But right now I want to talk about the food. This place is owned by a Dutch guy and the manager and chef are also Dutch (explaining why the website is in Dutch and not in French).
Anouk, the chef, only cooks from what she and her husband gets off her farm. Well, we have been having cheese with breakfast (which is not something I usually do but if you hand me Brie at 8:30am, turns out I'll eat it) which she does not make. But we did have a dish (I forget which one) that had sheep cheese she made. She talked about how when she gets the milk from the sheep, she massages her, so it feels more like an exchange.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. Every morning there is a breakfast buffet. There are a few types of bread but there is one I love - it's really dense. There are occasionally things like chocolate croissants, brownies and crepes. But there is always bread, granola, different types of homemade jams, this amazing honey (which is not local), yogurt and about 4-5 types of cheese.
For lunch and dinner we sit at group tables. Before every course Anouk has someone ding a glass and she announces the course. For lunch it's one coarse and a tea that is often made from her spices. For dinner there is an appetizer, (often a soup,) a main course and a dessert. We get two glasses of wine (if we want) with dinner (which I have partook of every day accept for the day I went wine tasting). Everything she has made has been really good. Everyone knows I don't eat peppers but she made something with green and red peppers, and I ate it (I am not going to start eating them at home, so don't get any ideas). Some meals are Italian, Indonesian, French, Indian. That indian meal she made the other night, started out with samosas, the main dish was vegetable curry with rice and chapati and ended with coconut pudding. That was all homemade. There is also an amuse bouche at 5:30, which is good because I'm usually starving by that time.
This is our last day. I was about to say it's my last opportunity to eat that bread but I'll probably have some before the ride to the airport tomorrow. Tonight is our closing dinner. No more awesome vegetarian food for me. But since the meals have been a big part of this retreat, I wanted to share.
Pumpkin Risotto
Breakfast buffet (good bread in the basket with the blue napkin)
Beet tart with couscous
Sheppard's Pie? (the top is polenta)
Nectarine filled with almond paste and homemade ice-cream
Potato Salad (which I don't usually like but this was excellent) and something like a quiche
Vegetable lasagna with spinach and pumpkin (one of the favorites)
Chocolate mousse
I forgot what she called this but it was cheese and dough and reminded me of my grandmother's manicotti
Homemade cheese cake (this might have been what the sheep gave the milk for)
Brownie with a sweet wine similar to port
Vegetable curry
Olive bread
(again, not a quiche) with zucchini and sweet potato
Yogurt with lemon curt and meringues
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