I am looking forward for another fun week of activities here at THD- March 4 to 10, 2024
Bordeaux & Aquitaine – Great for: Vineyards, Foie Gras, Duck, Wine Tasting – Read our Aquitaine Travel Guide
Dordogne – Great for: Wine, Foie Gras, Truffles and Market Towns – Read our Dordogne Travel Guide
Midi-Pyrénées – Great for: Skiing, Wine and Festivals – Read our Midi-Pyrénées Travel Guide
French Riviera – Great for: Mediterranean-style beaches, Nice, St. Tropez, Cannes, Yachting and Festivals – Read our Côte d’Azur Travel Guide
Provence-Alpes – Great for: Mountains to the Mediterranean, Bouillabaisse, Provence and Avignon – Read our Provence Travel Guide
Personal Note: Looking forward to the Taste of France Special Dinner. I am wondering what would be the Entree? Will it be Pot-au-Feu?
The Oxford Companion to Food calls pot-au-feu "a dish symbolic of French cuisine and a meal in itself"; the chef Raymond Blanc has called it "the quintessence of French family cuisine ... the most celebrated dish in France, that honors the tables of the rich and poor alike"; and the American National Geographic magazine has termed it the national dish of France.
| I am not aware that the following are remarkable feat in the Ruth Bancroft Gardens(RBG) here in Walnut Creek. Have you been to the RBG recently? |
Question: What remarkable feat marks the Ruth Bancroft Garden's contribution to botanical conservation, and how does its collection stand out on a global scale? |
A) It was the first garden in California to use exclusively native plants. |
B) It houses the largest collection of aquatic plants in the United States. |
C) It was the first garden in the United States to be preserved by The Garden Conservancy. |
D) It contains the world's rarest species of orchids.  From: The Walnut Creek Spotlight Newsletter |
The Ruth Bancroft Garden is a 2.5-acre (1.0 ha) public dry garden established by Ruth Bancroft. It contains more than 2,000 cactus, succulents, trees, and shrubs native to California, Mexico, Chile, South Africa, and Australia. It is located at 1552 Bancroft Road in Walnut Creek, California, USA. For Complete Details visit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Bancroft_Garden Finally some Gardening Quotes:
Lastly, For my cacti and succulent collections visit:  https://chateaudumer.blogspot.com/2021/04/my-cacti-and-succulents-in-philippines.html Meanwhile speaking of unusual plants, here's the latest news about the Corpse Flower in the San Francisco Academy of Sciences Gardens 'Like a port-a-potty': Bay Area residents line up for 'exceptional' Golden Gate Park event A rare Indonesian plant called a corpse flower began to bloom Tuesday afternoon at San Francisco’s Academy of Sciences, and by Wednesday morning, more than a hundred Bay Area residents had lined up to catch a whiff of its elusive scent, which the plant only exudes when it blossoms. Due to its odor, like that of a rotting corpse, the titan arum is characterized as a carrion flower, and is also known as the corpse flower or corpse plant as translated from the original Indonesian word bunga bangkai (bunga means flower, while bangkai can be translated as corpse, cadaver, or carrion). |
The Special Italian Dinner last night was a Gastronomic Delight. I particularly enjoyed the Entree-Osso Buco.💥. It reminds me of a Filipino Dish ( Bulalo)💙 that I have been craving for sometime.
Ossobuco or osso buco (pronounced [ˌɔssoˈbuːko]; Milanese: òss bus [ˌɔz ˈbyːs]) is a specialty of Lombard cuisine of cross-cut veal shanks braised with vegetables, white wine, and broth. It is often garnished with gremolata and traditionally served with either risotto alla milanese or polenta, depending on the regional variation. The marrow in the hole in the bone, a prized delicacy, is the defining feature of the dish. The gremolata (parsley, lemon zest, and garlic) is an important garnish for this dish.
The two types of ossobuco are a modern version that has tomatoes and the original version which does not. The older version, ossobuco in bianco, is flavoured with cinnamon, bay leaf, and gremolata. The modern and more popular recipe includes tomatoes, carrots, celery, and onions; gremolata is optional. While veal is the traditional meat used for ossobuco, dishes with other meats such as pork have been called ossobuco.
