Sanibel Journal

 The Vendée is a department of France that has a few things in common with Sanibel and Captiva; the most obvious is beautiful sandy beaches.  Tourists from everywhere visit these beaches.  Birds nest in nearby mangroves along the coast of the Vendée, just like they do on our islands. However, the Vendée produces fine chicken, duck, lamb, brioche, a well-known raw cured ham, corn, wheat, and sunflowers – ah, those beautiful fields of sunflowers!   As you would expect for a coastal area, oysters and mussels are exported from the Vendée, too.   Ham with white beans is a famous dish from the Vendée, as is a garlic bread called préfou .   And of course, the Vendée produces wine. While Sanibel and Captiva long ago lost their agricultural economies, the islands did experience, for a couple glorious years, the talents of Chef Jean Grondin, another product of the Vendée.   From 1985 until his untimely death in 1987 at age 37, Chef Grondin lived on Sanibel a...

November 1, 2015 -- The painters are here.  The house has been stripped of its pseudo shutters, plantings have been cut away from its walls, and it is about to washed with pressurized water.  The house is getting the attention it deserves.  Soon it will be light gray, with a little brown and black here and there.  Gray, with the red tile roof -- Buckeye colors! Bill finished the travertine floor in the foyer during the week before my birthday.  His work is impeccable.  We look forward to his return! Then last week I celebrated making it to 60 all week long.  Already we had three parties to attend that week, so I didn't feel the need to have a birthday bash.  Already I had purchased a new computer and a new phone, so I didn't want any more presents. Besides, every day is a gift.  We love to wake up before sunrise so we can watch the bayou coming to life.  The water is loaded with fish, manatees, dolphins, and crabs.  Circular, ...

The evening we’d been waiting for had finally arrived.  Our two worlds were about to merge.  We climbed into the Odyssey and off we went, to the “soft opening” of an elegant French restaurant on Sanibel. When we arrived, we were very warmly greeted by Chef Christian Vivet and his wife and partner, Mari.   Lamb chops Christian is a native Parisian who came to Florida to be a chef, many years ago, in the restaurant called Jean-Paul’s French Corner on Sanibel.  Jean-Paul’s place delighted Sanibelians and its visitors for years, but finally closed.  Then we had no French restaurant on Sanibel. Christian and Mari went into the catering business in south Fort Myers.  Then they changed their business into Blue Windows, a lovely little French bistro.  It was a 30 to 40 minute drive from where we live on Sanibel, depending on traffic.  In peak season, the drive could take much longer. For many years now, most of our French dining ...