Wow what a fantastic post. Thanks so much for sharing.
My pleasure, Jesús & Scott. Thank you both for the kind words. Sincerely appreciated.
Best,
N
Wow, yet another amazing meal! The food looks incredible. Was the main dish as large as it appears in the picture?
Bravo
What a lovely dinner and a fun theme!
Noel,
Loved reading the notes and now that I can see the pictures it looks fantastic. That Bas Armagnac, those lovely wines, that quail - wow! Too bad foie gras is illegal in California. Love the shot of you at the end. Keep enjoying.
Hi, Spencer. It was rather large, but not heavy on the belly. Cyrille seems to have mastered doing that.
Thanks!
Thanks! Cyrille did all the work. Lots of fun indeed!
Hi, Paul. So nice to “hear” from you. Thanks, will do!
Best to all,
N
Holy Mother of God. Mr. Grammer and I have much to live up to for our next feast. Wow. So jealous.
Thanks, Tran. While the food and wine are, indeed, of some measure of import, it’s the getting together with good friends and family, sharing the meal and drinks, that truly make for memorable times enjoying life. There’s no “contest” involved, and, as I earlier mentioned to Todd, “out-doing” never comes to mind. We just share and enjoy the company, right?
Best,
N
When I first started reading your posts I wondered how you could take the pictures, take notes or remember the descriptions yet still focus on the moment. Yet that is what comes through every time. The focus on the moment at hand and the people you are sharing that moment with at the time. It really is a wonder to me how you manage to do both but you appear to do both so very well and while I don’t comment on every post of yours I enjoy reading every single one.
Hi, Brian. Thanks for the kind words. I am happy you enjoy reading my posts.
The way you put it, it does seem a bit complicated, but it really isn’t at all. Everything just flows naturally somehow. As to notes, unless I am having, say, over 10 different wines, I need not take notes as I can remember them. More than that, I need to write down my thoughts - which I hardly ever do these days. Of course, when doing formal or “trade tasting”, such as in Vinexpo, I have a little notebook I write on, or I record my notes. I’ve not been back to Vinexpo or Alimentaria and such since after 2010 though. It was fun when for a while, and I just may attend again sometime, but it all seems a bit too hectic now.
Best,
N
Goodness! What an experience, thank you for taking the time to post up the words and pictures.
My pleasure, Beau. Thanks for taking the time to drop a note. It never gets old reading kind words of appreciation such as these.
Best,
N
Wow. Another outdoing yourself again!
Was that black fungus inside the Yquem bottle? The only time I’ve seen that was on a Tokaj Escenzia before.
I don’t recall there being any in the bottle or in my glass, though from this photo, it certainly does look like it. I’ve just checked my other photos of the bottle though, and there isn’t any of the black looking stuff there. Curious.
Best,
N
It’s not black fungus inside. Rather, that photo shows rather clear condensation on the outside. The “black” area is the part that doesn’t have condensation on it.
In general, I can tell from most of your photos that you live in a much warmer and more humid climate, as many of your bottles show a ton of condensation. Here in Seattle we can just leave our wine on our front porch, since it 55 degrees about 90% of the time… 
Remarkable. I love the movie and remember offhandedly telling my wife how much fun it would be to try and replicate the meal, but you’ve actually achieved the feat! More importantly, it seems you have captured the spirit of the film in the process. Bravo and thanks for sharing!
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A fantastic feast and a most fantastic post.
Thanks for sharing.
Noel, your posts are always greatly treasured by me, and this one’s really special. If anyone has yet to read Isak Denison’s novel or seen Gabriel Axel’s incredible film adaptation, I certainly recommend them both very highly. The film is recently out on a great Blu-ray/DVD from Criterion. And, hey, it’s one of Pope Francis’ favorites!
My wife and I made a much more meager effort to recreate the film version of the meal once with certain substitutions beyond the wine vintages (though no substitute for turtle, which my wife fell for on a trip to New Orleans). As best as we could determine from the film and other resources, the original menu is something like this:
Babette’s Feast menu:
~Amontillado Sherry
Potage a’la Tortue
(Turtle Soup)
~1860 Veuve Cliquot-Ponsardin Champagne
Blinis Demidoff au Caviar
(Buckwheat pancakes with caviar and creme fraiche)
~1845 Clos de Vougeot (Maison Louis Latour?)
Caille en Sarcophage avec Sauce Perigourdine
(“Quails in Coffins” / Quail in Puff Pastry Shell with Foie Gras & Truffle Sauce)
La Salade
(Salad of endive, walnuts, etc)
Les Fromages
(Cheese and Fresh Fruit)
~Hine VSOP Cognac
Baba au Rhum avec les Figues
(Rum Cake with Dried Figs)
Oh, and here’s a good article on wines in the film: Toledo Blade - Google News Archive Search
Hi, Eric, and thanks. Yes, that’s most likely it. I was thinking maybe something with the lighting, but really don’t know anything about that. Yes, a lot warmer and much more humid; although, I was in Louisiana in the latter half of spring once, and, in certain areas there, it seemed just as oppressively humid as back in Manila.
My pleasure, Bill. Thanks for reading, and I am happy you enjoyed my post.
Most welcome, Loi. My pleasure.
Thank you for the kind words, Richard. I’ve watched that movie twice - once fairly recently as I stated in my original post, but do not really remember any Hine VSOP Cognac in it. I’ve read that the script called for it, but I don’t remember it in the movie.
Best to all,
N