Crab Souffles and "Birds without Heads".

The Great Provider has decreed that we are having an immersion degustation (tasting) dinner in October, and we'll only be able to speak French. So I have to come up with a 12 course French dinner that follows these rules, apparently. Of course, it won't, but we have plenty of time to argue about that. I'm thinking of tempting fate and having 13 guests and serving 13 courses.

I whipped out my French cooking book (1-7405-285-2), peeked into the freezer and came up with a couple of ideas for dinner to practice. By the way, it must be a great book, because it's ranked #616,933 in Amazon's best seller's list. What could possibly be No 1?

I'd never made a souffle and don't have a souffle pan, so the choice was limited to CRAB SOUFFLES, cooked in the little ramekins, that we have 2 of. I think it worked, so we'll need to get more! Individual as well, so easy for the degustation menu. I say seemed. I'd never eaten souffle before, so it was kinda hard to tell. They rose beautifully, were light and fluffy, browned on the top, and didn't collapse. I guess that means I did it all right.

I also went for VEAL PAUPIETTES. Appetisingly nicknamed "birds without heads". That might work well. Although it tasted great, and the sauce was lovely, I had difficulty in slicing them into nice pieces. I reckon I'll have to go with bigger pieces of veal. So I'll need to start searching for a decent butcher in Santa Monica. Maybe I'll try Gelsons Market.