In 2003 there was a quirky movie that came out called Le Divorce (if you are a Netflixer, you can find it here) with Kate Hudson, Naomi Watts and Glenn Close. It is a great chic flic that gives you a peek of life in Paris. Of course it is has a lot of stereotypes, but as someone who lived in France, I can tell you a lot of stereotypes are based on truth!
In one of the scenes, the Parisian old-timer, Glenn Close, met pregnant Naomi Watts and her newly-arrived-from-America sister, Kate Hudson, at a bar/brasserie. Naomi orders a red wine and Glenn orders a “Ricard” and then explains to Kate what it is and how to drink it. It’s a fun movie and a fun scene.
Ricard is a brand of pastis, a anise-flavored liquor, that was developed when Absinthe became illegal. It is a very popular drink, particularly in the south of France. If you order one in France who will get a glass with the liquor at the bottom and a separate glass of water. Depending on where you are in France, the glass with the pastis will also have ice cubes, or sometimes you will get a third smaller glass with ice (some traditionalists don’t want the ice). You then add as much, or as little, water as you want depending on preference and potency.
It is yummy. There is also a non-alcoholic version which is prepared the same way. You might remember back in the day when Torani syrups or Italian sodas were a fad in the U.S. Many coffee shops still use these syrups today to flavor their coffees. These same types of syrups are used by French people to make refreshing drinks.
You can buy these syrups at any grocery store, but as with anything in life, there are definitely better versions that what you can get in the store. They become quite artisanal in their creation.
On one road trip that my husband and I took, we were on about two hours from our home (in France) wandering around small roads taking in whatever we could find. We stopped at an olive oil tasting stand and stopped to taste olive oil samples. They had a little store that sold regional products and we picked up two bottles of syrup, one was anise and one was mandarin. We packed them up with our olive oil purchase and drove home.
We put the bottles away and forgot about them for a bit. A few weeks later we pulled the mandarin out and prepared a drink. The taste was unbelievable, I had not had anything that actually tasted like you were drinking mandarin, it was more than just a hint, but it wasn’t too sweet. So being the techie people we were, we looked up the company on the internet and found out they were a little monastery called Eyguebelle three hours away who made the syrups.
So what did we do? You guessed it. The next weekend we got in the car and drove three hours (one-way) to the Drome region and found that little monastery and bought a whole bunch more. They had about 60 flavors as well as alcoholic varieties called eaux-de-vies as well as lotions and soaps, etc. It was quite a place, all natural, and made by monks! We made our purchases, walked around the grounds a bit, stopped for a lunch of scrambled eggs with black truffle and then drove three hours home with the biggest smiles on our faces.
We brought the syrups to the U.S. with us when we moved back, and I am telling you it is like liquid gold, a very precious item!
So if you ever find yourself in France, give it a try, order a Ricard and enjoy! And if you are EVER near Drome, go to the Eyguebelle monastery!
DOMAINE EYGUEBELLE
La Méjeonne – 26230 VALAURIE
Tél. : 04 75 98 03 80
website (in French): www.eyguebelle.com
A bientôt !
Epilogue: I had mistakenly put Emma Watson instead of Naomi Watts – thanks to the commenter for correcting, I should have checked it on IMDB!
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I'm going to take your word on the deliciousness of a pastis. I'm with Calvin Trillin who used to say that the French drink things that look like hair tonic. That was my impression every time I sat next to a Frenchman slurping down an oddly colored iced drink in a cafe. Ordering a glass of wine was so much nicer.
I so wanted to like pastis when I was in the south of France, but just couldn't do it, since I don't like licorice. But I enjoyed seeing so many other people enjoying it! And I enjoyed your story. I would definitely drive 3 hours for such a treat
Diane
It was Naomi Watts, not Emma Watson. That is such a fun movie. And Stockard Channing is in it! How can you not love it?
Oh ! I live in Ardèche, that's the region next to Drome. =)))
But I don't like Ricard (nor Pastis, that's almost the same.) =p
I am definitely netflixing this, I just watched Chocolat the other night and it seems like the next natural choice
Great story about the monastery. Very interesting.