In the spirit of celebrating our international MSIA community, MSIA headquarters (also known as Prana) was host Saturday night, August 18th, to an authentic French dinner prepared by our own amazing chefs Guillaume and Claudie Botte.
Guillaume and Claudie are from France, live in Paris, and own and operate the award-winning gourmet vegetarian restaurant “Entre Ciel et Terre,” or, “Between the Sky and the Earth.” What a treat it was for us to have their talent, expertise, and loving in the kitchen, and even better – at the table!
Prana Residents spent the day Saturday preparing a bistro atmosphere for the dining room and courtyards, with checked tablecloths, candles, Badoit water, and daisies on each table.
The crowd loved dining outside in the newly finished courtyard, and serving themselves from the elegant buffet line crowning the rotunda. Featured were such Botte specialties as Crudites with Tarragon Sauce, Quinoa in Curried Cream, a Terrine of Zucchini, French Goat Cheese and Thyme (yum!), Legumes Provencal, a Puree of Split Peas with Fresh Croutons, and Filo Dough “Cigars” filled with Cinnamoned Carrots and Almonds. It was a visual and gastronomique feast: a combination of flavors subtle and savory, and light, delicate textures.
In place near the buffet, Barbara Weiland provided the perfect French flair with her accordion-like keyboard accompaniment to dinner, and with a little prompting Bertrand Babinet wowed us all with a rousing rendition of “La Vie en Rose.” Thanks for your spontaneity Bertrand! Ooh La La, what a night!
After dinner we retired to the large seminar room for a classic J-R video seminar “The Sound Current: The Road Home,” which was taped awhile back live in Paris with on-screen translation provided by the very French Mssr. Vincent Dupont, who also happened to be the MC for our evening. Que’ll coincidance! This is a classic seminar, with great information for oldtimers as well as the several newcomers who were there that night, and we recommend it highly.
After the seminar it was on to the dining room for scrumptious desserts: apple cake (gateau) with creme anglaise, orange cake with a Valhrona chocolate sauce (we love those French sauces!) and coffees and teas. With dessert came the most important part of any French meal – the table conversation! Folks mingled, schmoozed and chatted into the night.
The whole event spotlighted the sense that when we come together in community it really is a small world, and we can share our blessings (Le French cuisine for instance!) and cultures in a way that overcomes any division – that just has inclusion in the fun and loving that’s present with the Traveler. Also it was another great opportunity to use Prana, a perfect house for large celebrations – which we foresee having a lot more of in the future. Come on over!
We’ll keep you posted on upcoming events. Thank you to Guillaume and Claudie Botte for your service, to Mark Lurie for holding the vision for the event, and to all those Prana residents and volunteers who assisted in making the evening successful. You’re the best!
