Première Soirée

Marie-Francoise, one of the English professors, had us all over for dinner at her place in the country. We were greeted by her boyfriend (husband, PACsed friend?) and his daughter. They gave us aperitifs, though I didn’t drink the licorice-flavored Pastis, and these mini crepes with pink fish spread on them (they were surprisingly delicious). We ate and drank and talked for hours. It was wonderful. For dinner she served lamb, straight from her neighbor’s herd, which was amazingly good. Then they brought out salad and cheese, and they laughed at our fear of the cheese. I tried them, even though French cheese often scares me, and again, I was pleasantly surprised! I also never thought that the wine you drank with it made all that big a difference, because it tastes all the same to me, but it really does. Whatever stuff they picked for it really complemented the different cheeses. I’ll have to have her write down what they all were. At this point we were stuffed, and still having a jolly time chatting about all of our wonderful cultural differences, and then they brought out desert. It was a delicious frozen chocolate ice cream cake thing. It’s funny because you may think you’re full but when you see cake you’re stomach somehow makes room for it… At this point it was pretty late, and we really thought the night was over, but as it turns out we still had to have our post-dinner tea. I tried to pass on it, since I generally hate tea, but Marie-F coaxed me into taking some. It was fantastic. I’m not kidding. Whatever Indian spiced goodness it was, I liked it. I was worried that it had caffeine in it, but they assured me it had none because it was meant for helping you digest after dinner. Well, that’s brilliant. Perhaps I do like tea after all! All of them were so friendly, and I think we’re going to go back soon. Marie-F wants us all to switch off cooking so that Irene can make us a Chilean meal, the Brits can make us fish and chips or something (jk), and I can make something that’s typically American. Well, I can’t cook, and you all know that. So unless they want fried eggs and toast, I’m afraid they’re out of look on my end! Can you think of anything I can make for them with French ingredients?? If you can, leave me a message. I told them I might try my hand at something Italian like my mom makes. Marie-F said that would count, but I told her I’d have to practice first and then we’d see!