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18049. Jenerator - 1/3/2006 3:45:09 PM Alistair,
If you've ever had a rasberry dessert in France, chances are there was Chambord in it. 18050. alistairconnor - 1/3/2006 4:14:06 PM I don't think we go to the same class of restaurant Jen dear... Though in truth, I don't get out much.
Seriously. The word "Chambord" immediately brought to mind two things :
- the actual château
- a brand of electrical fittings I installed about 10 years ago. 18051. Ms. No - 1/3/2006 5:49:36 PM Happy New Year to you all! 18052. Ms. No - 1/3/2006 5:50:17 PM AC,
Now I know where they got the inspiration for the Biltmore Estate.
18053. Magoseph - 1/3/2006 5:55:18 PM
I think we had some pictures from the Biltmore Estate some time past, didn't we?
Anyway, about the Chambord wine, I think there’s a very clever entrepreneur behind the history of this wine who paid a bundle for using the Chambord name, but then I’m a very skeptical wine customer. 18054. alistairconnor - 1/3/2006 5:55:41 PM Oh no doubt the NC version is bigger and better... the landscape is certainly more interesting...
but Leonardo da Vinci never lived there. 18055. thoughtful - 1/3/2006 6:01:40 PM Chambord is not a wine but a liquor or liqueur if you will, made from black cherry, black raspberry, plum, honey, and herbs. It is obviously very sweet.
I've only ever enjoyed it as a topping on vanilla ice cream. Otherwise, as a drink, it would definitely need to be cut with something. 18056. thoughtful - 1/3/2006 6:02:30 PM Biltmore:
 18057. Ms. No - 1/3/2006 6:02:34 PM I don't know that it's any bigger. It covers a total of 4 acres or something but Chateau Chambord certainly looks to be as big if not bigger. I'll agree with you about the grounds, though. Biltmore has some of the best I've ever seen. 18058. Ms. No - 1/3/2006 6:08:54 PM Chambord Martinis were all the rage here for a bit of course they were calling them French Martinis. 18059. alistairconnor - 1/3/2006 6:12:35 PM You've also got the beautiful mountain backdrop, rather than the dreary Loire Valley landscape.
I'll do an informal survey of my friends, to see if any of them have ever heard of, or drunk, the liqueur. 18060. thoughtful - 1/3/2006 6:20:26 PM Speaking of drinks...what is campari? It seems to be quite the rage. I understand it's a bitter drink, no? 18061. alistairconnor - 1/3/2006 6:37:06 PM My dear. How provincial.
< snob on > My parents used to drink it, oh, thirty years or so ago. Gone completely out of fashion now. < snob off >
Looks like a rosé, it's got an orangey taste. Quite pleasant as an aperitif as I recall.
18062. thoughtful - 1/3/2006 6:44:27 PM Well all I know is recently a snob's snob was quite impressed when he saw the color of my drink and asked if i was drinking campari. he almost gagged when i told him it was cranberry juice... 18063. thoughtful - 1/3/2006 6:52:16 PM Don't know if DanD is still around, but wanted to say hi and mention how beautiful his wife's photog is ...some really special shots posted there.
And I'm so glad that Anne & Dan didn't do the obvious with their children and name them Jan, Fran, Nan or Stan. 18064. Magoseph - 1/3/2006 6:57:06 PM This liqueur on ice is my favorite:
 18065. judithathome - 1/3/2006 7:05:36 PM Campari is pomegranate liquor. It's come back in fashion because of its antioxident properties...what better way to get your vitamins than in a tall glass of Campari and soda with lime!
Chambord straight would not only gag you but probably eat the enamel off your teeth. That's why we cut it with champagne.
There is also a brand of really good preserves called Chambord. I like the black raspberry myself. The label says they're from France but they're probably something else Alistair's compatriots foist off on us unsuspecting Texans of low social strata.
18066. thoughtful - 1/3/2006 7:11:12 PM Grand Marnier is definitely good stuff...far better than the much sharper cointreau.
Alas, my favorite drink is no longer made:
18067. alistairconnor - 1/3/2006 7:23:34 PM Driving around the backwoods in France, you can still sometimes see fading advertising hand-painted on the blank side wall of a café or house, generally for a now-unfashionable drink. A couple of times I have found one of these in a shop, and bought it to surprise my friends.
For example : Dubonnet. All the rage between the wars, probably nobody under 80 drinks it now. Pretty unexceptional stuff actually : sugared-up fortified wine with a few herbs and spices. 18068. Ms. No - 1/3/2006 7:50:28 PM I've heard of Dubonnet but never had any. I have to say I'm not greatly moved by that discription to go out hunting for it.
Cointreau is good in Margaritas and Cosmopolitans but I've never tried it st....oh, wait. Yes, I did have it straight once and that's about all I remember of that particular evening.
Over the holiday a friend of mine offered a whiskey so peaty I swear I expected to be picking turf out of my teeth after each sip. It was kind of good and interesting at first and then the novelty wore off and it was just too, too for me.
I like a Gin and Tonic or Tuaca and soda but I found I was quite fond of Cosmopolitans on Christmas Day. The bar-minding family member who made them has never made me anything that I didn't like, though. He works for a liquor distributor so it's always an education to visit them.
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