Olney's table in Provence

Olney's kitchen is small, cool, and full of the tools he has collected for years, and he cooks at his own pace. Julia Child, who has known him since the days of the French Menu Cookbook, has come down from Paris with Paul; Pierre Franey, on holiday from New York, has driven over with a bottle of Burgundy.

The meal is Olney's: a pissaladière, then scallops and a chicken with mustard, and a sole meunière that Franey insists on finishing himself. Child and Franey, both trained in France and both practical, press Olney on why he will not simplify, and he presses back. It is a long, affectionate, stubborn evening among people who all cook very well.