It's mid-February, already!?

Bad blogger, bad blogger......................

Is it me, or is January the most glum month of the year? There is so much preparation and hype leading up to Christmas and New Year's, and then January feels like the crash after the big build-up. The weather here is generally the crappiest in January, it's light so late in the morning and dark so early, people are now getting their credit card bills for their likely-budget-exceeding Christmas purchases (I managed to escape that quandry this year - yippee!). Most people don't want to look at the scale (and some, of course, make promises and resolutions that seem to fade to nothingness come February), present party included.

The high point of my January is that a trip to Paris for April has been booked, including an ultra-cool apartment in the 8th arondissemnt, about 2 blocks from Champs-Elysees and about 5 blocks from the Arc de Triomphe.

And, just to sweeten the already sweet trip, I checked out the Cordon Bleu website and enroled in a one day pastry class. Complete with a certificate of completion, which will, of course, be framed & blatantly displayed.

Valentine's Day was yesterday. I had purchased a dinner & play package from La Troupe du Jour, which included a 5 course dinner at Calories, followed by the play, Encore (with English surtitles). The dinner was so wonderful, where to begin...............the special menu cannot be posted, but you can check it out on their website, which speaks for itself. Truly, I fell in love the the "Come Back Home", the beef tenderloin wellington, with a mushroom duxelle and cream sauce. Heavenly.

The premise of the play consisted of snapshots of a couple's wedding anniversaries over the span of 50 years. The coolest thing about the play was that the audience was actually in the lounge. We were seated at tables for two, and were able to order drinks from the waitress (also French), prepared in the bar, which was also part of the set. The wife had decided, prior to their first anniver sary, that they should re-enact their meeting, in a hotel-lounge, every year to keep their romance alive, and fall in love all over alive. Their relationship changes when once they have a child, and eventually collapses. They do end up getting back together, but it is bittersweet. As you watch their 50th anniversary acted out, the husband has been senile, and momentarily loses where he is, doesn't recognize his wife, and is, at times, vacant. The wife, originally very stubborn and overbearing, has grown to become sympathetic and sympathetic - their love evolved into a gentle and mature bond.

All in all, a delightful, and very sweet, way to spend Valentine's Day