Thanksgiving was a quiet holiday this year. I actually went in to work for a little bit...don't feel sorry for me, tho, as it worked out better for me to make the trip to get an employee evaluation completed. Back home, I treated myself to some turkey with gravy and mashed potatoes. And I opened this special bottle of wine. It was given to me during my month in France by Christiane and Jean-Paul, my dinner hosts one evening. Laury and I were invited for aperos and dinner...a very special treat for me. They have a lovely old house just up the hill from Laury's. It has a grand fireplace in a cantou, which is a stone inglenook that has seating along each side. Aperos of red wine with cassis were accompanied by crackers, dry sliced sausage, olives and cornichons (tiny pickles) along with rock-n-roll oldies (American, of course!), lots of laughter and some spontaneous singing along to the songs that took us down memory lane. Who knew the French loved American rock? Dinner was a country delight. Christiane put together a yummy salad of greens sprinkled with walnuts, sliced duck gizzard and homemade fois gras. Our main course was a casserole layered with duck, mashed potatoes, wafer-thin slices of squash, and 3 kinds of mushrooms drenched in a wine gravy. My mouth waters just remembering how good it was! Then the cheese course...a cantal, a soft cow cheese, a pepper-coated goat cheese, and a sharp local roquefort. Wine, wine, wine, of course...then an apple tart with a tiny glass of prune eau d'vie...a fruit-based Everclear-like alcohol, very strong! More laughter, more stories in rapid-fire French that Laury had to translate. And then as we prepared to leave, Jean-Paul gave me this bottle of wine. It flew home with me carefully wrapped, nestled deep in my suitcase. Opening it for Thanksgiving brought all those delightful French memories flooding back. I am thankful for new friends!
Sunday, November 29, 2009
A Quiet Holiday
Thanksgiving was a quiet holiday this year. I actually went in to work for a little bit...don't feel sorry for me, tho, as it worked out better for me to make the trip to get an employee evaluation completed. Back home, I treated myself to some turkey with gravy and mashed potatoes. And I opened this special bottle of wine. It was given to me during my month in France by Christiane and Jean-Paul, my dinner hosts one evening. Laury and I were invited for aperos and dinner...a very special treat for me. They have a lovely old house just up the hill from Laury's. It has a grand fireplace in a cantou, which is a stone inglenook that has seating along each side. Aperos of red wine with cassis were accompanied by crackers, dry sliced sausage, olives and cornichons (tiny pickles) along with rock-n-roll oldies (American, of course!), lots of laughter and some spontaneous singing along to the songs that took us down memory lane. Who knew the French loved American rock? Dinner was a country delight. Christiane put together a yummy salad of greens sprinkled with walnuts, sliced duck gizzard and homemade fois gras. Our main course was a casserole layered with duck, mashed potatoes, wafer-thin slices of squash, and 3 kinds of mushrooms drenched in a wine gravy. My mouth waters just remembering how good it was! Then the cheese course...a cantal, a soft cow cheese, a pepper-coated goat cheese, and a sharp local roquefort. Wine, wine, wine, of course...then an apple tart with a tiny glass of prune eau d'vie...a fruit-based Everclear-like alcohol, very strong! More laughter, more stories in rapid-fire French that Laury had to translate. And then as we prepared to leave, Jean-Paul gave me this bottle of wine. It flew home with me carefully wrapped, nestled deep in my suitcase. Opening it for Thanksgiving brought all those delightful French memories flooding back. I am thankful for new friends!
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1 comment:
What a delightful-sounding evening.
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