It's like the first day of summer

To start off, last night's dinner was amazing!  We conducted research on a potential restaurant for a private trip Renee will guide in August.  Let's just say that I love research and my tummy does, too!

The day started out by building a sweet green and black Madone 6.9 w/ Bontrager carbon wheels.  I'll post some pictures demonstrating the awesomeness that is my job!  We then prepared our things to drive the Day 5 route of the explorer trip, and all of this is part of FTP (final trip prep).  I drove while Renee took care of the route cue sheet.  Driving a Renault Trafic van on these roads is like driving an RV in the US, so I should have lots of practice for when I get back and my parents let me use theirs, right? :)

We finished the day by stopping for dinner at a very nice little restaurant.  A "quick" synopsis of our meal goes like this:   I had small raviolis in a langoustine cream sauce, fresh fish in local olive oil and provencal vegetables & herbs, a fromage blanc-type cheese with lavender honey, and a small creamy chocolate cake (about the size of a very small cupcake).  Renee had a foies gras duo plate (one warm, one cold) and they were pretty melt-in-your-mouth delicious, breaded rack of lamb (best lamb I've ever had), and finished with the same two plates.  We had a great wine from an appellation of the cotes du luberon probably from just down the road!  What a great dinner to say the least, and everything was portioned well so I was very happy leaving the restaurant; not too full and definitely not hungry at all!

On the drive back I explained to Renee that the fact that I am in France and enjoying this opportunity had just hit me when the hostess (likely the chef's wife) was speaking to her in French.  The fact hit me like an "I'm out of school for summer" epiphany hit you as a child.  The language is slowly getting better and I am able to understand more but I want to try learning more about speech.  I have funny ways of explaining things, so the best I could do for Renee is, "The language is right there but I can't quite grab it.  It's like I'm in the driver's seat and something fell down on the passenger floor that I can't reach yet but I'm close!"  I hope you like that explanation!

Today we had some more FTP driving. We got a nice ride in towards Bedoin/Mt. Ventoux area, found an awesome climb with beautiful views, and tasted some wine at a winery we are going to on our first day of one trip.  On the way to the winery this morning we stopped at a boulangerie (bakery) that Renee said is one of the best.  Turns out she is right!  Choco amande is my new food-love, and it's basically a pain chocolat with a little vanilla cream and topped with almonds.  I also had a small pizza that had more of an olive oil puff pastry crust with roma tomatoes and chevre; exploding with flavor.  The simple pain chocolat is delectable, always a fail-safe, but this boulangerie adds the perfect amount of chocolate and has very good dough.  Renee had very tasty looking quiche and saved her pizza for lunch.


Tomorrow we are probably going to do more route riding, provided we have nice weather.  I'm past the 11:30 curfew (more sleep is needed), so I have to get ready for bed.  Soon I will upload more pictures on my picasa web album (see link in previous post).  Thanks for reading, au revoir!