Traditional Raclette in the French Alps

We are having a late winter here in Switzerland and there is nothing better during the cold of winter then having some delicious crusty burnt cheese.  The craving for some delicious Raclette reminded me of the little trip we took up in the French Alps to the Haute Breda Valley in search of some traditional Raclette.

Auberge Nemoz is an adorable family run restaurant/ chambre d'hotes nestled in between Le Sept Laux (Prapoutel, Pleynet and Pipay) and Le Collet d'Allevard. It's won plenty of awards from being recommended in the Michelin guide to being recommended by the Routard guide. Everything about this place has a personal touch, my favorite being that all the menus are hand written! The history of the Chalet is that it has been passed down for generations and built  and rebuilt(there was a fire) by the family.

Due to Raclette's heartiness of cheese, more cheese, potatoes and some pickles... and more cheese- it is typically eaten in the winter time and very traditional of any mountain top chalet restaurant.  Raclette in French resembles the word "Racler" which means to scrape and who doesn't love scraping bit of crusty burnt cheese onto their plates? 

Nowadays, everyone has metal raclette machines at home but at the Auberge Nemoz, they do it the old fashion way - in front of a crackling fireplace. The smokiness of the wood adds another dimension to the cheese that metal raclette machines will never give you. 

My joy of course was to watch the gooey burnt cheese getting scraped onto the plate.  It requires the server to pass quite often to rescrape every few minutes (or you have to patiently wait) but the warm gooey cheese is worth the wait. Raclette cheese is similar in taste to Gruyere cheese (click here for the previous blogpost on Gruyere Cheese) which is light, nutty and slightly acidic in flavor. 

The cheese is always served with potatoes and cornichons (thats french speak for mini pickles) and often times for you carnivores, a nice plate of charcuterie (prepared meets, usually of the dried variety like sausage, proscuitto etc). The Alps regions (both Swiss and French) are always full of dried meats that can keep over the long harsh winters. 

The Rhone Alpes Region, just like all other French regions produce some sort of wine or alcohol. Although the summer times are warm, the weather is (as you can imagine for a mountain region) milder and thus the majority of the wine produced is of the white or rose variety. We chose to go with a local bottle of Rose to go with the cheese.  It's pretty typical to eat any cheese dishes with white/ rose wine as the acidity helps to cut the heaviness of the cheese (trust me, when you think about the solid form of Raclette before you eat it, you will drink the wine to help cut the solid block of cheese in your stomach a few hours afterwards). 

The family also has horses with which they offer treks into the mountains with as well as adorable cats and bunnies.  Behind the chalet is a series of trails that take you into the mountains.  We had decided after our hearty meal to head towards the waterfall that was about a 20 minute easy hike in. We had a wonderful meal at Nemoz, with all of its' rustic charm and warm handmade touches. I keep on bugging my husband to go back -- hopefully he'll give in soon.

Taking in the fresh air of the Alps

I loved the carved wood details and pieces of Raclette cheese sitting on the fireplace

It's the Grinch!  

More carrots then this bunny can manage

Addresses

Auberge Nemoz

Hameau La Martinette

38580 La Ferriere

+33 (0)4 76 45 03 10

DIY lace & sheet music bunting and card box (Easy!)

I had mentioned before that now that I've settled in (and no longer have a 2 hour commute in one direction to work), I've taken up crafting again.  My husband and I had already had our civil marriage but finally, FINALLY!, we were going to have our wedding celebration which gave me a reason to start crafting again.

We had discussed (prior to finding a venue and all of that other wedding planning jazz) that our theme would be "vintage" or in French "retro". I know that seems super broad but the background is this -   Whenever I get the chance here in Europe to go to some antiquey store or market while I'm travelling, I'll go. I'm a sucker for cameras and gramophones.   What we love about antiques is that each peace we pick up has a story to tell. Sometimes a name written inside the box, sometimes scratches or missing buttons. We knew we wanted to use these objects that we love collecting to tell the story about us.

