View allAll Photos Tagged cheeseboard...
The lower section of the path near the information centre at Col des Montets has handy identification signs for a flora ignaroma such as I.
Sunday 15 July 2012: Les Bossons (Chamonix-Mont Blanc) - Les Praz - La Flégère - Réserve Naturelle des Aiguilles Rouges (Aiguilles Rouges Nature Reserve) - Col des Montets - Les Frasserands
Day 2 of our Tour du Mont Blanc, on Exodus' Mont Blanc Circuit trip - a clockwise circumambulation of the Mont Blanc massif
We woke to rain, and after a damp breakfast and our first tussle with Kili (we had to pack up our "2 Seconds + III" each morning - it's not easy wrangling a c160cm diameter dome tent back into its 81cm diameter flat pack carrying case) we loaded our main packs into the van, said au revoir to Ben and headed off with Simon to catch the bus from Les Bossons school to the nearby village of Les Praz.
The Téléphérique de la Flégère took us up from the Chamonix-Mont Blanc valley floor up to La Flégère at 1,894 m, where we swopped rain for cloud and a good few °C. Togged up in windproofs and waterproofs, we headed off along the footpath following the signs for Col des Montets - Simon had told us that the poor weather conditions meant that we would not be able do the planned high level route via Lac Blanc with its vertical ladders...
Still, the cloud and raindrops made for lovely flower photos in the Aiguilles Rouges National Nature Reserve, and Waiora and I got some glimpses of glaciers on the far side of the valley ahead and behind, waterfalls and the bright green lichen on the rich red iron rich gneiss rocks that give the Aiguilles Rouges mountains their name - the Red Needles. There's something quite magical about walking through the quietude of cloud.
As the day wore on, the skies cleared and we got better views of mountains above us and across the valley, including the Glacier du Tour. Waiora and I even had our own close encounter with a pair of Ibex, grazing in between the Alpine Rose (Rhododendrons) that cover the mountainsides in this part of the world. Shortly after, having enjoyed an easy day's walking along undulating path (the cable car having done the hard work of the ascent for us) we started the steep, zig zagging descent back down to the road, where we rendezvoused with Simon at the information centre at Col des Montets (1461m).
A short stroll later we were walking through the bucolic alpine village of Les Frasserands, where we found the rest of the group soaking up the sun at the campsite. After a rather late lunch, Hazel and I wandered into the town with Vicki and Rachel and treated ourselves to a jug of Jupiler beer served by a waitress from Wolverhampton at a bar in the village centre. A bit too cool to loiter for long once the sun went in/down.
Dinner was a feast served up in the dining room at Camping Les Frasserands - complete with a magnificent cheeseboard....
DSC04961
From an album of Food and drink photos, including Sunday roasts, Full English breakfasts, pub grub, burgers, fish 'n' chips, butties and filled rolls, pies, pasties, puddings, cakes and desserts, platters, salads, coffees and tea, and random items of food on offer.
__________________________________________________
The album photos are taken mainly with a Canon Powershot X60HS and a Canon EOS 6D, and this image is one of many thousands covering various subjects and locations, and mostly rendered with DxO Optics Pro Elite, see Food and Drink and all other photos The image falls under a Creative Commons licence. Republishing in whole, part, form or adaptation in any media is allowed, but only if the text 'Photo © Acabashi' is clearly stated. If attribution is not given, the licence for follow-on use is automatically revoked. This image has been released under a license which is incompatible with Facebook's licensing terms. It is not permitted to upload this file, or any variations, to Facebook and social media platforms.
Sunday 15 July 2012: Les Bossons (Chamonix-Mont Blanc) - Les Praz - La Flégère - Réserve Naturelle des Aiguilles Rouges (Aiguilles Rouges Nature Reserve) - Col des Montets - Les Frasserands
Day 2 of our Tour du Mont Blanc, on Exodus' Mont Blanc Circuit trip - a clockwise circumambulation of the Mont Blanc massif
We woke to rain, and after a damp breakfast and our first tussle with Kili (we had to pack up our "2 Seconds + III" each morning - it's not easy wrangling a c160cm diameter dome tent back into its 81cm diameter flat pack carrying case) we loaded our main packs into the van, said au revoir to Ben and headed off with Simon to catch the bus from Les Bossons school to the nearby village of Les Praz.
