Almost Dinner in Paris

Maybe it was the flowers 

Or the linens and china

It may have been the handmade menus  

Or the candlelight

Maybe it was the champagne

Or the blinis and smoked salmon

It might have been the dark chocolate 

Or the little ramekins ready to go into the oven

Maybe it was the zucchini vichyssoise 

Or the artichoke tart and salad

It may have been the cheese course

Or the little chocolate cakes

Or possibly the party favors

But all together, it was a night to remember

About six months ago a friend and I donated a French Dinner Party to be auctioned off at a fundraiser. A lovely couple bought it and once we put our calendars together, it was scheduled for last weekend. The pressure was on! Our goal was to make this experience as special as possible for our generous guests. We wanted the evening to feel a bit like -- cue the music -- "April in Paris." We cooked for days and on Saturday night set the table and lit the candles. The flowers were from Hollyflora and the table linens from Heather Taylor Home. Blue and white china felt like the perfect choice for spring. The party favors were filled with French Macarons from a local patisserie.

Our guests arrived and after champagne and appetizers in the garden we sat down for dinner. It was a culinary adventure and a little trip to France. We made new friends, had some great conversation, and  got the chance to make some exciting French food. Our main course was filet of beef with red wine sauce, a french potato gratin and spring asparagus. I loved cooking with a kindred spirit who enjoys nothing better than poring over cookbooks and figuring out a menu as much as I do. Our two-hour planning lunch amidst piles of cookbooks and notes was a highlight of the experience. I got an education in French cuisine. It was a magical spring night filled with joie de vivre. Hopefully our guests felt that for a few hours at least they were transported to "the city of lights." As Audrey Hepburn once said, "Paris is always a good idea." That night we all became Francophiles!

Go here for the recipe for Zucchini Vichyssoise
And here for the recipe for Bittersweet Molten Chocolate Cakes

P.S.
If you are a Francophile and love to cook (those two often go together), check out this new cookbook by David Lebovitz, My Paris Kitchen. I just picked up a copy from my neighborhood bookstore and from my quick perusal it looks as if it is both a cookbook and a love letter to Paris.

Passez une bonne semaine!

Enchanted April

"She jumped up, pulled on her slippers, for there was nothing on the stone floor but one small rug, ran to the window and threw open the shutters.  

"Oh!" cried Mrs. Wilkins.

All the radiance of April in Italy gathered together at her feet. The sun poured in on her. The sea lay asleep in it, hardly stirring. Across the bay the lovely mountains, exquisitely different in colour, were asleep too in the light; and underneath her window, at the bottom of the flower-starred grass slope from which the wall of the castle rose up, was a great cypress, cutting through the delicate blues and violets and rose-colours of the mountains and the sea like a great black sword.

She stared. Such beauty; and she there to see it. Such beauty; and she alive to feel it. Her face was bathed in light. Lovely scents came up to the window and caressed her. A tiny breeze gently lifted her hair. Far out in the bay a cluster of almost motionless fishing boats hovered like a flock of white birds on the tranquil sea. How beautiful, how beautiful. Not to have died before this...to have been allowed to see, breathe, feel this...She stared, her lips parted. Happy? Poor, ordinary, everyday word. But what could one say, how could one describe it? It was as though she could hardly stay inside herself, it was as though she were too small to hold so much  joy, it was as though she were washed through with light." 

-- from The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim

Enjoy the first weekend of April!