Today is Persiflage’s birthday, but let us not also forget to wish many happy returns to friends of the blog Ana and Vytas, who share the same birthday!
Here is how I plan to celebrate: I will spare you with the complete 12 hour 23 minute breakdown of my carefully curated iTunes play list, but suffice to say it is both suitably seasonal and indulgent. A few highlights: Spem in Alium, Lupu and Perahia playing Schubert’s Fantasia in F minor, Bach Cello Suites, A Musical Offering, and plenty of carols from King’s College Cambridge. There will be a trip to Intelligentsia (by Uber — it is -17 C outside) and then a wander around the Chicago Art Institute. For lunch, smoked salmon and smoked eel (hat tip to Bao who pointed out the existence of a fine food store in duty free at Schiphol airport!) with Champagne, followed by left-over home made Coq au vin with orzo. For dinner, Foie Gras mi-cuit with a side of poached apples, together with Sauternes. And then maybe some vegetable and tofu stir fry to balance things out slightly, in order to justify finishing off the evening with some delicious moist fruit cake. The final indulgence: I plan to spend the afternoon at home drinking tea, reading the Serre-Tate correspondence, and looking out my window onto the lake (which right now has a beautiful cover of fog which my poor photography isn’t quite able to capture):
All of this, of course, with the best possible company imaginable for a quiet day of self-indulgence. Happy holidays!
Please share the itunes playlist!