The Téléphérique de la Flégère took us up from the Chamonix-Mont Blanc valley floor up to La Flégère at 1,894 m, where we swopped rain for cloud and a good few °C. Togged up in windproofs and waterproofs, we headed off along the footpath following the signs for Col des Montets- Simon had told us that the poor weather conditions meant that we would not be able do the planned high level route via Lac Blanc with its vertical ladders...
Still, the cloud and raindrops made for lovely flower photos in the Aiguilles Rouges National Nature Reserve, and Waiora and I got some glimpses of glaciers on the far side of the valley ahead and behind, waterfalls and the bright green lichen on the rich red iron rich gneiss rocks that give the Aiguilles Rouges mountains their name - the Red Needles. There's something quite magical about walking through the quietude of cloud.
As the day wore on, the skies cleared and we got better views of mountains above us and across the valley, including the Glacier du Tour. Waiora and I even had our own close encounter with a pair of Ibex, grazing in between the Alpine Rose (Rhododendrons) that cover the mountainsides in this part of the world. Shortly after, having enjoyed an easy day's walking along undulating path (the cable car having done the hard work of the ascent for us) we started the steep, zig zagging descent back down to the road, where we rendezvoused with Simon at the information centre at Col des Montets (1461m).
A short stroll later we were walking through the bucolic alpine village of Les Frasserands, where we found the rest of the group soaking up the sun at the campsite. After a rather late lunch, Hazel and I wandered into the town with Vicki and Rachel and treated ourselves to a jug of Jupiler beer served by a waitress from Wolverhampton at a bar in the village centre. A bit too cool to loiter for long once the sun went in/down.
Dinner was a feast served up in the dining room at Camping Les Frasserands - complete with a magnificent cheeseboard....
DSC04854
Sunday 15 July 2012: Les Bossons (Chamonix-Mont Blanc) - Les Praz - La Flégère - Réserve Naturelle des Aiguilles Rouges (Aiguilles Rouges Nature Reserve) - Col des Montets - Les Frasserands
Day 2 of our Tour du Mont Blanc, on Exodus' Mont Blanc Circuit trip - a clockwise circumambulation of the Mont Blanc massif
We woke to rain, and after a damp breakfast and our first tussle with Kili (we had to pack up our "2 Seconds + III" each morning - it's not easy wrangling a c160cm diameter dome tent back into its 81cm diameter flat pack carrying case) we loaded our main packs into the van, said au revoir to Ben and headed off with Simon to catch the bus from Les Bossons school to the nearby village of Les Praz.
The Téléphérique de la Flégère took us up from the Chamonix-Mont Blanc valley floor up to La Flégère at 1,894 m, where we swopped rain for cloud and a good few °C. Togged up in windproofs and waterproofs, we headed off along the footpath following the signs for Col des Montets- Simon had told us that the poor weather conditions meant that we would not be able do the planned high level route via Lac Blanc with its vertical ladders...
Still, the cloud and raindrops made for lovely flower photos in the Aiguilles Rouges National Nature Reserve, and Waiora and I got some glimpses of glaciers on the far side of the valley ahead and behind, waterfalls and the bright green lichen on the rich red iron rich gneiss rocks that give the Aiguilles Rouges mountains their name - the Red Needles. There's something quite magical about walking through the quietude of cloud.
As the day wore on, the skies cleared and we got better views of mountains above us and across the valley, including the Glacier du Tour. Waiora and I even had our own close encounter with a pair of Ibex, grazing in between the Alpine Rose (Rhododendrons) that cover the mountainsides in this part of the world. Shortly after, having enjoyed an easy day's walking along undulating path (the cable car having done the hard work of the ascent for us) we started the steep, zig zagging descent back down to the road, where we rendezvoused with Simon at the information centre at Col des Montets (1461m).
A short stroll later we were walking through the bucolic alpine village of Les Frasserands, where we found the rest of the group soaking up the sun at the campsite. After a rather late lunch, Hazel and I wandered into the town with Vicki and Rachel and treated ourselves to a jug of Jupiler beer served by a waitress from Wolverhampton at a bar in the village centre. A bit too cool to loiter for long once the sun went in/down.
Dinner was a feast served up in the dining room at Camping Les Frasserands - complete with a magnificent cheeseboard....
