We made a stop at a Loire Valley winemaker. We liked their wines. We responded appropriately. After we loaded the car, the manager of the place, with whom we'd been talking and tasting, came out with two additional bottles to thank us. You'll never see that in Napa Valley or Walla Walla.Laurie enjoying life in France. This in on the terrace at our hotel in Figeac.Figeac had a wonderful market - huge for a smaller town and with everything you could want. This is the line for one of several cheese vendors.This is maybe a twentieth of the whole Figeac market.Paella, anyone? Paella is popular in southern France.
Pintxos in Vitoria-Gasteiz
For those scratching their head and saying, “Pintxos? What the heck are pintxos,” here ya go: pintxos (pronounced “peenchos”) are tapas on steroids and are seen only in the Basque region of Spain. They are larger and more complex than tapas. We found a pintxos bar that had around 20 different pintxos and settled in. Often the routine is to visit a pintxos bar, have a pintxo or two and a glass of wine, then move on to another place and eventually dinner. We found that three pintxos was dinner. Did it every night we were in Vitoria-Gasteiz, always at the same place.
Our #1 favorite: artichoke hearts, cheese, thinly-sliced ham and a secret sauce on toasted bread. Could have eaten that one all night long.Number 2 favorite: this was chicken, pesto and various other seasonings. Dang good.Pork and other stuff on a bun.
More Food pix
A smallish cheese plate. "Smallish" in that we usually have four or five or six cheeses for the cheese course, but this one has three of our very favorites: top-left is a bleu, next to it Brie de Melun and below them a Tomme aux Fleurs.I get a slab of this every time we go to the store that has a butcher counter. It's paté of fig - paté aux figues. Fabulous!Fish and chips at a restaurant in St. Mammês. Sitting outdoors on a warm day, watching boats go by on the Seine...pretty nice.Desserts. These are in a huge Carrefour store. There were probably twenty similar desserts in the display case. Yummmmm!Sometimes, pizza just sounds so good and right for a meal. And why bother going to a Italian restaurant, when you can stop at Pizzassimo and have a piping hot (well, tepid, maybe) pizza in three minutes? If you buy ten pizzas (and survive eating them) you get one free! Notice that the slot that ejects your pizza looks like the front of a wood-fired pizza oven—classy! Really, the very epitome of a fine French meal.Send me an email about this post. I won't post it on the blog, I promise.
