Author: Stephanie Millman

Day Four, by Stephanie

After yesterday’s rain, we were greeted with fresh streets in Bordeaux. Kelly and I ran down the street to pick up fresh, buttery croissant and hot out of-the oven chocolate brioche @https://auxmerveilleux.com/en/. I couldn’t resist buying a couple of their specialty Merveilleux cakes for later. 

While Kelly’s landlord came to the apartment to fix the toilet seat, Karen, Kasey and I headed downtown to experience the shopping center of town. 

Kelly stayed behind to prep and setup for the video class of the French Onion Soup recipe. And THAT soup was so delish!  Our Recipe Club members will be ecstatic when they learn how simple and fabulous this recipe is when they receive the it in their next mailing. It was an amazing lunch.

We reflected on the fact that we’ve been eating tremendous food in France, but nothing compares to the food Kelly creates. We’re so lucky!!

After lunch, we got our steps in while searching for a check-in bag to pack home our “extras”. It was delightful to experience espressos and the hospitality of @CafeBrasserie on Rue St Catherine. 

And now for the Michelin Star restaurant experience…

One of my personal goals as a new “Foodie” came from watching @EmilyinParis. It was to experience a true French Michelin Star restaurant. Kelly planned our dinner @C’yusha, a French Michelin Star restaurant, with an exquisite continuous display of six courses.  Each course was a small plate of modern French cuisine, which we enjoyed with two fantastic bottles of St Emillion Grand Cru wines. The first course was described as a scrambled egg and lobster mousse, followed by warm bread with homemade carrot infused butter. The second course was a delicate creamy truffle-cauliflower soup, with a cauliflower stuffed brioche with dollops of bright citrus sauce. (Continued after photos…)

Course three was a picturesque display of two perfectly seared scallops resting on a delicate frothy sauce accompanied with a spear of roasted endive, a pumpkin truffle, and fresh Enoki mushrooms.

I’m not a big fan of chicken, but the main entree (and fourth course), was a succulent pan-seared chicken cutlet. I only ate half of it….Kelly was surprised that chicken was the main plate rather than duck or beef but the preparation and sauce with buttery and rich mashed parsnips was delightful.

And that left two final courses! The “Avant” dessert course was two mild cheeses served with a bit of fig jam finished with a sprinkle of “fleur de sel”. The the final serving (wait for it…) DESSERT! It was a chocolate creation of a gateaux with ganache center and a chocolate crisp that had a “pop rocks” experience. Very special. And speaking of special, I highly recommend the vin rouge Chateau Laroze. Perfectly balanced with a bold flavor and smooth finish. We took down two bottles. It’s a good thing we had a long walk home!

Bordeaux is like Portland 15 years ago. It’s fairly safe with a lot of locals walking around. We’ve noted how friendly everyone we met has been and how, while we have been eating a lot of different French food, we are fortunate to be able to have this time in Bordeaux together. After all, friends are treasure and #FoodIsLove. 

Stephanie 

Day One, by Stephanie

Best feeling ever waking up in a different country after sleeping the whole night through! We were TIRED from our long journey. The warm soup before dinner was so nurturing. “When in France,” breakfast is pastry. We walked over a mile to the open market, and after cruising most of the “shops,” we settled on an almond chocolate pastry for Karen, a traditional croissant for Kasey and Kelly & I split a flan infused puff pastry. Standing breakfast! 

Next up was dejuneur (lunch) at @BistroPoulette, where we sat at the bar and had bowls of mussels. Kelly & I talked in “Franglish” with the waitress and became quite chummy with an Italian couple from Verona (north Italy) sitting next to me. Kasey & Karen befriended Sara from London.

After lunch, we continued our three mile walk through a high-end market centered around a cobblestone road. We stopped for a little personal shopping, then stopped at Kelly’s favorite wine shop. We learned more French and headed home before dinner. 

So here’s the foodie experience for the night… we hit two different wine bistros. The first one, @L’ampelo sold wine by the ounce (in machines; select the wine, put your card in and push the bottle you want to try). They provided a plate of creative cheeses and incredible butter (have you tasted the butter in France? Oooh la la!). The second one, @BarauVin, had a line out the door, but is Kelly’s favorite. They knew her by name and gave us bucket pours of wine with a Prosciutto-style meat and possibly a cured slice of beef carpaccio. The cheese was quite mild, but Kelly said, “it can’t compete with the wine!”

After dinner, I insisted on finding a chocolatier to accompany our aprés dinner vin rouge. Of course, we couldn’t choose, so dark chocolate over orange gel, caramels, lemon and cranberry balls, and a few chocolate squares are enough to give us a taste of everything. 

I think wine here has less alcohol in it because it never seemed to affect our head. There’s no science to that… it just seems that way. The food was adventurous, but to me, the chocolate was love.