Trifolium: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trifolium
DSC04835
So Mr Fong and Mr Wong met once again for lunch.
He had-
Roast monkfish cheeks.
Cornish lemon sole.
Tapwater.
I had-
For my sins, foie gras.
Grouse et al.
A glass of @domainesaintremy Gewurtztraminer 2009.
A bottle of BYO @cosdestournel Les Pagodes de Cos 2014 (way too young, but deliciously quaffable).
Cheeseboard.
.
.
.
#fatlesdrinks #mrwongsdayoff #Britishfood #Englishfood #grouse #game #monkfish
#foiegras #lemonsole #cheeseboard #worldsend
#winepairing #instawine #wine #vino #wein #vinho #Frenchwine #vindefrance #finewine
#cosdestournel #bordeaux #lespagodesdecos #saintestephe #gewurztraminer #vindalsace
#eeeeeats #instafood #londoneats #londonfood
Sunday 15 July 2012: Les Bossons (Chamonix-Mont Blanc) - Les Praz - La Flégère - Réserve Naturelle des Aiguilles Rouges (Aiguilles Rouges Nature Reserve) - Col des Montets - Les Frasserands
Day 2 of our Tour du Mont Blanc, on Exodus' Mont Blanc Circuit trip - a clockwise circumambulation of the Mont Blanc massif
We woke to rain, and after a damp breakfast and our first tussle with Kili (we had to pack up our "2 Seconds + III" each morning - it's not easy wrangling a c160cm diameter dome tent back into its 81cm diameter flat pack carrying case) we loaded our main packs into the van, said au revoir to Ben and headed off with Simon to catch the bus from Les Bossons school to the nearby village of Les Praz.
The Téléphérique de la Flégère took us up from the Chamonix-Mont Blanc valley floor up to La Flégère at 1,894 m, where we swopped rain for cloud and a good few °C. Togged up in windproofs and waterproofs, we headed off along the footpath following the signs for Col des Montets- Simon had told us that the poor weather conditions meant that we would not be able do the planned high level route via Lac Blanc with its vertical ladders...
Still, the cloud and raindrops made for lovely flower photos in the Aiguilles Rouges National Nature Reserve, and Waiora and I got some glimpses of glaciers on the far side of the valley ahead and behind, waterfalls and the bright green lichen on the rich red iron rich gneiss rocks that give the Aiguilles Rouges mountains their name - the Red Needles. There's something quite magical about walking through the quietude of cloud.
As the day wore on, the skies cleared and we got better views of mountains above us and across the valley, including the Glacier du Tour. Waiora and I even had our own close encounter with a pair of Ibex, grazing in between the Alpine Rose (Rhododendrons) that cover the mountainsides in this part of the world. Shortly after, having enjoyed an easy day's walking along undulating path (the cable car having done the hard work of the ascent for us) we started the steep, zig zagging descent back down to the road, where we rendezvoused with Simon at the information centre at Col des Montets (1461m).
A short stroll later we were walking through the bucolic alpine village of Les Frasserands, where we found the rest of the group soaking up the sun at the campsite. After a rather late lunch, Hazel and I wandered into the town with Vicki and Rachel and treated ourselves to a jug of Jupiler beer served by a waitress from Wolverhampton at a bar in the village centre. A bit too cool to loiter for long once the sun went in/down.
Dinner was a feast served up in the dining room at Camping Les Frasserands - complete with a magnificent cheeseboard....
Campanula: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campanula
DSC04834
Dinner at Katie's Bistro, Katherine, Northern Territory.
The cheese and fruit were good, but dang, we needed a lot more crackers than that. And they charged us $3 for an extra plate of crackers!
Sorry about the quality of the photo - the light was really dim and a bit yellowy, since we were eating al fresco and there were anti-insect lights around.
Selection of English cheeses, oatcakes and crab apple.
August supper club based around the Glorious Twelfth at Newman Street Tavern.
