The first thing I ingested on Christmas day was a chocolate truffle followed closely by a glass of champagne. Not a good start. I´m sorry all these Christmas blogs are all drunken, but I was just being polite ; )
I woke up at 11:00, with no time to eat, I got dressed and we went to see a couple properties that Papi, Patrick´s father owns. Yes, I have to call him Papi (pronounced "poppy"). The first was an apartment he´s fixing up for his sister and the second was one that he´s moving into. Both with gorgeous views of the beach. I hope we get to go to La Baule this summer! It´s such a cute beach town.
We arrived at Papi´s girlfriend´s, Michelle (mee-shell), house around 1 and that´s when I had my aforementioned "breakfast." The kids tore into their presents and the adults sat down to lunch. I believe we had 4 glasses set in front of us here, which was not a good sign. I could sense that my liver might be a foie gras on it´s own by the end of the day. Anyhow, champagne glass full and wine bottles open in front of us, we commenced.
Oysters were passed out to all of us in special oyster plates. They are so pretty in their shells. Usually, I don´t like them, but they were fine in France. They were accompanied by a sort of vinegar onion sauce, which made the texture more acceptable to me. Everyone at the table was quite impressed that I ate them, saying usually the au pair´s aren´t too into them. I had my game face on baby!
Next up was some lightly smoked salmon, almost raw, with a creamy dill dipping sauce. I think it had whole peppercorns in it. Very yummy. Along with these two dishjes came different wines of course. And I wanted to try them, but not full glasses! No such luck. To try, means to drink a full portion to these gorgeous people. Had I felt totally comfortable there, this would have been awesome, but not when there was so much silverware and glass near me and my long arms. I drank up nonetheless.
By the next set of plates, actual shell´s filled with scallops and crab in a cream sauce and then breaded, I was having a bit of trouble passing the platters around. Patrick asked me to hand him my champagne glass to be refilled and, though I was staring at his hand and fully focused on making the hand off, I dropped it before he had a good hold of it... he caught it! Sadly, everyone saw it and laughed and cheered. From then on, Patrick decided to hold the platters for me and let me serve myself before passing the food directly on to the person next to me. Damn it, I´m not a lush, just a lightweight!
Though I was a bit embarrassed, at least I didn´t have to talk. I thought I could make it. Once we hit the foie gras and the bread came out, I grabbed like 3 slices and started stuffing my face. I actually liked Michelle´s foie gras better than the day before´s. It tasted like a melt away mint to me, yum.
Just as I seemed to be straightening up a little and refocusing, actually seeing my 4 glasses, rather than 8, I caught the word "vodka" in the air. Michelle got up from the table and left for a second, returning with some Polish vodka. It came in a little fur-lined sleeping bag, which I hoped was all we were looking at. Oh how cute, now put that thing away... please! Nope.
Glass number 5, a shot glass, was placed in front of me. As the bottle was pointed at me, I shrugged and chuckled. At least everyone laughed at this rather than sending me to the kids´ table. Polish vodka all around folks! A piece of grass had been flavoring it for a while, quite interesting. As Patrick held up his glass to cheers me, I attempted to pour some of my vodka into his glass, but he pulled away and laughed. How could he do this to me? He knew I was suffering... maybe he was in the same boat. Down the hatch, zip! Ouch, that burned just a tad. I was hoping I could sneak out with the tiny sleeping bag the vodka came in, it was so cute! But, Michelle had a grip on it.
However, I did get a nice souvenir... there was this flower arrangement on the table that I would try to focus on to steady my brain and hand. I noticed an adorable little knome who lived in it and I knew I had to have it, as my girl Amelie certainly would have. When no one was looking, I reached out and grabbed it out of the flowers and shoved it in my pocket. He´s up in my room now and I´m not quite sure what to do with him. Maybe I´ll take him on my travels and take pics of him just like Miss Poulin did for her dad.
Anyhow, back to France. I believe the next thing we ate was wild duck. Patrick said it was so wild that his dad had to chase it and we should watch out for buckshot still in it... hmm, I don´t really think Papi should be chasing things. It was a bit hard to cut off the bone without using my hands, but I did it. A dry red wine came with this and by now I had 6 glasses in front of me because I couldn´t finish the wine from the earlier dish. My hand was in slow motion as I grabbed various goblets and I was determined not to make loud clinks. Finally, someone brought out the best part of the night... some water! It had gas and I didn´t even care, it was the most refreshing drink of agua that has ever entered my bod. It was like I was on a desert, dehydrated to mirage level and this water was my savior.
After the duck came the cheeses of various types and bread. I guess this is sort of a finale to French meals, the cheese. It always comes before the dessert, which was made up of various mouse-y cakes. One was a chocolate raspberry, one was vanilla orange and one was just sort of sweet and tan colored with a sugary cracker crumbled and rolled within it. Patrick said that last one was quite typical of the area and told me the name, but I don´t remember it. Grandma Mary, does this dessert sound familiar to you? Email me if you know what it is, or anyone else for that matter.
By dessert´s end, I had my legs back under me and didn´t fall asleep at the table or fall over or anything. I think I was tested out at one point though. Catherine asked me to go tell Louise to do something and I thought she must be upstairs because why wouldn´t Catherine just ask her if she was nearby? So I walked upstairs and she was actually downstairs just a room away from us. I hope I at least walked straight when I went to the complete wrong area of the house!
I helped clear the dishes and had one last glass of champagne in the kitchen while the ladies chatted. I couldn´t understand them, but it did feel like home, a familiar situation. When we were done Catherine and I staked out one of the couches and immediately passed out asleep for like an hour. It was hilarious. My chin was on my chest and Catherine was sprawled out over the arm cushion. I really hope someone got a picture of that!
Two hours later, we had a light dinner of salad and some of the leftover cheese and bread.
We kissed everyone 2 times on each cheek and headed out at about midnight. Patrick and Catherine dropped me off at Luic´s house, where I would wait for a day until it was time for Max to give me a ride home. That was one of the most awkward experiences of my life, being somewhere I know no one and can´t speak too well with them. Sadly, I ate skittles for dinner that night. I´m so silly sometimes.
So there you have it, the French Christmas experience. I loved all the food and getting to see all the homes and meet the family. I only wish I spoke French! Los Reyes is this weekend at Patxoula, Catherine and Patrick´s home in France and I´ll be heading up there with Max I think sometime Friday. This is the day of the year they open lots of presents, so it´ll be a fun new experience too. More on that one next week. Lovins!
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