Thank you for the memories, Madame.
Teko and I were invited to celebrate Christmas Eve dinner with my friend’s in-laws and I couldn’t have been more honored. It wasn’t just dinner but also an experience – really a peek into a French family’s life during celebration. It may as well have been a movie that I somehow luckily stumbled into and got to be a part of.

The dinner table was set with what looked to be their finest china, the kind that only comes out on rare occasions. It was my first time to have a French Christmas, and just thinking about it warms the cockles of my heart. With home-made foie gras for starters, followed by the most delicious langoustine, and topped off with some family-recipe chocolate cake, it’s easily one of the most elaborate holiday meals I’d ever enjoyed.

And here was the generous lady of the house. Impeccably dressed, maker of wondrous food, and the perfect hostess. In my terrible French, I apologized that I could only speak a few words while deep down I was slapping myself for not having taken European languages more seriously back in college. It was a dinner for the ages, and I’m so glad to have been allowed into her lovely home to become a part of it. Thank you for a magnificent evening, Madame, and I do hope our paths cross again.