Sunday 15 July 2012: Les Bossons (Chamonix-Mont Blanc) - Les Praz - La Flégère - Réserve Naturelle des Aiguilles Rouges (Aiguilles Rouges Nature Reserve) - Col des Montets - Les Frasserands
Day 2 of our Tour du Mont Blanc, on Exodus' Mont Blanc Circuit trip - a clockwise circumambulation of the Mont Blanc massif
We woke to rain, and after a damp breakfast and our first tussle with Kili (we had to pack up our "2 Seconds + III" each morning - it's not easy wrangling a c160cm diameter dome tent back into its 81cm diameter flat pack carrying case) we loaded our main packs into the van, said au revoir to Ben and headed off with Simon to catch the bus from Les Bossons school to the nearby village of Les Praz.
The Téléphérique de la Flégère took us up from the Chamonix-Mont Blanc valley floor up to La Flégère at 1,894 m, where we swopped rain for cloud and a good few °C. Togged up in windproofs and waterproofs, we headed off along the footpath following the signs for Col des Montets - Simon had told us that the poor weather conditions meant that we would not be able do the planned high level route via Lac Blanc with its vertical ladders...
Still, the cloud and raindrops made for lovely flower photos in the Aiguilles Rouges National Nature Reserve, and Waiora and I got some glimpses of glaciers on the far side of the valley ahead and behind, waterfalls and the bright green lichen on the rich red iron rich gneiss rocks that give the Aiguilles Rouges mountains their name - the Red Needles. There's something quite magical about walking through the quietude of cloud.
As the day wore on, the skies cleared and we got better views of mountains above us and across the valley, including the Glacier du Tour. Waiora and I even had our own close encounter with a pair of Ibex, grazing in between the Alpine Rose (Rhododendrons) that cover the mountainsides in this part of the world. Shortly after, having enjoyed an easy day's walking along undulating path (the cable car having done the hard work of the ascent for us) we started the steep, zig zagging descent back down to the road, where we rendezvoused with Simon at the information centre at Col des Montets (1461m).
A short stroll later we were walking through the bucolic alpine village of Les Frasserands, where we found the rest of the group soaking up the sun at the campsite. After a rather late lunch, Hazel and I wandered into the town with Vicki and Rachel and treated ourselves to a jug of Jupiler beer served by a waitress from Wolverhampton at a bar in the village centre. A bit too cool to loiter for long once the sun went in/down.
Dinner was a feast served up in the dining room at Camping Les Frasserands - complete with a magnificent cheeseboard....
Give your cheeseboards a bit of love with these brilliant condiments. This triple-pack has something for everyone, from sweet, to spicy to fiery.
FIG JAM
This deliciously fruity jam packed full of juicy figs gets on famously with cheddar and pecorino cheese.
HOT YELLOW PEPPER JELLY
This hot sweet pepper relish made with yellow peppers and habanero chillies adds a tasty little spark to all kinds of cheeses, whether in sandwiches or on a cheese board.
RED ONION PICKLE
A sweet sticky chutney with balsamic vinegar and black treacle. Just spread on your bread and take your cheese toasties to a whole new level.
Northfield, Massachusetts, USA.
*I think the pitcher is a perfect vessel for the flowers- I can't imagine they'd look nearly as pretty in anything else.
Acton (a little like my home town of Croydon) isnât really associated with good food and drink, and on these grounds is often ignored by foodies. Whether that is true or not (and Iâd contest making that kind of judgement about ANY area!), there is at least one interesting thing for the gastronomically inclined to be found in Acton (well, two - if you count an Ancient Roman themed Italian takeaway called Hadrian'sâ¦)
As you have probably guessed, that âthing' is Vindinista, and having been there for one too many glasses of wine with my good friend and fellow wine writer Tim, I would like to tell you about it.
Vindinista is essentially a wine bar. And a tiny one at that (âtiny bar, huge attitude). I donât know how many they sit, but it canât be more than 30. Nothing too unusual there, right? Itâs what they serve thatâs interesting. The motto at Vindinista is âwine liberationâ. They have a pretty eclectic selection of vino (lesser known producers, styles, regions & grapes) and they focus (in their own words) on âwines off the beaten pathâ. The list changes very regularly, and many of these lesser known wines are available by the glass too (joy!). Vindinista is owned by Paola Tich - a wine blogger of some note. We didnât get to meet her, instead spending time with a slightly Rockabilly Kiwi guy called Stacey.
Theyâre open Tuesday-Sunday, 5pm-late, and are walk in only. Theyâre also very popular with the locals - we saw plenty of clearly familiar faces come and go in the time we where there. They clearly have their regulars â there were small groups of friends gathering together, couples on boozy excursions and a French waiter from fancy French bar who was very keen to play us some French pop music.
