Eating Winter Seafood Meals in the Sables d'Olonne (Vendee, France) with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Eating Winter Seafood Meals in the Sables d’Olonne (Vendée, France) with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

On another cold weekend in Paris (France), my husband Laurent and I bundled up toddler Florence and drove out to the Vendée region to visit Laurent’s grandmother, who lived in the Sables d’Olonne on the Atlantic oceanfront.

When we arrived, I walked to the indoor Arago Market  with Laurent’s grandmother to buy lunch which included:

-raw oysters

-pre-cleaned clams for steaming

-lamb fillets for grilling

Then, we took Florence for a walk down the Remblai.  It was pretty windy on the oceanfront.  Just a few streets inland, the temperature was warmer, because there was no wind.

We drank a Jurançon Doux as our cocktail.  This wine comes form Southwestern France and was pretty reasonably priced at the time.

Then, we ate raw oysters  - one dozen each.  I like to eat mine with fresh lemon juice.

Our main dish was grilled lamb fillets with green beans and small, French lima beans from Puy.  We drank a Bordeaux from the Médoc with the grilled lamb.  A selection of cheese followed this course and a nice dessert.

Laurent ate a chocolate éclair while ate a Polonaise, a fat cake soaked in rum that is supposed to resemble an old Polish lady.

We returned to Paris well fed.  Florence’s time by the Atlantic Ocean gave her pink cheeks and a happy smile.

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Exploring the Sables d'Olonne: Vacationing on France's Atlantic Coast with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Exploring the Sables d’Olonne:  Vacationing on France’s Atlantic Coast with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

My husband Laurent, baby Florence, and I loved going to visit Laurent’s grandmother, who lived in the Atlantic Resort town of Les Sables d’Olonne that had a Casino, a huge cement walkway along the beach called the Ramblai, and a spa (‘thassolotherapy’ featuring hot salt water baths).

When we arrived, the four of us went to a restaurant called the Calypso.  Laurent and I started our meals with a dozen raw oysters each “to cleanse the glands.”

We then ate roast cod and salmon wrapped up in a slice of Vendéean ham.  We drank a house with the fish that Laurent’s grandmother called “pissote” – a local wine that does not travel well.

We had a sampler plate of desserts.  My favorite was “egg in snow.”  These fluffy beaten egg whites were topped off with caramel threads.  Laurent ate a fruit salad floating in a cognac glass full of banana liqueur.  I felt like I could make that dessert at home.

Of course, we took a big walk along the Ramblai and inhaled deep breaths of salty, ocean and admired the fine, white sand and kids playing in their go-carts on the beach.

That evening Laurent and I went to the “spectacle” at the Puy du Fou Château. 

The profits from the “spectacle” go to pay for things such as:

-research on popular traditions from the Vendée

-an equestrian school (a Middle Ages tournament is held as part of the ‘spectacle’)

-a newspaper

-a literary prize called “Terre de France” for a book about a French region

-a radio station

-a 150-seat bus for shows about the Vendée

There are 12,500 seats in the bleachers.  The Spectacle dealt with the War of the Vendée.

The Vendée was monarchist and religious during the French Revolution.  The Revolutionary government in Paris sent dragoon troops to walk through the countryside and kill men, women, and children for not obeying their agenda 100%.

This repression (some would say massacre) may be one of the reasons why Western France has more practicing Catholics than in other parts of France.

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click here for:  Ruth Paget's Amazon Books

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