California Dining

So after all the excitement today of quirky Danish-Dutch towns and bio-dynamic cosmic grape shenanigans tonight we've been invited to dine in the Copper Canyon Observation car; this is the train's equivalent of the Captain's Table. So for the occasion our finery is a little more fine than usual. But glancing around at this evening’s event I notice we’re the only ones not sporting a gold name badge – i.e. we’re not a gold railer, the regular travellers on the Grandluxe train. I suspect we should have received our cream vellum invitation on another evening but we’re here now and if we have to pull out our ‘regular passengers’ credentials we can regale them with tales of the Venice Simplon Orient Express, British Pullman and Northern Belle!
Sadly we’re not seated with the wonderful Miss MJ and Miss E tonight, but another couple who perhaps find us a little too exotic for their tastes. We were so lucky will our seating arrangements on the first night, it could have been so much duller and rather awkward infact if Chad hadn't chosen so wisely. But hey, it was a fabulous menu, way more fabulous than the company so I’ll concentrate on that.
Firstly we tuck into what they call a Burst of Brie – Rich Buttery Brie Cheese baked in Phyllo Pastry then drizzled with a Port Wine Reduction. It is exactly as promised, a square of the flakiest phyllo bursting with an unctuous pool of rich and ever so buttery brie, a prefect little parcel.

To calm us down a bit we enjoy a small bowl of rather pale Roasted Asparagus Soup garnished with Asparagus Tips. Finally they’ve run out of the red vegetables or salad items, fruit whatever, I never bothered to learn how to classify a tomato – the fact that it was related to the deadly nightshade was enough for me frankly!
The next course was a light and refreshing Salad of Baby Spinach topped with Shaved Red Onions, Boursin Cheese, Toasted Walnuts, drizzled with Balsamic Vinaigrette. A like a good balsamic vinaigrette and this was a good one!
For main course we have a choice of Venison, a Barbeque Pork Tenderloin or a Sesame Crusted Ahi Tuna. That was easy and I tucked into a delicious Venison Tournedos served with Sour Cream and Green Onion Crushed Red Bliss Potatoes, steamed Broccoli then finished with Sauce Marchancis de Vin. Definitely a nice hunk of full-flavoured meat from a very happy deer!
And for the pleasure is not all over yet because there’s dessert. Well I think there was Shortcake Biscuit and Seasonal Fruit but they had me at the phrase “Chocolate Truffle Torte” and it was was delicious!

One of the main points of the Copper Canyon carriage is its domed glass roof giving us an unrestricted view of the panoramic views outside all around us but sadly we’re not moving during this meal. So we get to see the sun set over a rather non-descript hill and I always like a sunset but a little more variety would have been appreciated. I am not such a diva to demand ‘herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically across the plain of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon’ but a little more of the no doubt serene expansive country would have been very enjoyable from our vantage point in the dome. Ah well it was still an interesting evening. To be fair perhaps the combination of the stifling company and the ever so crowded carriage made me yearn to be back in our spot in Zurich but at least it was a change.

The holy cow of vineyards

We’re off to our first of two visits to a vineyard on this gastronomic trip. This one is a specialist biodynamic operation which before visiting I assumed was some sort of über organic set up but little did I know what delights were in store. The countryside is just idyllic; the pleasing straight lines of the vines dot the hillside, the gentle undulating greens and the distinctive outline of the olive trees. I would say surprisingly Provencal and I wouldn’t have been surprised to come across fields of French lavender undulating in the breeze, this must be why it seems so familiar.

As we approach the Demetria Estate I am intrigued by the diversity of the flowers blooming at the foot of each row of vines but this is all explained by our host later.

The vineyard buildings are so elegant in their dusky amber hues, slated roofs and shuttered tall windows. The colours make me wish it were possible to get out my watercolours and paint those stunning delicate hues.