How about the food? Itâs bar food, on a par with the kind of stuff youâd get in a good gastropub (Modern British, mainly?). We had possibly the best cheese toastie ever conceived by man (black truffle + some indescribable voodoo), but look out for pork and duck charcuterie boards, potted shrimps from Upton Smokery and more cheeseboards. Basically these guys really love cheese. They apparently run the odd supper club as well, though I canât tell you too much about that.
Vindinista opened in February 2015, and is an offshoot of the Park+Bridge wine store (âyour neighbourhood wine shopâ - even when your neighbourhood is 20 miles away...) just across the road. And the great news about THIS is that if you find a wine that you really enjoy at Vindinista, all you need to do is wander across the road and pick up a bottle...
Acton (a little like my home town of Croydon) isnât really associated with good food and drink, and on these grounds is often ignored by foodies. Whether that is true or not (and Iâd contest making that kind of judgement about ANY area!), there is at least one interesting thing for the gastronomically inclined to be found in Acton (well, two - if you count an Ancient Roman themed Italian takeaway called Hadrian'sâ¦)
As you have probably guessed, that âthing' is Vindinista, and having been there for one too many glasses of wine with my good friend and fellow wine writer Tim, I would like to tell you about it.
Vindinista is essentially a wine bar. And a tiny one at that (âtiny bar, huge attitude). I donât know how many they sit, but it canât be more than 30. Nothing too unusual there, right? Itâs what they serve thatâs interesting. The motto at Vindinista is âwine liberationâ. They have a pretty eclectic selection of vino (lesser known producers, styles, regions & grapes) and they focus (in their own words) on âwines off the beaten pathâ. The list changes very regularly, and many of these lesser known wines are available by the glass too (joy!). Vindinista is owned by Paola Tich - a wine blogger of some note. We didnât get to meet her, instead spending time with a slightly Rockabilly Kiwi guy called Stacey.
Theyâre open Tuesday-Sunday, 5pm-late, and are walk in only. Theyâre also very popular with the locals - we saw plenty of clearly familiar faces come and go in the time we where there. They clearly have their regulars â there were small groups of friends gathering together, couples on boozy excursions and a French waiter from fancy French bar who was very keen to play us some French pop music.
How about the food? Itâs bar food, on a par with the kind of stuff youâd get in a good gastropub (Modern British, mainly?). We had possibly the best cheese toastie ever conceived by man (black truffle + some indescribable voodoo), but look out for pork and duck charcuterie boards, potted shrimps from Upton Smokery and more cheeseboards. Basically these guys really love cheese. They apparently run the odd supper club as well, though I canât tell you too much about that.
Vindinista opened in February 2015, and is an offshoot of the Park+Bridge wine store (âyour neighbourhood wine shopâ - even when your neighbourhood is 20 miles away...) just across the road. And the great news about THIS is that if you find a wine that you really enjoy at Vindinista, all you need to do is wander across the road and pick up a bottle...
So Mr Fong and Mr Wong met once again for lunch.
He had-
Roast monkfish cheeks.
Cornish lemon sole.
Tapwater.
I had-
For my sins, foie gras.
Grouse et al.
A glass of @domainesaintremy Gewurtztraminer 2009.
A bottle of BYO @cosdestournel Les Pagodes de Cos 2014 (way too young, but deliciously quaffable).
Cheeseboard.
.
.
.
#fatlesdrinks #mrwongsdayoff #Britishfood #Englishfood #grouse #game #monkfish
#foiegras #lemonsole #cheeseboard #worldsend
#winepairing #instawine #wine #vino #wein #vinho #Frenchwine #vindefrance #finewine
#cosdestournel #bordeaux #lespagodesdecos #saintestephe #gewurztraminer #vindalsace
#eeeeeats #instafood #londoneats #londonfood
New in the series of the Astronomy-inspired Comet servers/wall hangings/cheeseboards
cherry, curly maple
Spiced Winter Jelly, Spiced Cranberry and Pear Relish, Spicy Squash and Apple Chutney.
Condiments for a Cheeseboard Christmas present.
All recipes from Good Food magazine
We regularly run drinks workshops and masterclasses. This menu was inspired by a whisky workshop.
