Christine and I enjoyed the foods of France. We ate out only occasionally of course, opting to make most of our meals in the facilities of the gites (cottages, apartments, suites that we rented for a week or days at a time). Even our home cooked meals used the foods and beverages shopped daily at the epicerie, boucherie, boulangerie and cave.
During one lunch hour in Le Buisson, a town in the Dordogne region, we had a memorable dining experience in a garden setting of 'Auberge l'Espérance,'a small family operated restaurant. The husband was the chef and his wife the amiable waitress. I snapped photographs of each course of the simple lunch because it was presented so attractively.
E & E recently spent five weeks in Australia and New Zealand and spent $bazillion dollars and came home to share some of the foods they had enjoyed. Christine and I went to France to prove that we could spend $bazillion too and we did. (One moment please. I will be back. I have to go outside to water my money tree.)
Last night Christine replicated our Buisson meal for our good friends E & E. It was E’s birthday. He’s old. Let me describe the meal. First we sat outside for a special Muscat drink and some Duck preserve we brought back from France, Bree cheese, an olive oil with truffle and baguette slices. Then, we came in and sat at the dining room table with candle light and Christine served us salads consisting of finely sliced avocado and grapefruit on a bed of lettuce with drizzled olive oil and vinaigrette. Leisurely, we enjoyed conversation and food and after some time, the main course, Confit du Canard. We were amazed this week to find a butcher who actually had these frozen duck legs packaged with a liberal clop of duck fat. The roast duck with its crispy skin was served with slender carrots and diced potatoes baked with the duck. And then dessert, an apple tart, finally sliced apple laid open upon a pan of pastry, baked and then with a heated apricot jam and apricot brandy mixture drizzled over it. (The dessert shown here was not the apple tart but the plate Christine and I had in France).
I toasted Christine because she did an amazing job.
What phone number do we use to make reservations?
ReplyDeleteOkay here's a good story about a meal we enjoyed in Niagara-on-the-Lake recently. Murray & I were celebrating our 39th anniversary and he made reservations at Queenston Heights Restaurant which has hosted many of our family's important events.
We toasted one another with something sparkling (not jewellery, something in a flute, no not an instrument, a drinking vessel) then had a marvelous meal overlooking the Niagara River. Here's what was really fun - it was a Monday evening and there wasn't anyone else in the place. So we had the diningroom and the staff to ourselves. Murray insisted that it had not cost him very much to arrange for privacy :)
We Enjoyed Local Niagara Food.
Neat tale Diane. I like the music of that flute myself.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your French food experience. L'auberge de l'Espérance must be a wonderful restaurant. You might try Boeuf Bourguignon and crème brûlée next time. Delicious !
ReplyDeleteCathy
French online