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Recently, in Strasbourg

See that white stuff?  That's snow.  Come on winter, bring it on, I'm ready!

This month, cities and towns all over Alsace are celebrating the 60th anniversary of their liberation from Germany.  Wow.  There's been photos in the papers of Strasbourg during the liberation, with tanks and soldiers in the squares, artillery piled up everywhere - very scary.  As part of the celebration held last weekend, an American army band played in one of the big market squares.  They also brought some army vehicles to display.....

And behind all this is City Hall, currently displaying this.....

It reads, "Hostage in Iraq"  "Free the Journalist George Malbrunot"

Honestly, when will our world leaders figure it out?  Watching the atrocities in Iraq taking place, I all the more strongly applaud France's decision to stay out of the war.

To end on a happy note, here's Stephen.

Currently reading....

"Cedric:  Moi, j'aime l'eocle"  It's in French.  It's for 7 years and older.  I need a dictionary to understand it.

Happy Birthday Stephen!

This is Stephen performing the birthday dance, danced to The Beatles, "They Say it's your Birthday", of course.  After this raucous display of the effects of too much champagne, we walked into town for dinner at Julian were we feasted, and drank, like a king and queen.  Let me try to recap.  First to appear was the "amuse-bouche", a little pre-appetizer, of a tiny dish of langoustine bisque and a tiny flaky pissaladiere, a miniature onion tart - with another glass of champagne.  We decided to order the "Coup de Cour", which is sort of the menu of the day designed by the chef.  It was perfect.  Our appetizer was a small, perfect slice of foie gras and toasts, which went perfectly with the glass of rich, sweet Reisling Vendange Tardive (late harvest) we ordered.  The fish course was again langoustine, this time perfectly grilled and served with a tart, citrusy sabayon sauce.  Yum.  Next was a small, perfectly cooked lamb rib chop served with a sausage of well spiced lamb and some kind of wheat berries to accompany.  This with a bottle of wine from just north of Montpellier, a cote du Languedoc, I think - for details you'll have to ask Stephen.  Next came our pre-desert, a threesome of a scoop of bright, sharp orange sorbet, a tiny merangue and a tiny kouglehopf style cake glazed in something so that the outside was cruncy and sweet and the inside soft and warm.  Finally, our real deserts arrived, chocolate cake in an orange flavored sauce so good we had to restrain ourselves from mashing the cake into it like you do with potatoes to sop all the good gravy.  Stephen rounded out the meal with an eau du vie - I settled for an espresso.  All in all an excellent evening!

Autumn

Autumn is really here - the leaves are turning and falling from the trees, the clocks have changed, halloween has come and gone, the market is full of apples, walnuts, persimmons, brussel sprouts, and cabbage, cabbage, cabbage. Christmas will be here before you know it!