Dorahy The Explorer-he & The Swiss Affair: August 2012

Bonjour all from Nice!

You may recall in my last post a mention of a EU 48 Michelin-Star Five Course Dinner I had in Champagne. My dear foodie friend/banker Jenna has requested photos of the consumed food. While I took photos of all the courses, I stupidly forgot to actually take a photo of the menu, and quel surprise, my 'Michelin-Star Food Names' French isn't up to scratch, especially after a day of drinking a couple of ~~bottles~~ flutes of champagne. So we shall try and see if I can get through this!

First of all, this is 'Le Foch'. This is where the magical food happened.

This was my appetizer (and not a course). It was a Kir Royale - Creme de Cassis with Champagne, and two waifer-like crackers with a parmesan cheese cream as a filling.

This was the palate cleanser; it was like a cold avocado soup.

And now for the first course! So I believe this was Marinated tuna, lemon caviar, and 'basmati syphonne' according to a possible menu choice?

This was probably one of my favourite dishes; it was a white fish done in a butter sauce, topped with those beautiful peas.

Once again, I can't really recall what it was properly (sorry!). I remember there was those creamy mashed potatoes, tempura courgettes, and I'm pretty certain it was beef with a peppery sauce.

YES, THAT'S RIGHT PEOPLE. IT'S A CART OF CHEESE, AND NOT JUST ANY CHEESE, FRENCH CHEESES. TRY THE ONE IN THE TOP RIGHT HAND CORNER; IT'S LIKE A STRONG BRIE WITH BITE AND IS THE LOCAL CHEESE OF CHAMPAGNE. IT'S CALLED 'CHO....SOMETHING'

I remember this one well! It was a half dome shell of white chocolate with a creamy mousse, and the plate was full of strawberries and sweet nuts, with a raspberry coulée and a berry sorbet.

So as you can probably imagine, I was pretty full at this point, and the waiter asked if I'd like a coffee, to which I was like 'Yeah, it's just coffee. It'll probably aid the digestion.' So he gave me the menu of the twelve different beans varieties I could have (as you do) and then after I had ordered this came out...

So to the left is a small sweet quiche like pie made off stone fruits, then to the left of the martini glass in the small jar is freshly squeezed strawberry juice, the martini glass contains small balls of choux pastry, on the two sticks are some jelly lollies, and to the right is two small chocolate cones. OH, AND THERE'S MY COFFEE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PHOTO. Apparently, 'cafe gourmand' is a new emerging trend in many restaurants in France, where coffee becomes also a dessert. By now I wanted to explode.

So other meals I've had in France include, lunch earlier that day:

Antipasto at Hautvillers, quickly followed by the actual lunch ~~and four flutes of champagne what the hell this is way too much for a tasting~~

The small purple container is puréed beetroot with fish, and to its right is essentially a French sausage roll (but you know, infinitely better), there's a small potato quiche at the bottom left corner, that Ch-Champagne-speciality-cheese on bread in the top right, a meat-and-gravy thing with fresh ham on top in the brown container, and a macaroon made from a local biscuit delicacy in Champagne.

And this amazing dessert from Reims was waffle, strawberries, a vanilla custard and passionfruit sauce.

And I made these desserts! The ones at the top are strawberry tarts and apple tart, and the ones at the bottom are a lemon bavarois, entremets au chocolat (think a dark chocolate mousse with a white chocolate and biscuit base) and Paris-Brest (so choux pastry with a hazelnut cream).

And to cap it all off, here's my first beer in France!

By the way, I considered uploading a photo I have of a continental breakfast, and another of a club sandwich (half demolished as well), but seriously guys, you know what bread looks like...

So yes, I am still alive! I do apologise for not updating sooner - trying to a decent wi-fi connection here in France has become quite painful and I've finally found one! In a farmhouse! In countryside France! As you do. Paris was great; I had another four days in Paris post my oh-god-I-am-homeless-in-Paris-just-take-a-photo-of-Notre-Dame first day. I spent my second day doing the things in Paris I really wanted to do, which was mainly see The Musee d'Orsay where the impressionists such as Van Gogh and Monet are housed, and go to the Opera Garnier, which is quite an exceptional building. (I have also tried to limit my photos this time!)

The view from D'Orsay

Unlike the Louvre, photos are technically banned of the artworks, so I actually have no photos of art in D'Orsay, which is a bit of a shame, as they have here Van Gogh's 'Starry Night' to which I gasped at and stopped in my tracks in sheer amazement. And that's how I became knocked over by an Italian tourist.

D'Orsay used to be a train station before being converted into a museum. This appears to be a trend in Paris; convert every unused public building into a museum. I expect in ten years they will convert an unused museum into a museum, and it will be the Museum of Museums, detailing the history of Museums in Paris.

The Opera Garnier! It is sooooooo beautiful!

The room of the opera hall

Napoleon III would have sat here, if he didn't die before it was complete.

This room is incomplete. You may ask why a room with five chandeliers is incomplete.

That's because this room is complete. I'm going to presume you can tell the difference

So Garnier ran out of money after Napoleon's death and had to justify the expense. No idea why.

After day two, was just a few days travelling around Paris, checking out the major sites, as you shall see below.

Arc de Triomphe

Various views from Arc de Triomphe

Cue gazillion tourist photos of Eiffel Tower!

Views from Eiffel Tower

Hey! I know that guy!

The Louvre. Seriously. It is huge. Think two city blocks, three floors high of art. So much art.

