France trip, Oct 2009 - Bordeaux, behind the scene

Bordeaux is the home to the 5 Premier Cru wine, namely Château Latour, Château Lafite Rothschild, Château Margaux, Château Haut-Brion, Château Mouton-Rothschild .

After our tour around the Fifth growth Château du Tertre, the only way is up, right? So we decide to drive around Margaux and Pauillac in search of the First growth château.

But before that, someone started this:

It seems that SOMEONE just can't resist plucking bunches of plump grapes from the vine! Note: VL wasn't the plotter. She just took charge of the 'loot'

A beautiful château near Château Latour.

Following a certain someone's example, here are more photos of the crime in action at Latour:

In front of the famous tower of the Latour estate!

Then we moved onto Château Lafite-Rothschild. Lafite-Rothschild was placed at the top of the list of the premier grand cru and it has been consistently one of the most expensive wine producers in the world. A bottle of 1787 (once owned by Thomas Jefferson) also holds the record for being the most expensive bottle of wine in the world, after it went for USD$156,000 in 1985. The château surely produces enough to maintain its very fine grounds:

After all the obligatory posed photos, we went back to our shameless old ways again:



Last but not least, we visited Château Lafite-Rothschild, another one of the Rothschild estate:

This estate is actually much better organised. In front of the château, there is actually small plots of land that show the grapes by type. So we tried the grapes on each plot and selected (i.e. plucked) the ones that we liked.

It was certainly a group effort :-P

As if this isn't enough, you probably won't believe what happened next: we made face masks from the grape skins. SP was inspired by Caudalie brand and its very expensive Vinothérapie Spas. If we can't afford to go to the spa, why not do our own? It is all very easy:

Step 1: remove juice from grapes. Keep the grape skin and seed, both high in polyphenols--proanthocyanidin (PCO), a kind of anti-oxidant.

Step 2: create a relaxing spa environment with fluffy towers, pillows and soft music. For a more economical option, deck chairs and seat cushions will do.

Step 3: Apply the mask and wait 5 minutes. Make fun of your spa client in the mean time as she can't smile or move a muscle.

I felt fully rejuvenated after my spa treatment and I am sure my friends have a good laugh too :-P

So what happened to the juice, you may ask? Well, we weren't going to let the "First growth juice" go to waste.

The juice was left in the fridge to 'ferment' overnight and the boys actually drank it in the morning for breakfast. No tummy troubles were reported.

So that's it, we are jointly responsible for the reduced production of 3 of the 5 First growth château in 2010. But if you ever ask me about the grapes in person, I will absoluetly deny having done it!

France trip, Oct 2009 - Armagnac tasting at Château de Cassaigne

Château de Cassaigne was built in 1247 by Montassin de Goalard, abbot of Condom. It was once the country residence of the bishops of Condom.

The estate is now a major Armagnac producer. We went there one afternoon for Armagnac tasting. The wine tasting is free and the French guide can speak some English. She also happens to be very pretty. So while the boys were busy taking photographs of the French Mademoiselle, I turned my attention to the very generous samples

Spices that you can taste in an Armagnac. Just learn a few and you can pretend to be a connoisseur! :-P

Samples. There are more sweet aperitif and digestif in the fridge.

The pretty mademoiselle

I even get to sample of the infamous pruneaux à l’Armagnac (prune soaked in Armagnac).

They stocked Armagnac from all years. And there is a price to match as they age.

Barrels

SP's favourite is the local Floc de Gascogne (a local aperitif).

Some 30 years old stuff

Deers fighting. Don't worry. Nobody got hurt.

The grounds of the château are also beautiful and we had a fun time feeding the deers with weeds pulled from the ground.

France trip, Oct 2009 - Saint-Cirq-Lapopie

Due to my incompetence as a guide to the "most beautiful village" in France (more on that later), Mr SZ has taken over and decided to form his own tour of the "must see" tourist attractions in Southwest France. After a session of intense research, he took us to Saint-Cirq-Lapopie.

Saint-Cirq-Lapopie is a village which is perched on a steep cliff 100m above the river Célé. It is located in the Causses du Quercy regional natural Park and there are plenty of things that you can do, e.g. cycling, horse riding, climbing, canoeing and fishing.

