Creme Brulee - A Trilogy

Last night we went to La Matafan for dinner, and whilst the mains really were lovelly, what I want to tell you about is the desert. Not just A desert but THREE deserts all lined up pretty on a platter.

Now, unlike Amelie, I am neither innocent or naive, but like her I do so love a good creme brulee - the crack of the sugar under the back of my spoon, the smooth creme across my tongue and the sigh of satisfaction as it rolls down my throat.

These brulee's were to die for. We started with the brown sugar one...nice, perfect top, and the ramekin was lined with the sugar as well making for a wonderful caramel throughout.

Number two was my personal favorite, as I find it near impossible to go past anything that has raspberries in it (we even have French raspberry cordial in the chalet!!) It was full and bursting with rich raspberries, the only thing wrong with it was that there should have been 4 times as much!

Number three I was kind of dreading. Not that I have anything against vanilla brulee - but I do have something against the genipi that was floating on top of my crust! Genipi is of the Chartreuse family, a booze which has left me sick for days when I have drunk too much of it back in Oz (let alone almost done something we would regret if Ger hadnt been sober-ish enough to stop it happening!)

But, I girded my loins and dived in. And was surprised! The vanilla creme cut the pungent Genipi with a precision that sushi chefs strived to achieve in their lifetimes. It was herbal, and vanilla-ey and lush.

I washed desert down initially with a glass of Portugese Sherry, and then moved onto a Montbazillac which was poured with a very generous hand!

We stumbled off to Cheyenne for a nitecap, where Ger attracted a very hairy creature who proceeded to hump his leg, so we made our adieus and wandered back to the chalet for an early nite (for a change!)

Fondue in France

Hussyband and I are currently ensconced in Belle-Plagne
View Larger Map in the Rhone Alps, surrounded by chocolate box vistas of snowy mountains and sugar coated trees.

Also the sounds of children screaming....but we avoid those by the time honored tradition of going into a pub. Apres Ski is my sport of choice this holiday, I like my limbs in one piece thank you very much.

But, after a hard afternoon of snowboarding, Hussyband gets hungry. This is aided by the liberal application of happy hour booze. Then of course, we need food to soak up the booze and this led us on a fondue adventure of epic proportions. Not that we had far to go mind you, just the serving was fricking HUGE.

BestManMatt booked a table for the 3 of us at Bistro de la Cloche, a lovelly little place across from the pub we were funding. Everywhere up here seems to serve the same sort of fare, with little variation except for the prices.

We ordered the 3 cheese fondue with all the trimmings - jambon, salamis, sausages, frittes and salad. I cannot begin to say how awesome and cheesey this was....and then about halfway through the richness kicked in, and my feeding frenzy started to wane...I turned to the salad and pickled onions and cornichons between bites, but even that wasnt enough to stop the balloon that was growing in my belly.

We couldnt finish it. It was amazing, delicious, rich, gooey and did I mention rich? We stumbled back up the hill to our chalet and collapsed on lounges in a food coma that can only be likened to drinking way too much booze. But we hadnt, not really.

Consider that we ARE at 2000mtrs above sea level, that the air is thin, and one glass of booze is the equivalent to 2 back at normal level....would I do it again? Not this trip! I am now also avoiding raclette - there is only so much melted cheese one can eat in a week (and this is coming from me!)....but I do have a lovely stash of cheese in the fridge for cocktail hour and it will be consumed with gay abandon and rivers of red wine.