Today we went to the 9th annual Cheeses of Savoie Festival! Awesome! We tasted tons of cheese, milked cows, watched artisans making cheese, and finally enjoyed the cow parade at the end. The cows were so cute! They had big, ornate bells on their necks and flowers woven around their horns!!!
We had fire roasted ham with a red bell pepper, mushroom, and mustard sauce, sauteed potatoes with onions and Reblochon, and bread. It was all ok, but not as good as we had hoped.
Yum! Wild Alpine strawberries that we picked on the side of the road, cherries, whole wheat bread with butter, and Beaufort cheese! MMM…
I made another traditional recipe. A pasta dish with sausage, garlic, onion, and Serac (a fresh goat cheese) with smashed peas and herbs. It looks like hell… I know. What can you do? It tasted pretty good though. Nothing exceptional, but not bad. We also had a salad. Aimee made a big batch of vegan vegetable and bean soup with dandelion greens we picked in the yard. It was good, too.
Sorry everybody… I forgot a photo. We hiked down to the village and when we got back I was SOOO hungry. I heated up leftover ratatouille and ate the whole bowl before I remembered to take a picture 😦 It was an ugly dish anyway. I also had salad and pistachios. Relax, you didn’t miss anything 🙂
Something a little different today. We have all this delicious cheese, so I figured I should help take care of it 😉 Keepin’ those dairy levels high!
We were still very full after our Italian lunch, so we kept dinner light and easy. On our way to Italy we stopped at a Petit Ferme (small farm) and bought fresh cheese from an adorable little girl. We bought Tomme de Savoie and Serac – all handmade by the little girl’s father! We also bought some beautiful cheese from a cheese shop in Italy – Pecorino Romano, Parmigiano-Reggiano, Taleggio (yes, Jill it was awesome)!
So I made a fabulous cheese platter with all the cheese we bought as well as a lovely tomato salad with crazy heirloom tomatoes, basil, olive oil, salt, and pepper. All served with amazing local wine, of course!
Today we went to Italy! It’s amazing how different it was even though we were just over the French boarder. We had a lovely lunch at a small restaurant overlooking the valley. We stared with a charcuterie platter which had procuito, dried ham, and lardo (super thin sliced pig fat that is cured with tons of herbs) which melted on the tongue and was spectacular (Mario Batali is right)! We then had the pasta of the day which was homemade pasta with a garlic, parmesan, and truffle sauce – WOW! Finally we had the dessert which was ice cream with walnuts, almonds, and prunes in a warm brandy sauce with espresso. Everything was amazing!!! I could get used to this 😉
Simple and yummy!
After a long day of adventure we were all very hungry! I made an herb roasted chicken with steamed broccoli and herb-butter potatoes all with a wonderful bottle of Chignin that we bought from the producer on the wine trail. We also had bread that I bought from a bread vending machine along the way 🙂 Our resident vegan had leftovers.
Today we decided to drive the Savoie Wine Tour Circuit! So beautiful! We started in Albertville and ended in Chignin. The vineyards were spectacular. We were driving along and we spotted a huge, ancient chateu. We left the wine tour circuit and went in search of the awesome Chateu! After just ten minutes we found signs pointing to Le Chateu de Miolans and we headed up the mountain. We toured the amazing castle then continued our wine tour. What a day! Perfect! I wish you had been here with me mom… you would have LOVED it (kisses <3)!
We stopped at this cute restaurant which offered just one set menu – celery root and mustard salad, beef stew with rice, and tooti-fruiti ice cream with raspberry coulis and espresso. All was excellent. We actually really enjoyed having no choices. It simplified the entire process. No choices. No decisions to make. No French to stumble over. No problems 🙂 Nothing was bad, but none of it was overly exciting either. I did, however enjoy the celery root salad. I’ve never had raw celery root and I was very pleasantly surprised by its crunchy texture and fresh, watery bite. I should also mention that the cheese board was huge and ridiculous! Une journée parfaite!
Breakfast. Lunch. Dinner. 