©Victoria Crane
Sunday 15 July 2012: Les Bossons (Chamonix-Mont Blanc) - Les Praz - La Flégère - Réserve Naturelle des Aiguilles Rouges (Aiguilles Rouges Nature Reserve) - Col des Montets - Les Frasserands
Day 2 of our Tour du Mont Blanc, on Exodus' Mont Blanc Circuit trip - a clockwise circumambulation of the Mont Blanc massif
We woke to rain, and after a damp breakfast and our first tussle with Kili (we had to pack up our "2 Seconds + III" each morning - it's not easy wrangling a c160cm diameter dome tent back into its 81cm diameter flat pack carrying case) we loaded our main packs into the van, said au revoir to Ben and headed off with Simon to catch the bus from Les Bossons school to the nearby village of Les Praz.
The Téléphérique de la Flégère took us up from the Chamonix-Mont Blanc valley floor up to La Flégère at 1,894 m, where we swopped rain for cloud and a good few °C. Togged up in windproofs and waterproofs, we headed off along the footpath following the signs for Col des Montets - Simon had told us that the poor weather conditions meant that we would not be able do the planned high level route via Lac Blanc with its vertical ladders...
Still, the cloud and raindrops made for lovely flower photos in the Aiguilles Rouges National Nature Reserve, and Waiora and I got some glimpses of glaciers on the far side of the valley ahead and behind, waterfalls and the bright green lichen on the rich red iron rich gneiss rocks that give the Aiguilles Rouges mountains their name - the Red Needles. There's something quite magical about walking through the quietude of cloud.
As the day wore on, the skies cleared and we got better views of mountains above us and across the valley, including the Glacier du Tour. Waiora and I even had our own close encounter with a pair of Ibex, grazing in between the Alpine Rose (Rhododendrons) that cover the mountainsides in this part of the world. Shortly after, having enjoyed an easy day's walking along undulating path (the cable car having done the hard work of the ascent for us) we started the steep, zig zagging descent back down to the road, where we rendezvoused with Simon at the information centre at Col des Montets (1461m).
A short stroll later we were walking through the bucolic alpine village of Les Frasserands, where we found the rest of the group soaking up the sun at the campsite. After a rather late lunch, Hazel and I wandered into the town with Vicki and Rachel and treated ourselves to a jug of Jupiler beer served by a waitress from Wolverhampton at a bar in the village centre. A bit too cool to loiter for long once the sun went in/down.
Dinner was a feast served up in the dining room at Camping Les Frasserands - complete with a magnificent cheeseboard....
DSC04827
Acton (a little like my home town of Croydon) isnât really associated with good food and drink, and on these grounds is often ignored by foodies. Whether that is true or not (and Iâd contest making that kind of judgement about ANY area!), there is at least one interesting thing for the gastronomically inclined to be found in Acton (well, two - if you count an Ancient Roman themed Italian takeaway called Hadrian'sâ¦)
As you have probably guessed, that âthing' is Vindinista, and having been there for one too many glasses of wine with my good friend and fellow wine writer Tim, I would like to tell you about it.
Vindinista is essentially a wine bar. And a tiny one at that (âtiny bar, huge attitude). I donât know how many they sit, but it canât be more than 30. Nothing too unusual there, right? Itâs what they serve thatâs interesting. The motto at Vindinista is âwine liberationâ. They have a pretty eclectic selection of vino (lesser known producers, styles, regions & grapes) and they focus (in their own words) on âwines off the beaten pathâ. The list changes very regularly, and many of these lesser known wines are available by the glass too (joy!). Vindinista is owned by Paola Tich - a wine blogger of some note. We didnât get to meet her, instead spending time with a slightly Rockabilly Kiwi guy called Stacey.
Theyâre open Tuesday-Sunday, 5pm-late, and are walk in only. Theyâre also very popular with the locals - we saw plenty of clearly familiar faces come and go in the time we where there. They clearly have their regulars â there were small groups of friends gathering together, couples on boozy excursions and a French waiter from fancy French bar who was very keen to play us some French pop music.
How about the food? Itâs bar food, on a par with the kind of stuff youâd get in a good gastropub (Modern British, mainly?). We had possibly the best cheese toastie ever conceived by man (black truffle + some indescribable voodoo), but look out for pork and duck charcuterie boards, potted shrimps from Upton Smokery and more cheeseboards. Basically these guys really love cheese. They apparently run the odd supper club as well, though I canât tell you too much about that.
