Une degustation du vin/Wine tasting

Some will appreciate such a display

It was a restful morning for me as Bev decided she needed a shopping morning which I happily acceded to as it gave me time to write my blog and then go for a bit of an explore myself.

Market in Alba

One very expensive wine

Andrea had suggested that we go for a tasting of local wines at a place called Cantina Cerotto. This family own a significant winery and are part of a movement started 50 years ago to improve the quality of the local wine.  Also they have a range of other interests including the 3 star Michelin restaurant Piazza Duomo in Alba. We would have missed the place if Andrea had not given us some vague directions.   I found a road to go up but as it turned out it was a farm road and we had missed the correct turnoff by about 100 metres.  The winery is stunning and there is also a faux castle that the family must have built.  We had to ring bell to gain entry and then we wandered through a barrel room or two until we came to the most amazing tasting area. The tastings were quite expensive so we confined ourselves to one.  The most expensive was a 2007 single vineyard Barolo wine that cost around €175.  It was very very good.  Not sure I would pay that much for it though. 

Afterwards we went for a drive through some of the Langhe countryside, finding a very cute village in which there seemed to be no one at home apart from the odd car or van going somewhere. 

It was another beautiful evening so we went back to our favourite bar in the square and had a drink then did a bit more exploring including finding the 3 star restaurant where the price of a meal is close to the price of a holiday! 

The ravioli we had made in our cooking lesson the day before was good but we should have had it on the day (if we could have fitted it in!).  The trout was superb and I will make it in the future but substitute it with salmon.

Art at Ceretto

Barrel Cellar

Alba Cathedral

Le chef/The Chef

Wednesday was the day we had our cooking lesson with our host Andrea, who amongst other things, has had a career as a chef. 

He said he would be arriving at 10am and sure enough he arrived with a whole lot of food with which to cook.   The lesson started off with a planning session for the menu he was cooking.

The menu:

Raw veal sausages

Carne cruda – raw meat

Trota – marinated trout

Taglioni – pasta with chichen liver sauce

Ravioli – pasta with ricotta and herb filling

Pannacotta with strawberry coulis

The first thing was to prepare the trout. This was something that we were going to eat later. This was crisped on the skin and then marinated in a wonderful combination of wine and vinegar.

After that we made the pasta for our ravioli and tortellini using combinations of two types of flour.  One was a softer flour and the other a durum wheat flour.  We did three types of pasta: one with only the softer flour, a 50/50 version and then a 10/90 version, i.e. 10% OO (softer) and 90% durum.  They were all egg pastas and we were able to experience the different textures ranging from a soft texture to quite a firm consistency.   It also took quite a bit of kneading to get them to the right consistency.  It was the first time I had used a pasta machine and if you want to make good pasta it is a necessity. 

Once that was done we put them in the fridge to prove.  Next was the pannacotta.  It was easy to do and I will do it in the future for some lucky people.  It was delicious.  While I chopped onions Bev helped Andrea to create a coulis.  It was also lovely.

We stopped for a moment to try some raw veal sausages, some of which were also used in the sauce for the tagliolini.  The carne cruda was then created using raw veal and seasoning.  It was interesting to watch Andea taste at each step altering the seasoning each time until it was right. 

Next it was the chicken liver sauce.  I had not thought too much about how to prepare it but he showed us how to take out the veins and blood.  Then it was all cooked with onions and some of the sausage.  One day I will make it.

It was then time to rest and enjoy part of the meal.  The carne cruda was delicious.  For most reading this the idea of eating raw meat may have no appeal but believe me this was wonderful.  It was both tasty and had a different texture to cooked meat.  This recipe in varying forms is local to the Langhe area and I suspect the wider Piemonte area.  We also ate the tagliolini with the chicken liver sauce. I had brought a bottle of Awatea to complement the food.  Andrea was very appreciative of it and the food was superb and very filling.  It was nearly 3pm before we sat down to eat. 

Then it was back to preparing the ravioli.  This included cooking the filling and then the most difficult part of making the little parcels. It was a very precise action at which I failed and Bev got a pass mark. Andrea was so quick and accurate. 

It was 6pm before we finished.  The food really was restaurant quality and true to the area. 