Both my husband and I studied music when we were young- so using the vintage theme, I had already decided that we would use a lot of sheet music to decorate our wedding. Nowadays, I have a cricut machine, but back then, as we were saving every penny for the wedding, I had to cut everything out by hand. The cricut which probably would have saved me a lot of time but I can't say that I regret putting in all that work (everything I did had to be in two languages - French and English).  The cricut limits you to using what they can sell you on their cartridges which means that the font (the same font on our logo and invitations)that I wanted to use for the bunting would not exist on the cricut.  I had cut out a cardboard template to make sure the triangles would be uniform.  I then glued the cut out letters onto the bunting and used twine to sew them together (by hand).  For those of you who aren't as worried to that detail, you can just as easily pass the bunting through a sewing machine.

All below professional pics courtesy of our amazing photographer Blanc Coco.

 

©Blanc Coco Photographe

For the card box, Karen (a friend of my mother in law) took two shoe boxes (pick nice sturdy ones) and cut a hole in the bottom of the smaller box and a larger hole in the lid of the bottom box. She covered the boxes with sheet music and glued the boxes together.  Don't forget to make a large slit in the lid of the smaller box so people can put cards in!  She embellished ribbon and lace that we found up in the attic. Keep a watch out for future posts on the fabric flowers used on our card box.

©Blanc Coco Photographe
We finished the card suitcase with scraps of fabric from the grenier (attic) and peonies

©Blanc Coco Photographe
Our wedding logo was the Master's Voice logo with a cat replacing the dog.

 For the main dining salon, I alternated sheet music and lace triangles and sewed the bunting together by hand with twine.  Since the lace was quite course, I cut the lace an extra inch longer on the top to make a lip by which I could more securely sew the twine through. 

©Blanc Coco Photographe

The bunting was very effective in achieving a playful but relaxed and "tres francais" feeling.  The cost of the bunting was next to nothing as the materials were things found up in the attic collecting dust. I spent hours sewing together the bunting by hand but it was worth it!


Addresses:
Blanc Coco Photographe 
blancoco@gmail.com

Hiking in the Swiss Alps- from Mt. Moleson to Les Mosses

I have to admit that Switzerland has some of the most incredible scenery in the world.  The backdrop always seems surreal.  Although considered a "little" mountain, Mt. Moleson in Gruyere is one of those "best kept secrets" (ok that's totally my own opinion) of Switzerland.  I had previously blogged about going up to Mt. Moleson for the Lever Du Soleil in early fall.  That time it had been raining for days so the nice fluffy cumulous clouds really helped to give some depth to the rising sun but also blocked the "real" view.  I had some friends visiting from out of town in the summer time and we decided to head up Mt. Moleson to see what we could get on a crystal clear day.  I think the picture below says it all. 

My friend taking in the fresh air (finally! doesn't smell like cow poo)

We saw that some people were actually hiking all the way back down, not using the funicular and thought they were crazy.  As we were not that courageous (or crazy) we instead took a leisurely drive through the Alpes to Les Mosses in Ozzelfart (that's a mix of opel and ausfart, exit in German). Les Mosses is a tiny mountain village just up the hill from Chateau D'Oex (famous for their hot air balloon festival). Les Mosses is very rustic in comparison to the overwhelming bling bling culture of Gstaad (and home to Johnny Halladay who is from what I understand a big deal around these parts).  For those of you who can't afford a private guide to take you up to the slopes and prefer a bit of rustic-ness, Les Mosses is the place to go. 

Behind the camping centre of Les Mosses, a small road leads you about .25 of the way up a hill. There you will find a dairy farmer and his really cute cows.  As you keep on climbing up (and warning it really is quite steep), at the very end of the 30 minute hike, is a great little surprise.  A small restaurant nestled around a lake awaits hikers needing a break (like us). The lake is a good little stroll around as well with small trails breaking off of it.  I have gone back here a few times and meandered off to find Lamas?? during the spring time.  

Les Mosses is a great weekend getaway and a great chance to really discover the Swiss countryside. 

If you are looking for what the locals do versus what the glitzy tourists do, these are two places you definitely need to hit up!

Space Invaders Avignon

One of the things I love doing when visiting cities (if available) is space invaders hunting. Avignon happens to be blessed as one of the cities that he has hit up.

For those of you who don't know Avignon it's on the boarder of Provence and the Cote d'Azur. Most of the notable landmarks around Avignon are a bunch of bridges or "Pont" in French.  Pont du Guard, the gigantic Roman Aqueduct bridge built in 19BC ,Pont de Langlois, a drawbridge that was one painted by Van Gogh and of course the Pont D'Avignon- the bridge that was never completed.

