Dinner at Chateau Brou

Dining Room

This is the dining room at the Chateau Brou where we thought we were going to eat our dinner.

Ceiling

See the exposed beams on the ceiling? That is a sign that it was built in the 17th century. Can you see the initial M? It was on the fireplace as well. All these chateaus had initials painted and carved everywhere. They were very proud of their family name and of what they had built. It makes me think that we should paint some B's on the ceiling at home, or at least have one carved in the fireplace!

Private room

This is where we ate our dinner - in a private room off the dining room that was part of the chapel dating from the 14th century or maybe even earlier. I'm not sure why we got the private room - I may have mentioned that it was Jim's birthday or they might have thought we were going to be the rowdy ones because we were at least 20 years younger than the rest of the guests!

All the Baidacoffs got the memo to wear white - I didn't!

Birthday dinner

Our dinner consisted of 4 courses, and we had 2 choices for each course. Jim and I chose the exact same courses from the menu. The appetizer was fois gras with some sides. You know Steve, you are absolutely right that the front of house staff has to know food as well as how to serve. The service was great but they didn't explain the courses very well, and by the time I get it in front of me I have forgotten what it said on the menu. See that cone shaped thing? They snipped the top off and the white part slid down onto the plate (I think it was fromage blanc) with a caramel like sauce on top of it. The orange puree was apricot, and there was a tulle around the fois gras.

Appetizer

It was delicious, but it was very sweet. I remembered what you said about having dessert - that your mind knows the meal is over when it tastes sweet. I felt like that a little bit - other than the fois gras, this could easily have been a dessert, and it didn't really stimulate my palate for more food. We did like it though.

The second course was roasted guinea fowl with a lobster bisque and seasonal vegetables. We loved the skin on the guinea fowl. It was crispy and not fatty at all. I don't usually eat the skin but I did this time. The lobster bisque wasn't very strong, it just added a little bit of moisture. I thought the vegetables in the jar was very cute.

Main course

The dessert was White Peach in all its States. So fresh, sorbet. and juice. Of the three, I liked the sorbet the best.

I forgot to take a picture of the cheese course - it was a chevre and a creamy cheese like a Boursin, shaped like Steve does his potatoes and ice cream. The word is on the tip of my tongue but I can't remember it!

We had wine pairings with the courses as well. The first wine was sweet too, almost like a dessert wine. We had a red wine with the guinea fowl and it was perfect - not too heavy but a nice flavour. I should have written down the name!

Our breakfast the next morning was also lovely, but my favorite thing was the individual baguettes that they had! I love baguettes and will miss them a lot when we come home.

On our way from Chartres to Versaille we stopped at a bakery and came across this pastry. I think they are a new type, I had never seen them before although we have seen them in several stores since.

I wanted to show you that we really traveled in style. After Provence we decided to return one of the cars we rented since Stephen wasn't going to be traveling with us and we could manage to get all our luggage in the back of one car. There were these neat little tables that folded up from the driver's and front passenger's seats. This is a picture of when we were stopped - unfortunately I can't read or type in a car because I get sick. But that cup holder came in handy!

You know the saying, you can't teach an old dog new tricks? Well, it applies to me. Every time I see the C on a tap, I think Cold. In french it is chaud, which means hot. I know that but my first thought is cold. F on the right side, stands for froid, which is french for cold. Liz asked me, "If you think C stands for cold, then what do you think F stands for?" I answered her - Frigid!