After Andrea left, it was still a lovely evening and apart from being on our feet all day we had not had much exercise so we decided to go for a walk to the square in the old part of town. Here we had a couple of glasses of wine and were introduced to a selection of antipasto, pizza and other goodies which was almost enough to be another meal. 

For me our cooking lesson was the highlight of the visit to Alba as Andrea also talked about being Italian and his country’s history; in particular he told us that the Piemonte area, for instance, is like a country within a country.  He was rather scathing of the politicians however. Andrea has an interesting life; he studied theatre and planned on being a professional actor but jobs were hard to come by and as he had had an interest in food he began at the bottom in a restaurant eventually running a kitchen, and then several restaurants in England before returning to Italy. Then he went to Burkino Faso where his mother was running a guest lodge that had expanded from a couple people a week to many more.  The seems to have been gifted to him by his father.

All in all a very interesting man.

Preparing pasta

Three versions of pasta

Andrea's pannacotta

Chopping onion

Barolo et La Morra

Tuesday dawned fine and crisp.  There was not a cloud in the sky and when I looked out from our balcony to the west I could see the tops of the snow covered alps rising about the tops of the apartment blocks. 

Barolo

We went to Barolo which is west of Alba.  It is about 12 kilometres away.  I had been there about nine years ago when on a whim we drove from Menton to Barolo.  I did not remember much about it except that it was very pretty and that the food at a local restaurant was very good.  Not only that I had to find the place using only a physical map,  not a GPS.  In some ways I think I like using maps better although stopping to study them is a bit time consuming.  Regardless, I have a better map in my head when I do that. 

Street sign Barolo

We wandered around the place for a little while.  We called into an Enoteca or wine shop where we were encouraged to taste some wines.  In the end we bought a couple of them.  They were very nice.

Our next stop was another hilltop village called La Morra.  Once we had found a park for the truck (it is a challenge finding parks for this large vehicle) we walked up part of the hill and found a wonderful view of the surrounding countryside.  As it was lunchtime we decided to have lunch at a cute Osteria looking out into the sun.  I had a nice salad of tomatoes and mozzarella, and Bev a risotto with leeks and veal sausage.  We noticed a number if cyclists when driving up the hill.  I think they must like it as it would give them quite a workout.  Lunch took a leisurely hour or so to arrive.  At the end we talked to a local who was very nice and had some good English.  He said he had had to use it because he worked in Serbia where it is the common language for everyone. 

Bell ringing on Barolo church

Once we got back to Alba Bev went to have her hair done.  While she did that I went looking for breakfast things.  I found that an Italian breakfast consists of bread and jam with a caffe latte or cappuccino.  The usual cereals that we have are in short supply although I did find something like that in one out of three supermarkets visited.  I also got a bottle of arneis which is a white wine that is from this area and rather nice.  When I got back to the apartment I set myself up with a glass of wine sitting on the balcony reading my book in the early evening sun.    

 

Piazza La Morra

Bev came back very pleased with her experience at the hairdresser and as the resident male I was obliged to make approving noises (actually she did look good). 

Our meal at the Osteria that night was a mixture of good and not so good.  We found out later that it serves genuine local dishes and that it is good value for money.  We got a bit of a surprise as we weren’t given a menu.  Instead the dishes were described to us. For the appetisers we had thinly sliced cooked veal, raw veal,  breaded fried eggplant and

Last to leave our café

anchovies.  We decided on one serving to be shared and a sample of each.  We could have had both pasta and a meat main but as the appetiser was quite substantial we opted for the meat main only.  Unfortunately the two dishes we had were dry and the vegetables overcooked.  I had rabbit and it could have been brilliant but it felt like it had been left to dry out a bit.  Nonetheless the flavours were superb and left one wondering what it could have been.  We shared Tiramisu for a dessert which was delicious. 

We had a lovely surprise after we left the restaurant.  I had paid the bill, which was much less than I had expected and left the money on the table as the waitress who served us had become tied up with another customer.  Just after we stepped out, the same lovely waitress who had given us such good service, ran up to thank us for coming and shook our hands.  It was such a nice touch.