Vindinista opened in February 2015, and is an offshoot of the Park+Bridge wine store (âyour neighbourhood wine shopâ - even when your neighbourhood is 20 miles away...) just across the road. And the great news about THIS is that if you find a wine that you really enjoy at Vindinista, all you need to do is wander across the road and pick up a bottle...
Acton (a little like my home town of Croydon) isnât really associated with good food and drink, and on these grounds is often ignored by foodies. Whether that is true or not (and Iâd contest making that kind of judgement about ANY area!), there is at least one interesting thing for the gastronomically inclined to be found in Acton (well, two - if you count an Ancient Roman themed Italian takeaway called Hadrian'sâ¦)
As you have probably guessed, that âthing' is Vindinista, and having been there for one too many glasses of wine with my good friend and fellow wine writer Tim, I would like to tell you about it.
Vindinista is essentially a wine bar. And a tiny one at that (âtiny bar, huge attitude). I donât know how many they sit, but it canât be more than 30. Nothing too unusual there, right? Itâs what they serve thatâs interesting. The motto at Vindinista is âwine liberationâ. They have a pretty eclectic selection of vino (lesser known producers, styles, regions & grapes) and they focus (in their own words) on âwines off the beaten pathâ. The list changes very regularly, and many of these lesser known wines are available by the glass too (joy!). Vindinista is owned by Paola Tich - a wine blogger of some note. We didnât get to meet her, instead spending time with a slightly Rockabilly Kiwi guy called Stacey.
Theyâre open Tuesday-Sunday, 5pm-late, and are walk in only. Theyâre also very popular with the locals - we saw plenty of clearly familiar faces come and go in the time we where there. They clearly have their regulars â there were small groups of friends gathering together, couples on boozy excursions and a French waiter from fancy French bar who was very keen to play us some French pop music.
How about the food? Itâs bar food, on a par with the kind of stuff youâd get in a good gastropub (Modern British, mainly?). We had possibly the best cheese toastie ever conceived by man (black truffle + some indescribable voodoo), but look out for pork and duck charcuterie boards, potted shrimps from Upton Smokery and more cheeseboards. Basically these guys really love cheese. They apparently run the odd supper club as well, though I canât tell you too much about that.
Vindinista opened in February 2015, and is an offshoot of the Park+Bridge wine store (âyour neighbourhood wine shopâ - even when your neighbourhood is 20 miles away...) just across the road. And the great news about THIS is that if you find a wine that you really enjoy at Vindinista, all you need to do is wander across the road and pick up a bottle...
Sunday 15 July 2012: Les Bossons (Chamonix-Mont Blanc) - Les Praz - La Flégère - Réserve Naturelle des Aiguilles Rouges (Aiguilles Rouges Nature Reserve) - Col des Montets - Les Frasserands
Day 2 of our Tour du Mont Blanc, on Exodus' Mont Blanc Circuit trip - a clockwise circumambulation of the Mont Blanc massif
We woke to rain, and after a damp breakfast and our first tussle with Kili (we had to pack up our "2 Seconds + III" each morning - it's not easy wrangling a c160cm diameter dome tent back into its 81cm diameter flat pack carrying case) we loaded our main packs into the van, said au revoir to Ben and headed off with Simon to catch the bus from Les Bossons school to the nearby village of Les Praz.
The Téléphérique de la Flégère took us up from the Chamonix-Mont Blanc valley floor up to La Flégère at 1,894 m, where we swopped rain for cloud and a good few °C. Togged up in windproofs and waterproofs, we headed off along the footpath following the signs for Col des Montets- Simon had told us that the poor weather conditions meant that we would not be able do the planned high level route via Lac Blanc with its vertical ladders...
Still, the cloud and raindrops made for lovely flower photos in the Aiguilles Rouges National Nature Reserve, and Waiora and I got some glimpses of glaciers on the far side of the valley ahead and behind, waterfalls and the bright green lichen on the rich red iron rich gneiss rocks that give the Aiguilles Rouges mountains their name - the Red Needles. There's something quite magical about walking through the quietude of cloud.
