• Omelette aux fines herbes, with potatoes and salad, $6.95
• Oeufs en cocotte (eggs baked in cream with a little ham), $5.95
• Pain perdu, which is what French toast is called in France, with apricot jam, $5.50
• A basket of croissants and pain au chocolat for the table, $5.00
• Fresh-squeezed orange juice, $2.00

Marie-Claire was working the counter at her uncle's cafe near the Place Bellecour. I ordered a croissant with my two words. She corrected my pronunciation. I came back the next morning and she corrected it again. I came back every morning for three weeks, until my rail pass was about to run out, and on the last morning I asked her (with a phrase book) if she would write to me. She said yes, also with the phrase book.

We wrote letters for two years. Real letters, with stamps, that took ten days each way. I took French at the community college. She came to visit in 1990 and got a look at Harlow Springs in February and, to my amazement, did not get back on the plane. We were married in Lyon in June 1991 and again here in August so both families could come.

The menu is still being argued over in our kitchen. Marie-Claire is holding out for oysters; I am holding out for something I can pronounce. We will post it here by the middle of October. Price will be around $55 a person including the champagne toast at midnight. To reserve, send us an e-mail or stop in.

Makes about 12 crepes.

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/4 cups milk (whole milk is best)
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted, plus more for the pan
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• a pinch of salt
• a teaspoon of vanilla, or a splash of rum or orange-flower water if you have it

1. Put the flour, sugar and salt in a bowl. Make a well in the middle and crack in the eggs.
2. Start whisking in the center, pulling in the flour little by little, and add the milk a bit at a time. If you dump it all in at once you get lumps. (If you get lumps anyway, pour it through a strainer. Nobody will know.)
3. Whisk in the melted butter and the vanilla. The batter should be thin, like heavy cream. If it is thicker than that, add a little more milk.
4. Let it rest at least 30 minutes. This is the part Americans skip and it matters. The flour needs time to absorb the liquid, and the crepes come out tender instead of rubbery.
5. Heat a nonstick skillet or a crepe pan over medium heat. Rub it with a little butter on a paper towel. Pour in about 1/4 cup of batter and immediately tilt and swirl the pan so it coats the bottom in a thin layer.
6. Cook about a minute, until the edges lift and the bottom is golden. Flip it with a spatula (or your fingers, once you are brave) and cook the other side about 30 seconds.
7. The first one is always bad. In France they say the first crepe is for the dog. Eat it yourself standing at the stove and keep going.