Le Couvent Diary

We're a bit behind with things. Not to be outdone by everyone else in the western world, Ali and I got the rotten colds the second Christmas was over. Dammit. This put paid to serious vine-pruning, gardening, sorting out general chaos - indeed anything that involved standing upright. But we're back, and on splendid form.

Today we have a heap of friends coming to lunch.  We'll be two Swiss, one Catalonian, two French, four English and Ali, who is Irish/Scottish/Malaysian. So, of course, we'll speak French - the first language of just two of us. I'm trying a recipe for sanglier, only I haven't got any wild boar, so I'm substituting pork. I'll let you know how it goes - and the recipe if it works. It uses heaps of red wine in honour of the five wine-makers who'll be eating with us. I'm daring to ask them to taste our new wine from last year's fated harvest. Yesterday our pal Rosemary George, Master of Wine and expert on Languedoc wine , tasted it and, very kindly, didn't choke. She was even rather kind and encouraging about it. Thank you

No doubt you'll have seen that France, like the UK, has been covered in a blanket of snow for days now. We, here in the south, have had more of a thin veil for just one day. The rest of the time it's just been absolutely freeeezing. Despite our colds, we've spent a fair amount of time chainsawing dead peach trees for firewood. When we bought our vineyard we inherited a once-upon-a-time orchard. After three years of complete abandonment many of the trees had withered and died. I've rescued quite a number, but those past it are now filling Le Couvent with the delicious scent of peach-wood.

Our recycling scheme is going well. As fast as new stuff appears on the website someone claims it. Recent good giveaways have a been a brand new skinny Mac keyboard, a swimming pool roller and cover, 22 bottles of white wine, a pair of designer shoes, two pairs of leather trousers, two sunbeds, champagne glasses and lots more. If you're reading this locally do take a look at C'est Gratuit . There are loads of things being given away - free - for nothing. At the moment there are some great Ikea wardrobes and an Ercol dining table up for grabs. Do take a look.

The new hens have settled in famously and are fast gaining on the big girls. Anyone who's been to Le Couvent will know that our hens are absolutely enormous, living on a summer diet of croissant, pain au chocolat, pain au raisin and anything else left from breakfast. This time of year sees bags of leftovers hanging on the gates of Le Couvent from our neighbours. From time to time their kindness is rewarded with some fresh, orange yolked eggs. The perfect exchange.

In an idle moment yesterday I was meandering through Youtube videos and came across this one. The chap's name is Michael Schulte. I like it a lot. Click on the big arrow, sit back with a coffee and think happy thoughts.

Ali and I wish you a very Happy Christmas and a peaceful, healthy and happy 2009. We hope to see lots of you next summer.

Bisous à tous de Lizzie et Ali du Couvent, Roujan.

What's been happening at Le Couvent during this six weeks of silence? Well lots actually. We lost the first week dealing with cops, garage and insurance when the van was broken into. Then my lovely mum & John came to stay for ten very gentle days of eating good food, touring and talking.

This is a typical photo of my Mum who has never managed to look straight at the camera. John's about to have his second period of chemotherapy in a year, so we all have our fingers crossed for him.

And now we're just back from a wonderful week in New York. After first class flights from Heathrow we stayed in the uber-stylish Gramercy Park Hotel on Lexington and 22nd (I've always wanted to say that) and spent our days, like all tourists, shopping, sightseeing, visiting galleries and eating too well. BA looks after its first class passengers very well so we arrived on fantastic form, refreshed and well slept.

The Gramercy Park Hotel can only be described as dark, luxurious gothic, with the emphasis on dark. Superbly situated near Union Square, it had the most comfortable bed I'd ever slept in and a wonderful large bedroom and bathroom, but you needed a miner's lamp to see your way round. The lift always contained some poor guest bent double peering at the floor numbers. And when we ate in the excellent Wakiya restaurant which is part of the hotel, there was a chap at the next table actually using a torch to read the menu. He was obviously a regular. It was a hoot, and I would have  loved to have been able to see the heavenly chilli lobster dish that will stay in my tastebud memory for ever.

