The city festival for Orthez has come and gone for another year, and with its ending, it feels like the summer has reached its height. Everyone runs a little amok, then gets back to the business of life.  Ortheziennes are starting to talk about the upcoming return to work and school.  Here are a few photos that give a flavor of the events.

Saturday lunch at Chez Cabaillou, is a time honored tradition of the Fetes  d’Orthez.  We had been warned that lunch was served “late”, after along apéro hour, so we arrived about 1:30pm.  The crowd of revelers filled the interior and courtyard of the restaurant and spilled out into the street.  Singing group Los de Broussez animated the room with Chant Béarnais, traditional songs performed in the Béarnais dialect.  Lunch didnt start until almost 4pm, we finally headed home around 6pm.

Whew!  After Thursday and Friday nights and a very long lunch on Saturday, we were exhausted!  We passed on Sunday events…there is always next year!

Preparations are underway for les Fêtes d’Orthez, which start this Thursday and run through Sunday.  At La Maison de l’Horloge, a restaurant we appreciate for its dignified ambiance and accomplished food, looks like they are getting in 30 kegs of beer, 9 cases of Get27 (a mint flavored liquor) and 6 cases of Clan Campbell whiskey! So what the heck are the Fêtes of Orthez and why do they require so much booze?

In theory, many French cities have an annual Fête to mark it’s saint’s day.  If the Fêtes in Orthez  are connected with a saint, I have yet to learn which one.  Here, the party is vaguely centered around La Corrida, or bull fighting in the Spanish style, a tradition that has a long history in southwestern France. Over time, bull fighting has become more controversial in France (efforts to have it banned a few years ago barely failed) and, as a result, its role in the Fêtes has diminished. One day of the Fêtes is still dedicated to the Corrida and all the ceremony, eating and drinking that surrounds it. Not my cup of tea, so we give that a pass.

These days, the Fêtes of Orthez have become a four day excuse for everyone to cut loose and go a bit bananas.  There is a carnival, with rides, booths, games of chance, hawkers and food stalls; it snakes all the way through town.  There are several music stages, music in bars and restaurants and wandering groups of musicians. The most popular are les Bandas, sort of drum and brass orchestras who go from bar to bar playing traditional music of the southwest in exchange for drinks.

Most of the bars and restaurants block their entryways with temporary wooden bars and sell wine, beer, cocktails and snacks to the passing crowds.  On the weekends, bars stay open until 4am! Many local charitable associations set up “bodegas” sort of open air restaurants serving traditional dishes and tapas. Each bodega features a different dish:  huge beef rib steaks cooked on the plancha;  squids or prawn grilled with garlic and parsley; all sorts of pork from charcuterie to grilled chops and much more. There are even bodegas featuring burgers (thanks, USA).

During the day, there are family friendly events throughout town.  There is a featured concert each evening at 10pm on the main stage in front of the church of Saint-Pierre and a late night concert on the “Insomnia” stage near the Place de Foirail.  Without a doubt, it is the biggest event on the Orthezian social calendar.

So back to those 9 cases of Get27…what in the world are they going to do with all that mint sirop?  Well, one of the most popular festival drinks is beer with flavored sirop added.  Beer with peach sirop is a “pêche”. Beer and grenadine is a “Monaco”.  Beer with mint sirop, a very popular choice, I have heard called “une valse” but here, most just order a “demi-menthe”.  There’s a bad hangover going somewhere to happen!

Spring onions, which we planted last fall from seed, are up and beautiful this April.  Along with nettles, bear’s garlic, asparagus and strawberries, early spring onions are, for me, an ingredient that fairly sings of spring.  Toss them in salads, sprinkle them on soups, over cold asparagus and grilled fish, fold them into mashed potatoes, roast them with a splash of olive oil and lemon…spring is here, so eat it up!

Spring onions also put me in mind of a recent visit to Mas Costa in Spanish Catalonia, near the town of Besalú.  Mas Costa is the magnificent  guest house run by former Seattle-ite James Miller and his wife Kaire, who owned much loved Seattle bakery Cafe Besalú. They sold the cafe in 2017 and moved to, you got it, Besalú, Spain, where they purchased and restored an old farmhouse or “mas”.  The amount of work they did is really astounding (check out their Instagram page if you need to feel guilty of about all the projects you never get around to). The end result is really stunning, set in between  forest and farmland, a wonderful place to hike or bike or just idle.

During our stay at Mas Costa, James and Kaire prepared a Calçotada,  a tradition of the region, more than a meal, more like a celebration of spring.  Spring onions particular to Catalonia, called calçots, are  grilled, still dirty from the garden, over very hot wood coals, then peeled of their blackened outer layers and dredged through home-made romesco sauce and devoured. Its the sort of meal where everyone eats standing up and balancing a glass of cold rosé.  They completed the meal with fresh sardines, local sausages and marinated rabbit on the grill, a big green salad and Jame’s own crusty bread.  Wonderful!