tiny news

Everyone safely off to Lake City. Charlie saw C & K early afternoon, and I saw them a little later.

We'll get together here on Saturday night. Julia & Lucille won't be available, since Martin has planned a big send off for Lucille. But Marty, Nate and Ben will be of the party.

Last night, even though Julia'd told me they'd been eating a lot of chicken, I made chicken anyway. I had some leftover cx from the day before, a farm chicken of those we'd gotten from Dwight and K on Sunday. Also had some tarragon/rosemary/garlic drippings saved. Made creamed cx with it, served in patty shells (in French, vol au vent or bouchées à la reine). Cooked mushrooms separately (since Julia doesn't like them). Peas from the freezer. And roasted eggplant, as well as grilled zucchini and grilled slabs of onion (cut thick, turkey-trussing skewer slid in sideways). Plates were cleaned. Then crème brulée; not a great success. Cold torch and deficient custard, made in too much of a hurry. Best part was Julia's uncontrollable fit of giggles as Charlie criticised the dessert.

Good time. The girls ate most of a baguette for breakfast -- accompanied by butter and jam, also tea. Nice to have them here. Lucille was sturdy about speaking as much English as possible, but was glad to have a little French. Before going to bed, they watched "Amélie," one of Lucille's favorites, and which Julia'd never seen. Nice evening and morning.