C&Z's Second Birthday Party: a Recap

Many many thanks to those of you who attended the second C&Z birthday party on Wednesday night!

The party was held at L'Homme Tranquille in the 18th, and fifty of us managed to fit in the rather small room. It looked a little ambitious at first, and as guests were pouring in, apéritifs being frantically served, it seemed like we would have to start standing on tables or invading the kitchen (which I'm sure none of us would mind). But soon enough we sat down to eat, a little crowd migrated to the sidewalk -- the weather was on our side -- and it all became much more manageable.

About half of the guests were friends of mine -- old friends or new friends I've made in two years of C&Z -- the other half being readers (French, American, Canadian or British) whom I was delighted to meet and hope to see again. The party went delightfully well, good food, good wine (a Premières Côtes de Blaye), lively conversations, happy faces, budding friendships... I had a wonderful time.

For the menu we had chosen a few of our favorite dishes from the restaurant's regular selection, which is a lovely medley of cosmopolitan influences. We started with liver and port terrine, a salad with goat cheese and fresh fruit, and Chilean empenadas with salsa. The main courses were a lamb and apricot tajine served with couscous, and carbonades made with Coreff (a beer from Brittany) and served with mashed potatoes. For dessert, the restaurant had prepared its signature fondant au chocolat, an apple crumble and a quetsche crumble, Pascale had brought fabulous mini-muffins, and I had (of course) made my Chocolate & Zucchini Cake!

I had organized a little raffle, and everyone was to bring a small gift, edible or not, homemade or store-bought (but for less than 5€). I was very pleased to see that everyone had participated with much care and enthusiasm, and after dessert we drew numbers and redistributed the presents. This was fun, and very well suited to the birthday party of a two-year-old, no?

Many thanks also to Cathy and Antoine at l'Homme Tranquille, for working with us to organize and pull this off!

Since I'm not much of an events photographer, I simply took six pictures with my cell phone. (If you're on one of these and would rather not be, please let me know and I'll remove it.)

L'Homme Tranquille
81 rue des Martyrs
75018 Paris
01 42 54 56 28