French Phrase of the Day: Ça roule.

French Phrase of the Day: That works. / That’s fine.

I tend to use “ça marche” more than “ça roule”, but it’s definitely a term that many Frenchies use. You can, of course, use “c’est bon” also. And in case you’re wondering, translated literally, it means “it rolls”.

Tyler’s Pic of the Day: Always Sleeping

Does this dog do anything besides sleep? Old man.

And here’s one of him in the background of this Instagram photo…sleeping again.

Hot Paris Nights…

…are a distant memory.

I’ve been posting a lot about my travels recently, but not so much about Paris. So to rectify that, here’s a photo from about three weeks ago – the last time it was truly warm enough to have an evening picnic. The weather’s gotten colder again – think high 50s/low 60s but with lots of wind – and it’s supposed to rain for the next week. Don’t be surprised if Frenchies are extra cranky this weekend!

I don’t think I realized what nice weather we had in New York until we moved here. So if you’re somewhere with sunshine right now – please enjoy it for the rest of us!

Tyler’s Pic of the Day: Schnozz Edition

Who’s got a bigger nose – Tyler or Cyrano de Bergerac?

Drinking in… Bordeaux & Dordogne

11 bottles. That’s how many bottles of wine we bought during our Bordeaux & Dordogne trip this weekend. I would’ve bought more if Rio would’ve let me – but considering we were train-ing it back to Paris and 11 bottles is pretty heavy to lug around, it was probably best that we didn’t. Or if I’m being completely honest, we also didn’t have time to go to any more chateaus for wine tastings. We went to a total of four “châteaus” during this trip, as well as a wine museum that offers free tastings. And here’s a fun fact – as long as a place grows wine, it can be called a château. A place doesn’t have to have majestic mansion-size proportions to be called a “château” in the Bordeaux/Dordogne region – they just have to actually produce wine.

Below is the list of châteaus (and the museum) I visited in case you’re ever in the area. The first two were part of a Bordovino Wine Tour we took.

Château Siaurac
33500 Néac
Tél: 05 57 51 65 20
*Wine Tastings: By reservation only. However, a few couples wandered in for a tasting and they let them join in, so they’re not strict about it.
**This château has been in the family since 1837 and is owned by a friendly bourgeois couple who even lets you wander around their house. It was interesting to see a chateau “in use” amongst antique artwork and and an adorable dog who roams the land, as seen above. During the visit, the owner will personally walk you around the vineyard property to point out the grapes and also show you his tulip tree in the “English Garden”.

Château de Ferrand
Saint-Hippolyte, 3330 Saint-Emilion
Tél: 05 57 74 47 11
*Wine Tastings: By reservation only. Closed Mondays during peak season.
**Located near Saint-Emilion, this is a large-estate château owned by the BIC family – you know, the maker of those lighters and pens? You’ll notice that they also sell Moët & Chandon champagne here. Why? Because the daughter in the BIC family recently married the son in the Moët family. This was a perfectly fine château to visit – but wasn’t to my taste as it was too big and commercialized.

Château Haut-Garrique
24240 Saussignac
Tél: 05 53 22 72 71 / caroline@hautgarrigue.com
*Wine Tastings: By reservation only.
**This was by far my favorite of all the châteaus. South African owner Caro Feely provides self-guided vineyard walks where you get to wander about her organic-farmed land, and then enjoy a wine & food pairing. I was only expecting a small plate of cheese for this, but along with a tasting of five wines, we enjoyed a small salad, cheeses, variety of breads, homemade jam and butter. She even serves you coffee and a chocolate tasting afterwards! If you’re heading to Bergerac or Sarlat from Bordeaux, this is the perfect place to stop at on the way. I highly, highly recommend Terroir Feely wines at Château Haut-Garrique and can see us returning. We even bought Caro’s book Grape Expectations as a souvenir, which she signed, of course.

Musée des Vins
5 rue des Conférences, 24100 Bergerac
Tél: 05 53 57 80 92 / civrb.poletouristique@vins-bergerac.fr
*Wine Tasting: No reservations needed.
**Although this is a wine museum and not a chateau, you can enjoy free tastings of any open bottles of wine. It’s also a good destination to ask any questions about surrounding châteaus and the overall wine region.

Château Roque-Peyre
33220 Fougueyrolles
Tél: 05 53 24 77 98
*Wine Tasting: No reservations needed. We just randomly drove here on our way back to Bordeaux and asked the owner if we could come in for a tasting.
**Located in the Montravel wine region, this château has been in the family for approximately six generations. They also own some hectares of land in the Médoc wine region.

French Phrase of the Day: C’est branché.

French Phrase of the Day: That’s trendy.

