From Russia With Love...

Date: 16 January 2011 10:45:52

Well, not exactly.

It was my Office "do" on Friday and we went to the Casino at Royat for a "Diner Spectacle" (Dinner and a Show) provided by Délicéo:Les Cosaques. It was a bit naff and slightly tacky, but enjoyable enough. We had to queue up to go in, as everyone was made to drink a shot of vodka and have a little savoury snack-on-a-stick (I say "made" to drink...I took no forcing whatsoever, and I guess that if you refused, as a designated driver, recovering alcoholic or whatever, they wouldn't have held you down on the floor and poured it down your throat) as they entered the room. Unfortunately my snack-on-a-stick had a large lump of gristle in it, which I was then juggling with for 5 minutes as I tried to find somewhere to put it - no ashtrays, no bins, serviettes were cloth, not paper so I couldn't wrap it up and put it in my handbag...finally I popped it on the tray of a passing waitress. She didn't look too thrilled by it!

We found a table with the people I know best from the teaching staff - there are a lot of teachers who I never meet, as they work at the office, while I work out at the Michelin factory. Also there are teachers of all nationalities - Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish, etc etc. - the common language is French (though in my case not very well spoken!) So I sat with some of the English teachers I work with, plus one of the interpreters. Sparkling wine and little verrines of tepid pumpkin soup with chestnuts (or so we guessed) were brought round. The fizzies were good, but I could take or leave the tepid soup. And then we were sung to by a lady in what appeared to be a wedding dress. Her song was very soulful and I guess she was singing about lost loves and broken dreams. *Sigh* She was joined by a "clown" (I use the word loosely) who capered about while she sang "Those Were the Days..." in French. We were encouraged to twirl our napkins around our heads in the manner of Morris Men (Except, being French, they didn't make that analogy).

[caption id="attachment_644" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Waving napkins degenerates into chaos."][/caption]

They went into the audience looking for poor saps to dance with them - Mr D was targeted but stayed firmly in his seat while said young woman tried to haul him up. As she was half his size, she gave up after a few tugs and cajoling words.

Finally food arrived. Huzzah! We started with Blinis gourmands aux oeufs de truite et lieu fumée, crème d'aneth. (Big blini with smoked fish (plaice, I think, but I'm not sure) et dill cream) Quite nice. And bottles of wine kept appearing. Also nice.

The next course was described as Koulibiac de Saumon parfumé, riz Basmati. Basically salmon and rce in a puff pastry case and a very nice creamy sauce. Alysia who is vegetarian got something much less appealing which looked like cold rataouille covered in green beans. We joked that the chef was trying to show her the errors of her ways...! We may have been right!

Then we got more Entertainment. Five "Cossack" dancers, who stomped and whooped their way through a speeded up version of the Song of the Volga Boatmen.

Then an acrobat/juggler type who juggled with tennis rackets (as you do). The dancers were back: the three girls dressed as ballet dancers -all tutus and bits of swans down, but bizarrely in high heeled strappy shoes - did a version of a bit of Swan Lake.

Pudding (further Huzzahs) followed with a Pressé de Fromage Blanc et sa Crepe aux Pommes Caramélisées, Crème de Raisins Secs. (Small pancake with a creamy filling of apples and raisins) Very nice, but I'd've liked two!!

More dancing and juggling (this time with a girl attached and lots of hoops.) And getting Poor Saps out of the audience. This time, M. Khodri, the owner & Director of I.L.S. , was dragged up - I think he had been targetted especially; I don't know who arranged it, but he took it in very good sport.

[caption id="attachment_647" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Je cherche un GRAND homme..."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_652" align="aligncenter" width="224" caption="Go, Monsieur Khodri, go!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_649" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="And take a bow."][/caption]

Then we went home . We could have stayed to play the tables, but it was midnight, and we had the drive home - about 55 minutes - so didn't want to get in too late. Especially as I was teaching the following day at 9.30. All in all, a very enjoyable evening. Thank you Mr D for driving.

I wish I'd got Mr D to take a photo of me, as I think I scrubbed up quite well that evening. I'd had my hair done, and was wearing a top I've Had Since Before We Were Married (code for : I've just bought it!) A bit of make-up and my best trousers. A touch of bling and I think I looked good - not something I can say every day! Never mind.

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And finally - would you say that I'm under the thumb of these kittens?!

[caption id="attachment_653" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Millie shows me who's Boss around here."][/caption]