A-travelling we will go -- The 13 Desserts of Christmas in Provence - a finger-lickin' post. Photos! Recipes!

Hi all!
This will probably be my last post till after Christmas, so it's long. You might like to read it in installments, hahaha.

"A traveller without knowledge is a bird without wings," so said Sa'di, Gulistan (1258). 

Do you, like me, research your trips before boarding the plane to your next destination, or do you prefer to wing it? Research brings up the most delicious prospects such as the one I'm sharing with you today.

To me, the 'South of France' is a magical phrase. I tend to hit the South of France in winter where it provides a great getaway from the much colder climate of Paris.

The twinkling lights of the Eiffel Tower in Paris at Christmas time.
At the Arc de Triomphe roundabout.

A view from Castle Hill in Nice in the South of France, showing the terracotta rooftops and some of the waterfront buildings along the Promenade des Anglais.

Christmas lights in Monaco

Nice, Monaco and Provence are wonderful places to thaw out as the Mediterranean keeps them warmer than the north. Nice and Monaco are crowded and busy, albeit awfully cute, but in Provence you can find vast areas that are wild and empty, quite like Australia. There's peace and silence, there's colourful markets, there's room to breathe and the air is clean as you travel the back roads. I'm sorry I haven't seen the lavender fields in July, but I've seen the ordered rows in December which is a fabulous time to be in Provence because of one tradition which really appeals to me...

It's a Provençal tradition where for Christmas Eve dinner, you eat thirteen desserts! Can you believe that? I love dessert and the idea of eating thirteen desserts for a Christmas lunch is enough to make me want to move to France, well, just another reason...

Like many traditions, the 13 desserts of Provence tradition starts as a recreation of a religious scene of the Last Supper with Jesus Christ and the twelve apostles with each course representing each attendee.

THE GREAT SUPPER (Gros Souper)

The major meal takes place on Christmas Eve. The table is ceremoniously laid with three white tablecloths one on the top of the other, garnished with three candles and three saucers of the wheat of Saint Barbara, representing the Holy Trinity.

The first part of the meal which is eaten before Midnight Mass, consists of seven very plain dishes served buffet style, symbolising the seven sorrows of the Virgin Mary. An extra place is set for a beggar who might come to the door.    

Any self respecting restaurant in Provence will happily serve the traditional thirteen desserts, but the French like to do things their way. The idea is to begin by sipping a Pastis aperitif from the South of France, a deceptively aniseedy drink that looks like a lemon drink but is pure rich aniseed. I think it's an acquired taste. I'd prefer a Kir Royale (champagne and creme de cassis).

Often the restaurant will start off with a mixed Provençal antipasto plate to share, but vegetarians beware. The  triangular slices of country style pork terrine are made from the pork shoulder and back fat with some liver and duck liver and Armagnac. It is hand chopped in order to get the pieces of pork fat in larger pieces. There is also an absolutely divine duck liver pate, one of my favourite things, which is flavoured with Grand Marnier, pork and Armagnac. This is made by pan frying it and it has an incredibly gorgeous texture-light but buttery and easily spread. 

Mixed Provençal antipasto

Dessert is eagerly anticipated but you have to wait --first you need a glass of rose from St Tropez to go with the traditional bouillabaisse which is paired with a sauce rouille and croutons. Did you know that the origins of bouillabaisse go back as far as 6000BC where it originated at the sea port of Marseilles? 

The best fish was sold at the markets and any leftovers or cheaper fish were made into Bouillabaisse so it had rather humble beginnings.

Finally...time for the 13 desserts 

In the centre of the restaurant, plates of sweets are brought out and thank heavens they are petits fours sized desserts. When choosing the desserts for this tradition, I'm told there are four key components:

Step 1 - Something from Africa to represent the Three Wise Men (dates)

Step 2 - A nougat-usually a dark and a white nougat to signify evil versus good 

Step 3 - A sweet brioche which signifies breaking bread with others.

THE BRIOCHE DES ROIS

Step 4 - Mendiants, which feature four nuts and dried fruit representing the monastic orders of the Dominicans, Augustinians, Franciscans and Carmelites, orders that have taken a vow of poverty. The nuts and fruit represent the colour of monastic robes. Traditionally they have raisins for the Dominicans, hazelnut for the Augustinians, fig for Franciscans and almonds for Carmelites.

