Aromas

On spring nights Valois smells of daffodils and tulips, followed by apple trees, lilacs and roses. In summer the barbecues take over with the sound of laughter, racoons scrapping, and tomcats yowling. During the week there's the crack of baseball bats in the park and cheering crowds at the pool. On weekends, the dirty blues from the backroom of the Mayf' can be heard from three blocks away. In August, the spiders are in high gear on the veranda. Your glasses get caught in their webs and a fat full moon rises over Jennifer's house.

The Joy of Solitary Dining

or

Omelette au Fromage*

Stumble home from work with your feet aching and your faith in humanity smashed.

Ensure that there are no other human beings in your abode who might further tread on your bedraggled aura. Dogs and cats are fine. Rabbits not so much.

Whisk together two eggs in a bowl.

Grate a thumb size piece of sharp cheddar.

Cut a smallish red pepper into strips and sauté in butter in your omelet pan. When softened, remove and set aside.

Pour eggs into pan and swirl around until almost set. Top one half with cheese and as many pepper strips as you want. Put the remainder in your salad tomorrow.

Sprinkle on some fresh rosemary from the plant that you got as a quasi-Christmas tree last year and put out in the sunshine in May, where it has made a miraculous recovery.

Fold the omelet over, reduce heat and cover while you open a bottle of red, pour yourself a generous glass and set the table. Full tablecloth treatment is nice.

Slide the omelette au fromage* onto a nice plate, salt and pepper to taste and take yourself out to the clothed table on your terrasse.

A deep, dark, green salad (spinach and enoki mushrooms would be divine) would go nicely, but don't stress. You're getting your vitamins from the peppers. And this is supposed to be a solitary dinner, anyway.

Watch the fading light transform your garden, or flutter through the city maple tree that brushes against your balcony, or turn the stop sign on the corner to neon.

Stay out there soaking in the view until the bugs get too nasty, or you get cold, or worst case scenario, the red runs out.

Peace, tranquility and omelette au fromage*.

* Say it with a Parisian accent and you couldn't be cooler with a beret and a Gauloise.