Alba, Barbaresco et Neive

Part of Vinum

Nous avons été à Alba pour 2 jours.  Le temps a fait pluvieux au dimanche.  Nous sommes passé nos temps écrivant le blog et lisant nos romans au matin.  Apres midi nous sommes marché à la vieille ville où nous trouvions une fête appelée « Vinum », qui est comparable au « Toast Martinborough ».  Il y avait beaucoup des places ayant vendu des nourriture et des vins. 

It's wet in Alba

Lundi, nous sommes allés à Barbaresco une petite ville qui est sur le sommet une colline.  Nous avons promenés autour la ville et  nous sommes monte un tour où il y a une grande vue.  Après nous sommes allés une autre petite ville appelée Nieve où nous avons mangés le déjeuner au restaurant I ♥︎ BA.  Le repas a été très bien; la nourriture était typique de la région du Piémont.  Les cafés et les nourritures sont moins chers que en Suisse !

Maintenant, c’est anglais.   Si, il y a quelque grammaire que devrait corrige, je vous voudrais faire les suggestions !

Some live traditional Italian entertainment

 

It was damp and overcast when we woke on Sunday.  We spent the morning writing blogs and reading.  I was quite tired from the long drive from Geneva.

A mini Giro d'Italia

Around midday we decided to venture out and see what our area looked like including going to the old part of the town.  Alba is a city of around 30,000 people.  There is an old part which is very historic then the newer parts which have been added in the last century or so and where there is also quite a bit of industry and warehousing.  The old part of town is about ten minutes walk from where we are staying, so very close.  It was drizzling when we left the apartment and rather cold.  Fortunately both of us had wrapped up a bit anticipating the weather. 

Barbaresco Tower & main street

On the way Bev spotted a gelato place and could not resist its charms despite the freezing weather.  Not to be outdone I also had a small gelato.  Then we wandered across the road and found that there was a food and wine festival occurring (actually it took a while to register - I just thought it was a few people with their wares out for tasting and it was not until I saw people with wine glasses around their necks that it became clear.  Then I saw that a festival called Vinum was happening over this weekend and the weekend before.  I suspect the weather was keeping a few punters away though. 

We wandered through part of the old town. It is very cute with narrow cobbled streets and old buildings that seem to almost lean into each other. We were a bit hungry and stopped bought a gnocchi dish and a fried egg

Neive from Barbaresco

covered in black truffle (black on the outside and white inside).  It was very simple but well cooked and very tasty.  While we were wandering around the rain came down harder and eventually we took refuge in a café where we enjoyed a coffee.  The coffees here are about a third of the price of the ones we were having in Switzerland so  it is quite a contrast price wise.  In fact most things are considerably cheaper here. 

Atop the tower

While wandering we found an area where vegetables and other goodies were being sold.  It looked really nice and fresh so I bought some asparagus (green) and some interesting zucchini. Then I spied a man selling cheese.  I had no Italian so it was causing some problems  finding out about the cheese as he had no English.  We finally established that we both spoke a bit of French so I found out that it was made by a cooperative in the Compagne region, that it was no pasteurised and that it was all made from goats’ milk.  It was delicious!!  There was another woman who was selling meats

Our cafe in Neive

of various sorts and was trying to get people to her stall.  We tried a whole lot of salami and raw meat plus some ham.  It was all very good.  She had very little English but was such a delight that I bought something from her as well.  I had a plan for our meal. 

That night we had fresh asparagus, zucchini and ham which I did very simply by steaming the asparagus, and gently frying the ham with the zucchini.  Bev pronounced it a success.  We had that with a local red blend of dolcetto, barbera and nebbiol which is wine that is food friendly. 

Barbaresco village and its vineyards

On Monday we did a bit of shopping at the local supermarket before finding a cute little café for a coffee.   

We then got in our oversized car and headed for Barbaresco which is about 12 kilometres from

One of three churches in Neive - could be more.

Alba. The GPS is not the best but it did get us there although there were occasions I completely ignored it.  I have found that the maps it has must be seriously out of date and it also does not understand one way streets.  It also sent me down an impossible narrow street fit for only a Mini!!

