Sip and spit

I realised today that I have not spoken about the weather; very unusual for me, I know. So…we have had blue sky and sunshine intermittently obscured by deep dark clouds that threatened to drench then occasionally did. Fortunately, the rain has mostly fallen when we’ve been inside so there has been no personal soaking. Only a matter of time, I guess.

Speaking of soaking, the shower in my room is fine – not powerful but hot enough. On the other hand, the shower in Cindy’s room is somewhat odd. The shower stall is normal though very long and, at either end, is a shower head. Yes, it is a double shower. Most peculiar.

And something I really need to add to yesterday’s post from the goat cheese place. As I said before going into the cheese making room, we all had to put on hairnets. Anna confided in me today that she thought it was seriously odd that Dirk had to wear one. I burst out laughing, surprised I hadn’t noticed. Dirk is completely bald.

However, today was not about cheese. No, it was about wine.

We had planned to visit two but, as it turned out, we only visited one. Like things often do, time slipped away after the tasting and the lunch and the general decision to stay at the first one. There was a sort of vote but, finally, it was clear we were staying at the family owned and run Domaine de Vergnades.

When it came to my vote I decided to vote to stay because Matt had expressed a desire to see where the wine is stored before it goes into bottles. He brews his own beer back in Fort Worth and has a special interest in all sorts of alcoholic processes. Then, after I voted, Anna said she’d rather go to the other winery.

Anna is from London and hasn’t had a holiday for ten years. She works in film production and I like her very much. She lives with Jack, a tree surgeon. I have been teasing her, as I do, mainly because she is a little shy and I wanted her to feel like part of the group. The Georgians are very gregarious and I didn’t want Anna to feel excluded.

Anyway, back at the winery, there were a few wines to try and a spittoon to use if required. I wasn’t that keen on any of them, to be honest. I hadn’t tried the grape variety before and I think I’ve stopped really appreciating them. I don’t know. It was a bit weird.

Lunch was far too much. Honestly, we have all eaten so much food at this cooking retreat. It is mad. That’s not to say that the food isn’t delicious. There has just been too much of it.

Probably the highlight of the winery visit was when a load of the people went inside one of the big wine vats.

I don’t think I’d have managed so I didn’t even try. Which was a shame because it was very funny and they took some amazing photos inside the vat. Sometimes my lack of mobility is really annoying.

The weather had been very changeable and we had rain and cold winds as well as sunshine and blue sky. It was all very unpredictable. So much so that, having asked to visit the vines, a lot of them wanted to go back into the warmth almost immediately, because it was suddenly ‘too cold’ outside. Of course, they were all amazed at how warm I still was.

To be fair, the weather does look a bit bruised in the photo above. Which is exactly how it looked. In fact, as we were headed back to the estate in the bus, Matt remarked that we were heading straight into the rain which we could see falling in the distance. When it did, the traffic had to slow down it was so torrential.

Once we returned it was time for our next cooking class. We had to make crème brûlée and little amuse bouches – is that the plural of an amuse bouche? I don’t know. But it will do.

For the amuse bouche, we used the leftover tuna from yesterday, quail eggs, cottage cheese and apricots put into tiny filo pastry cases and heated in the oven. I thought they were delicious. I didn’t really have a lot to do with the preparation because I was working with Geraldine on preparing the glazed carrots for dinner tonight.

The crème brûlée was just like every crème brûlée I’ve ever made, with the surprising addition of Earl Grey tea bags. We won’t be eating them until tomorrow but the crème tasted quite good. I was working unexpectedly with Dirk on these.

But then came the big moment: The beef bourguignon. They had been made by two teams and Geraldine decided she would eat ours rather than the one prepared by the other team. I was so stoked. After dinner I went and congratulated my fellow cooks.

Anna sent this photo to the group chat and labelled it ‘Gairbear and his ladies’. I was just giving credit where it was due. We all did it.

Today was actually Kim’s birthday so there were a few renditions of happy birthday but the best one was after dinner when two big cakes adorned with sparklers were brought in to surprise her. Pandemonium reigned for a bit.

Back at the beginning of this retreat, I was worried it would be difficult to fit in but I have had the best time. Greatest of all, I have loved working in a professionally appointed kitchen.

And the winning beef bourguignon?

We didn’t make the dauphinoise potatoes but I had a big hand in the glazed carrot and the chanterelle mushrooms.