In Sonoma, my friends took me to Gloria Ferrer Vineyards the afternoon I arrived. We sampled some of their delicious sparkling wines and snacked on some local cheeses. A wonderful way to start the weekend! The next morning we drove to Petaluma for breakfast at Hallie’s Diner. Delicious omelets! Later that day my friend treated me to a vintage biplane ride to the Golden Gate Bridge and back. What a fantastic, once in a lifetime experience!! For dinner we grabbed a grilled chicken meal at El Brinquito Meat Market. What a great deal – a whole grilled chicken, beans, rice, tortillas and spicy sauce for a mere $20. This was washed down w/ a couple of bottles of local wines. Heavenly!!

Here are a few snapshots of my wonderful trip:

 My view in S. F.

 My view in Sonoma

 Me

 My gracious hosts, Dan and Lorraine

 The view from the tasting terrace

 Biplane ride

 Approaching S.F. and the Golden Gate

 Nice shot!

 The delta

 Sonoma scenery

 Landing…

Bon Voyage!

Bruno

We wandered the city, which is small and very walkable, finding several nice places for food and drink. If you’re in Reykjavik and get hungry, I recommend trying Saeta Svinid Gastropub, Salka Valka – Fish & More, or  Bryggjan Brugghus Bistro and Brewery. All have great atmosphere and deliciously prepared food.

While flying back to the US we had amazingly clear views of Greenland!

Here are a few photos of our walkabout and flight over Greenland:

Cheers!

Bruno

On our descent into San Francisco from Sun Valley, Idaho, I snapped some beautiful photos of downtown San Francisco. Then, as we were flying up to Boeing Field in Seattle, incredible views of Crater Lake in Oregon made their appearance… snap!

Happy Landings…

Bruno

This is what I saw after my early dinner in Chicago last weekend. I guess my pot o’ gold was the wild mushroom and roasted garlic pizza I had at Bar Siena that evening!

May all your days be golden…

Bruno

One of my cousins introduced me to Damassine, a delicious eau de vie made from damson plums. It quickly became one of my favorite after dinner drinks, having a great aroma and flavor in addition to aiding in the digestion of wonderful meals. One evening we sautéed 2 types of local fresh trout purchased at the Delemont farmers market and of course we finished the meal w/ a bit of cheese and Damassine!

While in Vercorin, my cousin prepared a tradition meal called Assiette Valaisanne, which typically is a platter loaded w/ local cured meats, local cheeses, butter, thin slices of a dense rye bread called seigle, sliced fruit, nuts, cornichons and tomato wedges. This is served w/ wines produced regionally. It makes a delicious meal. Click here for an example.

It was hunting season while I was in Switzerland, so most restaurants offered seasonal dishes made w/ fresh game meat. I was fortunate to sample some venison and chamois prepare a couple of different ways during some of our meals out. One chef slowly braised chamois for 18 hours and served it w/ local mushrooms, spaetzle, seasonal vegetables and fruit. Another preparation was a roulade of venison breast stuffed w/ ground venison and served w/ red cabbage and spaetzle. Both were delicious!

When in Switzerland, I always hope to eat Raclette (a Swiss specialty). It’s one of my favorite ways to eat cheese. A picture is worth a thousand words as you will see in the photos of the Raclette lunch we ate at a cousin’s home one day.

I hope you enjoy these choice photos as much as I enjoyed my short time in Switzerland!

 Kaysersberg

 Vineyards in Alsace

 Colmar (aka – “Little Venice”)

 Very slow braised chamois at L’Etoile in Moutier

 After dinner at L’Etoile

 Lucerne

 Delemont (my mom grew up in the building on the right – her dad’s bakery was on the bottom level)

 One of the many colorful fountains in Delemont

 Delemont farmers market

 Our trouts for the evening are the filets on the right

 Mushrooms galore

 Downtown Delemont

 Waiting for the Raclette

 Yum!

 Vercorin

 Grimentz

 Our lunch spot in Grimentz

 On the menu…

 Veggie lasagna

 Braised venison

 Venison roulade

Au revior et a bientot j’espere!

Bruno

Armagnac is an eau de vie, like Cognac, but different in that it is distilled only once using a continuous distillation process. This process captures more of the esters from the fermented grapes and results in a more flavorful end product. Eric also noted that the oak barrels in which Armagnac is aged has a looser grain than the barrels used for aging Cognac, allowing the Armagnac to absorb more flavors from the barrels than Cognac.

Our tour culminated w/ a tasting of the house reserve Armagnac that dates back to 1900. If I remember correctly, Eric explained that with every vintage there is some excess Armagnac that won’t fit into the barrels used for that year’s production. This excess was placed in select barrels and is a blend of all vintages dating back to when Marquis de Montesquiou was founded. How fortunate we were to taste something that rare! My friend said he had never seen as big a smile on my face as when that golden nectar touched my taste buds! My brother commented to Eric that I’m now spoiled for life because no other Armagnac will taste as good as this house reserve. So true… so true!!

Here are a few photos from our visit:

 “La Cathedrale” (the cathedral) where the barrels are housed

 Inside “La Cathedrale”

 The large blending barrels (w/ a normal sized barrel in the foreground for perspective)

 The large blending barrels and the lab

 A label on one of the blending barrels

 A label on one of the normal sized barrels (noting the vintage, grape type, farm of origin, etc…)

 Markings on one of the normal sized barrels

 Maitre de Chais, Eric Durand, explaining the distillation process

 Inside the lab

 The moment of glory!

Thank you Eric for such a memorable experience!

A votre sante’…

Bruno

To sum it up, seeing family I hadn’t visited since 2004 was so enjoyable I wish I had more time to be w/ them. I definitely won’t let so much time pass before my next visit.

My first stop was Southwestern France. I landed in Bordeaux and spent the first week exploring the region surrounding Agen, the city where my brother and his wife live. This region is filled w/ great food and beautiful countryside which encompasses many well preserved medieval villages.

This post and the ones to follow will provide a visual taste of my experiences…

 Agen’s organic farmers market

 Gavaudun

 Biron

 Monpazier

 Bonaguil

 Rocamadour

 Foie gras museum

 Josephine Baker’s old house (Chateau des Milandes)

 Beynac

 Our picnic spot (Roque – Gageac)

 Decadent picnic food

A bientot!

Bruno

Extinct Volcanos near Toluca, Mexico

Mono Lake, California

St. Louis, Missouri

Happy Travels…

Bruno

Photo snapped at 2:30 pm Pacific time at an altitude of 30,000 feet while we were descending towards San Jose, California on October 25th. The lighting was just right to create good shadows to accentuate Half Dome in Yosemite National Park.

Happy Hiking (or climbing)!

Bruno

 Mount Shasta 7/2/13:

Lake Tahoe 7/7/13:

Truckee 7/8/13:

Long, tiring week… great to be home!!

Bruno