Citrus is also featured in the 13 dessert menu as citrus is a popular item in Provence. Flowers like lavender and violet are also featured and it often comes in the form of a lavender panna cotta and a violet and lavender chocolate. Herbs such as fennel and tarragon are also used. Calissons are an item that are new to me and these come from Aix de Provence. These little diamond shaped morsels are made up of ground almonds, candied melon and a glaze of icing sugar and originate in the 15th century of Provence.

The desserts are accompanied by spiced mulled wine (vin cuit). 

Apparently families who skip the rigors of the Gros Souper still include the 13 desserts in their Christmas celebrations. Ready-made presentation baskets of the desserts are available to buy.

I won't be in Provence this Christmas. I'll be up at the beach house on the Sunshine Coast, where our tradition is to get together and eat seafood and lots of nibblies and desserts on the deck...and drink a bit of champagne and beer. This year I will be cooking many French-inspired desserts such as Tarte au Citron and Creme Brulee.

Today I made a batch of Bliss Balls and I'll share the recipe with you. Great for snacking on and quite healthy. 

CHOCOLATE BLISS BALLS

(Don't get hassled by portion sizes--any size will do)

• A large handful of activated almonds (or ordinary almonds)
• A small handful of dates
• A few dried figs (optional--I love figs)
• A dessertspoon of raw cacoa dried chocolate (I use the proper stuff from the health food store). You can substitute ordinary cocoa.
• About 3 large tablespoons of nut spread/butter (hazelnut, macadamia, whatever). If you're a fan of peanut butter (I'm not) you could use that.

Now...

In a blender or any kind of whizzer, zoom the almonds till they're nice and crushed.

Add all other ingredients except the nut spread. Zoom till nicely chopped. Then add nut spread and zoom till the mixture can be pressed together and holds a ball shape. (You can add a little juice or water if you can't get to that sticky stage. Or olive oil if you're from Italy, hahahaha).

Sprinkle some coconut on a board. Wet your hands and shape mixture into balls and roll in the coconut (or you can roll them in cacoa).

Refrigerate. Pop one in your mouth whenever you feel like a sweet treat. Amaze balls!!

• I hope you enjoyed reading a little about Christmas traditions in Provence and here in Oz. 
• What are your traditions for the holiday season?

Getting ready for Christmas at the beach house!

For those who've followed my melanoma journey, I now have had four removed! Ugh! Ouch! 

And thanks to those who've participated in WEP challenges this year. Hopefully we will find a way to resume in the New Year. 

Australian debut author, Ella Carey, lands her Paris Time Capsule on my blog.

Hello writers and booklovers! I'm reposting this post for the Cephalopod Coffeehouse, which is book review heaven at the end of each month. There is an author interview below my review. Please feel free to skip this and just read the information about the book.

If a book has got 'Paris' in the title, I'll buy it. And my latest 'Paris' purchase is by Australian author Ella Carey with her debut novel The Paris Time Capsule (I believe she has plenty of trunk manuscripts too!) And what a debut! But first, a little about Ella. 

Like me, Ella Carey is a self confessed Francophile who can almost claim Paris as her second home. Ella spotted the story of the apartment in Paris that had been abandoned for seventy years on a blog in 2011. At that time, Ella was working with an agency in London on a novel about a mystery surrounding valuable art. But the story about a woman who left her treasure filled apartment in Paris, not to mention a valuable Boldini portrait hanging on the wall, never to return again, seemed the perfect inspiration. Why did the apartment’s owner, Madame de Florian never return to Paris? Why did she keep the apartment a secret until she died? What’s more, the story held all Ella’s passions in one perfect package. Ella has degrees in English literature and Music, and a passion for Art and History. She has learned French since she was five and has travelled to Paris at least a dozen times. Ella has had her work published in the Review of Australian Fiction and has written stories for as long as she has spoken French. Ella Carey lives with her husband, two children and two divine Italian greyhounds.

About The Paris Time Capsule

2010: New York photographer Cat Jordan has always fought against her past, but when a stranger dies in Paris, Cat finds herself the sole inheritor of an apartment in the ninth arrondissement that has been locked up for seventy years.