Pont D'Avignon

I noticed that Space Invader's color schemes were quite soft in comparison to the bold colors that he usually uses in London. I'm not sure if it is a maturation thing or if he was trying to blend in with the soft sandy colors of Provence.

As in most of my space invader pictures, I try to provide a reference point for those of you who want to track them down.  Happy invader hunting!

Wine Tasting in the Côtes du Rhône

One of the advantages of living in Europe and having a French husband who's origins are right next to the Côtes du Rhône wine region is that we get amazing wine (and food).

Côtes du Rhône is an Appellation d'Origine Contrôlee (AOC).  That's fancy French speak for this stuff is really from where it says its from. The region is quite expansive as it is fed largely from the Rhône river.  The region is not entireley connected and consists of a northern region that starts from Vienne where one can find Côte- Rotie and continues down to the Côtes du Rhône area of Valence.
Just North of Côtes du Rhône is the Crozes-Hermitage region. It's here that the small village of Tain l'Hermitage is located -- about 10 minutes north of Valence.  Don't be fooled by this small village.  This place is packed with amazing Wineries representing the Crozes-Hermitage region including M. Chapoutier and Cave de Tain.

M. Chapoutier was an interesting visit as the bottles are all covered in braille.  The idea of this came when a friend of Mr. Chapoutier who is blind commented that it would be nice if wine labels were written in braille so that he could identify them.  The other story that is told is that one of the vineyards that belongs to Chapoutier had a blind member of the family who invented a short had version of Braille that is used on the bottles. Did I mention that Chapoutier is represented quite heavily on Maison Pic's wine list?

Wines in this region are grown and steep cliffs surrounding the river which is obviously harder to harvest.  The main grape varietal here is Syrah and Grenache noir.

The other awesome thing about Tain Hermitage is that it is the headquarters for Valrhona chocolate with a little boutique where there is all you can eat taste testing and now houses the Valrhona chocolate museum.  Valrhona is THE chocolate.. think of it as the Bugatti of the chocolate world.

Look behind the chairs! it's the vineyards

Heading south of Valence takes you to the Coteaux Du Tricastin region in Drome where we were staying.  There are plenty of small local wineries here to visit along the countryside.  While we were there, we visited two- one more "upscale" called Les Granges Neuves des Esplades. Wines from this region are usually Grenache Noir, Syrah and Mourvedre

The other- our personal favorite is a small, very local producer that is run by Fred.  Noelle from La Croix du Gres  (see here for blog posting on La Croix du Gres) phoned up Fred who doesn't usually give tours and set up a meeting.  There, Fred took us on a tour of the vineyards and into the winery.  Let me explain something about Val De Berre.  Who works on the vineyard- Fred, a friend and a friend's wife.  Yes three people care after the grapes, test the grapes, harvest the grapes and make the wine. This place is awesome!  Fred has been making wine his whole life.  His father was a wine maker and he spent most of his career working in vineyards in Châteauneuf-du-Pape before ending up at Vale de Berre.  

Val de berre's flour mill

The owner happened to have a big piece of land with a bunch of vines on it but it was never the owner's main enterprise.  Stuff like the flour mill which were already established and decided it would be a good idea to maybe make some wine. 

So that's where Fred came in.  Within two years of running his almost one man show at Val de Berre, Fred won a Gold Medal at the concours general agricole de Paris 2013 for his Chardonnay and a Silver medal for his "Sensation", a blend of 70% Grenache and 30% Syrah.   Our personal favorite though is the Merlot that he produces.
Val de Berre isn't fancy - there isn't a tasting room but we had a fabulous time standing in the parking lot in front of his storage room where he sells his boxes of wines to the locals.  It was wan amazing experience.  Did I mention how affordable the bottles were?  

Fred doesn't do all that fancy lab testing that we see in most of the wineries in California.  He does everything the old fashion way-  with his taste buds.  

I'd like to think that this is what real food is suppose to be.  This is what makes France so special when it comes to great food and wine.  It's people like Fred who are passionate about what they do and just gosh darn good at it. 

