Last night I ate a spectacular meal.

Chez Colette in the Hotel Sofitel always is a favorite dining spot for my dad and me. We've been coming here since I was a little girl anytime I went up to MPLS for airport use.

Since he had a layover, it's always a good spot to hang out since it's not far from the airport.

We started the meal with their escargot. Yummy as always. Of course, it's a little hard to resist the baguette and creamy butter they put down so I had that, too.

Then Dad had the French onion soup and I had a unique salad: A bed of greens with green beans and asparagus on top of HEIRLOOM TOMATOES. Oh dear, those were probably THE best tomatoes I've had all summer. Too bad they were soaked in black pepper and vinagrette.

We also had a glass of red. Dad had some sort of Cote de Rhone and I had a glass of Chateau Augey. Quite nice, mate.

^Let me give a little bit of commentary on this "quite nice" thing. Grubster spent about 1.5 years of his life in Oz. When he finally came back to Yankeeland, it was too late; he already took on a few Aussie Idioms. And some have rubbed off on me.^

Back to the main course: dad had steak frites and I had free-range chicken with some nice veggies on the side.

Before eating all this, I put a few drops of gentian in the water at our table. It REALLY helps prevent heartburn. If only it tasted a little better. Dad had a taste of the water. He just doesn't understand me, haha.

Off to Iowa for a wonderful family reunion. Haven't seen some of these nuts in a while so I'm really looking forward to it. And there are three babies between the ages of zero to two so I'm looking forward to a little mental birth control to dampen the sound of my biological clock. The boyfriend once met a twenty-something guy dating a thirty-something woman. He said, "Anytime your girlfriend starts getting too clucky and wants kids, just take her to Chuck E. Cheese!"

Grubster has never had to go that far, thank goodness.