L'Art de Vivre

Meet Jacqueline and Andre. I've known them most of my adult life and they became friends of my Great Aunt and Uncle in the early 1950's. They've lived in their 12 Arrondissement apartment since 1961 and at 89 and 85 years old respectively, are still active, interested and productive. Andre is a well-know artist who recently had a sold-out show in the Latin Quarter.

They invited us to lunch yesterday at 12:30 and we left about 6pm! We started with Champagne and crackers and then spent a few hours at the table with a delicious meal of cold meats, charcuterie and salads--and a bottle of Alsatian Riesling and a bottle of Bordeaux.

No French meal is complete without cheese and I just had to share a picture of what we savored. The cheeses were fresh and delicious and come from a neighborhood cheese shop that represents 400 different cheeses from Europe that are delivered direct from the producers.

"Comment voulez-vous gouverner un pays qui a deux cent quarante-six variétés de fromage?"
("How can you govern a country which has two hundred and forty-six varieties of cheese?")
Charles de Gaulle (from Les Mots du Général, Ernest Mignon (1962))
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_French_cheeses"