A stash of love letters belonging to Marthe de Florian, one of the Belle Époque’s most famous demimondaines, and the appearance of the beautiful and mysterious Isabelle de Florian’s grandson leads Cat in search of the reasons why Isabelle kept her Paris apartment a secret until her death, and why she left her entire estate to Cat.

As Cat unravels the story, she too embarks on her own journey, realizing that the secrets in the apartment may finally unlock the future…

I loved this book, so arranged for Ella to pop up on my blog today as part of her rounds to talk about her debut novel, her writing life and whatever...

Your novel is set in Paris and in various other locations in France. Have you ever visited the places where you set your novel? If not, how did you create the atmosphere?

I have visited all the locations set around France in the novel, have wandered their streets and was enchanted by their atmosphere. I won't give away where they all are here, but each of these places were memorable as they were not only beautiful but were also evocative of earlier times. They were perfect for my novel. There is even a special 'musee' in the novel that Cat can't help but visit - and that really exists too! However, I can tell you that there is one location that is fictional. The village in Provence is a figment of my imagination. But, I have spent some time in Provence, and have visited so many villages there that my own Saint Revel could easily just slip into the landscape without any of us knowing it wasn't real.

I saw on another blog that one of your favourite writers is Hemingway. As he is rather a fixation of mine, I wondered what particular aspect/s of Hemingway's writing style you admire and have you worked to incorporate it/them into your writing?

Hemingway was one of the first writers to write in a more modern style, cutting out lengthy descriptions that were characteristic of the nineteenth century novel. I adore nineteenth century novels, but I re-read Hemingway's work a couple of years ago and was inspired again by his own wonderful descriptions, especially of Spain, in 'Fiesta: The Sun Also Rises,' and of Paris in 'A Moveable Feast.' I do love the way Hemingway writes dialogue. I don't think I consciously attempt to incorporate Hemingway's skills into my own writing, but sometimes, I look at aspects of my own work and see where I have been influenced by my favourite writers, including Hemingway.

Katherine Ann Porter, in the Paris Review, talks about the event of a story being like a stone thrown in water - she says it's not the event itself that's interesting, but rather the ripples the event creates in the lives of the characters. Would this be true of your story discovery, and the way your story unfolded?

I think this is an excellent analogy. I can say that I haven't finished with this story yet - it is still rippling away in my mind and has been doing so for a long time now. I am working on the second novel out of what will be three novels inspired by this story. As for my characters - finding that this apartment contained not only abandoned treasure, but a history that rippled through several generations and families - will lead them to chasing that elusive stone around a deep lake for a while yet!

Human motivations are very complex - why do we do what we do. Did it take a lot of brainstorming to work out the motivations of the main characters in your novel - especially Cat's? Did you sympathise in any way with her motives?

I always know my characters' motives at every level, from those aspects of themselves that they don't understand right up to the way in which they interact with others and the world around them. I spend much time thinking about this during the stages of research and planning. I think in order to sympathise with one's characters, the question to ask is what you would do if you were that character? This way, I empathise with Cat.

Would you describe yourself as a prolific writer? What are you working on now?

I write every day, for at least three or four hours - I would love to write more, and I confess that I measure out a day's enjoyment by how much time I've had to write! If I'm not writing I am often off in my own world thinking about my characters. The second novel inspired by the story of the Paris Time Capsule is set in Lake Geneva and Paris in 1934, and in a village just outside Berlin in the present. I am immersed in that now.

 For more information on the Paris Time Capsule please visit Ella at www.facebook.com/paristimecapsule or www.ellacarey.com. 

Thank you for having me here Denise. Your questions were most interesting!

I have a question for readers here today, although please feel free to just chat if you would prefer, and as well. I'd love to hear who your favourite writers are and what you admire about their work.

We have one free kindle copy of 'The Paris Time Capsule' to give away to one commentator!

So come on commenters! Have your say and you could win a free e-book here! Love mystery? Paris? Love? History? Then you'll love this book!

Want more?

Praise for Ella Carey:

'Ella Carey creates an almost impossibly romantic atmosphere.' Rachel Edwards, Review of Australian Fiction.

'I am so looking forward to the release of The Paris Time-Capsule. Ella Carey is one of the most talented writers I have ever worked with. Roll on release day!' Melanie Milburne, USA Today best selling author.

BUY LINKS:

Amazon UK        Australia

 India      New Zealand 

US and rest of the world      Amazon US