Van Gogh painted this tableau. The Roman sarcophagi that now line both sides of the avenue…
Frida Kahlo: Appearances Can Be Deceiving At The de Young Museum
“The gringas really like me a lot and take notice of all the dresses and rebozos that I brought with me, their jaws drop at the sight of my jade necklaces and all the painters want me to pose for them.” — Frida Kahlo, letter to her parents while visiting San Francisco, 1930 In 1930,…
On This Day: February 20: Ansel Adams
Fountain Geyser Pool, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, ca. 1941-1942, by Ansel Adams Ansel Easton Adams was born on February 20, 1902, in the Western Addition of San Francisco in California. Ansel Adams is known as one of the most famous black and white landscape photographers of the American West. His work as a landscape photographer…
Out Of The Archives: Cafe de Van Gogh
The Cafe Terrace on the Place du Forum, Arles, at Night,, by Vincent Van Gogh, c.1888 I am here, both now and in the future, sitting on the terasse at the Cafe La Nuit in Arles. My table this night is almost the same table where I sat when on my first visit to the…
Out Of The Archives: Alone in Marseilles
Walking alone down the streets of Marseilles was not like walking alone anywhere else in Provence. Elsewhere in Provence there was a sense of mystery, a sense of uncovering something – a new friend, a new color, a new pastry, a new scent … Walking down the streets of Marseilles I found a sense of…
Out Of The Archives: Calissons
If there is one known gourmet specialty of the town of Aix, it would have to be the Calisson – an almond or diamond shaped confection made from sweet almond paste and preserved fruits, crystallized Cavaillon melon, essence of orange, rice paper, and icing. The recipe itself is a closely guarded secret, and each house…