Our "tasting room"-the parking lot

Addresses: 
Val de Berre
+33 4 75 98 5134
Le Moulin
26230 Chantermerle les Grignan, France

Les Granges Neuves des Esplanades
+33 4 75 98 5109
Domaine de Grangeneuve
26230 Roussas, France

M. Chapoutier
+33 4 75 08 28 65
18 Avenue Docteur Paul Durand
26600 Tain L'Hermitage, France

Cave de Tain
+33 4 75 08 20 87
22 Route de Larnage
26600 Tain L'Hermitage, France

Valhrona
 +33 4 75 07 90 62
14 venue Du President Roosevelt
26600 Tain L'Hermitage, France

Le Poeme de Grignan

Often when choosing restaurants, you do your research- guide Michelin, TripAdvisor etc.  Sometimes, you think "those reviews totally lied, this place sucks" but sometimes, sometimes you get really lucky and you think "This place totally deserves stars".  La Poeme de Grignan totally deserves stars

On our visit to Drome, we decided we would have one nice meal out.  I had settled on La Poeme based on the raving reviews it received on Tripadvisors.  The website wasn't convincing but the menu online seemed solid and the restaurants was only about 10 minutes away from our Gite in Grignan. 

We got a bit lost looking for the restaurant-- but we ended up taking a little stroll in old Grignan to find the restaurant which was extremely quaint and totally adorable.  The old stone buildings and blue window frames gave that totally romantic, relaxing, French Provencal feeling. 

I read online that the restaurant was small. I wasn't prepared for exactly how small it is.  It has 8 tables. That's it.  We were greeted by Valerie who is the hostess, server, bus boy-- well the only person who works the front of the house for the restaurant. The restaurant is decorated with old antiques- cosy and comfortable- a lot like La Croix du Gres, the Gite we were staying at.

The menus are incredibly well priced- a three course menu is 31 Euros and a 5 course 48 Euros.  We all had a hard time choosing because A. I was doing a horrible translation job and B. We all wanted everything on the menu.

the Amuse Bouche was an avocado mousse with rehydrated sun dried tomato and some whipped creme fraiche.  It was with the Amuse Bouche that it became clear. Chef Herve knows how to work his flavors.  Every bite was rich, round and full.  An amazing precursor to the plates that would follow.

My starter was Foie Gras Poele with mangoes.  While the food is rustic and simply presented, the flavors were just mind blowing.  The mango was sweet and succulent, the sauce with a tinge of red berry fruitiness and the Foie Gras rich and cooked to perfection with it's perfectly sauteed crust.  I still dream about this dish to this day.

My main dish was a pigeon dish with fresh vegetables.  The flavors were once again harmonious, round and rich.  I'm not sure how chef Herve does it, but the moment the food is in your mouth, the thought "This is exactly what perfect food tastes like" comes to mind. 

I'm a bad person and didn't take notes on the cheese. I think the one to the left is a munster cheese from Alsace. Sorry!

This dessert wasn't actually mine. but it was so fluffy that I had to take a picture of it. A Grand Marnier souffle with raspberry sorbet. I was told that it was silky smooth and delicious

This medley of chocolate- cake, ice cream and mousse accompanied by a raspberry espuma.  I'm not a big fan of espumas but I remember it having a really raspberry flavor.  The chocolate desserts were not to sweet but by this time I was struggling to finish all the food on my plate.

Near the end of dinner, Chef Herve came out to greet diners, serve tea and help clean up the last of the tables.  He heard from Valerie that we were looking for a cab.

Not only had we just enjoyed a perfect meal at La Poeme, Chef Herve offered to take us back to the Gite instead of calling a cab.  He was under the impression that we didn't have a car at all, and with 6 people, he was going to make 2 trips to take us all home.  That level of service blew us away.

If you ever get the chance to go to this absolute gem of a restaurant, I highly highly recommend it.  It's clear that Chef Herve has a clear command of his flavors and cooking technique.  On top of all of this, he puts in soul and heart into his cuisine and it shows and tastes like it.  I'm sure Chef Herve could open a larger restaurant- people would come but I don't think that is his motivation.  While Chef Herve drove us back to the Gite, I asked him about La Poeme.  For him, he's from here, he loves using the local ingredients because they are so amazing. He has no desire to move from here-- and no desire to expand. He cooks because he enjoys it, and he gets immense joy from seeing people enjoy his food.  I hope one day, you can experience and enjoy his food as well.

Address:
La Poeme de Grignan
04 75 91 10 90
Rue Saint Louis 27230 Grignan