DESEIGNES VILLAGE
I thought there might be a procession through the streets or people dressed up on their way to church, but instead it rained all Easter morning and the only people we saw were those in the little grocery store or the backery. On the way back from the bakery we stopped in at a potter‘s studio on the lower floor with a woman who made handmade books on the upper floor who welcomed us in to look around.
Craig made a delicious breakfast and then we spent the morning reading in the Airbnb. But by the middle of the afternoon the sun came out and we walked around the village and down to the river which was surging from the rain.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/009GsqupRKYb8Zt8IStU4CnLg
In the evening we had reservations at restaurant l‘Ane Tetu, that also runs our Airbnb. They were booked full the night before but I was still a little leery of no egg, no milk, no meat vegan food but was willing to try it. But the evening turned out to be a magical experience that had more to do with art than filling your stomach. We were offered a choice of five small courses, each with a small glass of wine that paired well with the particular dish, or we could choose three slightly larger courses each with the appropriate wine. We chose the three. After a tiny but delicious appetizer I started with Japanese boullion, then a very delicate Chinese small decorated rice cake with a tasty sauce, and then a mushroom dish with a decorated center of a mix of mushrooms with tiny orange mushrooms on the side. For dessert instead of selecting one small dessert I selected three tiny desserts on a small plate with a small cup of coffee. We were there from 7:30 to about 10:30.
For a person who can‘t tell one $3 Aldi wine from another and who is just as unsophisticated about food it was an eye opening, if not life changing, experience. It was marvelous. I didn‘t recognize anything Japanese about the Japanese food, or Chinese about the Chinese and wouldn‘t have known I was eating mushrooms if I hadn‘t seen tiny shiitake mushrooms on the side. I certainly didn‘t know I was eating vegan food. And yet everything was delicious and served with such style and reverence and attention to detail that I was stunned. And there was enough to eat that I didn‘t leave hungry.
BILLYBABA’S WANDERING 