Cloudy and cool. We had planned to go to the market at Céret, but I had a cold so we contented ourselves with a little shopping in Padern.

Our first stop was the Cave Coopérative, where we tasted and stocked up with some of the local wine. Particularly impressive was a Corbière blanc-de-blancs "Les Vignerons de St-Roch" 1991, spicy with good fruit and acid. We were not surprised that this wine had received a silver medal in a national fair.

Our second stop was of a more practical nature. Ever since our arrival in the area we had been bothered by flies, so we headed to the Huit à Huit to buy a standard remedy to this nuisance. This porte rideau, or curtain door, consists of strips of plastic hanging from a curtain rod at the top of the doorway or window. We installed it in the bedroom window, and from then on (as we subsequently verified) we could sleep with the window open without worrying about flies getting in.

By this time we were ready for lunch at:

Padern (04 68 45 09 41).

The advertising phrases that lured us into this modest restaurant were "Cuisine du terroir," and "Grillades au feu de bois (été)."

From the window of the simple, casual dining room we had a splendid view of a sign advertising MIKO, a popular brand of ice cream.

We drank a pitcher of St-Roch red similar to one of those we had tasted that morning. Jean took a fancy to the pitcher itself, a stoneware jug marked Réserve du Patron, and bought one like it.

After studying the menu we quizzed the waiter to the following effect:

Us: What’s the fricassée?

Waiter: Pork prepared in the Catalane manner.

Us: That means with peppers and tomatoes?

Waiter: Yes.

Mère Ginette, from the kitchen: Not peppers!

Evidently Ginette was running a tight ship.

Salade printanière consisted of hard-boiled egg, corn, lettuce, tomato, and especially welcome, an aïoli.

Poulet fermier grillée au feu de bois. The free-range chicken was a good-sized bird with solid-textured meat. We enjoyed the faintly smoky flavor from the wood grill. The chicken was served with pommes frites and ratatouille, both of wholesome flavor but of unfortunately greasy consistency.

As dessert we had a nougat ice cream with a nice honey flavor—was it perhaps a MIKO product?

We left le St-Roch feeling it had kept its promises. The total, including F15 for the pitcher, was F185.