Bordeaux Trip: Day Two

After finishing dinner at 1 am the night before, it was a bit hard to wake up for day two of Bordeaux.  I was actually surprised to see that everyone showed up except for two people who decided to spend the day in the city instead of joining the group.  I have to be honest in saying that I somewhat envied them at 7 am. However, at the end of the day I was glad that Chef had dragged us here, there, and everywhere so that we could soak up as much as possible in the short time we had.  Here are pictures from that adventurous day.

There I am, safe and sound on land.

While the others embarked on a cruise of the bay in this boat.  Why was I the only person safe and sound on land?  Well, if you had seen me attempt to be a supportive wife and go deep sea fishing with my husband last year, you would know why.  Boats and I do not get along.  Try as I may to put on a brave face, they instead make me green faced (and dizzy).  So, I missed out on the oyster hunting adventure.  C'est la vie.

After they went boating and I walked around the small harbor town, we had lunch at a restaurant where Chef used to work years ago.

It did not disappoint.  Lunch started out with the quintessential French aperitif: Kir.

The Chefs approve of the Kir.

As an amouse bouche what can only be called small bacon cornbreads were brought to the table along with some cheese and (I believe) chesnut mousse.  It was darn good, I know that much.

Why did the bread man have to keep walking around with such delicious homemade breads?

First course: quail with saffron toast and mushroom soup.

Second course: whitefish stuffed with tomato and enveloped in puff pastry (you know I loved that!).

Third course: Camembert espuma/mousse with pineapples and honey.  It was so sweet that I thought it was dessert.  How foolish of me.

Fourth course: gingerbread cake with ice cream and chocolate sauce.  Moist and delicious!

And to really add on an extra kilo of flab after that, they brought out canneles and pate a fruits.  I mean, really, people.  Do you want me to walk or roll out of here?  Obviously the latter considering you weren't afraid to also keep filling up the wine glasses.

After essentially lapsing into a food and wine coma in the minivan after lunch, I awoke to pouring rain and the Chef insisting that we all get out of the warm, dry van to climb a sand dune.  "Ha," I thought.  I wouldn't be climbing anything in the rain, thank you.  I was finally coerced into at least going to see the dune.

Here I am staunchly taking a stand against climbing the tons of sand before me.

But how can I resist these friendly calls to action? 

So up I went with the other stragglers and quickly learned that I was at least burning off some major calories from lunch.  Climbing up sand is not as easy as it might seem.

However, it is worth all the effort to stand on top of something so huge and see such gorgeous views, even if it was raining.

The size of the dune amazed me.  It looked like it went on and on forever.

We made it to the top!  See the bay behind us?

Hmm.  This doesn't bode well for the minivan's cleanliness.

We were then taken to the middle of nowhere.

And forced to stand outside a somewhat creepy looking gate.

In order to catch a gander at these beauties.  And what exactly is that flailing around in the water?

Sturgeon.  Farm raised for caviar.

These men would grab the sturgeon and perform an ultrasound on them to determine whether or not they were useful (i.e. female).

There were sturgeon of various ages throughout the farm.

They reach maturity around 7-10 years old and who knew they would be so huge.  It's hard to see but there is one in the above photo just below the water.

And this is why someone takes the time to raise said fish for 7-10 years.  Caviar.

And who eats caviar without vodka?  No one, apprarently.

After a long drive back to Bordeaux and a quick shower (no one wants to smell like a fish farm), we headed to dinner.

I found it odd that this was brought to the table as an amuse bouche.  That is, until I realized the Chef of this new restaurant is completely alone in the kitchen.  There is no one to help him, so I guess he took some help from a bag of chips instead.  I feel certain he made that sauce, but I can't really be sure.

Enjoying our chips and dip :)

See?

First course: cold fish soup.  Note to self and readers: cold soups are a great thing because they can be done ahead.  Cold fish soup, however, might not be exactly everyone's cup of tea. 

Second Course: fish with artichokes.

Third course: pork with pomegranate seeds.

Fourth course: a twist on a banana split.

Only four courses at dinner.  Sadly, I wasn't even that full since my stomach had by this point in the trip expanded and was used to six course meals. 

Find out more about my ever expanding food and wine consumption in the last post about Bordeaux which should be up in a couple days.