It’s been a few days since I last posted, but the culinary wizardry at Two Toasters has been alive, healthy, and full-stomached.
Right now, I am on a plane to Dublin where I will most likely solely eat potatoes, whisky, and something frothy for the next few days. This seems like an appropriate time to recount my first week and a half of traveling through the alpine slopes of the Alps, France.
So here is a recap…
I spent the first week of vacation in/outside of Lyon, the gastronomical capital of La Belle France. Although Lyon is known for multiple Michelin star culinary superstars such as Paul Bocuse and Marc Veyrat, I stuck towards more affordable Two Burner worthy fare. I had a traditional dinner at a vraie Frenchwoman’s house–a friend/teacher of Elise. She cooked us a wonderful dish of quenelle, an egg and/or potato filled goodness served with beurre blanc. It’s as light as a soufflé, kind of pancake-y, and looks slightly like a corn dog. This might sound bizarre, but the end result is heaven–literally other worldly in its simplicity.
En tout cas, the real meat and potatoes of this post (pardon me, I’m on a flight to Dublin, it had to be said) is a traditional food I got deep in the wilderness of the French Alps…raclette.
Imagine a cheese contraption like you have never imagined before. One half of a 600 kilo block of cheese is held to a machine by two large, pointy cheese spears. On top of this rests a questionably safe heat lamp that melts the top layer of cheese. You then take a questionably safe meat cleaver and scrape off this liquid river of cheese goodness onto a heaping plate of salted potatoes, French baguette, and fresh cured meats. It looks like a hot mess on the plate, but tastes like smooth, rich, full-bodied Play Doh. If you are ever in this region of France, try it. You will not regret this experience.
Editor’s Note: The French recommend drinking a white Vin de Savoie with raclette. They say that this prevents the congealing of cheese in one’s stomach/arteries. Let’s get serious, there is no science behind this claim, this is just a great excuse to drink more great wine!
If the fondue is good enough for Bill Clinton, it's good enough for me!
A little flavor of where I've been--Mont Blanc
Mountains make you feel, like, small. Totally.
Raclette in Action! Pat ROCKletted that cheese.
La Savoie Region of La Belle France
(Two Burners and a Toaster Oven)^2 
thanks for capturing the raclette and Mont Blanc experience. (it actually took 2 of us to manage the raclette cheese contraption!)
hope your return to Brest (and two burner cooking) was uneventful. hope to read more soon.
Pat
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