I love ice cream.

Today we were in the classroom once again focusing this time on salt and the microbiology of the cow rumen, which is pretty much as densely packed with bacteria as physically possible. After such appetizing discussion, we broke for lunch. After lunch, we were not returning to the classroom in order to give us a little extra time to work on our final presentations. 

Laura and I went to Le Cellier del Abbaye to purchase the wine’s we wanted to do our research papers on. I absolutely love the Chardonnay from the Macon region, compared to California Chardonnay. The fruit really comes forward and shines on its own, enhanced simply by the soil’s minerality. I never thought I’d really enjoy Chardonnay so much.

The wine I chose with Sonia's help!

It was super hot out, and what’s the best remedy on a hot day? ICE CREAM. I got a perfect scoop of violet ice cream and I felt like a cartoon. In Cluny, they have these big, big ice cream cones that taste like American waffle cones but better because they have a fragile, light, layered texture. Adding to this ridiculous cone, was a perfectly round scoop of lavender hued ice cream—like Easter purple. Ice cream cone in hand on this beautiful day, I was happy as a dog with two tails.

After spending the remainder of the afternoon working on my cheese and wine presentations, we headed out as a group to Auberge du Cheval Blanc, a really nice restaurant on the edge of town where you pretty much have to have a three or four course meal. No messing around.

At 7:30 we sat down and began piecing together our meal selections. For my first course (entre), I selected a salad topped with gingerbread toasts and warmed brie. 

My main course was sea bass with a creamy seafood sauce, asparagus, and rice pilaf. All our main dishes were accompanied by tiny side portions of nutmeg spiced carrots and mushrooms in cream sauce. 

Then, they wheeled over a cart of cheeses with a glass window through which the cheeses could be seen for selection.

I decided on 2 fresh goat cheeses, one aged goat, and Roquefort. The aged goat, once more, was my favorite. The fresh goat cheeses had no flavor, and the Roquefort was straight up salt—I guess when it come to blue cheese, I’ll be sticking to Stilton. After that, there was the option of dessert, but there was no way I was fitting another morsel in me. 

A leisurely three hours after being seated, we dragged ourselves out of the restaurant, and, me, I scurried to the bar to catch the Spain and Portugal semi-final euro cup game! I arrived toward the end of the game, and the bar was packed! Except it was packed with Portugal fans (boo!). There was one family, who’d I’d seen at the bar for several of the other games, that had everyone there. Their young children, around 2-years-old, were decked out in Portugal memorabilia. They even had their dogs there with them: green Mohawk and all. Yep, the dog had a green Mohawk in support of the Portugal team… awesome. But alas, Spain was victorious and I pretty much floated home on excited.

Tomorrow we have to get up pretty early for a 3 hour bus ride up to Jura where we’ll be visiting salt mines and the house of Louis Pasteur! We’re hoping we don’t get the big bus again because, although it would make the drive nice, we might not be able to maneuver all the roads we need to have access to. Time to pack for the over-night!