Another French Meal

Around 8:00pm we arrived at Julie’s father’s house. He had two cats and we would be spending the night. I am not going to lie, I took a second to check how much Benedril I had with me. There was no carpeting though and they threw the cats outside so I really was pretty okay. Anyway, we spoke for a short bit and then began dinner.

Now, I read all about the French taking their time with dinners and all but it was not until this week that I have really seen it. Their average dinner with friends is about 4 hours long - that is a long time! I guess you could say that in America when we have friends over we have long dinners, but not really – only if it is a party or something. Anyway, it is nice to just sit around and talk with the food.

We started off with some champagne and fresh fois gras. Julie’s father has been sick with Lyme’s and so between us visiting and him being out of the hospital and feeling well, I guess he thought he should go all out and celebrate. Dinner was definitely a celebration. Apparently, this fois gras was the best kind I could have ever had. Her father went to the farmer and got it at a place who purposely does what needs to be done to the ducks to get perfection at the end. Although it did not taste as bad or irony as the other ones that I have tried…it still was not anything great. I guess it is one of those things you need to get used to. I had a couple of pieces of bread with it and then stopped. There was also fresh green olives stuffed with anchovies and some stuffed with almonds. Surprisingly, the ones with anchovies were a lot better. There was also some type of cheese puff looking thing. I have no idea what it was despite asking and tasting it. It was not good or bad, more or less just air.

After our first course, the main meal came out. It was a regional specialty; duck confit. I think I have tried it in the USA but it was totally different. This was duck legs that were delicious. I have no idea how he made them but dang…it was good. We had homemade french fries, fresh bread and red wine to accompany the main course and of course some wonderful dinner conversation.

After the main meal the cheese was brought out. There were about 4 kinds. I tried Bubery (sp?). It was like a very very strong Brie, I was not a fan. I was told to stop eating it and just have a sip of wine to give me the idea of why wine and cheese go together. I took a sip of the wine and it did nothing but make me continue to dislike wine. Might as well try it while I am here!

After the cheese we all agreed that we needed something to get the taste out of our mouths. The ice cream came out. There were about three kinds, but I chose a quarter size biscuit instead, I was full! After that the aperitif’s came out. Now, I have tried pastis, which is for before the meal but these drinks are the same idea, help you digest the food. There were about seven bottles that came out. One with a pear in it, one that was homemade from a friend with plants found in the mountains (total moonshine) and some other stuff. I smelled them and passed. They brought out sugar cubes and told me to pick a drink to try, by putting it in the sugar cube, it would help it go down as it burns by itself. I continued to pass.

While cleaning up I thanked Julie for everything. I am sure some of me talking was the alcohol, but I really did mean it. Having her take me to meet her friends and family has been just amazing. I hope to be able to do the same for people who visit the USA and really wish that people knew ways to open their doors to people more. I mean the number of great people I know in the US is crazy and most of them would love to meet people and host them for a little while, but I think it is just hard to get involved. I really hope to be able to do this when I get back as I think getting to know the culture and people is better than anything else. I really am grateful. An hour later, we were all exhausted and headed off to bed. It was an unbelievably delicious meal and a wonderful day.