Dinner Party

Yesterday we had a dinner party. Since I told all of my friends in the US that we are moving to Nice soon, one of them asked me if it was a housewarming party. Well, no, not exactly... more of a “farewell, my beautiful apartment” party. To be honest, I was kind of stressed out about it. Very stressed out about it. I’m not sure why, since Jube was cooking and the apartment was already spotless, but I was. extremely. stressed! Five of Jube’s good friends came over, which was certainly part of the reason. I am always nervous when it comes to groups of people speaking French. Normally, I'm totally fine when I speak French, because it’s (normally) a one-on-one situation: me and the waiter, me and the salesclerk, me and the librarian (you get the picture). But parties are really hard; there are usually at least two conversations going on and if you manage to pay attention to one of them then someone is sure to ask you a question about the other. Last night was a breakthrough for me, though. I understood just about everything everyone said, contributed to the conversation, and managed to feel like a good hostess at the same time! So here’s how it went down:

8:30: Arrival of Jube’s friends (“Sorry we’re late!”—yeah, whatever, all French people arrive about half an hour late).

8:31-35: We kiss everyone three times. That makes 30 kisses, 15 each for Gem and Jube.

8:35-9:15: Aperitif. Kahlúa (“Wow, exotic!”), beer, white wine, Muscat, liqueur de noix de coco, Pastis. Hummous (houmous—“This is great, where did you get it?”), chips, cashews, peanuts, crackers.

9:15-10:30: Main course (“Avertissement: we have no first course, so fill up on the aperitif!”). Rougail saucisse, a dish from the Reunion Island. I’d never heard of it either, Jube’s brother taught us. It’s great. Red wine.

10:30-11:00: Dessert: coconut and chocolate mousse gâteau, bought from the patisserie. Cider.

11:00-12:00: Coffee and chai. And lots of conversation.

And that was how it all went down!

We still haven’t cleaned the dishes yet…