My European Adventure! pt 3

Something had to be said about the food this last week at the Chateau le Pin. It was good in a way that defies description. One might say,  "Ann, that salad was amazing," or "Ann, I can't stop eating this bur blanc. What's in it?" But in order to really understand something about how amazing it was, we are going to have to get a little context:
I'm a picky eater. Always have been, probably always will be. I don't know when it started, but ever since I realized how bad it is, I've been trying to come back the other way. Pushing myself to eat foods I normally wouldn't has had its successes and failures. But at the end of the day, I have a very limited selection of tastes I enjoy. Its not something I'm proud of, but there you go.
From the first dinner, I already knew I was in for a treat. By the second day, I had no worries that I would dislike anything I put in my mouth, no matter how strange it seemed to me. By the third day, I was dreading leaving because for the rest of my life I have to put up with mundane food now. By the end of the week, I worshiped Ann's cooking like a heretic.

Here's a quick run down of our mealtime experiences:
At every meal there was several different kinds of wine - sparkling, red, white or pink, a basket full of fresh rolls, and enough anticipation for Ann's cooking to make your palms sweat.
A 'little' wine and chatting, while we all gathered
Appetizers - Salad/light protein
Main Dish - Meat/Veggies/Starches
Interlude  - Cheese plate(always of the region)(with wine)
Dessert - Exactly that, life-changing, mind-blowing dessert.
Conclusion - licking our plates and finishing off the bottle(s)
Drinks and discussion(puzzle) in the Greatroom.
(All the drinks should have their own post but I really know so little about the subject I wouldn't get very far. Needless to say, there were many of great range and value, and not just wines either. On my next trip maybe.)

Maybe some pictures will help:

(Chocolate Mousse cake with a divine cream drizzle - Probably everyone's favorite.)

(One of our group was a vegetarian, so Ann, saint that she is, cooked her a separate dish to replace the meat dish, FOR EVERY MEAL!) 

 (Butter basted scallops if I'm not mistaken)

(Ann's own dressing, smoked salmon, and fois gras. I'd never had it again, probably never will, but Ann made the fois gras herself, and I even knowing what it was I still couldn't stop myself.)

(Artichoke hearts drowned in butter and cheese, and some kind of peasant or duck. I don't know what it was, but I know it was delicious.)

(My favorite of the week, buerre blanc (which was essentially vinegar, white wine, and butter), over potatoes and sandre, a fish which is apparently only caught in this region's rivers, and only during this time of the year. The beurre blanc apparently took her a dozen times to get right. It seems this sauce was invented to go with this specific fish. I literally cleaned the plate so thoroughly you wouldn't have even know we'd eaten yet.) 

There's more (so much more) but I don't really have the bandwidth to keep going, if you want to see some more, Mimi posted some similar and parallel things on the writeaway blog here:

  http://www.writeaways.com/blogaways/ 

I'll try to go into it more later, but man, I'm depressing myself now because the week is over and I don't know if I'll ever get to eat Ann's cooking again. Bwaaaa!

(PS> For all those worried that I might have been having too much fun to get any work done: You were right to worry. However thanks to the experienced and insightful guidance of John and Mimi, we did get a lot done, and I have moved forward extraordinarily with my book. I hope I will be able to give you all a glimpse at a near complete draft soon.)