OK, time for some escapist fun. Let's say your fairy godmother came to you and your best beloved this morning, and said she would transport you and yours anywhere in the world for dinner tonight, instantly, and the kids (if you have them) would be babysat while you and your amour spent the whole evening together, all expenses paid ... where would you go? What would you eat and drink?
Me, I would choose Paris (naturellement), some candlelit bistro in St-Germain. Fresh tulips on the table. Fire crackling in the fireplace. On the menu: to start, a dozen briny raw oysters, slurped from the shell and washed down with cold Chablis. Then a bottle of Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame. A simple salad with warm, crusted goat cheese. Halibut in an herbaceous cream sauce. Lightly steamed broccoli dressed only with salt and lemon juice. And to finish, tarte Tatin with whipped cream. With strong black coffee, then a fine grappa, followed by a long, long walk through the cold night fog.
(As it happens, I'm going to get exactly that tonight, minus the Paris, the oysters, the grappa and the long, long walk. Can't have everything in this vale of tears. Heh.).
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Jim, please drop me a line at jimsim42 at yahoo dot com with an address at which I can contact you. I have an internet item to ask you about.
Thanks,
Jim
It doesn't matter so much what we have for dinner. The romantic part is that only Mr. Pringle gets a fork.
Mrs. Pringle
(sigh)
Pipe-dreaming, I would take the Nicollet Island Inn at sunset in the Twin Cities. I like sunsets over snow and the food is excellent.
Reality was Coy's Steakhouse in Hot Springs in our work clothes after the 2-year-old smucked his head at daycare, requiring a late-afternoon ER visit to get his forehead glued back together and denying us any chance to get home and get cleaned up. There's just something ironically romantic about sitting across from my wife at a candlelit table, her in her nurse's scrubs, I in my jeans and T-shirt [the preschool teacher's uniform] and both of us tired and starving beyond imagination. Its so nice to have a night out once in a while :)
Thanks, Jim! Same to you and yours!
I did think of a restaurant to which I'd like my beloved and me to be flown by angels, if possible. But I had to look up the spelling. It's Aux Dodus D'Audhuy, in Duravel, in southern France. It's sort of halfway between Saint-Martin-le-Redon and Puy L'Eveque, if you need directions. It's an old farmhouse that was being renovated by a couple from Paris, and turned into a restaurant. It was a mild summer night, and they'd set up a long table on the hilltop, in the garden, with the doors to the house wide open so you could look into the gorgeous tile and copper kitchen as they cooked. I was with a large group of assorted artists and friends, and we all sat around the table sipping delicious local wine as a gorgeous pink and lavender sunset flared and faded over the hills, and the stars began to come out. This area of France is famous for duck, foie gras, walnut groves, lavender, and fruits like pears and raspberries. So you can imagine any kind of combination of these things in culinary delights. Oh, and various terrines of fresh vegetables, and delicate salads of endive and other tasty greens. And delicious cheeses. It was a fairy-tale dinner. I'd go back there in a heatbeat!
Dear Ron:
I eat there often. I drive over to see my aunt and cousin and we all go out for a 'bite'. A true Frenchman would round off with a calvados and not grappa. However, at home, I have a grappa each night at 10 pm before I walk the dogs along the Main.
What is great is having a double espresso and a fat pastry on St. Germain after church in the spring sunshine. By that time I need breakfast. There is a Romanian Orthodox church one block of St. Germain.
Sincerely,
J R Dittbrenner
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