Barbaresco is a very small hilltop town with a rather interesting tower that when climbed provides a stunning view over the Langhe (the region we are in).  To the north the Italian Alps loomed over us all covered in snow.  It was very picturesque.  The tower we found had only been opened up for about a year as it needed funds for some restoration.  The ticket seller was very friendly and when we said we were from NZ she lit up and told us that she had just spent a year there; a month in Auckland and then around 9 months in Wellington (working as a translator and at the restaurant Shed 5). She loved her stay there.

A very small church done up beautifully

We were going to go to a restaurant at the base of the tower but when went to get a table we found it was full. Apparently reservations were required. 

We then happened on another little restaurant in an equally cute village called Neive that was called I ♥︎ BA which we found out meant I love Barbaresco - the wine and area.  The food was simple and typical of the Piedmont region which is just what we wanted. The food was very nice and it was just enough. 

After the meal we wandered around the village which is bigger than Barbaresco.  It has two distinct parts, a newer part on the flat ground below the old village which is on a small hill. 

On our return  to Alba we went and had a drink at the local bar.  Again I felt the lack of Italian but the warmth and friendliness made it easy to get our drink..

I am really loving this area and I will be sad to leave in a few days time as there is much to see and do if only one had the time.  Another time perhaps.  

Trois pays en une journée et un aveu/Three countries in a day and a confession

Saturday was the day to travel from Geneva to Alba.  It meant travelling through three countries – Switzerland, France and Italy, but they are borderless in the sense that one does not have to present a passport. 

The morning started with breakfast with our hosts Fred and Max.  Fred worked in a restaurant and unlike Max had limited English.  Max on the other hand was fluent in English and French, and his first language was German  (having grown up in the Mosel area of Germany and completed his first degree in Berlin).  Max came to Switzerland a few years ago to study for a master’s degree in psychology, so had to learn a new language very quickly.  Fred was Portuguese and Swiss.  They were renting their apartment but had recently bought one in France just over the border.  The cost of the new apartment was a third of their apartment in Geneva and had the bonus of an extra bedroom.  Apparently there is a metro station being built where they have bought which will make it easy to commute to work in Geneva.  Apparently you do not want to go by car due to congestion. 

The population of Geneva city is about 200,000 - the same as Wellington and the wider metropolitan area is also a similar size.  In contrast to Wellington,  the public transport system is brilliant and is very efficient.  People seem to use it all times of the day.  In addition, during the weekend there is a reduced price ticket which makes travel for a day very reasonable.

We took the tram to the city and had a little wander around.  It looked very interesting but due to the need to pick up a rental car, we did not have time to see a great deal.  We took a train to the airport and then found the French sector where we picked up the car. 

This is the part where I make my confession. Generally I am rude about SUV’s as I believe them to be big vehicles that guzzle too much fuel and that most people have no need for such a bit piece of metal as most of the time there is only one or at the most two people in them and they probably are only used for commuting to work. In my opinion they have become a status symbol !   However, much to my disgust that is what we were given - a Ford Kuga.  I would have been happier with a smaller vehicle because it is easier in the small villages where the streets are narrow and also when having to park in parking buildings.  Not only that it uses more fuel, although it is a diesel so at least in France it will be cheaper to fill. One advantage is that it has the GPS built in and all it needed was for me to change a few settings to convert to English – thus a much faster option for inputting information.

To avoid having to pay a motorway toll of 40CHF (about $NZ60) we had to find a way out of Geneva airport to the city that avoided the said motorways.  This proved to be quite a challenge as the GPS was set to go via motorways.  Thus I made a number of mistakes until we finally got on to the right roads and fooled the GPS.  Consequently we were late to pick up our bags from our accommodation however our hosts were very understanding.

Figuring out how to avoid the motorways made it simple to leave Switzerland and before we knew it we were in France heading for Chamonix on some back roads.  Eventually I reset the GPS so we could travel on the auto routes – much faster than the back roads but seriously expensive.

We stopped at Chamonix.  I had thought we might take the telepherique to the Aiguille du Midi but the weather was cloudy and wet so there would have been no views. Also, we were rather late and still had about 250km to go to Alba in northern Italy. 

After a snack and coffee we headed for the Mont Blanc tunnel.  The tunnel is literally bored through the base of Mont Blanc.  We got quite a shock at the price of the toll €43 (about $NZ70) and the only compensation was that once we had been through the tunnel we then must have paid for about another 20 tunnels to go through.  They just kept appearing.  After the tunnels there were more tolls until we got to about 10 kilometres from Alba.

