I think the number one requirement of a food blogger is a willingness to step outside the comfort zone, at least ocasionally. I did that in 2010, and over a few months ate quite a lot of weird stuff, washed down with buckets of Rose.
We arrived in Paris yesterday morning, picked up a hire car and headed off to Briare to collect our bikes, Jenny and Craig. They were nestled cosily together in the loft of a barn, until they were lowered down inelegantly with ropes. We dusted off the cobwebs and threw them inelegantly into the back of the car. The b&b attached to the farm was unfortunately booked out, so we wandered through a few back roads, wondering where to spend our first night. Lunch was a pique-nique of baguette, goats cheese and pate de campagne by the Loire River at Gien. Several thousand traffic lights and slow drivers later, we detoured on the freeway and into our beloved roadhouse chain, Autogrill. Being of Italian descent, the coffee is much better than French swill, and after a pain au chocolat and cafe noisette each the jet-lag fog started to lift.
We arrived at the Office de Tourisme at Amboise just before closing on Saturday night, and scored the last vacant room in town, full to the brim with cycling tourists who must have read "Baguettes and Bicycles" and guests from a huge wedding. A plunger coffee and a vanilla slice in a touristy Salon de The filled whatever small space was left after lunch. As it was the last weekend of summer, the French were returning from their holidays, tanned but sad to be packing the espadrilles away for another year.
Amboise is famous for its stately chateau overlooking the town, which overlooks the Loire River, with its sandy banks and traditional flat-bottomed boats. We wandered around trying to decide where to eat and chose the restaurant next door to our hotel, and ordered the €22 two course special, our favourite option as one of us gets entree and a main and the other a main and dessert and then we share it all. Gluttony on a budget!
I just couldn't bring myself to order the eel, the regional specialty. Not because it was eel, I'm sure they are quite delicious (albeit bloody ugly); but because it was served with sturgeon in satay sauce. Mmm, no. Trust me, the rest of the meal was really good: we shared fish tartare with beefsteak tomatoes for entree, chicken stuffed with stuff...."how many glasses of Rose did you have?", fillet of pork confit with buttery mashed potatoes, and a three cheese platter (cow, goat and sheep) for dessert. All artfully plated, properly proportioned and accompanied by sourdough bread.
Yes, food bloggers should be adventurous and I will try the eel next time.
Promise.
We arrived in Paris yesterday morning, picked up a hire car and headed off to Briare to collect our bikes, Jenny and Craig. They were nestled cosily together in the loft of a barn, until they were lowered down inelegantly with ropes. We dusted off the cobwebs and threw them inelegantly into the back of the car. The b&b attached to the farm was unfortunately booked out, so we wandered through a few back roads, wondering where to spend our first night. Lunch was a pique-nique of baguette, goats cheese and pate de campagne by the Loire River at Gien. Several thousand traffic lights and slow drivers later, we detoured on the freeway and into our beloved roadhouse chain, Autogrill. Being of Italian descent, the coffee is much better than French swill, and after a pain au chocolat and cafe noisette each the jet-lag fog started to lift.
We arrived at the Office de Tourisme at Amboise just before closing on Saturday night, and scored the last vacant room in town, full to the brim with cycling tourists who must have read "Baguettes and Bicycles" and guests from a huge wedding. A plunger coffee and a vanilla slice in a touristy Salon de The filled whatever small space was left after lunch. As it was the last weekend of summer, the French were returning from their holidays, tanned but sad to be packing the espadrilles away for another year.
Amboise is famous for its stately chateau overlooking the town, which overlooks the Loire River, with its sandy banks and traditional flat-bottomed boats. We wandered around trying to decide where to eat and chose the restaurant next door to our hotel, and ordered the €22 two course special, our favourite option as one of us gets entree and a main and the other a main and dessert and then we share it all. Gluttony on a budget!
I just couldn't bring myself to order the eel, the regional specialty. Not because it was eel, I'm sure they are quite delicious (albeit bloody ugly); but because it was served with sturgeon in satay sauce. Mmm, no. Trust me, the rest of the meal was really good: we shared fish tartare with beefsteak tomatoes for entree, chicken stuffed with stuff...."how many glasses of Rose did you have?", fillet of pork confit with buttery mashed potatoes, and a three cheese platter (cow, goat and sheep) for dessert. All artfully plated, properly proportioned and accompanied by sourdough bread.
Yes, food bloggers should be adventurous and I will try the eel next time.
Promise.
