Great French Dinner

Saturday night my professor from the medical center where I teach invited me over for dinner with herself, her husband, and another couple. It ended up being a very enjoyable evening – am amazing spread of great food and interesting conversation and people. The professor and her husband themselves are very fascinating, well-traveled, and intelligent. And the other invited couple were actually both Americans who have lived in Iceland for the past 30 years but have also owned a house in Bretagne for 15 years; the man is a philosophy professor at the University of Iceland. So this mix of people obviously provided for a variety of interesting conversation topics. And, of course, I’ve never been disappointed by dinner in a French home! We started with fresh oysters served with bread, butter, and a crisp white wine. Next we had fresh oysters served warm, on their shells, in a thick butter and shallot sauce. Then the third appetizer was a small bowl of mussels in a tasty butter and vegetable broth … yum! For the main course we had lightly seasoned pork and a variety of fresh steamed vegetables … carrots, green beans, sautéed mushrooms, lentils, roasted garlic bulbs. Spinach salad and an assortment of fresh French cheese followed the main course. With dinner we had a couple of bottles of red wine (think they were from Burgundy but I can’t remember); the first was good, and the second was really remarkable … I of course tried to remember the name but all I can recall is that it was a 1990. We ended with a light strawberry & cream tart … mmmm.