Food Porn Friday: La Chabotterie

To find today's Food Porn Friday feature, you'll need to hop on a train and head down to the Vendée region of France.  You'll get off in the lovely town of La Roche-sur-Yon and head by car to the beautiful castle called La Chabotterie.  Contained within the castle walls is your culinary prince who will wine and dine you for about 4 hours.  His name is Thierry Drapeau, and he's kinda a big deal. (One Michelin Star big deal).

I wish I could show you all the food we ate during our 10 courses.  But then you'd probably want to eat the screen.

Hell, I definitely want to eat the screen because I have been avoiding foods like this.

Poached fried egg filled with black truffle sauce served on bed of asparagus

Seared scallops served with vegetable purées

Dessert Part I:  Chocolate Cream cup and Mint Chocolate Macaron

Dessert Part 2:  Chocolate Dark Cherry Lollipop

I bet you are booking train tickets and making a reservation right now.

Vendée

My camera and I have been reunited.

I went to a PACS ceremony in Champagne-Ardennes back in September, with camera in hand.  I took pictures all night long, as I normally do.  Then about two weeks later, a sudden sick feeling came to my stomach..."Where the heck is my camera?!"  I tore my apartment apart.  I asked Fab to tear his apartment apart.  No trace.  E-mails were sent, but no one seemed to know where my little reliable Canon camera went.  I missed out on a lot of events (Prague, Thanksgiving, traveling in France, eating at Chateaubriand) and felt naked most of the time...paralyzed even.  But then, one night, Fab calls.  He found my camera in his suit pocket (the one he wore to the wedding).  Praise the powers that be!  So now my camera and I are working together again, and it feels so good.

I followed Fab to Vendée for Christmas festivities with his family.  I have been to Vendée several times now, and it is an absolutely lovely region, and a rather unknown one to us Americans at that.