longoustines from Marché de Talensac

7-26-2016 Tue. cool, sunny.  


BREAKFAST --- coffee
LUNCH ---  grapes
AFTERNOON-TEATIME ---  tea
DINNER ---steamed langoustine | cured beef | sauteed fresh peas | simmered new potatoes with herbs | wine 

•  excellent langoustine, alive at the market. 

Fortress, abbey, and langoustines

8-29-2011 Mon. hot, sunny.


BREAKFAST --- (at Chateau Raissac) coffee | croissant | baguette | butter | jam | yogurt |orange juice
AFTERNOON-TEATIME --- grape from vineyard
DINNER --- (at a restaurant in Pages) shellfish plate ( prawn, conch, oyster) | potato and langoustine stew | grilled langoustine and mushroom | bread | wine

Fontfroide Abbey
dinning hall, wine cellar door, hearth, court yard

vineyard in Languedoc

Chateaux Cathares Peyrepertuse ( pierced rock, in Occitan)
a Cathar castle ruin

Peyrepertuse, northern face

inside the fortress


fishing village Bages

shellfish dinner in Bages

• Fortfroide Abbey turns into a museum with some private residence ( same family owned the Chateau Raissac), no more monks.
  
• it is quite a climb to Peyrepertuse, a ruin of Cathar castle ruin in the rugged Languedoc heartland.
  
• the little fishing village Bages has peaceful beach and winding streets. the shellfish dinner is so-so, langoustines here no peer to the ones in Norway.
  

Immersion of Norwegian seafood

6-22-2010 Tue. mild, cloudy


BREAKFAST --- coffee
LUNCH --- Smoked salmon | Norwegian cracker | flat bread | brown goat cheese | sweet shrimp | raspberry
AFTERNOON-TEATIME --- tea | cream puff | raspberry
DINNER --- ( at Cornelius in Bergen ) Norwegian oysters | French oysters | cod with smoked mussels and rice in green sauce | Langoustines (aka Norway Lobsters) and asparagus
AFTER-DINNER-COFFEE-TIME --- (at Det Lille Kaffekompaniet in Bergen) cappuccino

lunch at B&B, food from the fish market

• a visit to Fisketorget i Bergen gets a preview of local supply. sweet shrimp is very sweet and full of roe. there are lots of smoked salmon, mussels and crab claws, but not scallops or clams. we found oysters and Norway lobsters in the indoor upscale section

Cornelius is on Island Bjorøy near Bergen

shell fish supply for the restaurant (from its website)

Langoustines (aka Norway Lobsters)

Norwegian oyster

• Cornelius is a seafood restaurant on the island Bjorøy famous for its "meteorological menu", meaning local fresh seasonal catch. and it now has a second new location in Bergen in a beautiful old building near Bergen Fish market. the Norwegian lobster (cray fish like) tails at Cornelius is just outstanding, the taste and texture is better than crab, shrimp, and other kinds of lobster. Norwegian oysters are flatter and smaller than the french kind, and a little more crisp.

around 10 p.m.................... about midnight

cappuccino

• the coffee at Det Lille Kaffekompaniet is the best so far from UK to Norway, the place has an old Parisian cafe feel, plus the girl running the cafe tonight is really beautiful.