February flew by in a flash.

And I haven’t even begun to recover.

We have a teenager now. A flipping TEEN!

I think Sparky would agree when I say that milestone came with a hefty emotional rollercoaster for us as parents. Like, it hit hard. And it happened in the middle of a major transitional time for our family.

So, again we visit that word: shift.

It’s starting to feel like our family’s word for this year…

And it certainly needed to be applied this month, especially when it came to our (now) monthly kitchen travels. Which almost didn’t happen.

But they did.

So, let’s go!

Meet me in Paris!

There were a few BIG things that had us scurrying this month and in that we almost lost out on our trip to France.

Thankfully, we have been making constant tweaks to our relationship and our communication has greatly improved. So, that need to pivot doesn’t (always) create a descent into madness.

As the month briskly went by and schedules changed, it became clear that we were not going to be able to pull off the dinner we had hoped.

And that’s okay.

Or it is now. Or was after we sorted things.

I believe we realized sometime on the 25^th that we were really short on time, in an already short month. And then it was decided that our only option was a dinner together on the 26^th.

Sparky and I opted for a simple and romantic Parisian dinner with a twist.

Our twist, of course.

Le menu

It was actually really easy for us to pull this together in the short time we had. We went with some favourites that just happen to fall under France, a pivot win.

Onions are something most of us have in the pantry. In medieval times their abundance and perceived restorative properties found them cooked in water for simple soups, the poor man’s soup.

Until the 18^th century.

French Onion Soup originated in France (duh!), though there are onion soup recipes that have existed since the ancient eras. It was during this time it emerged from the kitchen with a changed reputation.

And for this night, we decided to shake it up – instead of topping it with cheesy bread, we wanted a more rounded meal and opted to make Gruyere Grilled Cheese to pair with our cozy cups of soup.

It was so good!

We made those yummy side sammies out of homemade bread. This bread recipe is a frequent flyer in our house. Everyone loves it and it is incredibly versatile. There is also something to be said about being able to custom make your bread.

For dessert, we needed something quick, easy, and French. So, no pastries. We picked up a disc of brie and some apple flax crackers then threw caution to the wind and hoped we had enough at home to complete our dessert board.

Turns out we did.

We had a pair of pears squatting in the fridge (it had been weeks, we told them to go but they wouldn’t budge from the crisper), so I poached them. They were asking for it, and the brie would be so good topped with that sweet pair of pears.

And it was!

A few homemade chocolate-dipped strawberries (so easy!) and nuts, and our dessert board was finished. Then devoured.

L’amour

In the end we got it done: a whirlwind trip to France without ever leaving our kitchen.

And we learned something too:

A change in plans doesn’t mean you are any less committed to the thing.

We put a lot of pressure on ourselves to execute something tremendous without ever promising extravagance. Once we realized that simplicity took over and we were able to focus on what really matters and that was spending time together enjoying some France-inspired food.

These nights are important because they bring us together. Every step of the evening – from inception to gathering to execution – a snippet of time shared, each a piece of our memory mosaic.

Where to next? It’s up in the air.

Stay tuned.