The village was divided in the Middle Ages between four feudal dynasties so there are several castles and fortified houses in the village. The town was and still is popular with writers and artists. There are plenty of paintings and crafts for sale. The town is very pleasant to walk about but make sure you have comfy shoes, as the streets are cobble-stoned!

Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, London, Oct 2009

Gordon Ramsay is the only restaurant in London to have earned 3 stars. It is how Gordon Ramsay got his fame. Sadly, Gordon Ramsay is no longer preparing any of the food there :-(

We went on a relatively quiet day for lunch. It is actually a rather small restaurant with about 15 tables and a small bar area. There were only a couple of tables with people when we entered. In the end, the restaurant was only half-filled. Maybe it's because of the credit crisis, or maybe because the food is outrageously overpriced at this restaurant! :-P

Anyway, we ordered the Menu Prestige for the table. Here is a very brief summary of the food:

Very nice butter. It's tempting to have too much bread

Some ravioli with a soup made with baked potato skin.

The dish has a very earthy flavour. The soup somehow take like dish water to me. haha.. As you can tell, it's not my favourite dish.

Pressed foie gras with Madeira jelly, smoked duck, peach and almond crumble. The foie gras was firm and well prepared. The smoked duck adds more texture to the dish, but there was soo little of it. It left me wanting more!

Ravioli of lobster, langoustine and salmon with tomato chutney, vinaigrette. This dish is a great combo of the texture of lobster and langoustine and the taste from the salmon, tomato chutney and vinaigrette. It is a good size dish and I really enjoyed it. It reminds me of a similar product that we bought from Waitrose though (@ £1.50 each with crab meat instead of lobster meat)

Risotto with artichoke. One of my friends is sensitive to shellfish, so she got this alternative. I am not a fan of artichoke so I don't think this beats the lobster ravioli :-P

Fillet of turbot with braised baby gem lettuce, leek and cep sauce. While this dish is tasty and the fish is cooked to just the right texture, I think it is hard to find an impressive fish dish, esp. one with fish fillet. The secret to this dish is with the sauce, there is langoustine in it (one of our guest got a different sauce because of the allergy). Otherwise, nothing special to note.

Cannon of Cornish lamb with confit shoulder, ratatouille and thyme jus. I didn't have this dish so no comments. It looked good though.

Roasted pigeon from Bresse with grilled polenta, smoked pork belly and date sauce. I really enjoyed the pigeon. The meat was really tender and flavourful. I really don't know how they manage to get it just right. The sauce is rich and add just the right level of sweetness to the meat. The smoked pork belly wasn't too smokey. It is nothing that special though. Being Chinese, we always compare pork belly to our 'siu yok' and I think I still prefer a good piece of 'siu yok'. hahaha

Pre-dessert: apple creme brulee and apple juice-like drink. Both are very refreshing. The apple creme brulee was especially light and fluffy. A perfect prep to the dessert!

Pineapple soup with toasted coconut and rum. SP really liked this. He is a fan of 'exotic' fruits so no wonder! :-P

I personally don't like pineapple so they made me a raspberry and lemon sorbet. It was light. Not that special though.

Lemon tart. SP and I think it was just right but it might not be sour enough for some.

Bitter chocolate and hazelnut cylinder with ginger mousse and blackcurrant granite. Again, nothing special here. Perhaps I have been spoilt by too much good quality chocolate already :-P

Petit fours: Strawberry ice cream coated with a white chocolate shell. These were very nice. I think I had more than my share. hehehe. The presentation was good too. I think they just can't resist the dry ice in Fat Duck-style :-P

Petit fours: at the beginning of the meal, they asked me whether we are celebrating a special occasion. So we told them we got married. I thought we were going to get more goodie than an extra scoop of raspberry sorbet! How disappointing.. hahaha

Petit fours: chocolate granache covered in silver dust. You pick them out from the tree. These were quite rich so one is certainly enough.

We were in a bit of a rush. So we had a quick tea and coffee and left.

For more information:
http://www.gordonramsay.com/royalhospitalroad/