It was a Friday night when I had my very first dinner with a French family. One of the teachers at my Lycee invited us to her home.
Her name is Aziza and her husband is Francis. Aziza teaches Spanish. They have two sons, Paul and Adam and another teacher, Alexia, also joined us. Alexia teaches Spanish, as well.
We arrived around 7pm. Rule #1 of dining with the French: ALWAYS bring something for the host(ess). We missed this rule. It won't happen again.
Rule #2: Always greet with a bise.
First, their house. It's under construction (Francis is a carpenter, so he is fixing it himself) but I can't even begin to describe how stunning this house was. The rooms were large and it was almost open concept, but not quite. The ceilings were my favorite. They were high. So high. And they were original. White with intricate designs. I promise to take a photo next time. It was like stepping into a French novel. The walls were even cracked. I am in love with this house.
As we sat down to eat, Francis set benches (which he made) in front of us. They quickly filled them with les aperitifs. We had olives, sausage, tomatoes, pistachios, chips, and champagne. It was delicious. We picked away at these for over an hour, talking about our home countries in a mixture of French, English, and Spanish. It was the most lovely way to start this adventure.
Next, Aziza served le fromage. Cheese tray! My favourite, of course. We also switched to wine at this point. There were countless types of cheese. We ate it with some bread and meat (ham and a salted ham).
My favourite cheese was the goat cheese which Alexia brought with her from her home town in the South of France. To start with, it had something black on the outside. It was ashes. Yup. I was skeptical, but when in France, do as the French. Let me just say: WOW. I don't think that I could call the stuff that I've been eating goat cheese. Alexia's cheese was just so smooth and creamy. It wasn't too tart, but also not sweet. It was literally perfection. I could survive on just that from now until I leave. I honestly don't know how I am going to go back to Canadian goat cheese.
Finally, we ended with les gouffres. It's a traditional dessert in the North. Very similar to a waffle, but denser and sweeter. Also, you eat them cold. Very good.
As we said our goodbyes, les bises were exchanged. A successful night indeed!
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