Recipe(tried): We had French dinner last night

"WRONG SHUI" (you know, not the Chinese "Feng Shui"...)

SEE RED --

In wrong Shui red is an extremely lucky color. That is why it is far more auspicious to wait until any utility bill turns red before paying it.

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We celebrated Chris' brother's birthday last night as everyone will be too busy for his birthday on Tue. We decided on a French menu as Millie-Feuilles (French Vanilla Slice) is one of his fav. dessert.(This recipe has been posted on TKL.) We only had dessert wine after the meal as Chris forgot to bring a bottle back! It was Botrytis Semillon, vintage 1997. (Not my cup of tea, though...) But hey, the dinner was lovely!
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Huitres chaudes (Seared oysters)

20 oysters
3 oz./ 100 g. finely diced shallots
1 T./ 15 g. butter
2/3 cup/ 150 ml creme fraiche
Freshly ground white pepper
t. curry powder
1 T. brandy

Open the oysters (preserving the water), leaving them in the lower half of the shell and discarding the other half. Put the shallots with the water from the oysters in a pan, add butter and reduce by half.
Heat the broiler.
Add creme fraiche to the sauce, season with white pepper, curry powder and brandy and while stirring, reduce by a third.
Arrange 5 oysters on a plate (bed the half shells on coarse sea salt), arrange some sauce on each shell and brown the oysters quickly under the broiler until they are golden brown. Serve immediately.Gratinee des Halles (Onion soup topped with cheese)

14 oz./ 400 g. onions
cup/60 g. butter
1 T. flour
4 cup/ 1 liter beef stock
salt and freshly ground pepper
Half a baguette
3 oz./ 100 g. Gruyere cheese, finely grated

Peel the onions and cut them not think rings. Warm the butter in a pan and lightly saute the onion in it. Sprinkle on flour and stir, them pour on the hot beef stock. Bring to a boil, lower the temperature and cover. Simmer for 30 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cut the baguette into thin slices and toast. Pour the soup into oven-safe bowls, cover with slices of baguette and sprinkle with the finely grated Gruyere. Bake over in a preheated oven or broiler and serve hot immediately.Note: As we love "blue eye", we didn't use hake in this dish...

Merlu braise aux coquillages, sauce verte (Braised hake with mussels in a green sauce)

1 clove garlic
1/3 cup/ 100 ml olive oil
1 T. flour
2 cups/ 500 ml fish stock
4 hake fillets
12 mussels
t. chopped parsley

Peel the garlic, chop finely and saute in a casserole until golden. Sprinkle over the flour, stir well and then add the fish stock. Simmer gently for 1 minute. Place the fish fillets, skinless side down, in the liquid and ad the mussels. Simmer gently for 3 minutes, then turn the fish over and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the chopped parsley and stir. Arrange on four warm plates and serve immediately.