After what can really only be called maternity leave from book club, we met again for the first time since before Samantha was born. To make things easy on everyone, especially the new parents, we chose a children’s book: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. This was partly because there is a new child in book club, namely Samantha. But also because before Sam was born, the farm’s friends Cathy and Thor sent a lovely present: a popup version of The Little Prince, based on the original drawings. I’ve been reading it to Sam here and there, and it was quite fun to show off at book club.
The Goatherd met this time around at John’s house. Now, we don’t know if this is because Philippe is French, so he was tres heureuse that we were reading The Little Prince, but he pitched in with the cooking, and man oh man did he and John pull out all the stops. We had an incredible faux cassoulet made with their own chicken mixed with Italian sausage from Faccio’s Pork Store in the West Village and shelling beans from their garden.
And that was just the first course. There were mache and carrots from the garden and an over-the-top salad dressing made with Peter Kend’s basil-infused olive oil and some Mexican Sour Gherkin Cucumbers and their own raspeberries and creme for dessert. Killer. Just killer.
First, I want to apologize for the quality of the photos. I didn’t have my camera, only my phone, and I couldn’t figure out how to adjust the white balance, even though I have a fancy camera app that should let me do that now. I’ll practice and get back to you. Meantime, here’s Kris and Greg, greeting one another:
We discussed the book over hors d’oeuvres and stiny (very stinky) cheese in the living room —
— and then sat down for the faux cassoulet dinner.
(It’s not really cassoulet, but it sure acts like it!)
In typical French fashion, we had salad after our main course. Mache from the garden with grated carrots and that crazy-good dressing:
A cute series of John and Kris:
For dessert, John and Phlippe’s raspeberries and fromage blanc:
Oh yeah!
With a lovely riesling:
Another absolutely terrific meeting of the Goatherd. The food, the discussion and fun is always such a pleasure, indeed. Thanks, kids.
