Friday cheese surprise

The Friday before Christmas we stayed at B's grandmothers house like we usually do.  She is spunky and full of laughter and, like most Grandma houses, it is a walk back in time.  Her room is cotton candy pink, our room is lime green and white, the bathroom is canary yellow, 
and the main floor is all textured wall paper.  

So the day before our 10 hour marathon eating, we eat a nice sensible egg and cheese cocotte, chicken in cream sauce and green beans, 3 cheese plate and chocolate mousse for dinner.
2 things happened during dinner:  we found out everything is made in China (yes news to us) even the truffles on the french cheese.
And this little beauty....

Do you see it?  The leg of the beast?  (Or more likely an adorable little woodland fawn).  I didn't notice it when the cheese plate arrived and absent mindedly picked up the knife only to be shaking hands with a ...hoof? 
No!
But yes, indeed.

 I could not contain myself and had to take a photo.  I did, however, restrain myself from asking about it until after we were safely in our lime green bedroom.  Apparently it was a gift 20-30 years ago.
Which only contributes to my time warp theory - that there is a one generation difference.
No one would ever have given your parents a hoof butter knife in the 70s, but they would have given it to your grandparents in the 40s.

Gastronomy

So this weekend we will be going to celebrate the birthday of my boyfriend's mom. We are going to a nice hotel outside of Reims (back to champagne region) and we will be going to a starred restaurant to eat for, no doubt, 4 hours.

Michelin stars restaurants. Yes, we are talking about the marshmallow man. Michelin started giving stars to restaurants in their travel guides in the early 1900's. They have since become the standard in France. The system is so well recognized all over France that chefs have comitted suicide after losing a star.

Thinking of guides like ZAGAT, I did not give much weight to the stars in the beginning.

But, this is a summary of our first dinner:

amuse bouche (spoonful or spoonsful of something great to start)

entrée (appetizer)

palette cleanser (like the amuse bouche, just a taste of something)

plat (main course)

palette cleanser

dessert/cheese

coffee/tea/digestif (strong liquor aiding in digestion)

It is all artfully prepared with flavors that marry. It is what you see on top chef, but with tried and true recipes, and perfectly matched drinks.

I have eaten so much at a "starred" dinner that I literally thought I would pop.

So this weekend I am sure it will be good. I will bring photos if I am not to embarassed to take them.