Maxine's Pictures Nov 25-30

Pictures from Burgundy:

Chateauneuf-en-Auxois

Fabulous dinner at the Michelin-starred restaurant in our hotel!  We ordered the chef's tasting menu with wine pairings.  It began with a snail cracker, chicken mousse and ham.  The snail crackers tasted salty, sort of like olives. Neither of us has ever eaten snails before.  These were OK but not great.

Missing photo -- Artichoke cream with ham and potato.  I sometimes get so interested in the food that I forget to take the picture!

This is rabbit two ways -- grilled and in a rabbit terrine with horseradish which was absolutely delicious.

Mushroom soup with speck.  Rich and creamy.

2nd missing photo -- grilled scallop with bok choy and walnut butter.  Even the seafood hater, Tom, liked this one.

Langoustine with butter.  The "brussels sprout" is actually cabbage wrapped around a vegetable mixture.  We had the same type of faux brussels sprout at our Michelin-star lunch in Paris which is a strange coincidence.

After 2 seafood courses, we had a meat course -- venison in red wine sauce with actual brussels sprouts this time.

Epoisses cheese is produced just down the road from our hotel.  Here the chef melted the cheese over poached pear.  This was unusual, rich and creamy and a great combination.

The white scoop is actually sweetened cream of parsnips served with white and dark chocolate and chicory.  While I give the chef points for creativity, this was the only dish I wouldn't want to eat again.

Quince with ice cream -- definitely a fall dish.

Puff pastry filled with anise cream.  Even though I'm not a huge licorice fan, this was a nice combination.

Sweets served with our coffee.

The plate presentation of the sugar for the coffee.

This is the view from our room window.  Emmy had a great time running around the grounds.  She also played with the two Shetland ponies that live on the property.  She seemed to think they were big dogs.

From Burgundy, we drove to Toulouse to spend Thanksgiving with our friends and their family.  We brought canned pumpkin and cranberry sauce from the U.S. along with these turkey hats.

They hosted a big Thanksgiving dinner for family and friends, many of whom had never tasted cranberry sauce or pumpkin pie.

We returned to Paris yesterday and winter arrived while we were gone.  The temps are in the 30s so it's COLD outside.  Emmy wore her quilted jacket for the first time today.