It was a Sunday and we all knew it and needed it. Remi and I had picked up our hard-working friends Marc and Bettina in Nimes and then headed up through the winding hills to Uzès. Uzès, how I love thee! Ben knows. He loves it too. But it is in Winter when I prefer it as the town, one of the most beautiful in the South of France, is positively empty.
Ah, save for at Terroirs, where we grabbed the last outdoor table on the terrace. The gentlemen gave the ladies the view on the Place aux Herbes and backs against the (very much needed) space heaters. We did our best to settle in the dogs and then it was time to consider with anticipation how to give ourselves over to a similarly floppy relaxed abandon.
We puzzled and bantered over the simple yet tempting menu with the charming waiter who leaned on our table and wished that he could join us for a glass of the very nice local wine that he had just poured into our ready glasses. Decisions were made, then changed until promises of shared bites were offered.
I was tired, coming off of a week of not sleeping well. But one of the many aspects of being with our long-time friends is that they take us as we are. There is no need to put on a show or to pretend to be other. So I felt free to be quiet.
The conversation burbled on around me like little musical notes dancing off the staff. I let my eyes do the talking, taking little snapshots of the view from our table, my camera resting otherwise in my lap. Our food arrived just as my stomach was starting to rumble and I enjoyed my delicious gratin du jour, the cheese bubbling over smoky eggplant to warm me up from the inside so that I no longer needed the polar fleece blanket placed with consideration on the arm of my chair.
We all knew our good fortune at being able to eat outside in February and so we stayed. A second bottle of wine was ordered as it was sold à la ficelle, literally by the string so that you paid only for the level of how much you drank. Because honestly, we just wanted to linger, to pull the moment like the sweet taffy it was.
We were amongst the very last to leave (that was our table at far left) and certainly no one rushed us to go. How quiet the Place was now. Full of Winter.
All the better to take a post-dining stroll, an institution in France.
And when that perambulation happens to be in Uzes…
…well, your eyes will feast as well as your belly has.
Sunday, sweet Sunday…
…I always find a home in you.
Terroirs Restaurant
5 Place aux Herbes
30700 Uzès
Tel. : 04 66 03 41 90
PS. Thank you to everyone from Remi (and me too of course) over the many, many congratulatory comments and emails about the publication of “his” French stamp! You are a lovely group of people, I have to say…
More wine is not a good idea. It is just a phase and will pass. I have had insomnia troubles since my early 20s and am fairly used to it.
Bisous.
It is! We always slow down while we cross it (much to the annoyance of our fellow drivers) as it is just so spectacular. I love that whole area actually.
Thank you Bill, as always such a pitch perfect perspective. I really enjoyed your post too.
Ah, Uzes-like Aix-is a must, must see! And we were especially proud of Kipling. This is the second time he has been taken to a terrace and was pretty good!
Doesn't everything taste better when eating outside? Especially when you are chilly? I think so!
So close and yet so far, Michel! But I know how happy you are in Sablet. I think your village is quite the find…
A beautiful post, as always – looks like it was a wonderful lazy Sunday with the puppers and friends! I can't get over the greenery that makes a few appearances and that you ate OUTSIDE!!! We are buried in snow and cold – I'm so glad that you're having a milder winter! Thank you for sharing it all with us!
Thank you for such a lovely post and "review" of Uzes; we are thinking of staying there in the fall, and after reading this we just may do it! But,of course, there will be the crowds….
It is a beautiful friendship when you are free to be sincere, including silent when the need is there. 🙂
I loved this post Heather….because it was a "review of the moment" rather than a "restaurant review" of a specific restaurant…meaning it is as delicious/applicable to read for those of us not living there as for those who do and could go there if they wished…i love that it is more of a reminder to stop and appreciate the simple joys of friendship, cosiness and company.