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Lat 43° 43' N Long. 7° 25.5' E April 2002. Antibes on the Cote D’Azur, Calvi on Corsica, San Remo in Italy and now the port of Fontvielle in Monaco. All in a week’s Easter Cruising and there were still three days to go.
Sunday midday on the small Grandstand in front of the hotel we had the climb up to the Casino behind us, the descent from the tunnel and the chicane were to our left and in front was the Miramar straight and the left hander to theLido. Other parts of the circuit were shown on the giant television screen to our left.
After that it got serious! Four thirty minute races each containing cars from a particular era, 1951 to 1956 etc, BRMs, ERAs, Masarattis, Alfa Romeos, Brabhams Surtees and ending in the early 70’s with rear engined car with foils such as the JPS Lotus. My favourites were those from the early 50’s with front engines, a driver in period costume clinging on to the wheel and little grip on the track. All four races were won by British drivers and the whole day was more varied and exciting than the real thing to come the following week.
What you need for 5 people. 5 pork chops or 1kg of pork cut into bite sized pieces. 2 red onions, chopped. 2 red peppers, deseeded and cut into strips. The leaves of 4 salad onions cut into 1 cm lengths. Slosh of dry white wine, 100ml. 3 dessertspoons of apricot jam. 3 tblsps. of olive oil. 100ml of créme fraîche. 6/700g of green beans. ( Haricots verts ) You may need pork stock made with a stock cube and 150ml of boiling water. What you have to do. Fry the pork in a sauté pan until slightly brown and sealed. At least 5 mins. each side. If necessary remove the pork and fry the onions and peppers until soft. Put the pork back in the pan and add a good slosh of wine, half the stock and the apricot jam. Put the lid on, bring to the boil and simmer for 25 mins. If necessary add some more stock to prevent it drying out. Sir in the crèmefraîche and serve with the green beans and crusty bread. Variations. Use more or less of the crême fraîche depending on taste. We have sometimes left it out completely. Liz and I have had this with nectarines.
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Saturday night a week before the Monaco Grand Prix and the whole circuit was ready - crash barriers, pit area, the start line and all the grand stands. Posters were advertising the third year of racing classic Formula One cars over the weekend. At dinner in the Hotel Miramar the waitress gave us access tickets for the Sunday.
Event Number One was Monte Carlo at play. For an hour the circuit was given over to members of the Ferrari Owner’s Club to strut their stuff. Some were given to fast cruising with a pretty young lady in the passenger seat complete with chiffon scarf and sunglasses in the hair. Young bucks were giving it the big’un changing down early so that we might hear the roar of their engines. The sad acts had their dad in the passenger seat and even worse he was holding his video camera above the wind screen.