Feasting: Of Pâté and Quail Eggs

We were supposed to show up at the professor's apartment after the lecture for cocktails before going out for dinner.  Unfortunately, the lecture ran long, so cocktail hour was skipped.  After dinner, the professor slipped this bag into my hand: "I really can't be eating this rich food - so here's a doggy bag for you."  "Doggy bag" is probably the most inappropriate term for the contents of that parcel: three enormous slices of pâté and a tiny carton of hard-boiled quail eggs.  These were to have been eaten with the drinks before dinner.

Now I know that pâté is not the most photogenic thing - and I am definitely not a food stylist - but I had to show you the three different kinds of pâté I was given.  Two with morsels of meat en gelée and one of pure pâté goodness.

Quail eggs just taste richer, creamier, and denser than chicken eggs.  And the fact that they are so dainty and their shells so beautiful - just look at the pale mint green on the inside of speckled brown! - that they are a delight to eat.

And, really, I have a thing for eggs, overall.   This was gastronomic kindness at its greatest.