Pascale's family's 'bastide', behind the beach in St. Tropez, is a 250-year old farmhouse built in a tradition where blank, 1-meter thick walls, face the dominating winds, the 'Mistral' and the 'Vent d'Est'. The ancient logic behind such a choice is made apparent with the arrival of Autumn and the wet blast of the East wind, flattening trees, roiling the Med to look like the Atlantic, or, blowing in the opposite direction, the 40-to-60 knots winds of the Mistral, turning the sea into a turquoise copy of the Caribbean, but icy cold. What this has to do with food is temperature, both internal and external.

On Mistral days, under crystal blue skies, we sit in the sun with our backs protected by the patio walls and tuck into caramelized fig and goat cheese tart or perhaps a pecan and roquefort crumble with a tasty pear and mesclun salad. But when the Vent d'Est boils up, all grey clouds and slashing rain, then it's thick jumpers in front of a roaring fire, the smell of burning wood and pine cones perfectly complementing a duck tajine married to peaches and dates, or say, braised endives to accompany a roasted filet mignon with a tapenade of fresh herbs, while outside the last golden leaves are stripped off the mulberry trees.

The seasons turn...what better way to acknowledge their passing than with 'food, glorious food'? Bon Appetit!