Culinary Adventures with Camilla

  My Grape Quebec by Laura Bradbury* is the second in a series that follows her from being a 17-year-old exchange student in Burgundy to being (I'm all the way in the seventh book right now) married with two kids living back in France with her family. Book two covers her time as a university student the year that she and Franck are working to get his immigration paperwork in order so that he can join her in Canada. On the Page Where book one in the series documented her trials and tribulations as a foreigner in France, this book looks at the culture shock that Franck experiences in his move from Burgundy to Canada. Two things made me chuckle: his reactions to coffee and to cheesecake, "Franck stared down at his, and then back up to me. 'What is this?' I laughed at him. 'Coffee.' I’d forgotten. He was used to espresso in tiny cups when he ordered café. He took a tentative sip and grimaced. 'I beg to differ. I have no idea what this is, but it’s not coffee....

  This month Jill of L'Occasion is hosting the World Wine Travel bloggers as we dive into the food and wine of the Basque region...the Spanish side. You can read her invitation here . If you are reading this early enough feel free to jump into our live chat on Twitter on Saturday, June 26th at 8am Pacific time. Just follow the hashtag #WorldWineTravel and be sure to add it to anything you tweet so we can see it. Here are the articles that the writers are sharing... Basque Country Means Pintxos and Txakolina by Jeff at Food Wine Click Fish Friday in the USA with a Spanish Txakolina Rosé by Wendy at A Day in the Life on the Farm Two Versions of Txakoli, Perfect Summer Wines from Susannah at Avvinare Pintxos and Txakoli - a celebration of Basque Country from Robin at Crushed Grape Chronicles Almejas en Salsa Verde (Clams in Green Sauce) + 2019 Zudugarai "Amats" Getariako Txakolina from Camilla at Culinary Adventures with Camilla Basque Country Wines for Beginners and Gr...

Jeff of FoodWineClick! is hosting The French Winophiles this month as we explore the French Basque wine region. Here is his invitation . A couple of years ago, Lynn of Savor the Harvest shared this post: Basque-ing in the Sud-Ouest: Wines of Irouléguy . And I probably should have revisted it before I went wine shopping because, I initially went to the wrong side of the Basque region. You can read about my little geography snafu when I made Spanish Basque Nibbles for a French Wine Group - Whoops!   And I did it twice, making Paella with another wine from the wrong side of the Pyrenees. Yikes. I know better. Really. I do. But I was just so excited about making Basque food and tasting Basque wine that I completely skipped over the part that I was on the wrong side of the border. So, my pairing of Papas Bravas , Ganba Brotxeta, and Piparras with Camino Roca Altxerri Txakoli 2017 was not going to work for the #Winophiles event. Oh, well... that just offered me more time fo...

Years ago a good friend, and native Spaniard, gave me a lesson in how to make paella. So, when I knew that I was doing a Basque wine pairing, I excitedly planned to make paella. And I tracked down a bottle of Basque wine for the pairing. If you follow my posts, you might recall that I picked up a bottle from the wrong side of the Pyrenees . Actually, I picked up more than one! So, here's my second bottle of wine from the Spanish Basque region that I can't use for the French Basque post coming up next month. Oh, well. You get to hear about it early. In My Glass I picked up a bottle of Itsasmendi Txakoli 2016 which hails from Bodegas Itsasmendi - Basque for 'Sea and Mountain' - in the Basque DO of Bizkaiko Txakolina overlooking the Bay of Biscay, not far from the city of Bilbao. Itsasmendi’s winery and a large portion of their vineyard have been located in the UNESCO-declared Biosphere Reserve of Urdaibai which was designated in 2002. As a Biosphere Reserve, U...

When I looked at the list of 2019 topics for the French Winophiles, I was excited to see French Basque as a topic. I fixated on the 'Basque' part of that because I love that area and completely blitzed on the 'French' part when I went to buy the wine. I picked up wine from the Spanish part of Basque country and, then, went even further and selected recipes from the Spanish part as well. Whoops. Since I needed a do-over with wines from the correct part of the Basque region and a geographically appropriate menu, for August's Winophiles, I decided to share the Spanish bites and sips we had now. Early. I served Papas Bravas (previous recipe here ) which are a family favorite. Then I tried a few different pintxos , small finger foods served at bars and taverns throughout the Basque Country. Bear in mind that both are my interpretations, so not traditional. Ganba Brotxeta serves four with 2 skewers each Ingredients 1 sweet bell pepper, cored and ...