Yielding the Pen: Maxminimus

Gorgeous readers,

Please join me in welcoming ADG of the swank lifestyle blog, Maxminimus.

This post was such an elegant adventure, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Many thanks to ADG, please swing by his page and say hello for me when you arrive.

Only the best for you all,
Catherine

The Sexy Hostess: Maxminimus

My story involves a hostess that exceeds the elegant and sexy role of hosting one evening. It involves a lovely woman who hosted a transition-a transition that was essential to my re-entry into the “post marriage single world”. I couldn’t have been blessed with a more charming woman for my transition and for me-there is a strong corollary between elegant and sexy and so my story will invite both terms.

All life is transitory and my hostess opened for me a lovely and elegant door to post marriage life. “We’ve got someone we want you to meet…" I heard this numerous times but everyone re-engages with the dating world post marriage on their own time. I figured I was ready and so finally when I heard the fix up sing-song again, I responded affirmatively.

Ten years younger but in many lovely ways, ten years older… and really a lovely Audrey Hepburn incarnate. Also divorced; she was a Georgia girl who worked on the fundraising and development side the art world, a former music teacher with a Piano Pedagogy degree and a real passion for culinary arts. I don’t think a man could encounter a sexier combination in a hostess. Audrey Hepburn meets Dianna Krall while channeling the talents of Julia Child.

Our first rendezvous was perfect… The Town and Country Bar at the Mayflower Hotel in D.C.



The T&C simply demands elegance by virtue of its history. Proper cocktails are de rigueur at the T&C; it wasn’t I who suggested this meeting place.

The summer weather called for linen and this lovely woman rounded the corner in perfect form. Linen and pearls. Cocktails at the T&C and then dinner at Butterfield 9. My elegant hostess selected the restaurant and regaled me with stories about Butterfield 8 - the book and 1960 Oscar winning movie starring Elizabeth Taylor. She knew cool stuff-loved trivia-just like me. My first date after marriage was magnificent.

The summer was great fun and my sexy-elegant hostess was never short of ideas that challenged all of my senses and validated for me so many good things that await anyone who finds himself single again. She prepared dinner for me the first time that summer on a Friday night. Her Kalorama apartment was quintessentially Audrey Hepburn redux. Truly a Salon. Prewar digs with high ceilings and elegant appointments. There was a diploma framed and on display in the kitchen. My hostess was a graduate of L'Academie de Cuisine. Cocktails, dinner and then Monk and Bird in the background while we drank Sauternes till the wee hours. I remember though, a little dribble of Sauternes running down her chin as she laughed with such zest. Yes, there was life after marriage and my hostess validated it for me. My Friday night arrival for dinner resulted in a Monday morning departure.

Then my elegant hostess worked her magic on my home. Simple meals became fun and intriguing and the touches that only a woman can provide a home transformed my post- marital digs into a more civilized lair.



The needlepoint pillow that she made for me still has its place on the sofa. She had a key.

Summer turned into autumn and my hostess had Paris on her mind. Her passion for challenging the senses couldn’t have found a better palette than the City of Lights. As I began to write this story I found the book that became her basis for organizing several of our culinary adventures in Paris. The book still has her sticky notes on selected pages. I think I’ll keep them right where they are.



My hostess decided to create for us a preview of our selected culinary destinations. The Paris Café Cookbook became her playbook.



She cooked a signature meal from each destined café. We had Paris in Kalorama and Old Town before we had Paris. "Sexy" and "elegant" are incomplete characterizations of this woman. There was a thread of chic erudition that ran through this encounter from beginning to end.



So on to Paris and yes, we landed in the predictable Parisian culinary tourist traps and enjoyed every moment of it.



Brasserie Lipp has hosted everyone from Hemingway to Johnny Depp and scores of fictional characters including Tom Ripley, courtesy of Patricia Highsmith. My elegant hostess and I joined all of the Lipp cognoscenti and the charcuterie was a must for me.



Le Grand Colbert can be seen in the Nicholson-Keaton-Reeves movie, Something’s Gotta Give. They graced us with roasted chicken that was almost as good as what my hostess prepared for us in Old Town before we made it to Paris.



Les Deux Magots for afternoon. Kir Royale… every day.



My bon vivant prepared the MA Bourgogne Boeuf Bourguignon recipe before we left for Paris. Her concoction equaled their renowned Bourguignon prowess.

Our days were filled with equally enjoyable frolic and fun upon our return to the States. The joy that she derived from planning and preparing our local yet elegant boondoggles equaled the joy that I took in having someone concoct them for me.

So let me close this story by answering the questions that are sure to come up: What happened? Why did you let this one go? Why didn’t you marry her?

Clichés become such often times for good reason. Timing is everything. I wouldn’t dare debase this encounter by characterizing it as my first post marriage “starter relationship”. My sexy and elegant hostess deserved someone who was ready to take this stylishly sublime and erudite adventure to another level. I was not at that time, ready for the same. All’s well that ends well however. My hostess is now married-to a Frenchman and living - where else - but… Paris.

Onward.