The glorious and luxurious days of eating different cheeses are over now that I am back in the land of feta cheese. But I made sure I brought enough cheeses to last till my next visit to France. 3kg of cheese….how would I survive with that? The shopping for care package was rushed as the day before my departure was May Day.
I am back in Istanbul and trying to post off a few item sitting in the Draft. I am so glad that I got to have a few hot near-summer days before leaving. Funnily and annoyingly, every time I went to Bordeaux, it was late fall to winter because that was only time I could take time off. I am in my heavy winter coat in all the French albums except the first time in Paris and Marseille.
Let’s cram! Because I know I won’t have much time to blog once I get back to Istanbul, I’m busily going over my Bordeaux albums to select photos to write about, and I’ve decided that I can’t leave Bordeaux without mentioning my favourite spots for food shopping. We tent to take for granted the things that are around us all the time, bread for example. I buy it everyday, twice a day. Now that I know the best bakeries to buy bread, I can go straight to each one for morning bread and baguette for lunch and dinner. I feel so good when I taste good bread.
I am going through an adjustment phase after I got back from the Burgundy tour; feeling burnt out and lazy. During my tour, I started to miss Bordeaux just after 2 days and became rather desperate for Bordeaux wines after the third day, finding myself counting down to the last day of the tour. The feeling that I had developed about Bordeaux wines, kind of a comfort thing, was so unexpected and surprising that it seemed that my relationship with Bordeaux and Bordeaux wines had gone into a deeper stage in our time apart, like in “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.” I didn’t realise I would miss you this much, the charming small streets, the vibrant energy and all.
Besides foie gras, Bordeaux is also well-known for oysters and I always take advantage of fresh and plump oysters whenever I am here. I used to eat a lot of oysters in Sydney as I lived close to the big fish market, but I must admit that Bordeaux oysters are the best in the world. They are so fresh, big and tasty, plus there are nice Bordeaux white and rose wines to accompany them. I used to go down to the Quay on a good Saturday for a brunch and for shopping at the farmer’s market.
I am sorry for the delayed reviews of the “open doors” tasting in Médoc I did last Saturday and Sunday. Being swamped with the photos to edit and notes I took of the wines I tasted, I begin to realise how convenient it would be to have a smart phone to upload instantly. Especially, last night when I talked about châteaux I visited, I had difficulty matching the chateaux and their wines. So I’m forcing myself to write the reviews on a Easter Sunday when I’m supposed to be off work! My mentor and I visited 16 châteaux in two days. We started from the far end, St-Estephe, Pauillac, St-Julien, Haut-Médoc on the first day and covered Haut-Médoc again and Margaux on the second day. To list the names of the châteaux and the wines from Day 1, Château Lilian Ladouys 2010 Château Pédesclaux 2009 Château Lynch Bages 2006 Château Tour Seiujean 2008-2012 Château Teynac 2001-2010 Château Larose Trintaudon 2002 Château Perganson 2010 Château Anauld 2010 One or two might be missing in the list probably because …
EatwithMeİstanbul 