I realized I never blogged about our original visit to France in our Secret-Secret Geography Club.  This post will take us back to April 2009! I can't remember what a lot of things were or even what they tasted like, but I know my fellow Geography Clubbers will appreciate the throwback.

We began the evening sipping French wine and trying out different French cheeses.

Steve

Lisa

Joel As a starter, Lindsey made a caramelized onion and goat cheese tart with puff pastry.  If I think really hard about it, it's possible that there's also olive tapenade on there....maybe even anchovies.  Lindsey is all about delivering big flavor.  Her presentation was beautiful, making a criss cross pattern over the entire tart with olive tapenade and goat cheese in the center of each diamond.  I originally was thinking that she used caramelized onions to make the criss cross pattern but the closer I look the more convinced I am that she used anchovies.  That's so Lindsey.   Served with Lindsey's tart was Dan's Asparagus with Bearnaise Sauce.  A bearnaise is similar to a hollandaise sauce, but is flavored with fresh tarragon.  The two dishes worked nicely together.

We then moved on to the main course.

I served the chicken over egg noodles alongside some braised leeks.  Other than in soups, I had never eaten a whole leek before and it blew me away how sweet and delicious they were.  The perfect compliment to the rich flavorful chicken.

Hey there's baby Eva!

To clarify, I didn't actually let my baby drink my wine! As the evening went on, we just continued to eat.  Lisa had made homemade fresh baguettes and while they were baking Dan had us all churn our own butter!  A jar full of farm fresh cream and we all took our turn shaking it.

Lindsey doing her part to churn the butter.

Paired with Lisa's decaf latte it was the perfect ending to our glutinous evening.  

Definitely "bon appetite".