A Real French Dinner Party

Wednesday night, I encountered something I have heard lots about but have not yet had the opportunity to experience: A French dinner! Jalynn and I were invited to have dinner at our wonderful landlady's house, along with four of her other tenants, two from our program and two girls from Luxembourg who are also studying in Montpellier for the semester. 


Once we had all arrived and been introduced to our landlady, Marie Christine's husband, Pierre, the food began. We all sat around in the living room and drank champagne mixed with some sort of Violette syrup that made it blue and gave it some extra flavor, with our appetizers. First on the list was a plate with plumb tomatoes, amaaaaazingly delicious green olives which I probably could have eaten all of, cashews and pretzels. You would think that would be it before dinner, right? Nope! Next, Marie Christine brought out a plate with  soft crackers/bread covered in faux-caviare. Apparently it's only real caviare if it comes from a certain type of fish, so real fish eggs, just not the super-fancy kind. After the caviare came the next cracker-thing covered in a sauce sort of like mayo with smoked salmon or baby shrimps. The third one - yes, they kept coming - was olive tapenade, also delicious. We chatted in French about our travels and school and getting to know Montpellier, as well as getting to know Pierre and Marie Christine a little better. They told us about the year they spend in Quebec and the traveling they did in the states. 


When the aperitifs were finished, we moved to the dinner table for salad and potato pie, thinly-sliced potatoes in a thin, bread crust. After that, bread and four kinds of cheese, including camembert, comté and two others, whose names I did not quite catch. I sort of thought that bread and cheese counted as dessert, but then out came a chocolate cake! With a kiwi-banana purée and whipped cream. By the time we were done eating and chatting, it was close to 11pm and I was in full food-coma mode. I was soooo full. Wow. It was amazing. 


Such a great experience to have, and wonderful to spend the evening speaking all in French and learning about a cool couple. We found out Marie Christine used to own her own wine store in Montpellier, so she told us all about different wines and how they are classified. We also made two new friends, with the two girls from Luxembourg, who we will hopefully be meeting up with at some point again to speak French and eat yummy food. 


Tonight, I am off to another kind of dinner party, with a group of friends from my program in my friend Ryan's apartment. We are all bringing appetizer-ish things to throw together a big meal of munchies. It should be a fun evening with more amazing food, although not quite as fancy as my last dinner party.