After arriving at Patrick´s brother´s home on Sunday, we headed out to lunch at a local bistro just off the beach. They had all sorts of food from pizza to seafood. I was attempting to try as much French cuisine as I could while there, so I ordered what Catherine ordered. I had an appetizer of medium sized shrimp cooked in a garlic tomato sauce with an oil base. It was delish! The shrimp didn´t taste fishy at all and you know how I love a good garlic mouth.
Next came the main course, which we ate with champagne, naturally. Every time a glass got low, a man came around and refilled it. Mine didn´t get low as I knew more drinking was to come. My lunch was a tuna steak just barely cooked with gray outside edges and a pink center. It was encrusted with black and white sesame seeds and had some odd straw type things laid across it, which I promptly laid across the side of my plate. It came with some cooked veggies. So yummy! The tuna was so tender and the seeds added a nice crunch to it. The veggies were quite fresh, many different types, and had a lovely tomato basil sauce on them. So good.
We topped it off with a little espresso and headed out the door. I still think the coffee in Spain is the best.
The afternoon meant a bit of babysitting for me and some awkwardness followed by a little uncomfortable language barrier. The kids went swimming, so I sat next to the pool and read, to make sure no one slipped and cracked their head open. Alexis and I played some foosball and a bunch of pool after that, which passed the time nicely.
Everyone changed for dinner at around 9:30, before which we had a glass of champagne with grape flavoring, yummo! From here, I didn´t know where to go, what to do, how to stand, sit, nod... Everyone sort of mosied on over to the bar, so I stood around for a while and got a glass of champagne, but everyone was going on in French and I didn´t want to intrude by yelling, "could someone speak english please? Or even Spanish perhaps?" Marie Claire and I (She´s Luic´s wife) actually communicated ok in Spanish. She spoke so slow that I could understand her perfectly. But she was busy setting the table and getting all the food ready. Really, many of them spoke english, but it´s the only time of year they get to be with their family, so I wasn´t really a priority on the get to know you list, which was fine and expected.
After about 5 minutes of standing with the group and looking at people who were talking who took that to mean I understood, I slowly stepped back and became one with the wall and my champagne flute. I missed home. Not bad, but it was there. I decided to hang out with Alexis a little more and play pool until I was called back to be with the adults. They must have thought I assumed I was supposed to be with the kids at all times, which was not the case, I preferred it.
Just as we were called to the table for dinner, I finished my second glass of champagne and decided a few more wouldn´t hurt me. Everyone was taking their sweet time getting to the table and since Catherine is usually my champagne pourer, I took it upon myself to grab the open bottle on the table and get the job done myself. Big mistake. What I poured into my champagne flute was actually a very sweet, very flat white wine. Normally, this would not worry me, but I was in France where I´d been warned that everyone has perfect table manners and ettiquete and if someone noticed that my champagne wasn´t bubbling, I´d be a little embarrassed that I was so desperate for more that I neglected to read the label on what I was pouring.
As everyone took their seats, people started looking at the wine on the table. The one in front of me was the only one with any gone and I was praying no one would put two and two together. We settled in and the first course was served: a mixture of fresh tuna chunks, olive oil, cilantro, lime juice and red pepper I think. It was just sort of in a clump on each plate and we ate it with a fork, so good. Patrick´s nephew, Nathan I think, made it.
On my second bite Nathan´s father offered me some of the sweet wine and I started to blush before I could even answer. I couldn´t understand his words, but the questioning look on his face added to the way he held the bottle at me tipped me off. Thankfully Nathan said something that made him put the bottle down and look the other way, but not before he made a comment that everyone laughed at. Later Nathan said to me he told him I was drinking champagne and his father answered, "but we want her drunk." Nathan´s dad would get his Christmas wish : )
The second course was another little clump... this time white fish with similar other ingredients as the first, but I don´t remember (sorry gramma M). By the time I was done with this one, my glass had been emptied of the sweet wine and refilled with champagne, phew. My other two cups had also been filled with a red wine and another white wine. I had to try everything, remember.
The third course was something I usually don´t like. Just the thought of what it´s made from and how it´s made makes my tummy turn: foie gras. But, this one was deliscious. Patrick´s sister made it and it went great with the wheat toast provided. If I got a large bite by accident, there was just a bit too much richness, but I quite enjoyed it. Plus, there was no way I was gonna say it was gross because typically Americans don´t like it and I wasn´t about to be stereotyped. I liked it though, so no lies. More sweet wine with that puppy.
Next was something a bit more typical to America even. It was a sort of shepherd´s pie made with duck meat on the bottom and mashed potatoes sprinkled with parsley or something green on the top. Really yummy.
It took a while to get the fifth course out because we had to clear the plates and clean them. Sadly, this was the job of all the women, which I find wrong on lots of levels, but I don´t live here and their way is my way while I´m here. Extra sadly, I was a little tipsy when called upon to handle the expensive china and I really had to focus. I took each plate into the kitchen with two hands, watched the floor as I walked and went slowly. Nothing broke or chipped, but I was a little nervous and made a few unnecessary clangs. I tried really hard not to hit anyone in the back of the head with the dishes as I set them back on the table. I think I was successful, but who knows.
The final course was a very tender white fish prepared in a sort of tomato gravy. Simple and tasty. I headed upstairs as soon as I was done eating because I didn´t want to have to clear anymore plates. I needed an english fix as well, so I called KT and we chatted for an hour or so. All in all it was a nice Christmas Eve and a food experience that not many Americans would ever get. I am so appreciative of all the newness that has come my way and the new customs and cultures I am learning about!
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