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The drive from Le Pian sur Garonne to St Emilion was only about an hour. Aahhhhhh…Saint Emilion, this old medieval town with it’s steep cobblestone streets and historic limestone buildings…situated uphill surrounded by some of the best vineyards in all of France. On every corner is a wine shop luring you in to taste some of the most prestigious wine in France. Between the wine shops are restaurants, boutiques and bakeries making some of the best macaroons from a recipe dating back to the 1600’s. Sure, try to walk by and not follow your nose straight to the cookie rack…we bought 48 cookies while we were there-we’re not fat, they’re just small…ok, maybe 48 is a bit much.
We had gotten off to a late start today after checking out with Christine and Willy…taking pictures of their wine cellar and buying a few bottles of their wine. Before arriving at our next B&B, Le Moulin du Palat (www.lauredemalet-lepalat.com) in Saint Emilion, we made a quick stop at a cooperative wine store for wine tasting. A cooperative means they have several farmers who send in all their grapes from their vineyards and then the cooperative makes the wine, bottles and sells it. We tasted a few and decided on a sweet white wine to purchase.
Once in Saint Emilion, we quickly checked into our place which was within walking distance of the center of town. The view from our window was picture perfect with vineyards surrounding us and the building itself was charming with ivy covering it on all sides.
Once in town, the first place we walked into was a large winery which had the tasting of the wine in their wine cellar underground. This was the first of many underground cellars. The old limestone cave was huge with tons of barrels holding wine as it matures. We continued on to the next place which invited us to explore their underground wine cave as well. This one was also huge with different rooms holding bottles and barrels and moss growing on the walls. We tasted the wine with the owner and his son. The son was about 14 years old and was learning about what would someday be his vineyards.
We walked around a bit more weaving through streets and scoping out the area. We decided to go back to our B&B for a bit of downtime. We worked on the computer and then opened a bottle of wine outside while staring at the vineyards and nearby château’s. It was getting late so we walked back to town to find a restaurant.
Down a steep cobblestone alley, we found a restaurant which had three tables outside and about 8 tables inside. We sat outside and ordered a 3 course meal. Giff started with a green salad with duck and foi gras and I started with a salmon tartar. We ordered a bottle of wine which was decanted in what looked like a huge wine glass with a spout. The wine we chose was the 2004 Aurelius, which ended up to be a great choice (we loved it). Giff had the steak and I had the duck followed by a chocolate mousse and creme brûlée. Dinner was nice and relaxing after a busy day.
Once we finished dinner, we walked back admiring the huge full moon looking down on the miles and miles of vineyards. We definitely like this place.
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Published by Brandey Kabat
What I like: Dark chocolate, yoga, fresh squeezed juice, laughing, hiking, wine, travel, food, lush products, being warm, having long hair, the ritual of drinking something hot first thing in the morning…
What I don’t like: When people smell their fingers, pushing elevator buttons, confrontational situations, not being able to fall asleep quickly at bedtime…
Most random job ever: Plastic surgery consultant
As for my love life: I met my husband mid way through my junior year in college, as soon as I laid my eyes on him I was attracted to him. In fact, I made the first move which was a bit out of character but there was something about him…probably the fact that he was smokin’ hot!!
Where from and where to: I grew up in NY, went to college at The Ohio State University and then headed to CA after graduation. My boyfriend (Giff) and I had a map, a borrowed van and used stuff from his mom’s basement aka a vacuum, silverware, old Christmas ornaments etc., and about $1000 each. We thought it would be a good idea to head straight to CA since neither of us had been. Being we didn’t know anyone there nor did we have a job or job interviews set up or a place to live…I would say we did it the hard way! However with a bit of help from Giff’s mom who flew out to put us up in a hotel, bought me a suit for interviewing and co-signed a lease to get us a place to live we eventually found jobs and an apartment and have been in CA for 10 years.
Our story: After moving out to CA and living together for about 3 years we got engaged. He popped the question while down on one knee on the beach at sunset after we finished our picnic he had packed of bread, cheese, shrimp cocktail and wine. He even had the ring in a box that had a light shining down on it when opened so as it was getting dark, this amazing man was asking me to be his wife as he handed me a huge rock…Yes! Yes! Yes!
In 2005 we were married (I am biased but our wedding was absolutely amazing). By the end of 2005 we were new home owners. 2006-2009- we were both happily married, attached to our 3 cats and were focused on building our careers.
Giff and I got pregnant mid year 2009 with our first baby but what should have been one of the highlights of our life was soon distracted by the news I received at the doctor’s office.
The lump in my breast that had been dismissed the year before as nothing was now being diagnosed by a different doctor as breast cancer. Thankfully Giff is a persistent person and when we went in for our ultrasound (to hear our baby’s heartbeat) he brought up the request for testing to be done on the lump rather than dismissing it based on feeling it.
The going gets rough: Things began to move so quickly at that point, it was hard to breathe. I was 30, pregnant with my first child and going into surgery to remove breast cancer. I was about to go through what would be the worst year of my life. The plan had been discussed, we were going with the most aggressive regimen possible- double mastectomy, port surgically placed in my chest, chemotherapy, drug therapy and radiation. We also had to terminate the pregnancy. This cancer was estrogen positive and the hormones were actually feeding the cancer. That little angel whom was the cause of our going into the doctor saved my life.
Giff was my rock through every step…interviewing a team of the best doctors, memorizing which medicines I needed to take and when, driving me to chemotherapy and sitting next to me while I was so scared, telling me I was beautiful when I was bald, and so many other things…words cannot express. When you say your vows, in sickness and in health…you would never guess sickness of this magnitude at this age would be in the near future. In addition to this hardship, Giff’s dad died of a complicated prostate cancer the day we came home from my surgery. I could not hold my husband as he mourned for his dad because of the pain I was in from the mastectomy. How did Giff handle all of this pain at one time? How was he so strong for me? He is amazing. Giff’s dad was one of those people whom you naturally wanted to be around…his smile was contagious, his love for life was invigorating and he listened so intently when you talked in a conversation with him. He made you feel special. We think about him often and will miss him so much.
My family and friends were also by my side…my mom flying out from NY several times to help us with cooking and cleaning and holding my hand. It must be one of the most awful things in the world to watch your baby girl be diagnosed with breast cancer. My girlfriends also flew out to take care of me and help with anything they could. Other friends living closer would come by just to sit and talk or watch movies. There were so many cards, letters, flowers, cookies, and other gifts that came from all over the country. It’s amazing to have such great people in my life. In addition to my amazing circle of friends and family, there were the strangers with whom crossed our path. Whether it was a letter in the mail from a breast cancer survivor, the anesthesiologist who called Giff during my surgery crying happy tears that the cancer had not spread to my lymph nodes, or our fertility doctor who promised to watch over our frozen embryos as if they were her own. There were so many small gestures that made such a big impact on our lives.
Looking at the bright side: Thankfully this was caught in stage 1, had it been caught a year prior by the first doctor I had gone into about the lump, it may have been caught at stage 0. Please learn from my lesson…insist the lump be tested – a lump cannot be diagnosed by touch. They were able to cut all the cancer out and after I finish the entire regimen including a pill I take over the next 5 years, they said there is a 95% chance the cancer will never come back.
Our exciting future: We’ve decided to re-prioritize, we are taking 400 days starting February 7th of 2011 to travel the world! We will travel to new places, eat new foods, taste new wines and meet new people. We will focus on healing ourselves both physically and mentally. This will be one of the best years of our lives.
View all posts by Brandey Kabat
Spinning Around The World 
How are you guys not getting fat??? Seriously the food looks and sounds amazing!