I was still in my recovery period somewhat so took a casual day.

In the evening, I read to La Reserve for an Aperol Spritz. It is a fun way to kill some time and to people watch. It is at the corner of two streets near the Port Daurade so there is a lot of street traffic. It, also, has a big terrace so with the nice weather, there are lots of people both locals and tourists. As you have probably gathered, it is one of my hangouts in Toulouse.

Friday night dinner as usual was at La Panache. It really has become my home here in Toulouse. Ervim and Enzo are always super welcoming and I get to work on my French with them.

They gave me a free appetizer that was not on the menu again. It has become somewhat of a habit. Not sure if it is part of the lunch menu which was not consumed but it is still great. Tonight’s appetizer was shrimp tartar with strawberries. The tartar had some red onion in it so the spice and sweet was a great contrast. The sauce also had a hint to spice in it so make for some great flavor combinations.

I started the evening with a cocktail that Enzo whipped up for me. The liqueur base was mezcal. It had lime juice, strawberries and sugar all muddled. I was good as the acidity from the lime juice cut the sweetness of the strawberries.

Dinner was two of their share options. The first was Gravlax Canard – duck cured and sliced thinly. The second was beef tartar on mille fieulle potatoes that are crisped on the outside.

Enzo’s parents were there so it was like being back in the family. Enzo was also FaceTiming with Morgane (his girlfriend) when I walked in and he turned the phone around so I could say hello. Morgane was visiting her grandmother so I was able to say hello to her as well. I am sure the grandmother was totally confused.

When I was walking home the city was very active. There seemed to be some kind of college pub crawl going on. There were lots of students out at various bars with lots of cups. There must have been a beach them as there were lots of Hawaiian style shirts, people with beach inner tube type floats on them, and lots of bucket hats in beach colors.

The Place St. Pierre which is usually busy on weekend nights was even more packed than usual. And there was a police presence in the Place. I did not see anything that might have warranted the police presence but I guess they were just preparing as there were many close to drunk if not drunk students.