quick update

64th birthday passed well. My birthday present from Charlie (and Ruth Wood -- they collaborated) is the French Chef Julia Child DVDs, just out. I watched two episodes first thing in the morning. It's just as wonderful as I'd imagined it would be. I've always regretted not watching more than a couple of episodes when it was on TV. Just couldn't seem to get the TV habit (I never have). A major life regret has been laid to rest today.

Then Charlie and I went to St. Paul, where I observed a student in the Spanish immersion elementary school while he ran some errands. Thence to downtown St. P., where we had lunch at A Rebours, a very nice restaurant we've always wanted to go to. Excellent mushroom soup with marscapone/truffle fried won ton (wow!), then Charlie had boeuf bourgignon (hey! I watched Julia make it just this morning!) and I had salmon with tapenade and white bean paste. All quite good. Dessert was a chocolate torte with blood oranges on top (for me) and Charlie had a crème renversée with "lavender foam" and pistachio brittle. Mine was good, but his was truly outstanding. Custard can be wonderful with that kind of aromatic in it. Must try it soon.

Back to RF, where we saw Mom, then home, where we took it easy for the rest of the afternoon. We weren't hungry, but after watching Julia Child make omelettes, we hastened to the kitchen, where Charlie produced a beautiful one, using Julia's amazingly quick technique.

Thanks for the check and card, Mom, and thanks for the card, Suzy (and Thea, if she reads this), and the phone call from Marty (which I missed).

A fine birthday!