As the day wore on, the skies cleared and we got better views of mountains above us and across the valley, including the Glacier du Tour. Waiora and I even had our own close encounter with a pair of Ibex, grazing in between the Alpine Rose (Rhododendrons) that cover the mountainsides in this part of the world. Shortly after, having enjoyed an easy day's walking along undulating path (the cable car having done the hard work of the ascent for us) we started the steep, zig zagging descent back down to the road, where we rendezvoused with Simon at the information centre at Col des Montets (1461m).
A short stroll later we were walking through the bucolic alpine village of Les Frasserands, where we found the rest of the group soaking up the sun at the campsite. After a rather late lunch, Hazel and I wandered into the town with Vicki and Rachel and treated ourselves to a jug of Jupiler beer served by a waitress from Wolverhampton at a bar in the village centre. A bit too cool to loiter for long once the sun went in/down.
Dinner was a feast served up in the dining room at Camping Les Frasserands - complete with a magnificent cheeseboard....
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulsatilla_alpina
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Sunday 15 July 2012: Les Bossons (Chamonix-Mont Blanc) - Les Praz - La Flégère - Réserve Naturelle des Aiguilles Rouges (Aiguilles Rouges Nature Reserve) - Col des Montets - Les Frasserands
Day 2 of our Tour du Mont Blanc, on Exodus' Mont Blanc Circuit trip - a clockwise circumambulation of the Mont Blanc massif
We woke to rain, and after a damp breakfast and our first tussle with Kili (we had to pack up our "2 Seconds + III" each morning - it's not easy wrangling a c160cm diameter dome tent back into its 81cm diameter flat pack carrying case) we loaded our main packs into the van, said au revoir to Ben and headed off with Simon to catch the bus from Les Bossons school to the nearby village of Les Praz.
The Téléphérique de la Flégère took us up from the Chamonix-Mont Blanc valley floor up to La Flégère at 1,894 m, where we swopped rain for cloud and a good few °C. Togged up in windproofs and waterproofs, we headed off along the footpath following the signs for Col des Montets- Simon had told us that the poor weather conditions meant that we would not be able do the planned high level route via Lac Blanc with its vertical ladders...
Still, the cloud and raindrops made for lovely flower photos in the Aiguilles Rouges National Nature Reserve, and Waiora and I got some glimpses of glaciers on the far side of the valley ahead and behind, waterfalls and the bright green lichen on the rich red iron rich gneiss rocks that give the Aiguilles Rouges mountains their name - the Red Needles. There's something quite magical about walking through the quietude of cloud.
As the day wore on, the skies cleared and we got better views of mountains above us and across the valley, including the Glacier du Tour. Waiora and I even had our own close encounter with a pair of Ibex, grazing in between the Alpine Rose (Rhododendrons) that cover the mountainsides in this part of the world. Shortly after, having enjoyed an easy day's walking along undulating path (the cable car having done the hard work of the ascent for us) we started the steep, zig zagging descent back down to the road, where we rendezvoused with Simon at the information centre at Col des Montets (1461m).
A short stroll later we were walking through the bucolic alpine village of Les Frasserands, where we found the rest of the group soaking up the sun at the campsite. After a rather late lunch, Hazel and I wandered into the town with Vicki and Rachel and treated ourselves to a jug of Jupiler beer served by a waitress from Wolverhampton at a bar in the village centre. A bit too cool to loiter for long once the sun went in/down.
Dinner was a feast served up in the dining room at Camping Les Frasserands - complete with a magnificent cheeseboard....
Campanula: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campanula
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My good friend James got married in the fall of 2005. I had been working on a coffee table for over a year at that point, and I decided to use some of the scrap to make a wedding present for him and his lovely fiancée, Emily.
This is the original plan. The coffee table was primarily made of ash, with a laminated top that included bloodwood and mahogany. One piece from the end of one of the boards, nearly two feet long, was still in my basement. I call the proposed piece a "cheeseboard" or a "serving board" because the cutting surface would be face-grain; this to distinguish it from a "cutting board" or "chopping block" that would ideally have end-grain on the cutting surface. I decided to split that piece of ash up and laminate it with colored stripes of purpleheart and bloodwood, with fimbriations of a darker wood--originally, mahogany. The design was asymmetric because of the way the grain of the ash ran, as you can see in the photograph below. This was the plan, anyway...