Oh, dear me.
Well, here is the deal. Last night, while watching the municipal election results roll in from around France, I was pacing the room violently, sloshing the red wine in my glass as I did so, until worked up to a fuming pitch, I swore to myself that I was going to write a tirade of a post today.
And yet, I just can’t quite do it. Not yet, at least.
Am I angry/afraid/appalled that the extreme right Front National party made such a large advance over their numbers from four years ago? Indeed I am. So much so that I find myself slightly stunned and waiting eagerly for next Sunday to arrive for the final round of voting with a desperate hope for a “Say it isn’t so” moment.
Here in Arles, Herve Schiavetti, the current mayor, has the lead but with only 38% of the vote, while the FN candidate has a whopping 24%. Really? In Arles? Such a second place status was rampant, especially in the South of France and in nearby towns like Avignon, Saint-Gilles, Tarascon and Beaucaire, the FN so far has the lead often with just shy of the 50% needed to have won in the first round.
So, for lunch today, I knew just what to make. It is one of my favorite winter into spring salads but is also quite bitter. Parfait.
Endive, beet and blue salad
for 2 people (any more and you might have political disputes)
3 heads of endive, sliced into rounds and sliced in two
Top with:
cooked beets, diced
sprinkling of dried cranberries and/or golden raisins
a sliced apple for crunch
ample amounts of crumbled good blue cheese (I used a bleu d’Auvergne)
sliced nuts on top
Sweet mustard vinaigrette
2 soup spoons of Dijon mustard
2 soup spoons of a sweet vinegar
(I used a mix of crème de noix – aka nuts – and balsamic with lavender honey)
4 soup spoons of good olive oil
salt, pepper and herbes de Provence to taste
Whisk the mustard and vinegar together then add in the olive oil by two’s, adjust to your preferred consistency and taste.
To read an article in the New York Times on this subject (not the salad): please click here.
For those of you wishing to learn more about the background of the Front National party, please click here (and don’t miss the founder’s denial of the Holocaust and the current interest in deporting unemployed immigrants…*cough cough*)
To read a previous post that speaks of this party, please click here.
As for Ben and Kipling?
They have both made their point of view clear: “Wake me when it’s over.”
Just to balance out the amertume?
Here is the beautiful opening to the new collaboration between Bonobo and Late Night tales. The entire album is just wonderful…
Have a great week everyone…
PS. Thank you all so very, very much for your overwhelming response via comments and emails about Remi’s first story in National Geographic magazine. We both are extremely moved and grateful.
"And it will be no surprise to you that in Perpignan, the FN is the front-runner for the moment…"
Bingo, Heather….the house is in old-town Argeles-sur-Mer (a bit north of Perpignan, as you'll know). Herve's 1/4 Jewish (ironically enough, via great-Aunt Yvonne's mother). That doesn't matter one way or another (even IF he told everyone he met) hereabouts, but he claims that it would make a Very Great difference if we actually tried to live in Argeles or Elnes.
—-david
The politics we must be wary of: but the salad is to be embraced. I vote for salad. It makes more sense than divisive rhetoric xx
Sadly, I think that here in Europe the far Right will rise again. I rarely follow politics but I feel that the undercurrents are there. Even this far south they are being felt.
As always, a word or two to get me straightened out. Merci, Suze.
And we are so lucky to be able to stock up on really good such treats (I know that a lot of people only use "straight up" basalmic but I can't afford it!) when we go to the cabanon in the Luberon. Evencio makes them all and they are all (plus the truffle olive oil) really amazing. Hope you like!
I will toast to that, dear Jeanne!
xo
H
Ps. Sorry about the disappearing comment! I am having one of those wonky Blogger phases – hoping it will pass soon…
I can't wait to hear more about your trip! The Mercury Lounge is a really, really big deal but I guess you know that by now. 🙂 And it sounds like great eats were to be had! No need to do petance – you deserved it! Bday food is all for the best!
If you could have seen me during TF1 and that ….(will bite my tongue)…talking soooo self-righteously…!!!
I can only imagine how happy you are to see that Sablet is not touched by this, Michel. It really scares me, deeply. You know as well as I how big of a riff there is in France and I don't see it getting better any time soon…
Sending all of my Best Wishes for your son-in-law. It is truly a hard path, especially now. But it sounds as though he is on his way! Thank you for your kind words.
They are wonderful writers, David. Their guide to the South of France is still the only one that I suggest to people.
And it will be no surprise to you that in Perpignan, the FN is the front-runner for the moment…and here? We are virtually surrounded. Needless to say, we are all also waiting to hear about the elections for our upcoming move. No way that either Remi (last name: Benali) and this foreigner are going to live in a FN stronghold.
Sadly, I know of all the stories to which you refer. The tip of an iceberg that runs deep and wide.
I can't edit my comments either, for info! Probably a more technically adept person could but you know me, if I could, I would be writing this in pencil.