So I really wanted this sculpture for my front yard of Hercules and the Serpent and I offered EU 20 for it. They declined. In some ways, that was a good thing as it only recently occurred to me that I do not have a front yard.

The Mona Lisa. Yeah, it's kind of impressive for Renaissance Art. Still prefer the Impressionists.

The Louvre itself is highly impressive considering it was once the Royal Residence. Before it was turned into a Museum, like everything else in Paris.

So these photos are from the Napoleon III Apartments. You remember the Napoleons right? The guys they put in charge to ensure the excesses of the Royals would stop and be shared with the people. Then again, this one did commission the Opera Garnier...

I want to hold a dinner party in this dinning room.

The Apollo Gallery. Louis XVI (?) commissioned this room as an honour to him as the 'Sun King'. Then he was beheaded. Trolol.

The Grand Palais. It's a Museum (Quel surprise!)

Place Venedome

Place de la Concord.

Pont Alexandre III. An ice cream salesman complemented me on my attempts to speak French and for 'making the intellectual step'. He then asked me what I thought of his ice cream and I replied 'Deliceux.' He said it was his ice cream that gave me super powers to speak French. I liked that guy. Everyone go to Paris and buy his ice cream; he's under one of the pilers.

You can see the incredible ice cream just there!

Oh! I bought a hat! I very much like this hat, so if you don't like my hat, please don't talk to me. Ever. Again.

The Madeleine. Where imposing imperalism, Catholicism and neo-classical architecture meet.

Assemblee Nationale

Ile de la Cite at sunset

Sacre Couer

Hotel des Invalides

I just love this street's name - Street of the Cat who Fished. It's like Dr Seuss got a job at naming the streets in the Latin Quarter.

Jardin des Tuileries

Hotel de Ville; or Paris's Town Hall. This is where I would work if I was Parisian. Kind of puts Wollongong City Council to shame...

Moulin Rouge

Views from Montmartre

Napoleon's Tomb.

While I do love Paris, and I imagine I shall be returning one day, if for no other reason than I need to change trains there to get to Zurich, I really started to enjoy France when I headed out to Reims, Champagne. There the tourists are fewer, and you get an insight to a unique culture you would never experience. They also have a Michelin-Star Restaurant which is EU 42 for five courses. Cue bloating. Also I drank a lot of champagne and can now tell you the entire champagne making process. Backwards. In French. While undertaking brain surgery. Just enjoy the pretty pictures. I did try to cut down on the number here, but they're all so pretty!

This piece of plastic is used by organic vineyards to excrete pheromones to confuse worms. It is called 'The Plastic of Sexual Confusion'.

Wine anyone?

So French law states that a non-vintage bottle of champagne must rest in a cellar for 1.5 years and 3 for a vintage. Naturally, all champagne makers rest their wine for 3 years as a non vintage, and at least 6 for a vintage

Just some of Moet & Chandon's 25 km of cellars

Moet & Chandon Tasting

The Pinot Menieur Grape. 'Menieur' comes from the French meaning 'miller', and got its name as the leaves feel like they have flour. Three types of grape can make champagne; chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot menieur. Pinot menieur is the least common as it's the hardest to work with. It has flavours of red fruits.

There are 34,000 hectares of champagne vineyards. They need to be picked BY HAND every year as per French law.

The cost for one hectare of vineyard in Champagne is EU 1.4 Million. At least.

Areas are divided into 'Crue' depending on the conditions of the area such as sunlight, cover, soil, etc. The best vineyards are 'Grand Crue', these have 100% conditions. Followed by Grand Crue is 'Premiere Crue', these are also exceptional conditions at 80-99%, but not Grand Crue. After this is just Crue. Bottles may be labelled Grand Crue if entirely sourced from Grand Crue. Pinot Menieur may not be grown in Grand Crue.

Harvest is around September, and it decided by the Committee (seriously guys, don't mess with The Committee). As well as the date of the harvest, the Committee decides how many grapes may be harvested a hectare, depending on the season's crop, economic conditions, etc. This way non-vintage prices may stay stable.

Reims's Hotel de Ville; surely there is room in the Wollongong City Council Capital Budget to build one of these!

Reims Cathedral; where all bar three French kings were crowned. This 'Notre Dame' was probably more impressive than the Parisian one

Oh! I forgot to mention; I've been getting around France on these amazing things called 'trains'. They're super-dooper fast, can get you 130 km in 45 min for $25 and have a bar on them! I keep feeling like I'm in an action movie like Bond or Mission Impossible and hence, keep listening to their theme songs on the TGV because I'm just not used to travelling so fast in so much style and I'm just waiting for some epic fight between Tom Cruise and Jon Voight while Vanessa Redgrave is in first class trying to get the disc to work and OMGHERECOMESTHEHELICOPTORHOWWILLCRUISEBEATTHISITISALLTOOM- My ticket? Why yes, it is here. Hope everything is in order.

Reims

The amazing light show on the Reims Cathedral

The Chardonnay Grape. Or as we say in Australia; SHARDIE.

After my three day gastronomic and viticulture grand tour, it has been off to Lot-et-Garonne which is the region around Bordeaux (got there by train! Some woman thought I was French! Why can't we have fast rail, wwwhhhhhhyyyyyyyyyy) to do a French pastry course and sit around a deck chair drinking wine in Countryside France for another three days. Life sucks.

Tarte de Pomme!

Tartes de Fraise!

Ok, these ones I didn't cook, but I did cook a variation of all four. This was the initial taste testing so I could become acquainted with what I was to cook. By the way, it was 10:30 am.