Once I learned what “branché” meant, I started noticing the word being used everywhere. I even used it in conversation with a Frenchie the other day when she told me she lived in the 20th arrondissement (a slowly, up-and-coming, branché area). Yup, I was pretty proud of myself.

Watching Now: Jay Leno Gas Station Prank

I don’t usually post prank videos… actually I never have on this blog, but I enjoyed this Jay Leno gas station prank so much the other day I had to share. (Who knows, maybe you Frenchie followers haven’t seen it yet.) Maybe I like it so much because this karaoke duo picked songs I really like… and have great voices. If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s kind of a long video, but the music’s good – so who cares!

Miroir d’Eau in Bordeaux

One of my favorite landmarks in Bordeaux was the Miror d’Eau. Situated by Place de la Bourse (the stock exchange) and the river, this fountain would fill up with two centimeters of water every few minutes to create a mirror effect. You can tell it’s a popular area as every time we passed by there were tons of locals and tourists enjoying romping around the water. We circled back here a couple times as it was right by our hotel and made for some good people-watching.

If you ever visit and want to take a picture, the best way to get a “mirror” effect for photos is to wait for the water to be nearly drained so the wind won’t blow the water about.

Quite the talent here.

Lots of kiddies enjoying the water.

Miroir d’Eau à nuit.

Tyler’s Pic of the Day

This is what Tyler did all day yesterday. Apparently vacationing in the French countryside is exhausting.

Eating in… Bordeaux

If you didn’t guess by now, Rio and I were recently in Bordeaux and the Dordogne region for the beginning of the French May holidays. I ate (and drank) my way through the region and here’s my psuedo-foodie feedback for Bordeaux:

Here’s the “mushroom”-like dessert I indulged in during a proper French lunch on the first day at Chez Jean. The base was a rich dark chocolate and the mushroom cap was a chestnut mousse. Delicious! Set in a touristy square, the food was surprisingly pretty good and well-priced with a mid-day formule under 30 euros.

After this filling lunch, Rio and I opted for casual Indian fare at the Taj Mahal for dinner. Yes, seriously. It wasn’t that good – but was what we needed for the night and was conveniently located on the same street as our hotel. At first we felt like we should have French food since we were in Bordeaux for vacation… but then we realized this thinking was kind of crazy since we live in France and have French food all the time!
 
The next day for brunch, I had a satisfying mushroom and pesto tartine paired with a glass of too-sweet rosé at L’Autre Petit Bois. The rosé wasn’t from the Provence region, which makes me think perhaps I should only stick with that area when drinking rosé. Following the tartine was a cupcake américain – those Frenchies sure love cupcakes these days! Although overpriced at 3 euros-plus,  it was just what we needed before a long day of wine tasting with Bordovino Wine Tours.

Needing a proper French dinner that night, we decided to make a reservation at TripAdvisor’s #4 ranked Bordeaux restaurant Soléna. Run by a husband and wife team (he’s French, she’s San Franciscan), the food was solidly good (better than the Indian food we ate last night!), but if I have to be honest, not spectacular. I do have to point out that although there was nothing vegetarian I could eat as a starter, the chef was nicely willing to accommodate two dishes so I could have something – a surprising, appreciated gesture that may be typical in the US, but not in France! However, one thing that bothered us was although the food was cooked really well, by the time our main courses arrived, which took a really long time even for French standards, it was just warm – not hot. I would’ve said something but then our food would’ve been overcooked, and I also didn’t want to wait any longer than we already had. The restaurant also “surprises” you with an amuse bouche and some extra small desserts in the end, which is always a lovely touch. Overall, it’s a perfectly good restaurant to dine at if you’re in Bordeaux.

Bordeaux Restaurant Details:

Chez Jean
1 Place du Parlement
Tél: 05 56 44 44 43
**Fine spot for French lunch that’s not overpriced. Manager is friendly and also used to live in Paris.

Taj Mahal
24 rue Parlement Sainte-Catherine
Tél: 05 56 51 92 05
**If you’re craving something other than French food, it’s fine. But don’t expect much. There was a Japanese noodle bar nearby called FuFu that was supposed to be good, but the wait was too long. We probably would’ve eaten there given the chance.

L’Autre Petit Bois
12 Place du Parlement
Tél: 05 56 48 02 93
**Perfect for a casual lunch and a good option if you don’t feel like sitting through a typical longer 2 hour French lunch. Also known as a trendy wine bar, so a good place to go pre- or post-dinner… or for a light dinner.

Soléna
5 rue Chauffour
Tél: 05 57 53 28 06
**Good French food and a nice dinner option away from the center of Bordeaux.