Dinner in a french family

In early September, Ms Drouet of EM forward a letter from Lyon International to us,
they’re inviting international students to local french family and having meal together.
It is quite a nice opportunity getting to know french people especially local family,
so I applied it and the family invited us last night to have a dinner with them.

There’s the other student from Slovakia, Lukas, was also assigned to the same family,
the lovely Fournel family.
The son of the Fournels, Pierre, picked us up at EM and drove us to his home, which is not that far from school, about 5 minutes later, we arrived the family.

20:00, As we entering the house, the Mom, Christine, welcomed us in the front door. And first thing first, Lukas brought a wine to them, and I brought 3 replicates of Jadeite Cabbage with Insects from Taiwan.

Jadeite Cabbage with Insects

This piece is almost completely identical to a piece of bokchoy cabbage. Carved from verdant jadeite, the familiar subject, purity of the white vegetable body, and brilliant green of the leaves all create for an endearing and approachable work of art. Let's also not forget the two insects that have alighted on the vegetable leaves! They are a locust and katydid, which are traditional metaphors for having numerous children.

Bring a bottle of wine if you’re invited to sombody’s seems a convention in Western society, I’ve seen this on movies, this is the other custom that I learned.

We were invited to take a break at the living room. They served little snacks and wine to us, the wine was bubble wine (taste similiar to Cidre but totally different), which contains less alcohol and the taste was light and fresh. We talked most about our countries and families, and their family members. And we mentioned the strike is happening firecely in Lyon center, I was curious about their(the locals) attitude toward the strike, and as I expected, a bit of tired of it if I am not misinterpreting.

It is my first time to a real french house, so I spent quite a time observing the decoration and the spatial arrangement of the house. They framed photos everywhere, mostly the family members and they have different styles of cabinet. The most interested thing I found is their wine cabinet in the living room is Chinese style, but totally integrated into the atmosphere in the room.

Since the father was late to home, we’re invited to the dining room to have our meal at 21:30. The entree was mushroom with tomato and garlic sauce, the mashed meat jam and boiled little pink radish. I like the mushroom very much, the flavor was quite strong coz they us a misterious herb (I guess it was sichuan pepper) to spice up the taste. The meat jam was also nice with bread. The radish was brittle and now I can buy that vegetable from Carrefour (I didn’t know how to deal with the radish before).

The main dish was chicken with plum, which is Christine’s special dish. The chicken was sunk in the sweetness of plum, and the combination of salty and sweet was perfect. I spent quite a time to enjoy the taste and became the last one finished the dish. Gus gus (misspell) was served as staple food, and I liked this thing from north Africa, look like millet but tast differently.

During the main dish, the Dad came home, Jean was worked so late that he couldn’t join us in the beginnng. We talked about the food in our countries, the wine and the family again on the diner table. After the chicken, the fromage (cheese) served.

I have to say that I like the food in France but cheese is out of that range. After we had a hard time with cheese in Rennes, I promised myself never, tried that thing again. But since they talked a lot about the molded goat cheese, I sip a little and yes here comes again, the strong flavor ran through my mouth that I have to drank wine to rinse the smell. But I liked the dessert quite well, it was orange cake with rum, the other specialty of Christine. The caked absorbed the rum and it tasted humid but sweet at the same time.

After the meal, we’re invited to the living room again, with our wine and tea or coffee. We spent quite a pleasure time chatting to some interesting issues, like language genious of our friends (people that can speak more than 5 languages), stike in French and average salary or rent of dormitory in different countries. I drank the last kind of wine there, it was the wine of peal, contains 40% of alcohol. I drank a shot and it was burning my throat and after I swellow, felt the liquid came to my stomach. They said this kind of wine can help you with digest, you bet!

After all, we left the family around 00:00 and Pierre kindly drove us back. It was a great dinner and glad I grabbed this opportunity to know more about french people and making new friends. We promised them that we’re having an International dinner, Slovakian and Taiwanese food gonna served their stomach! :)

Lukas with the family