The salad course from our Julia Child Centenary Dinner tonight. Julie put a little goat cheese rolled in panko crumbs and baked, atop a salad with vinaigrette. This was the very first thing she ever ate when she was in France, and it told her that she was in another world.

It was a lovely, lovely dinner, and a reminder of how good simple food, well prepared, can be. (Notice the lilies on the table; the fleur-de-lys is a symbol of France.) We had a cheese course (all French), with a bubbly white wine to toast to the memory of Julia Child. Julie made us all badges copied after the ones Julia Child and her collaborators, Simone Beck and Louisette Berthold, made for themselves. We ate Vichysoisse, gratin dauphinois, carrottes Vichy, and gigot a la moutarde. And for dessert, Julia’s flourless chocolate cake, reine de Saba. We finished the evening with coffee, Chambord, and cherry eau de vie from Alsace.

It was a modest night, in most ways, but also a grand one. More photos below the jump.