The Perfect French Meal

If you came here hoping for a Mother's Day post, I wrote a somewhat untraditional post for my theology blog--and of course, I've written many a post in the past.  In my younger years, I thought about gender and nurturing more; these days I'm thinking about being a wise female elder.  Am I one already?  If not, what should I be doing to prepare?

This year, I'm thinking about gender and getting older and career shifts or maybe not a shift as much as additions.  I'm having these thoughts because I'm graduating from Wesley Theological Seminary with an MDiv.  And yet, even though I'm graduating, I'm not moving directly to ordination.  Because I went to a Methodist seminary, I have some Lutheran course work to do, along with other requirements.

Still, this graduation feels like a big step to me.  And we've had an extended celebration time.  Unlike most seminaries that have a worship service one day and graduation the next, Wesley has a Eucharist service on Thursday, and then graduation on Monday.

When I realized we'd have so much extra time, we (meaning me, my sister, my spouse, my mom) thought about what might be fun.  We had planned to go to the Museum of African-American History, but that trip was rained out.  Yesterday we went to my mom's favorite French restaurant for lunch--happily, we didn't have to miss that appointment.  We spent a delightful afternoon at L'Auberge Chez Francoise.

I've only been there once before, to celebrate a parental anniversary.  It was great to return.  Yesterday they had one lunch seating, so we didn't feel rushed at all.  We did the 4 course prix fixe meal, which at first seemed expensive, but then I started thinking about how much I often pay for a meal out, and it felt more reasonable.  

We had a noon reservation, and we left at 3--delightful!  I decided to go with the beef tenderloin, a dish that I'm least likely to make at home, a dish that would be similarly expensive if I made it myself.  Before that dish, we had an amuse bouche of split pea soup, the best split pea soup I've ever had.  We had an assortment of appetizers.  

While I enjoyed my coquille of seafood, my spouse's tiny pot of wagu beef cheeks in a mushroom sherry gravy was amazing--like pot roast elevated to gastronomical perfection.  

There were plates of bread and beautiful salads.  I often don't like the ubiquitous mesclun mix, but yesterday's salad was yummy.  Later we found out that they grew the greens on site, which probably explains their yumminess.

Everyone's main course looked fabulous; I'm sure I could have been happy with any of it.  I didn't take as many pictures of later courses--it was great to live in the moment without trying to document it all.  We finished with dessert--also a place where everyone's choice looked delicious.  I have no regrets about yesterday's meal, which is not usual for me with a restaurant meal.

Many people will be eating out today as they celebrate mothers.  I'm glad we chose to go yesterday instead.  Today the restaurant will have 4 seatings instead of 2; something essential will be lost, although the diners probably won't notice.

I am so glad to have had yesterday's experience:  glad to have been able to find a time when we could all go, glad to have been able to afford it, glad that the restaurant survived the various challenges of the past decade.