Musing over an El Morno Cuppa…I am so glad you stopped by to muse with me!  Please help yourself to some coffee!

The first and best soufflé that I ever had was in Paris, France. Isn’t that a “poufy” thing to say? I almost want say it again . . . but I won’t because, well, I don’t want you to think I’m a snob. Oh, what the heck . . . When I was in Paris, France, I dined at Le Soufflé, and it was a superb Parisian experience! Each soufflé brought a new experience to my palate. I started with a simple gruyere soufflé as an appetizer, then a chicken soufflé, and ended with a rich chocolate soufflé for dessert. My soufflé experience was parfaitement merveilleuse.

I am one of those people who often says, “We really should take advantage of more of the great museums Chicago offers.” Heck, our library even loans out free museum passes — of course most of the popular one’s are loaned out early, and I am usually stuck deciding between the pass for the Museum of Watching Grass Grow and the Museum of Financial History, which includes a movie of two banks merging and an art display of spread sheets. I enjoy attending museums with friends who like to see, go, and then eat lunch. The Mona Lisa was amazing, but how long can one stand and ‘ohhh’ and ‘awww’. I didn’t even know her! And now here is my best Cole art history museum story.

Cole and I were in Florence, Italy (God, I love saying that, but will resist going on and on), the summer after Cole finished 7th grade. His 7th grade studies included an extensive Renaissance art history block and the history of Italy. Cole loves both art and history, so he retained most of what he learned. We had our own museum tour guide in Florence because I wanted to make sure we could go at our own speed  ( Michelangelo statute of David was awesome — but I didn’t know him either). Cole impressed our tour guide by being able to easily recognize all the famous pieces of renaissance art and discuss the artists with in-depth knowledge. Towards the end of the tour, we were enjoying gelatos with our tour guide while he and Cole continued their art history conversation. I was licking my gelato and not really listening to their conversation, when I heard the tour guide say to Cole, “. . . not unlike America’s First president, _____ .” He then waited for Cole to name our first President. I waited too before finally supplying the answer, “Cole, you remember, GEORGE WASHINGTON.” Cole responded, “Oh, we learn American history next year in school.” Do we all know what the tour guide and his family discussed over dinner that night? I am pretty sure it was not my kid’s in-depth knowledge of the renaissance.

When we got back home, I mentioned to Cole’s teacher, who had taught Cole since first grade, that it was really wonderful how much he had learned about the Renaissance period and Italy but that his American history seemed to be missing some of the finer points, LIKE THE NAME OF THE OUR FIRST PRESIDENT. She smiled, and said with all the sincerity of a Waldorf teacher, “Of course we will cover that this year in 8th grade.” And then she told me to stop rolling my eyes.

One final note . . . my family has an impressive collection of paper, and plastic plates and eating utilizes (sheesh, there I go bragging again), so I did not really make reservations to eat out tonight so I could be eco-conscious and earth friendly. Ok, now that I have come clean, I feel much better.

I have blogged on and on and on . . . . What would you like to brag about? Leave me a musing if you have time! Odd Loves Company!

♥