Days of gastronomique delights

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The Lot - The Dordogne

Leaving Languedoc-Roussillon means taking on the freeway towards Bordeaux, into the Lot and Dordogne regions. That means, duck, goat's cheese, Cantal, gesiers, foie gras etc etc etc We have given up fighting the food and wine regime. We eat. We eat well. We eat 3 courses. We start the day with breakfast and it just gets better. This part of the journey is no different.

Rocamadour

We head to Sarlat and caves. We know that there are some amazing cave paintings found and it is our objective to find them too. We go there via Rocamadour ... a village attracting pilgrims from near and far. It is perched on a hillside and really provides a carved in the hillside perspective. The view is amazing, the construction engineering in its establishment - even moreso. Cute. Medieval. Made from stones. With narrow streets. Requiring a lots of steep climbs up and mant stairs down to see the limits of the town. Even the approach is steep and winding and spectacular.

Sarlat

First difficulty with accommodation finds us doorknocking in many places before landing in the Ibis! Not really our cup of tea after the delightful rustic accommodations of days past ... but it works. We eat at the Harmony Restaurant where we are well rewarded with not only a three-course meal but 'amuse bouche' (appetisers) and soup before hand! The soup was veloute of vegetables. Joss followed this by the 7th salad which was generous, with a range of local product ingredients and fresh gardens bits too. then fish cooked with ginger. I go the local route with foie gras and confit followed by duck in a sauce with appropriate vegetables alongside.


The caves at Sarlat II provide a recreation of the caves discovered many years ago. They are very accurate replicas and the artwork was amazing. Given the time period they were produced in, prehistoric times meant working by grease lamps at heights above their own stature (and ours). The detail in the drawings including muscle definition, animal headshape, tonal qualities in the animals' bodies was really quite breathtaking. Unfortunately no photos allowed.

Lunch

We also plan to lunch at a particular restaurant identified in one of Stefanie Alexander's recipe books. It is called Le Pont de l'Ouysse and is in the The Lot region. It was really a feast. It took a bit of getting there as we were slow starting that day, then on lots of winding tracks and behind lots of slow drivers - mostly in Citroen C3 and C4 vehicles ... what does that say about Citroen drivers??? Anyway, we booked - thinking it wise. We arrived late and we were the only people in the restaurant! Then one other table filled before we left.


It is definitely a fantastic meal though ... and a special one! After 3 little appetisers, we had a gelee de petit pois! Joss had a piece of beef (Charolais) cooked with mushrooms (local variety) and vegetables served in a tail bone with mashed potato on the side. The meat was cooked to perfection and from the look on Joss's face, I believed her when she said it was so tender it melted in her mouth. My main was lamb served in its own jus with a millefeullie of ratatouille type vegetables. Delicious and equally tender! For desser Joss tried the parfait type dessert served in a crystal goblet that contained poached peach, pink meringue, vanilla ice-cream, lemon sorbet, whipped fromage blanc with a caramelised sugar garnish! Oooooo yum! My dessert was a chocolate millefeuille with vanilla cream. mm-mmmmmmmmmm!


There is so much more to say, so little time to say it and keep enjoying the ride. We have more photos than we can publish and more experiences that we can express on the blog. The country areas were really great. Joss greats absolutely everyone with a "bonjour" and I have suggested she move to "bonjour madame' or 'bonjour monsieur" but we'll see. When next you see her, ask about telling the villager what she thought of the bells. It is a story best delivered live not via blog!??!!? and ... she is making plans for french lessons too!

More soon ...

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Comments

[Ev and Estelle]

Gastronomique delights indeed
Yesterday I had you back on the train to Paris and now you seem to be driving again - on freeways no less. Have you ever read any of Elizabeth David's books - she not only describes local produce and recipes but also writes on the places themselves just as you are doing. Perhaps you should follow suit. Consider yourselves lucky to have clear skies - all the East coast of Australia has been suffering from a very very bad dust storm and the resultant dust and dirt on everything had to be cleaned up today. Forgot to say yesterday that the pix of both of you were really good. Amuse-toi bien!