Not For The Squeamish....
On Picasa you can clearly see the village perched up there on the rocky spur. I'm going to have to use the telephoto more, I think.
That village is called Gourdon and is around 15 minutes from my doorstep. One of the marvellous things about living in Opio is that you never get bored with the scenery; 30 minutes in any direction will show you something different... I digress....
There are a couple of villages in the hills behind Gourdon that I'd never visited before so off we went. The trip didn't start well; we were late setting off, the road was windier than I'd anticipated and when we arrived in Cipieres my camera batteries were flat and the village shop had just shut...Probably turning round and going home would have been a good idea.
Anyway it was a little past noon and H. suggested a restaurant review might provide food for thought(ouch!).
We ignored the perfectly good restaurant in Cipieres and headed back to Gourdon on the basis that we mightn't feel like tackling the windy road on full stomachs!
Gourdon's got a few restaurants but we chose a fairly basic one wanting to eat, pay up and go and I opted for a pizza. The rest of the family is pretty indifferent about them so I usually order one when I'm out...
If you're eating it's probably best if you stop reading now. Finish the post later...
I chose a Napolitaine, the one with the anchovies and it arrived cheese bubbling away and, oh my, did it smell good. The first two bites were delicious. I went to cut the third chunk and lifted it to my mouth and, there, stuck to the cheese was a fly. A cooked fly. Well, I studied it, turned the knife this way and that. I really did not want to believe..I said to H. "I really do not want to believe this is a fly. Tell me it's a bit of burnt crust." He said "it's a fly" Of course it was. Its little legs were sticking up in the air..
I could hear the ripple going round the restaurant...mouche...elle a trouve une mouche.. dans la pizza.
The staff were, of course, mortified, couldn't do enough for us and I've lived long enough to know these things can happen no matter how much care you take but the incident's certainly spoilt pizzas for me..
Good thing then.
8 comments:
Of course the old adage is:
"What's worse than finding a worm in your apple?
A. Finding half a worm"
But I am with you on this, pizza avec mouche doesn't tickle my tastebuds...
(Love the pic of the village, even as my stomach flips at the thought of the drive to it!)
Gourdon has to be one of my favourite spots on the entire Riviera, Angela. It's such an abrupt contrast from the coastal strip, and that limestone scenery just gets better and better when you penetrate further inland along the Gorges du Loup .
Which reminds me - on the opposite side of the river gorge is the Pic de Courmettes. Did you know that at 1248m it's almost the height of Ben Nevis (1343m)? I never tire of telling that to visitors to Antibes, from where the peak is clearly visible from lots of places, even standing outside Shoppi and the main post office. Folk always look doubtful when I tell them that's our local Ben Nevis. It's easy to spot, with its flattish crest of bare limestone, looking for all the world like snow, especially in winter time. Can be quite deceptive. I believe lots of films have been made on the bare limestone causses behind Gourdon, because (I'm told) they look so alien and out of this world.
I saw your comment on the 'Postcards from Pension Milou' blog where you asked if Pastis and Tessa probably came from the same breeder.
They did, I'm the owner of Tessa and we got her from Phil Clarke, on the left on the way up to Isola. Although Tessa is 100 times better from when we first got her she is still no angel.
To cut a very long story short, we have now learnt that we cannot leave anything within her reach if we want to keep it. My daughter Charlotte has so many Barbies without arms and legs I've lost count. She still grabs everyone who comes to the door, she doesn't hurt anyone, she just grabs their clothes and tries dragging them inside!
On the plus side she is a gorgeous looking dog and 90% of the time she is an angel and despite her problems I love her.
Would love to hear from you.
Ailsa
www.ailsasnoveltycakes.com
OH NO! That's horrible, I hope the "mouche" didn't spoil your whole trip.
I LOVE pizza! Years ago in university, my friends put a rubber spider in my pizza. I freaked! But then we laughed and laughed! I still love pizza. But a cooked fly? Eww!
Try googling "waiter fly soup" and you'll discover a wealth of groan-making Christmas cracker stuff,
eg on: http://pbskids.org/lions/fly/
Man:
Waiter, what's this fly doing in my soup?
Waiter:
I think it's the backstroke, sir.
Man::
Call the manager! I can't eat this terrible food.
Waiter::
There's no point, sir. He won't want to eat it either.
The image of your eyes focusing on the fly 'it's little legs sticking up in the air' just a few inches away is very funny. In situations like this my husband invariably says, "mmm, more protein" which isn't helpful at all.
The phrase, 'elle a trouve une mouche' sounds pretty as do most things said in French.
Pizza au fricasse de mouche
Pizza au foie de mouche
Pizza au roti de mouche
Bleh.
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