That was not the end of the excitement for the day.  Rain started pelting down about 20 kilometres from Turin and continued until we were well past Turin and on the road to Alba.  I kept thinking there was going to be an accident given the volume of traffic, the amount of water on the road and the speed of some of the cars.  Suddenly the traffic slowed, hazard lights went on and we started moving very slowly. We quickly discovered what had caused the slowness - a Porsche 911 must have aquaplaned and gone in a full circle.  It must have just happened, but remarkably no-one was hurt and it did not seem like any cars were hit. 

I made only one wrong turn – and that was missing the turnoff to Savona but with help of the GPS and Bev we were able to take the next turn off and get on the right road. 

Finally, we arrived in Alba, the last part of the journey being over some narrow country roads that definitely needed some work.  The GPS took us to an address that did not seem right.  When I looked at the GPS again I found there were two addresses to our destination and when I put in the other, the right one became apparent and we easily found the place. 

Our next challenge was getting into the place - not so easy as the Aunt from whom we were to pick up the key spoke no English and we spoke no Italian.  The key was not in the mail box per our instructions.  Eventually someone using sign language took us to our building and our host’s neighbour who had a key, let us in.  She was a delight and very helpful despite having only one or two words of English. 

We have found the apartment to be wonderful.  We had a lovely pizza  from just around the corner for dinner along with a bottle of local wine which we got from one of the few  remaining shops that were open.

Les trains et Jungfraujoch

This post is a rather long one as we had packed so much into the day, and included a lot of time on trains, walking in snow, down a mountain and around a city.  

Frost on the ground

This day was one of trains and mountains, whether it be a cog railway or the much faster intercity and interregional trains.  The mountains featured both up close or one aspect of a rather beautiful landscape.

It was an early start on Friday as we planned to leave on an early train to Jungfraujoch. This involved catching a train in Lauterbrunnen that took us up into the mountains.  The first train took us via Wenger to Kleine Scheidegg  where we changed trains to go to Jungfraujoch which is the terminus and a couple thousand feet short of the top of Jungfrau (but who is counting, at 11,333 ft it is plenty high enough).   

Wengen Station

The sun had not reached our valley when we headed for the railway station where we purchased our tickets (all up cost close $575 for the two of us) and left me reeling in shock at the cost.  However it was a once in a lifetime event.  It takes around 2 hours to reach Jungfraujoch from Lauterbrunnen but the journey itself is as much fun as the reaching the to plateau where Jungfraujoch is perched.  The scenery is magnificent, reminiscent of the southern alps area but so completely different.  The vegetation consists of spindly pines and where they are not there the pasture is very green. Of course some what would be pasture was not evident as it was still covered by snow.  We were very lucky as in the days before we arrived there had been snow and the place had been covered in cloud.  The air was clear and not a  hint of haze around meaning that we could see a long way. This is both an agricultural area and a tourism area, with skiing in the winter and adventure tourism in the other seasons. 

Inside our train

Sun rising on the Alps from the train

Higher and the vegetation changes

The train wound its way up the side of the mountain until we reached Kleine Scheidegg.  We sat with our mouths slightly agape at the magnificent scenery, clicking off photos as the scenery changed.  Early morning is wonderful as the light is softer but there is still a wonderful clarity. 

The next part of the journey is mostly inside two mountains,  the Eiger and Mönch until it pops out in Jungfraujoch which is on a plateau or ridge between Mönch and Jungfrau.  Along the way there are a couple of places where the train stops and everyone gets out and races to a portal inside the Eiger to look at the views.  As an aside I had watched a movie which depicted a climb that was done on the north face of the Eiger that ended in tragedy with one of a number of climbers almost saved because he got near one of the portals but ended up freezing to death.  The others fell to their death.

Kleine Scheindegg and the train we went on

That little area in the centre of the picture is terminal point

Inside the mountain

Photograph madness at the portal

The rarefied atmosphere was really noticeable at Jungfraujoch.  I felt a little light headed for a while then the body must have adapted. 

Inside "The Sphinx", we've arrived!

