It was a glorious day on Sunday on the outskirts of Paris, where superstar Paris chefs, bakers and winemakers who hail from the

Pays Basque region got together to headline the annual Chefs en Boule fundraising competition.

Teams of over 250+ people paired up and played pétanque for nearly thirteen hours (from 10 am Sunday to 1 am Monday) battling for the coveted trophy and magnums of Ricard.

Aside from the one day these guys can blow off steam with their Basque buddies out of doors (versus the heat in the kitchen), the serious reason we were there was to come together to raise money for the charity L' A.R.I.M.O.C. (for cerebrally handicapped children and their families) headed by Basque Jurançon winemaker Charles Hours, who is my dear buddy and pétanque partner for the day.

Under sunny skies, everyone arrived early to help set-up and contribute food and wine for the day long picnic and games…  Ever cheerful Jean-Luc Poujauran (one of the nicest guys on the planet) brought a truck load of breads and his famed caneles and Eric Ospital made gorgeous pots of cured ham and foie gras (which Charles and I put ‘the hurt on’ big time).

Long tables were set up under tents heaving with mind blowing amounts of fabulous quality food – my personal favorite being the shrimp, oysters and mollusk bar where I did some serious damage in between sets.

Here, I fielded questions from many of the chefs interested in knowing more and concerned about the oil spill closing in on my precious Gulf of Mexico (...and I was touched when Bruno Doucet asked if there was anything he could do to help!)

Not only did we play (and lose) against the likes of Le Comptoir’s Yves Camdeborde, Afaria’s Julien Duboué (pictured above, nice form Julien!), Les Papilles’ Bertrand Bluy, La Régalade's Bruno Doucet, Jadis’ Guillaume Delage and Chez L’Ami Jean’s Stephane Jego – but really enjoyed meeting their families and all the other nice folks who came out to show their support.

After 7 pm I started to wilt but hung in there until 11 when I finally gave up watching a seriously focused Yves Camdeborde aim for the title – who did eventually win.

I fell asleep smiling and thinking it had to be the perfect day – good cause, fun friends, great food and wine, relaxing on benches under the plane trees, the constant clacking of steel balls, laughter, camaraderie...yep, yep, a perfect day.

Thanks to everyone who came out to play!