Chef Pascal & our other mill-mates

Aside from my travel-mates, I also had an incredible supporting cast of local critters that call Le Moulin Bregeon home! For starters, we have Mona, the mommy black lab and her twin 4-month old's Figaro (the brown lab) and Felicy (the white lab). Then we also had a friendly family of ducks, about 8 in total, that treated the stream outside the kitchen like their own personal lazy river. And then we had my arch nemesis's, is it nemisises or nemeni...anyhow... I was no fan of the geese. The five of them strutted around like they were the bees knees...not in my book they weren't!!! Those geese and I had a rocky start, but we learned to eventually respect each other's space and I like to think that I left with 5 new geese friends.

As for Chef Pascal...he's the man! The guy is the epitome of a rustic, French countryside chef. He loves his garden. He has ultimate respect for the local produce and livestock and he genuinely cooks with heart.

Every night Chef Pascal prepared a mutli-course meal for us, along with tasting wines for each dish...seriously...it was unreal.

First night's dinner: Cauliflower soup with chives and edible violets. Followed by a chicken braised in yellow cider wine accompanied by seasonal vegetables from the garden. Then a cheese course with fresh goat, Camembert, and Roquefort along with a fresh garden salad topped with walnut oil vinaigrette. Then finally a delicious fresh strawberry tart.

A brief word about the vegetables...while I was eating my main course, I tasted a carrot. It was no ordinary carrot. I guessed that this carrot was glazed in honey for a week and then roasted in brown sugar before service. I was shocked to learn that Chef Pascal simply pulled the carrot from the earth right before dinner and lightly salted it as it went into the oven. I'm not exaggerating when I say that this carrot single-handily taught me the value of farm-fresh produce and the difference that it can make in a dish.

Between the long flight, the incredible food, and yummy wine, I slept like a lil french baby.

Le Moulin Bregeon: First Impressions

The Moulin Brégeon is an 19th century water mill in the Loire Valley which has been transformed into an authentic, yet incredibly comfortable inn. It is situated outside the bustling village of Linieres Bouton, home to 71 residents.

The formatting for this blog is a bit difficult to showcase a number of pictures in one posting, so I will intermittently post other remarkable shots of the mill, including the beautiful gardens, farm, and the many other occupants at Moulin Bregeon.

For more info about the mill, you should check out: http://www.moulinbregeon.com/Home.html

Jam Session!

As we loaded our belongings into the 9-passenger van, Bernard informed us that we must begin to prepare for our jam session before settling in at Le Moulin Bregeon.

Here is a perfect example of my two worlds clashing together...my initial reaction to hearing "jam session" is a 45-minute blistering set of Buddy Guy, Jeff Beck, Clapton, and Jimmy Page riffing off each other until their finger tips started to bleed...this was a different type of situation all together, yet equally as fulfilling.

Bernard drove us to a myrtille (blueberry) farm in the town of Vivy. We were tasked to pick a basket full of fresh blueberries that we would later reduce and reduce again down to an insanely tasty fresh jam.

Less than 20 minutes into the trip and I was already as happy as a pig in shit...for those that don't know, pigs love shit.

Central Casting

From left to right: Bernard, Ellen, and Chef Kathryn

From left to right: Tom, Pamela, and Duffy

I arrived at the Saumur train station at 12:15pm. My travel mates and host were not scheduled to meet at the station until 5pm.

5 hrs to kill...nothing a couple of glasses of vino and a snooze on a train station bench couldn't solve.

Alas, I heard the sweet, familiar sound of fellow New Yorkers in the voice of father & son duo, Tom and Duffy. Soon thereafter, we met with Chef Kathryn, our trip coordinator extraordinaire, Jessie, Pamela, Ellen, and the legendary Bernard, our translator/driver/tour guide/shaman.

By the way, I like to pronounce Bernard's name the way that his French friends and associates say it, "Beck-Nod."