When Dompierre entertains …

Elle Québec, 1997
by Louise Dubuc
 

Dramatic turn of events: our restaurant critic is caught in his own trap in the middle of a private banquet. Counter attacking with a menu – and what a menu! – the case of the biter bitten. It's for some very dear friends, Louise Dubuc and her husband Daniel Lavoie.

"My father has gone out for a walk to calm himself down." That's Jeanne, 13 years old, who welcomes us. She gloats a tiny bit sadistically. To calm himself down over what? Louise is obviously not the problem because she is at the door, smiling and mistress of herself, except that … Phillippe, ten years old, whirls up like a waterspout to announce us – he loves family disasters – "Mummy has made a mess of dessert!"

Welcome to the home of the Dompierre-Fortins.

On entering the room, our eyes are drawn to the stairwell which leads to François' studio in the basement. We'll end up there this afternoon. The round den and its music fills our ears, always. We have our traditions.
François arrives a few moments later. He doesn't say anything about a crisis. He has pink cheeks after having walked at a brisk pace, his good humour restored. Two minutes more and Joseph (the son of the tall Daniel and of Louise the blond) has left for the garden with Phillippe. Gabrielle, Loulou's daughter, has followed Jeanne into her room. They will stay there all afternoon. In the dining room, the blokes get high on the bottles of wine. The two Louise's watch what they are doing.
Four couples, our families make up four couples. The children feel a certain, I don't know what, in the atmosphere, the solid friendship which unites us, and it gets to them too. Whilst the men are trying to be smart with the bottles of vintage wine, Loulou attempts to join Louise in the kitchen. She is suspicious. Oysters, brains and other barbaric ingredients … All at the same time? The Dark one pokes fun at her, "Jeanne and I had fun all week inventing dishes which would disgust you."
No, you will not know the menu immediately. On the other hand, that of the children is the usual one for a bit less than three years, raw vegetables and lasagne. The adults like variety, the older kids and the young ones have a leaning towards tradition. Louise's lasagne is something sacred.

The Dark one serves the children. The Blond one scrounges what is on display on the work surfaces … Dare she lift a saucepan lid? The men folk are in the room which is peaceful, big windows giving onto greenery. The big sofas, placed facing each other, invite you to wallow in them. Unobtrusive, the piano takes the place of the television and the wear on the carpet shows the great frequency of its usage. If it's not Daniel who makes us listen to his new disc, it's a demo by François, or the other way round. They are musicians all the time, and too bad for Loulou who has come to re-join them.

It all has the air of being simple: an invitation to dine with friends. If you knew. It begins with the checking of diaries for everyone. Those of the blokes make the head spin, they are so busy. We try to find two matching blank pages. If we're stuck there, we try the children: drama rehearsals, dance or skating lessons, basket-ball tournaments, a party … not making much headway there also. Happily the mothers have practically normal timetables. Between the to-ings and the fro-ings of the blokes to Paris when there isn't an inescapable show of a friend, or even the flu, more is needed than just great willingness. After a month of intensive e-mailing between the girls – because the date finally found is changed, usually for a good cause, it's crazy that voluntary work nibbles at the weekends of artistes – we end up by blocking out a Sunday, as well as marking it in red on the calendar. Then the wait begins.

We wake up on the morning of day G (for Greed). The anticipation of the pleasure to come is sweet. Just a coffee and some fruit to sustain us until midday. We know it will be good, better than anywhere else in the world and we know it. Louise always prepares, for Daniel, dark chocolate desserts, as a bit of a joke. François will chose some runny and foul-smelling cheeses for the Blond, which he has perhaps brought back express from France. He's going to show her them before going to table. He knows just the right cheese.

How to describe the menu? Here is rather a quantity of memorable dishes. The names of these dishes occasionally make us laugh because they imply that their creators have been serious about it. This is clearly not the case. There's an amusing discrepancy between the "announcement" and the following dish and the sweet way with which it is served, the quite simple joy of eating well. This is as well as the "ravioli with wild mushrooms in a two truffle sauce" which is served with the mad laughter of François who probably remembers the way he fetched these truffles from Paris. There is also "soft polenta with fricasée of mushrooms and gorgonzola" which has nothing barbaric about it because there's more to it than that with its mellow flavours. There was also antipasti of marinated and grilled vegetables, paella, a bouillabaisse (Mediterranean fish stew) fillet of duck breast, warm skate salad with onion chutney, three chocolate cake with a raspberry sauce. OK, you see what I'm talking about? We're a long way from a blessed barbecue, as pleasant as that also is, and the greedy expression on François's face is alone worth the trip to her!

The tablecloth will be witness to the good quality of the wine which is the first big gesture of the tall Daniel. After two glasses, François will begin to tease Loulou for the simple pleasure of seeing her "go up the wall". Perhaps he will succeed in it. The tall one adores helping in these sessions. Then the Dark one is all concern and always takes the side of the Blond one. Daniel is about to get his stories all mixed up, François will reply with his own, with the talent we know him to have. Between the two dishes, there is the intrusion of Jeanne with her joyful (and dribbling?) impertinence. "What, still eating? But you've been three hours at table!" As for the boys, it's usually at the cheese course that they come in for the attack, "When are we going to eat the dessert (the volume rises) WITH CHOCOLATE?"

In short, it's easy to understand that we like to see each other and to eat together, although it's not so much the eating but the quality of the company which matters. When this is also as pleasant as the dishes, this is happiness. We confide our stories with each other, our plans; the girls with fantasies of holidays on their own, the blokes with their motorbike trips.
But before dessert, which the Tall one is waiting for impatiently – he needs to see Louise and entice her to explain the recipe to him – there is the hallowed walk. At last, the tall Dark one calls them for a walk, but it's rather brisk, to digest and to make room for the famous dessert!

This is in the Park of St. Bruno's Mountain among the walkers, or in the neighbouring roads, where we walk. The two talk Dark ones with their long legs in front, Louise and Daniel and the Grey one and the Blond at the rear – Loulou and François. They confide their secrets, memories of journeys and anything. On the return from the walk, here at last is the dessert and the children burst forth. Joseph argues over the last morsel of cake, as usual. The afternoon reaches its end. It's this moment that François chooses to suggest to us to go downstairs to listen to a bit of something.

We prise ourselves out of chairs, except for François who is all light and exultant. Whilst we each install ourselves where we can in the studio which, even if it is well fitted-out, was not planned for eight, the blokes debated the pros of a PF-150 compared with a R-760. Then we listen. To what? It depends on the Sundays. And then, we are honestly not going to give the game away. When one has the privilege of hearing it before others, we must be silent. But of course, it's beautiful!
Horrors, time to go. Towards 4 pm we adjust our seat belts and promise to eat nothing until tomorrow. We have to go by the Saint-Hubert BBQ, on route 116 …"Mummy, what are we eating for our supper?"

Translator's note – You may be mystified by references to the Tall one, the Dark one, etc. Here is an explanation.

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