We wandered around taking photos and eventually found ourselves out on a glacier which flows from the south side of Jungfraujoch.  It was very cold at -11 degrees but with the sun out and being well wrapped only our faces felt the cold. We wandered along a safe area for a few hundred metres on snow that was so dry it squeaked as we walked.  It was almost impossible to take photos looking at the little screen or through the viewfinder as the light was almost blinding. 

Shall we go this way or that way?

There were a number of skiers who were taking advantage of the fine weather to ski somewhere. 

Korean man finally gets his shot of the his girlfriend through a haze of cigarette smoke

 

One feature of the trip was the behaviour of the different nationalities.  Most of the time the Europeans and the Indians were polite and would wait their turn.  The Asians, such as the Chinese and Koreans tended to just jump queues,  bump and push without an apology evident.  It was a quite a cultural difference.  There were lots of Asian tourists in this area and of all ages.   I found it very irritating and more than once I had to remind myself that it was a cultural difference along with the reduced personal distance.

On the glacier in front of Jungfraujoch

Sorry but I am leaving you!

North face of the Eiger

After a couple of hours we took the train back down.  We got a reserve train with only us on it.  It was quite a contrast to the much fuller train when we went up to Jungfraujoch. At Kleine Scheidegg we wandered around a bit with me taking some photos and then decided we would go back down to the Wenger.  We just missed a train that was leaving but a nice person told us to get on another train that seemed to be a reserve train.  It was still interesting on the way down as we kept seeing things we had not seen before.  With the sun out it also meant that the snow was melting at quite a rate. 

A sheep with a bell on it - they all had them

Alpine scene on walk

In Wenger, which is very cute ski village and that was almost empty, we found a little café where we had some soup.  I then had a bright idea to walk down from there to Lauterbrunnen.  After all it was only a fifty minute walk and we had plenty of time.  About a quarter of the way into the walk, which was very steep, Bev decided it was not such a good idea after all.  Boots would have been much better as the path although well formed was quite rough and a couple of times we both could have sprained ankles.   As we both had clothing on for the cold by the time we got to Lauterbrunnen we were very hot.  All that said, I really enjoyed our 45 minute walk in the Alps and some of the views were stunning.

We collected our bags from the hotel and made our way to the station where I discussed with a staff member the issue with our supersaver tickets.  They were very understanding but still relieved me of the balance for the tickets.  We had three trains to take us to Geneva.  In the first train the conductor was uninterested in our ticket.  On the train to Bern from Interlaken our ticket was inspected and the woman conductor wanted the extra payment evidence.  On the train from Bern to Geneva no one inspected our ticket. 

The journey from Bern to Geneva was very interesting, it was a different type of train and was almost full, at least in second class.  It even had a place for luggage although we found out about that after we had installed ourselves, unlike the other trains we had travelled on.  The train was a double decker like the Sydney trains.

The beginning of the Rhone River

There was an abrupt change in language and architecture once we got to Lac Leman (otherwise known as Lake Geneva). French was spoken and where before most announcements were in German, French and English it was now almost entirely French.  The people were different, more gregarious.  The architecture was northern French style and there were lots of vineyards in both backyards and clinging to the sides of hills around the lake. 

Jet d'eau

In Geneva we found the appropriate tram to take us to our AirBnB hosts.  They suggested we go into the city proper and find a place near the railway station where the food would be a bit cheaper than in the older part of the city.  We took tram back to the city and got off by the river (the Rhone which drains Lac Leman) and walked to the lake's edge.  It is very pretty.  Being such a nice mild evening there were people everywhere enjoying it.  Having taken a few photos we went looking for a place to eat.  There were lots of Swiss, Italian and Lebanese places but we weren’t really interested in that sort of food and then finally we found a very noisy place called Café Art’s which had a small menu with interesting food. We had a burger with roasted potatoes and salad.  It was actually very good with lots of salad!!  While we were sitting there we were joined by a man who told us he was from Geneva but had been working in Tokyo for the last ten years and, remarkably, for a bilingual (perhaps tri-lingual) person he could not speak Japanese. 

After leaving there we caught a tram back to our place  but just as we got the first stop I realised I had left my camera at the café so we got off and had to walk back there and it had been found. There was a rather large sigh of relief from me.