A Four-Hour Lunch

Today was my first four-hour lunch in France. The Pecqueurs had invited a couple, Saed (from Yugoslavia) and Lizette, and they were the cause for the occasion. The couple was supposed to arrive at one o'clock, but they did not get here until a half hour past the hour. From then until 3:15, we nibbled on hors d'oeuvres: olives wrapped in a fish-looking thing, a creamy cheeze rolled in ham, and the same cream cheeze ( I think) wrapped in crepes leftover from last night. For lunch we started with croustillons de dinde, which were excellent! I don't really know how it's made, but I think it's pretty much mashed turkey in a fried crust. Next, we had melon, salmon, and what looked like mini shrimp with mint and basil. For the main course, there were tomates farcies (tomatoes stuffed with meat and rice) and cocotte de courgette (like a zuchinni quiche). After that for what I thought was dessert, we had cheese, bread, and grapes. There were four types of cheese: muenster, compte, chevre, and tomme de savoie. For the real dessert, they served eclaires and a strawberry cake called a fraisier. I really loved the majority of it except the appetizers, zuchinni quiche thing, cheese (which was good, but not my favorite), and eclaires (which I didn't try). I did, however, try and eat the majority of everything else! All in all, it was a very good lunch, and I would suggest looking up the recepies online. Oh yeah, and we didn't finish eating and leave the table until seven o'clock!

Apparantly, according to the visitors and the Pecqueurs, I dress similarly to the French and have a Jacqueline Kennedy type style. My host sister, who does not like vegetables, spent most of the meal playing wii. I have learned that, in this family, at least, it is not necessary to stay sitting at the table once you're done eating. I do, anyways.