Test Kitchen Tuesday: "That's exactly how they make goose liver pate!"

I have been making many a mystery dinner/dessert/snack, but have forgotten to take pictures for a lot of them. :( I decided instead that for my neglected test kitchen I would highlight the four course French meal my family and I enjoyed on our trip to France. It was delightful! The Chateau Brou had a gorgeous and fancy dining area with a more private alcove that was set up just for us.
Our server was a tiny, charming, smartly dressed, young French mademoiselle who was quick to catch a joke and make one too. She recommended that we choose from the ala carte menu so we all chose those things we thought we'd like best. We were first served a tiny dish of cold tomato soup that was delicious, as well as an assortment of bread and toppings. Next came salad for everyone and foie gras for me. I like to be an adventurous eater (within reason) and I have to admit that I was wildly curious about the foie gras. You see it everywhere in France - it is sold in the gourmet food shops in the airport, it is prominently featured in the grocery stores, and in every touristy place you go, someone is selling foie gras. I'm sure you are dying to know what foie gras is by now, so here it is...goose liver. Mostly, foie gras is sold as a pate, but at a resturant you can get your goose liver without the squish. I asked the waitress what her favorite first course was and she promptly declared foie gras so that sealed it - my adventure was about to begin. While everyone else ate salad...
I tucked into this divine looking dish...Isn't the presentation amazing?! More importantly, it was actually really good. And that is a BIG compliment coming from the girl who used to drown her liver dinner in ketchup. The foie gras was served on grapefruit segments, which gave the dish a tangy-sweet undertone and all the sauces were wonderful. I could definintely see why foie gras is so popular in France and why PETA will never succeed in inducing people not to eat it. (The geese are force fed large amounts of feed to make their livers grow larger...it sounds awful but you can watch it on YouTube and see that it takes about five seconds and that the geese just look confused when it is over...yeah, yeah, I'm justifying my delicious meal.)

Main Course:
The main course options were fish, duck, or beef. I chose duck, again - adventurous me - I'd never had duck, and I wasn't disappointed in my choice. It was excellent and served in a broth with vegetables. Yummy!

In what will be a moment of supreme amazement for many, I will confess that I actually opted for the CHEESE COURSE. (I'm so brave.)
Served on a chilly piece of slate, the cheese course included a tangy salad of wild greens and sweet bread topped with goat cheese. I have to admit that I didn't eat all the cheese, but I DID scrape a thin layer over my bread and enjoyed it. I felt very French...eating cheese and all.

Finally, we had dessert. There was chocolate cake, apricot crumble, and rhubarb flambe! Of course, the idea of a flaming dessert had me all excited so I ordered it. It was delicious, but to my disappointment, they lit it on fire in the kitchen. Still, it was good and I loved all the crispy sugar carmalized on top.

We spent about three hours eating and I loved every minute of it. The conversation was excellent, the food was perfect, the setting was lovely, and I felt so lucky. When we were finished we waddled out...
and I spent the rest of the evening here: