Wednesday, April 14, 2010

au revoir...




This is it... in a couple of hours I'll be on the plane, headed for Montréal and then on to Ottawa. We spent my final night in Bordeaux; the plan was to go out to dinner and then go dancing. That was the plan until my body decided to revolt. It seems that 8 days of excess desserts, dairy, wine and uber rich food finally got to me. You see, I felt that since I had gotten through all my other indulgences, a final dinner of pizza wouldn't hurt. Was I ever wrong!

Pizza is to France what curries are to England; you find a pizzeria everywhere you look (yes, even Eymet has one): therefore, into the pizzeria we went. Sigh - a vegetarian pizza with goat cheese only. DELISH! Thin crust, perfectly cooked, lovely, melted, gooey cheese... sigh (I will admit that it was much better than the pizza I had in Italy the summer before). And then... well, my evening was over. I made it out to a super cool bar but ended up grabbing the tram back to my room at the Quality Inn (gotta love trams).

So I wake up feeling a million times better than when I went to bed; all packed and ready to do a final exploration before heading to the airport. First on the agenda - my final pain au chocolat. I can't leave Bordeaux without indulging in one more pastry... we wander the streets and end up in the BEST PÂTISSERIE ever. Seriously. I have the flakiest, buttery, fluffy pain au chocolat; Julie opts for an apricot croissant. Both pastries are worthy of a double sigh. They serve a pretty terrific café au lait too. Overall... a great way to start the day.

That leaves me with a final 40 minutes before I have to get into the car... so off we go and end up in another French Market!!!! It is beautiful. If you've ever been to the Atwater market in Montréal, think that... only bigger and better. Fish, sausages, vegetables, herbs, dried fruit... and obviously cheese everywhere we turn. I wish I could share pictures with you... but I've already packed my camera (I know. Lesson learned. Promise) so you'll just have to take my word for it. It is wonderful.

I'm off to the airport with a box of macarons - this I do have a picture of. They are from Ladurée Paris: raspberry-chocolate, chocolate, caramel with fleur de sel, and pistachio. Aren't they lovely? They taste as good as they look too :0) The cookies are baked perfectly; crispy on top but airy in the centre. And the fillings?! Oh my!!! They just ooze out of the cookies, forcing you to catch the excess with your finger and then lick it up. The best part... I get to use my new straw panier as my sac à main on the plane... how great is that!

Au revoir France and thank you for a lovely stay... oh, and Julie, thanks for being the hostess with the mostess!

À la prochaine!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

You are welcome!!! I had a blast. Going to the market tomorrow won't be the same without you... Loved reading your blog, I am now an official follower!! Save me a pistachio macaron or blog your recipe, you know I'll want some.. ;-)

Unknown said...

sorry you felt sick on ur last day. it's hard to suffer from the stomach when you like to eat.
will send recipe on facebook mess, cause there is a time limit on this.
tante michele