I know very few adults who really like the Holidays because it's a time that is frequently fraught with family and cultural pressures that are not at all cheerful or of our choosing. But it's about to be January, the month when we get to clean our slates and start a fresh new year and it seems, a fresh new life. I love January. I've never made New Years resolutions, I just quietly start January early, cleaning out my nest; dreaming of plans; nothing drastic, as slow and steady does it. Life suddenly seems adventurous again, even mysterious; maybe even magic.
The story behind the Perrier bottle: One year, Tall Husband and I planned an escape from Christmas (I hope none of you has a relative who uses a holiday as an excuse to take over your life.) We fled to Paris. Christmas Eve was spent at Au Pied de Cochon, a wonderful restaurant that was a short stroll from our hotel. Every table that evening had a festive anniversary bottle of Perrier. We have kept our bottle because it reminds us of the most wonderful Christmas Eve we could remember in a while. That bottle gave us the good sense just to say "no" the next year when our relative called with her holiday marching orders.
The story behind the Perrier bottle: One year, Tall Husband and I planned an escape from Christmas (I hope none of you has a relative who uses a holiday as an excuse to take over your life.) We fled to Paris. Christmas Eve was spent at Au Pied de Cochon, a wonderful restaurant that was a short stroll from our hotel. Every table that evening had a festive anniversary bottle of Perrier. We have kept our bottle because it reminds us of the most wonderful Christmas Eve we could remember in a while. That bottle gave us the good sense just to say "no" the next year when our relative called with her holiday marching orders.
First off I agree completely with your attitude towards January and the holidays as you get older. I snicker every time I remember a dinner that I had at Au Pied de Cochon!My dad and step mom were visiting us when we first moved to Paris back in 2002. They made reservations there for dinner,and we met up with some friends of theirs that they had met while they had lived in France some time ago. The couple was from England and very comical. The dinner was kind of a train wreck that night,which I'm sure was just a fluke,but none the less one to go down in history for me. We sat at the table for what seemed like an eternity, before we finally asked the waiter what was up with our dinner. He said he would go and find out. We were sitting up stairs.....All of a sudden we here the most horrific sound of someone falling down stairs and dinner plates crashing to the floor! Those were our plates!! So, while we waited for another hour for dinner, we teased the waiter,who was a typical French waiter, and he finally gave up trying to be reserved, and went along with the comedy that was our dinner experience. After dinner, we ordered dessert,and the waiter said, My recommendation would be to not order anything having to do with flambe! The desserts come out, we begin to eat,and the husband of the couple, looks down to see a bone, that most likely came from a small piece of poultry, lying on the rim of the dessert plate!!! We just could not believe it.How the wait staff or the kitchen did not catch that still is a mystery!
ReplyDeleteThat was our experience at Au Pied de Couchon!
Happy 2009 Annie and Tall Husband
OMG! What a great story; bad dining experience but great story.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year, Elizabeth and family!
Happy 2009. We escaped this year,too, and just got back from Hawaii. It was odd to spend Christmas without relatives--but in a good way.
ReplyDeletedid you do that? very creative indeed! it's like my antique silver.
ReplyDeleteI like it! Very nice idea. I wanna try it too! :)
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