Part 2 - Things I ate and Drank

For the 2nd part of our weekend in Courjon & La Rochelle, I am going to go through this in chronological order.

We hopped of the train in La Rochelle on Friday afternoon and after a bit of a wander around town headed to a cool little wine bar called "La Guignette" Here they specialise in flavoured local wine. All they do is get some white wine, mix it with some fruits and volia! We tried, 'Le Rince-Goret' (citrus fruits) 'La Rouge' (red fruits) and 'La Verte' (Apple). They all tasted pretty good, and the best bit is that the wine on tap at the bar. Just take up your empty bottle when you have finished for a re-fill.

After filling up on wine we headed to a local restaurant, for dinner. For dinner I had what

was described in the menu as the "Duck Pyramid"(pictured left after I had eaten half). However it was more of a cylinder than a pyramid (but I wont hold it against them). It had a bottom layer of mashed potatoes, on top of which was a some caramelised onions. On top of this was a big fat slice of foire gras. Finally on top of all of this was a whole leg of duck. It was easily one of the best things I have ever eaten. It was also one of the fattiest things I have ever eaten. But I think thats what made it so good.

Blotting to copybook slightly we headed off for lunch at McDonalds on Saturday. This was only a precursor for the cheesy goodness we were going to experience at dinner on Saturday night.

Saturday night started off quietly with a bit of foire gras on some toasted bread. To wash down our foire gras, we did so with a bit of the local specialty from the region called 'Pineau'. Pineau is

effectively is a fortified wine and is made by mixing traditional fortified wine, with grape juice, and the result is a very strong very sweet liqueur. After this it was time for dinner, which was a traditional French meal of raclette. What is raclette, you may ask? Well I think the best way to describe it, is its basically Korean bbq, but with cheese. You have a big grille in the centre of the table which you use to cook you meat on. However under the large grille there are also small paddles for each person that you place a square of cheese on. You then put your paddle with cheese into your slot, this slot heats up your cheese until it melts. Then you take your cooked meat off the grill ontop, take your melted cheese on the paddle below, then scrape the cheese off your paddle and all over your cooked meat. Then you eat. Yum yum! The meat we enjoyed with our cheese, was Jambon sec, saucisson, salami as well as baked potatoes. Dinner was washed down with a nice local red. It was cheesy but oh so good.

After dinner it was time for what was my highlight of the weekend. We had a chance to try some cognac which was bottled in 1865 (yes thats not a typo). So we had some 144 year old cognac and my god, I had only the smallest sip, and it felt like my mouth was going to explode. It was like someone had punched me in the face. But it was a fine way to finish off the evening before some more feast the next day.

Sunday lunch is traditionally a big meal in French households and we certainly were in for a treat on this Sunday. Lunch time, and we had 'Confit du Canard' (ie some more duck) It was cooked to perfection in its own fat, and once again we washed it down with a local white.

So all in all a great weekend of gastronomy.