But the main reason for our trip was to spend some time with four friends and to support Gill Carrick and Joan Armatrading who were running in the NY Marathon for the Women of the Year Foundation . They did brilliantly,  and can still be sponsored by clicking on their names.

 Well done girls!

We had a fantastic time cheering everyone on.

Macy's called for the next couple of days and Ali, who has gained a bit of weight, and I who've lost a bit, found some fab new clothes and shoes, and a new suitcase to lug it all back in. After that we geared up for a bout of sightseeing. Here's Ali at the top of the Rockefeller building. As you can see the weather had closed in rather. So we'd managed to shop during brilliant sunshine, then sight-see in cloud and rain. Lah di dah.

It's behind you.... Lizzie &the Flatiron building

....and Ali in Grand Central Station

We all met up for a fabulous lunch in the Grand Central Station Oyster Bar - to be recommended, especially the Ipswich Crab Cakes (I had those just for you Mum)

It wasn't always so glamorous - Ali and I were desperate to try out a real diner for brunch.

 I forgot to mention that we'd arrived on Halloween which put us in the party mood from the get-go, but the absolute highlight of our stay was being there for the US elections. Can you believe it? What an exciting time. On the day of the vote we pitched up at Election Plaza outside Radio City, where the party had well and truly begun.

But we decided the most comfortable place to watch events unfold would be our hotel room where we set out a picnic and watched it all on the box.

 And you know the rest of the story.

Well done President-Elect Obama. Those check-out girls in Union Square that we spoke to earlier in the day will be thrilled. As are we.

After all the excitement of the elections our friends Mandy, Miranda, Josie and Janet flew back to the UK leaving Ali and I to do a couple more days' exploring. We were very keen to see as many galleries as possible. MOMA was interesting, if exhausting. We managed to arrive at the Guggenheim, the one we were keenest to see, on the only day it was closed, so we headed up to the nearby Jewish Museum. Very interesting, if dark. I got into trouble for shining a tiny magnifying light on the Dead Sea Scrolls. Whoops.

Although the beautiful Guggenheim was closed, it was a treat to see a Kandinsky arrive to be tenderly handled into the museum.

It's all just over the road from Central Park, so that deserved a fleeting glance too. Unfortunately one week simply wasn't enough to do all that we wanted so we'll just have to go back - soon.

And finally, many many thanks to our lovely generous pal who gave us our flights, lots of delicious suppers and our hotel stay - you are amazing. And thanks too, to Jamie and Tara, developers of  Phoload, who came to stay at Le Couvent to look after the dogs, cat, chickens, fish and house so well. We feel refreshed and ready for a winter preparing Le Couvent for next season. God, holidays are a tonic.

By popular request we've offered an alternative date in February 2009 to come to help at Le Couvent, Roujan. If you're up for some fun and hard work in the vineyards and here in the old house, do take a look at this page . We've had volunteers apply from several other countries, so the talk should be good and the jokes multi-lingual/cultural.

Don't hold back - this will be an extraordinarily interesting week/fortnight. You'll learn loads and get fitter into the bargain.

There's nothing like a bit of teamwork for getting things done.

Today's my birthday and my brother's bought me a special rake for whacking the grapes down into the juice. Sometimes the best present is the thing you need right now. The vat of grapes is singing. The yeast is bubbling away and it sounds like a massive bowl of Rice Crispies.

Ten of us went to Meze for a lunch of heaps of shellfish. We had to wait long enough for the restaurant to go fishing before we eventually ate, but it was good, and thankfully no-one was in a hurry.

All in all it's been one of those times when our friends have absolutely come up trumps. Thank you so much Teddy, Nicola, Erzsi, Kathy, Richard, Clare, Rachel, Alex M, Alex C, Greg, Kate, Jenny, Jackie, Josh, Freddie, Michelle, Henny, Simon, Hans and Christa. You are complete stars. And to all the other people who were lined up to help with the harvest, can we please book you for next year?