A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle

A Year in Provence is the warm hearted account, Peter Maylee tells what it is like to live a year in Provence in a newly purchased 200 year old farmhouse in the rural country of Luberon.  The book was published in 1989 but is still relevant today.

The chapters start with January and ends with December.  Learn about finding truffles in March.  Truffles are sold by weight and the standard unit is kilo.  

When they heard the phone ring his wife knew they were British if it was between 1 and 3.  A Frenchman wouldn't disturb someone's leisurely lunch.  

The couple stayed busy working in their garden,  buying things for their house and enjoying the culture of rural France

Each Sunday include a trip to the market.  

Quote from the book:

We walked slowly along the rows of trestle tables, admiring the merciless French housewife at work.  Unlike us, she is not content merely to loot at the produce before buying.  She gets to grips with it,

squeezing aborigines, sniffing tomatoes, snapping the matchstick thin haricuts verts between her fingers, poking suspiciously into the damp green hearts of lettuces, tasting cheeses and olives and, if they don't come up to her private standards, she will glare at the stallholder as if she has been betrayed before taking her custom elsewhere.  

A woman was selling free range eggs and live rabbits, and beyond her the tables were piled high with vegetables, small and fragrant bushes of basil, tubs of lavender honey, great green bottles of first pressing olive oil, trays of hothouse peaches, pots of black tapenade, flowers and herbs, jams and cheese everything looked delicious in the early morning sun.  

In August there was opening day of  Les Grands Travaux.  Millions come from the north to see the event.  In September the crowds dwindled and local friends came out from the summer seige. They said living in France they became bakery addicts.  They loved buying the delicious local bread.