I got up just before 7 am to make a call as part of my job search, trying to be careful not to wake up Meghan and the other campers. I walked over to the reception are and made my call and worked on the computer till about 8 am, when I went back to the van to wake Meghan up. While she got up, I zipped off into town to the local boulangerie which we had scoped out the night before. I picked up two pain au chocolats and a Montbrunoise, which I guess is the local version of a traditional baguette. Meghan had a cup of tea ready as I returned to camp, passing by all the vendors that were setting up their stalls in the main street for the weekly Saturday market. We had a semi-relaxing petit-déjeuner with our fresh treats from the bakery and our cup of tea. I say "semi-relaxing" because we were wanted to check out the market in town before heading on to our adventure for the day. The municipal campsite was the only campsite in Montbrun-les-Bains and although not the most private of campsites, had clean facilities, was very cheap and was only a few hundred meters from town. We got the van packed up and ready to go and then walked into town to survey the market. We were specifically on the lookout for some tablecloths and some fresh fruit.

We were back in the Vaucluse department and had a great view of Mt-Ventoux once again, also known as the giant of Provence. It was only a ten kilometer drive from Montbrun to the little village of Brantes so we arrived well ahead of our 10:30 am start for our cooking class. We have been talking about taking a cooking class for some time now so we were super excited to be finally embarking on one! Brantes is located partway up a hill, facing the north side of Mt-Ventoux and the road leading up to it was a very steep and narrow one. We walked under an arch next to the Mairie and climbed up the cobblestone path about 50 m to arrive at “Les Aventurières du Goût” (Adventurers of Taste). The only indication that we were at the correct house was a little blackboard on their mailbox with their name on it. We were greeted by Odile and Jacqueline, the pair of ladies that run the cooking class. We were waiting on a few other people to show up so they offered us some coffee and we sat outside on their terrace with their three cats (lazing in shade). I was admiring Odile's cooking range (six gas burners, a ceramic side plate, and two ovens) and asked her how she liked it. She said that it was a great 'piano de cuisine’ and I thought she was pulling my leg. But she assured she wasn’t and that the cooking range was referred to as a ‘piano’. Thinking about it now, cooking is an art, just like playing the piano so it makes perfect sense.

Nathalie, the local bookshop owner soon joined us for coffee and we all chatted for a while about our journey and also about their background. They started running this class about four years ago, and both of the ladies live in Brantes full time. Jacqueline is the adventurer and has a passion for hiking and wild herbs and flowers. She would be leading us on our hour long walk through the hills around the village to collect wild herbs and flowers that we’d then go on to cook with. Odile is the chef and would be leading the cooking aspect. We spoke in French throughout the day and it was great practice for me. The other group we were waiting on showed up about half an hour late and were very apologetic. They were four adults from Avignon, Paris and Lyon along with two, very cute kids. We set off on our walk and Jacqueline told us that you can actually eat all the wild plants growing inside the town walls as they don’t spray the plants. We walked around the village and through a couple small farms while Jacqueline pointed out various plants, berries, herbs and flowers along with their medicinal and culinary uses. She was very knowledgeable and even knew the latin names of most of the plants. She had developed her passion for wild plants through her grandmother who had also lived in Brantes. Her grandmother had only known the names for the plants in the local dialect so when she started to pursue this in earnest, she had to figure out the common French and latin names. In just an hour, we had come across a large variety of plants such as sureau, plantago, mauve, absenthe (illegal to turn into absinthe), pourpier, amaranth, fleur de carrot sauvage (wild carrot flower), wild chicory, sariette and saponerie. Meghan was the designated basket carrier and we added wild carrot flower, fleur de mauve and a little bit of pourpier and amaranth to it. We trekked back to Odile’s house with our freshly picked plants, donned our aprons and began cleaning and chopping the various ingredients. Even the kids got in on the cooking for a little while. We were all in charge of different things so we were able to make five different dishes in about an hour and a half. The menu du jour was completely vegetarian and was as follows:

Entrée

Assortment of raw vegetables with roasted sesame seeds

Green Gazpacho of pourpier and cucumber, topped with calendula petals

“Fleur de carotte sauvage” fried in a light batter

Plat

Bruschetta with a variety of tomatoes, basil, garlic, and black Nyonnaise olives on toast

Halved-apricots, topped with a creamy mixture of mild goat cheese, hazelnuts, raisins and roasted red peppers

A pan-fried wrap, filled with a mixture of potato, eggs, amaranth, spring onions, mayonnaise and soy cream sauce served with a side salad of mixed greens with a tamari and black sesame seed dressing

Dessert

Apricot clafoutis (flan) with finely chopped almonds

All the ingredients were locally sourced wherever possible and were all organic, including the tamari sauce used for the salad dressing. We also used a lot of lactose and gluten alternatives which meant that the dishes would work for an even wider audience. Everyone had different tasks to work on and I was pitting olives for the bruschetta and picking the amaranth leaves. Megs was separating the leaves from the pourpier, did the potato mixture and parts of the bruschetta. I have to admit that I was busy taking photos and seeing and what everyone else was doing that I wasn’t the most efficient worker that afternoon. When everything was prepped, Odile showed us how to aesthetically assemble our plates for top presentation marks. In fact, the entire meal got top marks for taste, presentation and colour. We sat outside on the terrace around a long, rectangular table under the shade of umbrellas. We did a quick toast to the Jacqueline and Odile for a wonderful class, which really hadn’t felt like a class because of its informality. We dug into all the food and it was simply delicious – all of it, including the goat cheese, which I normally don’t like. We all chatted as we ate and we also got to learn a little bit about the other folks who had participated in the class. They were from nearby Avignon with three of them visiting from Paris and Lyon and they were very curious about our trip, too. Towards the end of the meal, the bookshop owner and a couple local kids dropped by to say hello. We learned that Jacqueline and Odile were writing a cooking book and were hoping to have it published in December. We made sure she had our email addresses so that when it did come out, we could get a copy. After lunch, we had a very soothing herbal infusion of mint and lemon balm, also picked wild. The whole experience had been superb, and definitely one of the highlights of the trip.

By the time we all parted ways, it was almost half past three, about two hours past when our class had been scheduled to end. We made our way back to the van and just outside the small parking lot, we spotted a plethora of butterflies and insects hovering around some lavender bushes. We switched to our zoom lens and we were occupied for nearly half an hour trying to get the perfect shot. We even spotted an insect known as a ‘sphinx’ which looked like a cross between a really small hummingbird and a butterfly. When we were done taking photos, we decided to walk back into the village and explore it as we hadn’t really seen it before our cooking class. It was a very picturesque village with lots of character and I told Megs that I could definitely picture us buying a place here as a vacation home. It was definitely not crowded with tourists nor did it have any major monuments to put it on the map. It was typically Provencal and not manicured at all. We really enjoyed wandering around the small streets and poking our heads into a local pottery shop which unfortunately wasn’t our style. By the time we returned to camp in Montbrun, it was nearly five o’clock. We had a few short thundershowers that evening and when they had passed, we wandered into Montbrun. The town was built on a hillside and we walked up through the town, passing the church and the main bell tower, until we reached the château. Along the way, we passed by some houses that were six or seven stories high! The château was private property and crumbling for the most part but there was a family clearly living in one of the better maintained towers on one corner. It was a short walk and we were soon making our way back down to the campsite. It had been a wonderful day, following closely on the heels of our amazing hot air ballooning experience and we were really happy to be still having so many great experiences this close to the end of our trip.