drunk sleepy and FULL. and with hiccups.

so the adults (for want of a less patronizing adjective) ventured out to maulevrier tonight to go to the chateau colbert for dinner oh my god so amazingly good. woweezowee. it's a very imposing 17th century chateau that has been done up to the nines and the food/service is absolutely top notch. we started with some BEEYOOTIFUL little amusebouches of various bits and pieces (some cheese carved to look like a rosette, a mushroom puree thing, a mini bruschetta sandwichy thing) then i had noix st. jacques with basil and a citron gelee for starters, with duck for main course with legumes vieux, which is something that i have seen a couple of places now, and it turns out it means old world vegetables, not just vegetables that stayed too long in the bottom drawer of your fridge. there is a funny little snobbery involved in excluding tomatoes, potatoes, corn, etc from your diet (although they seem just fine with tobacco and chocolate...) anyway. tres bon. a nutty cheese that i missed the name of for cheese course, a fig creme brulee with thyme icecream and some more little amusebouchey bits and pieces for dessert, and coffee - marie antoinette would have been proud. we staggered out four hours after we sat down, and food wise it was definitely the most memorable meal i have eaten in a while (excluding watching
L. eat a dinner of pate on ryvita crackers with gummy worms, which is memorable in a different way).

anyway. gluttony aside, today was quite a virtuous day: an hour long run in the morning, followed by beginning to sort, clean, pack, etc., and i finished painting today, as i think transporting slightly tacky paintings will be easier than transporting completely wet paintings. (oh oh oh cute story: M. took her daughter to go see an exhibit of Catherine the Great when she was about five, and the little girl was very taken with a particular portrait. she got right up close to the painting, and M. was afraid she was going to touch it, and said, no,no, don't touch! and A., used to playing around M's easel and paint set-up at home, rolled her eyes and said, i KNOW mummy, the paint's wet, you're not supposed to touch it.' (!) so cute). anyway. tomorrow will be final clean; i will do some drawing during class, finish laundry/packing, and then should be good to go.

holy shlamoley it is really really cold. i am going to say good-night and go to bed just so that i don't have to keep my hands sticking out from under the covers.

bonne nuit a tout le monde...