Around the building are dotted clumps of flowers and artfully arranged ‘shabby chic’ enamelled jugs, a water fountain and the lavender I was hankering after. I do wonder if this is ‘au natural’ or the result of a consult from Elle Décor, but whatever it is I find it terribly appealing. Maybe my Parisian conception has imbued me with this inexplicable sense of belonging whenever on French soil and it transpires, anywhere that reminds me of France.

We are furnished with a splendid box lunch and taste some of the fruits of Demetria’s labour as we tuck into our marinated chicken, rustic herby potato salad (thankfully not doused in mayonnaise), a tasty chopped mango dressing, garlicky oil vinaigrette which we were probably supposed dribble over our various salad leaves but we all dunked the hunk of country bread in to ensure we didn’t miss the garlicky juices. The chicken was enormous, an elephantine hen if I ever so one so most of us struggled to finish it but enjoyed what we had. There was a great gooey chocolaty brownie to finish, which unsurprisingly most of us were able to find some space for.

As we’re enjoying the wines we are having the biodynamic approach to vine cultivation explained by our enthusiastic host. And huge apologies if my interpretation doesn’t quite grasp all the principles as I’m sure there are considerably more learned tomes out there but this is what I think he said, but of course the wine we were eagerly swigging could have coloured my memory! The biodynamic way is to adhere to the lunar calendar. This means that some days are designated leaf days, some fruit, some roots and the rest flower. So if you are planning to harvest, you can only be undertaken on a fruit day – but you might have a fighting chance as a day doesn’t necessarily last 24 hours, sometimes it is actually 48 hours or longer! No I’m not entirely sure either.

They also make every effort to create bio-diversity by encouraging other flowers and plants to grow around the vines, which is what caught my eye at we entered the estate. And that does seem very wise to introduce helpful plants to the wine-making process, it can control the undesirable insects and promote the friendlier ones. The don't use traditional fertilizers which is commendable and instead used green tea and other foodie remedies poured onto the base of the emerging vines but if I recall, only permissible on the root days.

The practice that did perplex nay entirely floor me was the use of cows. Apparently cows have a lot of cosmic energy in their horns (“their horns is their aerials” if I can paraphrase Withnail and I?) and they walk the cows down in-between the vines so that their cosmic energy can permeate the grapes as the horns brush by them. And when the cows die, they are still chockfull of cosmic energy so their horns are removed, filled with manure and transplanted at 5m intervals in the vineyard. Hmmm some say the magic secret to the finest of healthily produced, lovingly nurtured wine; others perhaps consider it San Franciscan new-age psychobabble! The choice is yours! The wine we sampled was certainly enjoyable, I cannot vouch it was due to Ermintrude’s cosmic-energy infusing but who can say?

They also have the unusual practices in the pressing of the grapes and very rigorous strictures on how long their wine should mature in a barrel before being transferred to specially designed concrete eggs so that no further flavour from the barrels can impregnate their wines.

Demetria’s wines aren’t exported at the moment so I won’t be able to relive our tranquil afternoon on their beautiful hillside for a while, but it was a memorable experience and I'm never going to forget about the importance of cosmic energy!

Oooh, I can see the sea!

Ah salt is in the air, our train is enticingly close to the breaking waves and there are palm trees waving gently against the bluest of skies, we have arrived at what is sometimes called the American Riviera. Today we have various activities planned around Santa Barbara County; some are grabbing their bucket and spade and heading for the beach whereas Miss MJ and Miss E are stylishly dressed and meeting friends for hopefully, fish and chips somewhere by the sea. M and I have opted for a two pronged attack on Santa Barbara, we’re going up in the mountains to visit an intriguing biodynamic vineyard and also visit the equally intriguing Solvang.

Whilst the final preparations for detraining are taking place, I took our fantastic situation as an opportunity to visit the New York observation car for the first time and checked out the view from the back of the train. The views is better out of the other window (see above) and everyone is taking in their first shots of the azure sea.

It had been tricky to envisage the day ahead when checking out the first rays of sun this morning from our cabin window but it has turned out to be a perfect day.

And M is happy as there are plenty of palm trees and the sea, clearly a tropical Pisces.