That's when the adventure began. We quickly became "lost", but were not concerned since some of our most special places have been "found" while we were "lost". In addition we weren't worried because not only does my iphone had a Google Maps on it (which has worked perfectly), but also our car has a GPS that we felt we could operate. So, we felt there was "no problem" being lost in the courtryside that was in reality fairly close to Borme-les-Mimosas.
The scenery was beautiful and the ride very pleasant. We thought we knew where we were when we saw a sign saying the A57 was very nearby. We knew enough to know that the A57 was no where near where we thought we were. I quickly whipped out my iphone to use the "my location" feature, only to discover that my battery was running very low. Apparently I had left that feature on and it must drain the battery faster than I realized.
So we decided to use the GPS system, which we had already used successfully on this trip. We programed it and the route appeared, but the voice directions were so faint that we could barely hear what was being said. The visual was MUCH more difficult to follow. At this point we became a little concerned since there was NOTHING to be seen, no villages, houses, establishments... fields of grapevines and sheep.
After driving for about 45 more minutes we came upon a village... and one that we knew at that... Pierrefeu-du-Var! But we entered the village from the north, not the south that we normally arrive! How we got so turned around we do not know, but it was with great relief that we ended up in a place from which we could easily navigate back to Bormes!
But by this time we were starving and decided to try and fine a nice place to eat. We found the following place and enjoyed it very much:
Whew, after we returned to Bormes we dashed off to the Carrefour (grocery) to attempt to find the ingredients for a few "American" dishes that we planned to take to a "Grand Aioli" that we had been invited to. I decided what was more southern (USA) than deviled eggs and a pecan pie. I was relatively I could find the ingredients for the deviled eggs, but less sure of the ingredients for the pecan pie... pecans for one thing, but just as important the Karo syrup.
After going to three grocery stores we felt like we had similar enough ingredients to attempt both the eggs and the pie. When we got home I was very surprised to find that the eggs we purchased were all double-yoked! Fortunately, I had about 8 other eggs that were single yolked and I decided to use those. The eggs turned out fine, maybe one of my best efforts... so I was pleased by that.
Next, I began preparing the pecan pie. I was very uncertain about what we thought might substitute for the Karo syrup. It was "Vahine Caramel Nature" and it was the correct color and appeared to be thick, although not as thick as Karo syrup.
Measurements were also problematic. I had no idea how to convert tablespoons of butter to grams, etc. Nor was I able to convert oven temperatures from Fahrenheit to Celsius. But everything is made easier if you have access to the internet. We had not been able to buy a proper pie pan anywhere, so we had to make do with a very large tart pan.
The pie looked fine when it came from the oven, but we had to wait until it eaten to know if in fact we had been successful.
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