Appetite for Seduction

There is no mystery to the fact that once you reach a certain age, say 30, you spend a good deal of your time trying to get back to the days before. Thanks to the help of many products, one may “zap crow’s feet” or “diminish fine lines” or “have the energy of a teenager”.  You may apply, swallow, eat, drink and breathe whatever it takes to be the younger you.

There is often so much pressure to be “new” that one forgets to remember that which is “old”. Today I lunched with my husband at Le Bilboquet.  A small, unmarked restaurant on the UES, a place where I once worked long before the need to fill any ridges. I entered the small restaurant.  While I looked around, I whispered to my husband “Bilbo has been the IT place for over 24 years”.  We drank wine and ordered.  After a few bites of my frisée au lardon salad and a taste of my husband’s hanger steak with pepper sauce, something inside me shifted.  Each bite slowly exfoliated a layer to my inner being.  That spirit which is adversely protected by trying to be smoother than yesterday.  Then it dawned on me, the red wine was made by vines planted over 300 years ago, and they still did their job; the wine was medium bodied, full of flavor and easily enjoyed.  The Tarte Tatin, an upside down apple tarte discovered in 1898, is to this day one of the BEST apple dishes in the world!  My husband smiled and devoured a fork full of the perfect bite with caramelized apple and vanilla ice cream.  I returned his smile because then I new, like the Tarte Tatin, the Steak au Poivre and Le Bilboquet, it is not always about how “new” and “shiny” you are, but how well you have lived! 

The NOW is what you are living.  I hope to be one of those French or Italian classics in 24 years.  I think today I will spend more time being the best me NOW and less time fearing the future.  Who knows- after 111 years someone might even say I am still one of the best Shani’s to this day!

This week in honor of the “classics” I am perfecting chocolate mousse.It’s my offer of admiration and gratitude for a place that will always be a heavenly institute in my book- Le Bilboquet!