Thursday, June 12, 2008

La ferme aquacole Saint-Vivien et Winery à Arsac

Here we are at la ferme aquacole Saint-Vivien. This is the shrimp farm.
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Everyone was having serious A.D.D. during this visit. We were all playing with the shrubs and plants in the area and secretly putting them in people's hair, jackets, pants, etc.

Bang-me kept messing around with Julie. I was tickling Jessica's neck with plants (I don't even think she realizes that to this day). Canadia was putting shrubs and flowers in my hair.



Classic. Alex, Amanda, and Brian did this to Monsieur Blayac two times. And I think Chef Sébastien might have helped too.
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HAAHAHAHHA! The only reason why he found out was because the tour guide told him. It was really hilarious. We were all acting like children.

So I really did try to focus. Look, baby oysters!
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And then the allergy attacks started. It was horrible!!! Started with the runny nose, then the sneezing, then the eyes.

By the time I got here, I was in ALLERGY HELL.
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And so was everyone else. A few people came swarming to me for drugs. ahhaha. I had a bag full of allergy meds, pepto, vitamins, etc. I always come prepared! A good chunk of us left the tour a bit early to sit in the car and get the air-conditioning ready and to escape the allergy hell.

Our next stop was another wine-tasting at Winery à Arsac.

For a bit of background, during this trip we have had some water fights. Sometimes when we drove by each other slowly, someone would throw water on the other car. Mostly at Monsieur Blayac's car. On our way to the next tasting, team Stéphane got Monsieur Blayac pretty good. We drove by and I rolled down my window to ask if "he was okay." Then I threw water on him and Chef made a run for it. HAHAHAHA. Chef got him pretty good one time earlier as well. And another time, Justin got Jessica pretty good in Chef Stéphane's car. (Yes, wholesome child-like fun).

When we pulled up into the parking lot next to Monsieur Blayac's car, no one would take their eyes off each other. Bottle in hand, ready to go. HAHAAH. I wouldn't even get out of the passenger side door just in case.

And here we are at the tasting. This was a special kind of tasting - they gave us different kinds of wines without telling us the type or appellation. We answered some questions in terms of wine preference. This was a wine test help categorize what kind s of wine suit us best. Was pretty neat. Poor chef wasn't feeling too well so he left the room for the entire tasting. hahahahahaah!
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The courtyard
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Their super-cool wine store. So Amanda told me later that Felipe brought in an empty coke can full of water. He was waiting for the right moment to dump it on my head. Thanks for the warning, Amanda!
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Who knew? Ultra modern in the middle of nowhere.
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Not looking so good there, Chef Séb... Chef Stéphane couldn't stop giggling about it the entire day. TEQUILA !
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I bet being surrounded by all those wine bottles alone is enough to want to vomit.

Mon Signe Oenologique:

Musclé ascendant explorateur
Si les vins puissants on vos faveurs avec toute leur richesse en tanins, leur puissance, leur velouté et leur intensité en bouch, vous ne dédaignez pas les vins plus légers et fruités ; si vous appréciez les arômes de torréfaction dans un vin solide, vous aimez auss le fruit, une bonne acidité ou une bonne dose de sucre. Bref, vous vous enflammez pour les vins intenses tout en ne vous refusant aucun plaisir, aucune découverte. Question cépage, la Syrah et le Merlot bien mur vous plaisent, tout comme le Sauvignon ou le Chardonnay sans doute. Vous constituez votre cave au gré de vos coups de coeur, de vos envies, de vos voyages et des conseils qu'on vous prodigue. Votre signe est à la mode et de beaux moments de plaisir sont au programme des années futures.

Who knew? Most of it actually sounds like the opposite of what I typically like. But maybe they got the fashion aspect right? Hah, regardless, it was fun. The pamphlet they gave me with my signe Oenologique had a list of wines that might interest me. I thought that was pretty cool. Will check them out when I can.

Winery à Arsac
Rond point des Vendangeurs, D1
Arsac en Médoc
Phone: +33 (0)5 56 390 490


Sadly, this was the last of our activities on this fun and exhausting trip. After our tasting, we rushed to the train station.

Hung-over chef driving with his eyes closed (jk).
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We made it in time. (Darn, I was hoping that the strike on the TGV would have been bad and we would have to stay in Bordeaux an extra day)
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I managed to stay awake this entire day even though I was hungover and had the least amount of sleep. Later on during the train ride, I totally passed out. By the time we got to Paris, it was around 23h45.

I had so much fun on this trip. I am going to miss my classmates and my chef so much. This is probably the last time we would be together as a group. All I gotta say is that I am so glad I picked Ferrandi. Overall one of the best and most fun, influential, and educational experiences of my life. I definitely learned the meaning of hard labor. I will never ever ever regret my decision of dropping the old corporate IT lifestyle for this.

C'est vraiment fini !

Almost... I volunteered to help Chef Stéphane with a cooking demo tomorrow. I am not ready to be done with school yet!

1 comment:

Rafael Donnay said...

proud of you babe!