Monday.  As you know everything is closed in Saint Aignan on Mondays so it was a quiet morning to sleep in a little bit.  After our 7 mile hike yesterday we needed it!  We finally got up and had a healthy breakfast of yogurt and a banana -- hey, we took one day off from having pastries for breakfast!

We didn't do much all day.  I did laundry and we both read.  I watched a movie on Netflix.  David ventured out to pick up a bottle of wine for us to take to dinner and that was about it.  

Douglas and Claire had invited us to their house for dinner at 7:30 p.m. and we were really looking forward to it.  About 7:00 I got the cheese we were taking out of the fridge to come to room temperature.  Their house is so close to ours that we left at 7:27 and arrived right on time.

From the outside their house looks tall and narrow.  But when you go inside, it is very large and absolutely gorgeous!  They have combined two houses and they have done beautiful updating without spoiling the character of the home.  They are mainly working on the first floor now but when you enter there is an incredible spiral staircase to the second floor.  It is a two story foyer with many plants and art hanging. The foyer at one time was a street between homes, a street of wells or rue de puits, in medieval times.  So, the foyer now connects what were once two separate homes into one larger home.  At the top of the stairs you turn right to go into a charming, cozy living room or left to go to the cool, hip kitchen.  It is definitely a cook's kitchen with all of the modern conveniences.  

We could smell dinner cooking when we entered and Douglas was the chef!  He first gave us some sparkling wine that was quite good and we all visited in the living room.  They have a wonderful fireplace there and I wished it was colder so we could have had a fire!  We adjourned to the kitchen for dinner and we were amazed by the dishes Douglas prepared.  First we had beet and goat cheese salad with walnuts that Claire made and it was fabulous.  Then Douglas served roasted cauliflower with a brown sauce that was very good.  We also had butternut squash baked with lentils and a bay leaf that was one of the best dishes I have ever had.  I will try to duplicate it at home.  Also there were the small potatoes that I love with the most delicious onion and white wine sauce to put over them.  And beautiful roasted eggplant.  The entire dinner, except for the cauliflower came from their garden!  Amazing!  We had very good wine and it was all so, so good and we ate until we were stuffed.  Claire apologized for not having dessert . . . I could not have eaten another bite.  They brought our cheese plate to the table but I did not have any.  The others had a few bites and they seemed to like our selection of cheeses.

It was a very fun, cozy evening filled with much laughter and great stories.  I know our homeowner, Rachael, is great friends with Douglas and Claire and now we know why!  A few times I mentioned that we should be leaving but then we'd get off on another conversation.  We finally called it a night and after our long walk home (one minute), we realized that it was after 1:00 a.m.  I'm sure we overstayed our welcome but we were having too good of a time to leave.