Neuves-Granges: Farewell Meals

Opposite to the thought that I would be preparing a lot of Asian meals for Ernest and Nicole, Ernest was the cook most of the time.

Not only he enjoyed cooking, he loved to display food, even cut fruits, as a piece of art. On top of that, he was always very generous to share with his guests the best food he could offer. For my last lunch in Neuves-Granges this year, I expected to help finish the leftover in the refrigerator, after several days' heavy meals outside. When Ernest took out snails from the oven,

I realized he took my farewell lunch seriously. He served this French speciality that I used to savour only at Christmas Eve. What an honour.

Wait a moment! That was only the appetizer. For the following dish, we had each a trout accompanied by small potatoes and mushrooms nicely presented on the plate.

For dessert, we had strawberries with cream and a cookie. The combination of colours made the juicy red fruits even more appealing to our eyes.

What about dinner?

As I mentioned earlier, Ernest grew his own vegetables. Pumpkins were in his self-sufficient list. Its soup, cooked soon after the harvest, was kept frozen. When it was heated up again, it still tasted as good as if it was newly prepared, especially when I knew that the pumpkin was from the garden.

There came one of my favourites: endives with ham accompanied by bechamel sauce. I would not be able to have the authentic dish in Malaysia where endives were nowhere to be found.

Even if I could gather all the ingredients of the above dishes, the taste would never be the same, for something would still be lacking: the love from Neuves-Granges.