La Croix

The Jouty farm at La Croix

Base-jumpers near Annecy, day after the Oz election

Everywhere small that attracts travellers from afar has a long story, and that of La Croix de La Rochette's claims on us is no exception. In short: it is the childhood and part-time current home of Yvonne, a wonderful friend who can still recall Andrew as an infant and who, along with with her mother Madame Jouty, plays a hugely significant part in the Foodivore "origin story".

Pre-dessert...for two

The region, Savoie, is a gorgeously diverse place in the foothills of the French Alps. To call them foothills rather understates things though - we're talking peaks of up to 2000m or so. Winding through these are various gorges and mountain passes - Col de la Madeleine in particular sticks in the mind. Pierre was in fine form, toplessly touring us under blazing sunny skies (it was a little incongruous to cast our votes in Geneva in 26 degrees, knowing that winter's grip was still firm on our home).

Moonrise from La Croix

When we weren't taking in the charm of Yvonne, her home and the surprisingly-full house there was time for a few other moments.....

• Our discovery of the wines of Savoie which, typically of French wines other than Bordeaux and Burgundy, are largely unknown elsewhere. Mondeuse is a grape variety we'd not heard of before which offers a beguiling balance between lightness and full-bodiedness. Can't wait to try some in Tuscany with homemade dishes!
• By accident (we and the others lost one another in a little town called La Cote St Andre and handily found each other in the town's best eatery, all having reckoned that if all else fails you should eat well while working out how next to proceed) we had a splendid 9-course meal that contained some new ideas for us (flavours & presentation....giving nothing away just yet). Check out the photos to see what a gratis "pre-dessert" for two consists of!
• An unexpectedly fine purveyor of malt whisky in Grenoble when we, yet again, tried to conclude our dealings with the French bureaucracy. Anyone who thinks that the Australian counterpart is inefficient and rigid really needs to get some perspective: it may be tiresome, but it's nothing compared with the inexpertise we've encountered.



Yvonne displays part of the pre-dessert

• Sadly, our final French market experience in Chambery. It was with some nostalgia and the sorrow of parting that we browsed the stands, seeking out the components for a cassoulet that we'd promised the crowd. (The cassoulet was pretty damn good, but without goose lacked the crowning component that we learned of in Najac).

Pierre and Andrew in the Savoie gorges

Tracey at La Croix

Yvoire on another unendurable mountain day

Tracey adding her own radiance

Yvonne and Andrew at La Croix

More base-jumpers (crazy buggers)

At the end of a wonderful, far-too-short week, we bade au revoir to Yvonne, and to France itself, and pointed Pierre uphill towards the true Alps...and Switzerland..