We started with Ravioles de Royans, a Dauphine (French region) speciality food. The little delicate squares (like mini raviolis) are made with white flour and stuffed with cheese and basil, I served them with a bit of olive oil and sliced olives and dry tomatoes. I presnetd them in a fine bone china bowl placed on a colorful chinese hand decorated dessert plate.
The main course was "magrets de canard" (duck breasts) from South West France. Magrets weigh about 1 lb each the skin side is very fat. First you make incissions on the fat to ensure it cooks. Then you cook them about 7 minutes on the fat side in a heavy pan (I use a Le Creusot iron cast frying pan) without any fat. The fat will melt. Your turn them and cook them 5 minutes o the meat side. You remove and put them in a pan in a medium low oven for 10 minutes. Cut and serve.
I served them with caramelized spring turnips (a classic garnish for duck) and onion compote with raisins, as if it were a chutney. Duck is served medium rare in France and cut in rather thin slices. I changed plates and forks amd knives and served a fresh lettuce salad, quite refreshing after the duck.
My cheese platter came from la Fromagerie d'Auteuil , the cheese shop near my house that I have often praised in this blog. It had one old Valencay goat cheese, one soft sheep cheese, a slice of Roquefort produced in a small farm at Roquefort, a small piece of Munster (keep your breathe!), and half La Pierre qui Vire, produced by monks at the Abbey with the same name - cow milk. 
My dessert was a home made iced vanilla flavored cream with swirls of dark chocolate, served in a shell of meringue. I had put the vanilla bean on top to decorate the cake and to give a hint of the flavor.I served a Chateau Pailhas Saint Emilion Grand Cru 1999, perfect for duck.
We had our Nespresso in these small Chinese cups.It was a good birthday indeed!
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