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Published: August 30th 2010
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The Birthday Boy
He doesn't look a day over 50! The whole trip to France started evolving three years ago, when Kevin and I were last in the country. He had mentioned that we would come back in two years, and I said, “Let’s make it three, and we can have your 60th here!” And the planning began.
The party part didn’t start in earnest, though, until about six months ago when a swap couple of the Ackmans from Carcassonne mentioned a wonderful restaurant and hotel, not far from the city of Carcassonne, called La Bergerie. The selling point was that it was a Michelin- starred restaurant. If you have had the great good fortune of going to a Michelin-starred restaurant, you know that EVERYTHING is just better. Food, service, presentation. Kevin got on line to them and got a booking for approximately 24 for the night of his birthday, and it was all go from there. When we arrived in Carcassonne first on the agenda was to go see Priscilla, the owner of the hotel and restaurant, to talk logistics and menu etc. There seemed to be issues regarding communication between her and Kevin so we thought it best to talk in person....she wanted to have a set menu with
Fried Lamb entree
This looked like a red marshmallow cookie, but infinitely better. The lamb was cut very thinly, and was topped by a tomato concoction, with a crisp tomato top. None of us could figure out how it was done, but it was sure good! The frothy sauce was a cream of broccoli. NO choices, and Kevin wanted our guests to have a couple of options. Kevin won out, but we had to provide her with meal counts by that morning, so we hastily went around taking orders from everyone. I felt like we were ordering Chinese take-away, instead of heading to a starred restaurant.
The choices were as follows:
ENTREE - Fried lamb and tomatoes, with cream of rocket (arugula) or Pan-fried baby squid with Spanish ham
FISH - Pan-fried bass with green beans and crushed hazelnuts or Sea Bream with Castelnaudary white beans, and a mustard crème brulee
MEAT - Veal with pickle and meat juice, potatoes and a caper puree or Lamb fondue with lentil cream
DESSERT - Peach sphere, with a sangria cream inside or Revisited Banana Split
Erica Lauder, that morning, had the great good sense to realize that NO ONE would be able to remember what they had ordered two days before and set out to write up everyone’s menus on little cards to have in front of them. This was also handy for the waiters as she also wrote them in French. The orders were phoned in and everyone was happy.
The Kevin checked his emails,
Squid with ham entree
The squid was very tender and served with Spanish ham pieces. Everyone who had this entree loved it. which hadn’t been much of an option in the last week, and found that two of our French friends were joining us. We were SO pleased as we had partaken of their generous hospitality the last visit and wanted to repay in some small way. A phone call was made to Priscilla and, after a little discussion, table arrangements were adjusted and she would get their orders when they arrived.
We all arrived at the hotel early to partake of Champagne down by the pool and chitchat and see people who hadn’t been seen since arrival. At 7:30 PM we went into the dining room, and in walked our French friends with two more of our French friends! Total headcount - 28. I think the only thing that kept Priscilla from tearing her hair out at this point was the fact that they were French. Either that or she had some great drugs!
NOW, TO THE MEAL ITSELF...
Pictures of all the items served are shown, and titled so you can identify them. All I can say about the whole meal was it was a cacophony of flavours, each one surpassing the last. No one item clashed with the others.
Bass with green beans
I'm not a fish person, but I could be persuaded to change my mind after this course. The bass was fresh, of course, and cooked to perfection. It rested on a bed of haricots verts, and had a "burst of nutty" (that is from my French translator) as the sauce. Very delicate flavor There were three types of bread rolls - I chose the country bread rolls, but I heard others raving about the date rolls. The meal did start with little melon soups, with sorbet in between the fish and meat course. Service was flawless. On to the pictures - each is worth a thousand words.
There were testimonials and toasts and at one point I did see a tear or two in Kevin’s eye. We are so thankful to everyone who were able to join us, and missed those who couldn’t. We know you were there in spirit.
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