Funny hats

November 21

If you get invited to a party at the French Consulate in New York City, try to go, just so you can check out the ornate space. The residence of the Swedish consul general in New York also is a nice place, actually, and you're almost guaranteed to have a good time. But remember to make eye contact with anyone you toast — it's considered rude to do otherwise in Germanic cultures, which includes Scandinavians.
But I digress. Tonight the event was at the French Consulate and the occasion was the induction of new members of the New York chapter of the Ordre Des Compagnons du Beaujolais. You also should try to go to parties thrown by any food- or wine-related French guild. They wear funny hats, and sometimes robes and other regalia and in general are good for a laugh and nice people besides. The Beaujolais compagnons wear sommelier's cups around their necks and, when inducted, have to chug wine from a giant sommelier's cup.
I met a guy who runs a semi-legal "supper club" out of his home. I'd heard about these before. They're sort of unlicensed restaurants where you show up with cash and eat what they're cooking, dinner-party style. In the case of this guy's supper club, the price of admission is $20 plus a bottle of wine, although he's planning on reducing the number of attendees from around 20 to 10 and raising the price to $30.