Back in Japan (November 2010)...Urawa French night

We had a family dinner at Restaurant RPR in Urawa. This is a French restaurant where my mom and sister go to regularly. I enjoy eating at this neighbor French place every time I come back to Urawa, because the food is very authentic modern French (run by a talented young chef who has won different international awards) and their sommelier, Fujishima-san, is very nice.

Pictures of some of the dishes we had this evening...

Amuse-bouche...Boudin Noir really hit my spot.

This is the wine we byob'ed; Veuve Fourny & Fils, Champagne Extra Brut, Rose "les Rougesmonts" 1er Cru (Vertus). I was so excited to taste this special rose. Only 1,800 bottles were made. The wine is from the village of Vertus of Cote des Blancs, where you can find premiun Chardonnay. Instead, this wine is made from 100% Pinot Noir from a single vineyard, "les Rougesmonts" (red mountain), which is on the steep slope with the great sun-exposure. Deep rose color with the deep aroma of berry, fresh ripe tomato, minerals, etc. The attack was fresh with the distinctive acidity and elegant complexity. The finish was extremely dry. Amazing wine which went perfectly with the amuse-bouche as well as the first course.

Tarte friand a la crabe sauce coralline (crab and tomato tart with shell fish sauce).

Ravioli, and pumpkin soup (forgot all the special details...!).

Bar farci au fenouil sauce noilly prat (sea bass farci with fennel sauce)

Cotelettes de pigeonneaux a la nesles (pigeon, stuffed with foie gras and veal)

Dessert...Mont Blanc.

1998 Chateau Capbern Gasqueton (Cru Bourgeois Superieur, Saint-Estephe). This chateau is owned by Ch. Calon-Segur. 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc. We had this wine with both the fish and the pigeon courses and it worked with both so well. Obviously, it went even better with the pigeon and I was so elated by the pairing. I wanted to say the pairing was perfect with no error margin.

We had such a happy dinner. The dishes were so special, and the wine pairing was great! I kept revisiting the flavors every dish in my head in the taxi on our way back home.

Homage to Bourgogne...Fromage dinner

I came back to LA from France safely...luckily I flew just a couple of days before the airport shutdown in Paris.

Since I brought back many kinds of cheese from Burgundy, we did a cheese supper.

As a little palate pleaser, I made gougeres (traditional Burgundian savory cheese puff balls) and served them hot right out of the oven. I ate so many gougeres in Burgundy and loved them so much. My version came out very nice, too.

Bloc de Foie gras and roasted asparagus. I also made a big bowl of salad (radicchio, lettuce, Fuji apple, zucchini, macadamia nuts, tomatoes, etc.). Oh, I missed Fresh vegetables so much.

Here's the main course of the night. These are mostly Burgundian cheeses (Epoisse, Chambertin, Citeaux, Soumaintrain, etc.) I picked up at Alain Hess in Beaune. They were extraordinary! Of course, we drank Burgundy wines. My favorite wine of the night was 2001 Domaine de Montille, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru, Les Caillerets. As soon as I smelled the wine, It felt like I was back in Burgundy, visiting Puligny again. Very minerally and beautiful.

Desserts were also from Burgundy...Pain d'Epices (traditional spice cake) from Beaune's Saturday market, and chocolate from Le Charlemagne. Mmm...I really miss Burgundy.

But, I'm also happy to be back...I'm having huge cravings for fresh vegetables since I returned home. So I made more salad for lunch next day.

Fromage Night

I brought a lot of wonderful cheeses from France back home again. It's becoming a tradition to do a cheese course in the evening every time I return from France.


We had Pont l'Eveque, Mont d'Or, Beaufort, and chevre from Provence's local farm. The pain de campagne (bread) was picked up in the morning before I left Cannes.


Dessert was the macarons from L'Atelier Jean-Luc Pele!

We tasted "France" at home.

Jacques Selosse and Some Treats Traveled Back from Cannes

During my very short free time in my stay in Cannes, I picked up some goodies to bring back home.

Macarons from Jean-Luc Pele. Heavenly!

Cheese and bread (I picked up bread on the morning I left Cannes, so it was still very good). Chevre Fermier de Paymenande, Mont d'Or, Camembert, Tomme Noir de Pyrenee...and I brought back more cheeses.

Aaaand...the wine store I always check out carried Jacques Selosse this time! He is, to me, God of Champagne producers, and his wines are just so hard to find, because the production is so small. So, I got "Initial" (Anselm's classic Blanc de Blanc), and "Substance" (made from a solera system, since 1987). The prices were much higher than the last time I found them there (now Initial is 83 euros and Substance is 165 euros), but they are still "bargains" compared to the prices (if you luckily find any) in Japan. I can't wait to find a good occasion to open these bottles.