Another Celebration

May is celebration month. First there was our wedding anniversary, then Mother’s Day, and now my birthday. Birthdays were important events in
my family when I was a child; they are big now. My wish? A dogwood
tree. Let me explain. We have a ground floor apartment that has an enclosed greenhouse and a garden. Two years ago, our Japanese maple
tree died. The tree had a certain sculptured look during the winter
but, came spring, it became an eye sore. It took over a month to
choose the tree, where to buy it, who would plant it and get rid of
the dead maple tree. Everything fell into place and here I was, on
my birthday, with the dogwood tree in full bloom, right under our
bedroom window.

But what about dinner? I definitely didn’t’ want to cook. After much
back and forth we decided to get in-house made charcuterie, and
cheese from the recently opened Épicerie Boulud*

Menu

Rillette Maison
Terrine de Canard au Poivre Vert
Pâté en Croute de Canard aux Figues
Abondance – a raw cow’s milk cheese from Savoie
Abbay de Tamie, another raw cow’s milk cheese, Savoie
Celery Remoulade
Epis Bread
Wine: Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill Champagne, 1998

The rillette, terrine and pâté were excellent, but so rich, we
didn’t touch the cheese. The champagne--courtesy of my brother-in-law,
Julien—pulled everything together nicely and added a festive touch.

Toasting ourselves, and munching charcuteries, we recalled former birthdays--the one in our rented apartment in Golfe Juan when George
gave me three Hermes scarves. The one at La Colombe d’Or in St. Paul
de Vence, sitting next to Yves Montand and his wife, Simone Signoret; Veuve Cliquot in Paris, Le Bernadin in New York, the Gritti in Venice;
on the
SS France and the Italian Michelangelo. Then there were the parties at
the restaurants we owned at various times: foremost our beloved Colombe d’Or, named after the one in St. Paul de Vence; Café Bruxelle, and George Studley’s Long Wharf in Sag Harbor. Undoubtedly there had been some flops and disappointments. Fortunately, these are easily forgotten.

*Épicerie Boulud
www.danielnyc.com