And another one gone...

Halfway through October we were abandoned by yet another good friend and Cordon Bleu student, Lesley Kim. She returned to her beloved Canada, leaving another big gap in our social circle. But that's okay because now we have someone nearby to visit when we are Stateside again.

Just before Lesley left, we accompanied her on a mission to a village called Épernay in the Champagne region to return a few bottles of wine to the Dom Perignon headquarters. It was lovely driving through wine country, where neither Charlie or I had ever been. Aside from vast vineyards, the countryside is also dotted by quaint little crumbly villages such as the one for which we were destined that day.

Despite Lesley having called ahead to confirm that the return could be made, she was met with the usual French response to many perfectly sensible requests: C'est pas posible (It can't be done). Of course it can, you just have to go through the process of arguing about it until the person with the red tape concedes. Just about anything can eventually be accomplished if you know that French culture expects you to argue for it a little bit.

Anyway, she eventually succeeded and we proceeded to wander aimlessly around the town. This didn't last long because we were running out of daylight and still had cigars to smoke and video to shoot. This is the fruit of our labor that day:

Stay tuned next week for an update from Chef Charlie and more Smoking in the Park!