Santons and Sushi

My last few days here have been fairly exciting.  I definitely like the four-day weekend concept.  I have so much freedom and so little stress (cue contented sigh).  On Thursday I went on a tour of Santons Fouque, a local santon factory.  Santons are little terracotta figurines that make up the traditional provençal crèche (nativity).  And these are no ordinary manger scenes.  In addition to Mary, Joseph, the wise men and the shepherds, it is necessary to have every member of provençal society present, including nuns, politicians, gypsies, Paul Cézanne, and countless others, even a man caught in le mistral, the previously discussed heinous north wind that torments Provence.  This particular santon is a specialty of the local factory.  Named, Coup de Mistral, it was first made in 1952 and is really the crowning glory of Santons Fouque.  All of the santons are formed and fired at the factory and then meticulously painted by hand.  Pretty much amazing.  I forgot my camera, but the website is HERE if you want to check it.

My homestay parents went out of town to go skiing this weekend which left Raquelle and I much to our own devices.  On saturday morning we went to the grand marché in town and bought some beautiful flowers and some fresh produce.  Most of the day passed pleasantly and without much todo.  But, we decided to go out for dinner since we had the night to ourselves.  We both love sushi and we are so close to the sea that we figured going out for sushi would be the perfect plan.  Suffice it to say, we were sorely mistaken...

Walk with me a while, and I will tell you a story. The story is called "Aix-ventures in Dining: Live and Learn"


Our story begins with Raquelle and me hanging out in the house on Saturday afternoon.  We had previously discussed going out to dinner since Yvonne and Jean-Pierre were out of town.  Raquelle, being of a proactive and go-getting disposition had done some research and suggested either sushi or traditional provençal dining.  She presented the options and I thought sushi would be nice.  Being in the habit of eating around 8, Raquelle and I decided that would be an appropriate time for a reservation.  Raquelle called the restaurant, Yamato, to procure said reservation and was told 9:30 is the earliest available time. Okay, a little later than planned, but not too awful.  

We set out from our house around 9:00 and arrive at Yamato at 9:25.  We are greeted by a woman in a kimono who is very uninterested in anything to do with us except hurriedly closing the door properly, which I apparently had not done.  (That is to say, I had closed the door, and she wanted it just slightly propped open, not so far open as to let in a draft but just enough so that the double doors were no longer in a straight line.) We are led by this cross woman to a table and are left alone for 15 minutes.  In that time, two other tables of guests are seated and given menus and drinks.  Eventually, the cross woman returns and asks us what we want to drink.  We would each like a glass of water.  We are given a giant glass bottle of Evian.  Hmm. Disconcerting.
Another ten minutes pass and not one of the bustling servers (not to mention the grouchy hostess) looks our way.  After taking the dinner order of a group who was seated after us, the hostess walks past our table. "Pardon," I say politely.  I am shushed by her as she walks quickly away. Another five minutes pass.  She walks by and I try to catch her eye and ask for menus.  She waves her hand at me as if to swat away a fly.  However, she does arrive soon after with menus. 
The prices were...high.  Unsure of what to expect in portions, we each decided to get a demi-order of the sushi assortment, and Raquelle gets a bowl of miso soup.  When the hostess comes to our table for our order, she explains to us in loud and highly-gestured French that there are but cinq, CINQ, (five fingers) CINQ pieces of sushi in the demi-order.  Are we sure we do not want the full order?  Yes, yes we are sure.  The price of this sushi just went from high to exorbitant; excuse us while we scrape our jaws off the floor.  After she left, we decide to buy fries from the Greek food-vendor on the way home.
The food arrives.  There are technically more than five pieces.  There are five pieces that are just rice with fish on top (tuna, shrimp, salmon, and two different kinds of white fish that are unfamiliar to me) accompanied by two small rolls and a sweet egg substance.  We eat quickly.  It is tasty and fresh.  After our...meal...we return to our former state of invisibility.  One server asks us if we would like dessert.  No, we would not. She leaves.  A few minutes later, another server comes by, he asks if we have finished.  Yes, we have.  Would you like dessert? No.  Coffee? No.  He clears our dishes.  A third server asks us if there is anything else we would like. No, really. As she walks away, I request the check and she seems genuinely surprised that we would not want to continue sitting in this restaurant forever, just talking to each other about the terrible service and waiting to be asked for the nineteenth time whether we want dessert because it's 6:00AM and green tea crème brulée makes an excellent breakfast.

Our total - for one bottle of Evian, one bowl of soup, and 10 pieces of sushi - came to just under 50 euro.  Ridiculous.  We stopped at a late night Greek food stand and each got a deliciously warm and salty order of fries for 2 euro each.  It was quite satisfying.  The night ended well with a large bowl of chocolat chaud and a private screening of Les Aristochats, which may just be the best thing that ever happened to an animated Disney film.