Today is Mr. C's birthday, and it's a biggie. So departing from our usual routine when celebrating almost anything, which is to treat it as business as usual, I announced I was taking him out to lunch at a French restaurant. We have known of this place since it opened over 3 years ago but, as I said above, it takes the lever of Archimedes to get him out of the house and into an eatery.
La Provence is located on the line between Roseville and Rocklin, perhaps 30 miles north of Sacramento. This area is beginning to be built up but it could still be classified as "country-ish." It has been quite a while since I was in Provence but I imagine it hasn't changed too much, and this place would fit right in. High ceilings, wide French doors opening onto a lovely garden patio where, if it hadn't been 105º we would have sat, crisp napery, un-trendy dishes, glasses, flatware. Very nice. Three nice, roomy, light-filled dining rooms, each seating 50 or so, a handsome bar. I ordered a seared salmon salad, the Birthday Boy ordered Coquilles St. Jacques, we shared a crème brûlée that was a very close second to the one we had at some out-of-the-way cafe in Barcelona. That one set the gold standard. As for wine, a luscious, oak-y Cote-du-Rhone white. Everything was perfect. Isn't that nice, for a change?
The staff was setting up the terrace for a wedding reception that was to begin at 4 PM, in the high heat of the afternoon. But with all the umbrellas and flowers and pretty decorations it looked cool and inviting, until you walked outside, of course. Unlike our usual 15-minute meals, we lingered for two hours enjoying everything about it. We will go back.I watched the second part of the BBC "Wallender" series last night and this one was much, much better than the first. I had read the book so knew what the plot line was. The acting, the sound editing, the screenplay were all a vast improvement from last Saturday's episode. Brannaugh looks as seedy as ever. The final one is next week.
And now, it's time to take a dip in the pool and cool off from this insane valley heat!
3 comments:
God, 105 degrees down here would boil our beaujolais. I don't know any of that country north of Sacramento, though we'll head through Lodi up to Amador later this summer. Seems we always go South of Sac. So...when do you leave for your real home?
We head south of the border after Thanksgiving which is spent in San Diego. Four months to get all the packing done and we better start now!
That restaurant looks so wonderful!
Thanks for the book news, I love
Larsson and "Life of Pi" was one of
my all-time faves too.
Post a Comment