My mother, the kids and I went to France for two weeks in July. Two and a half days were mostly occupied with traveling, one day in Paris, and the rest at my grandmother's country house in Luxe, outside of Angouleme in Central France.
I know when you hear 'France' and 'country house' you think, "Fancy!" and "Ooo, la la, these people are rich!" And some of them probably are. But certainly not fancy.
French people, to an American perspective, are very thrifty. They do not throw things away, tear down old buildings, etc. Especially food, never...that's why French toast exists, along with lots of other recipes designed to use up leftover food. And thank goodness for my Aunt Sylvie's dog because some of that stuff, I was not eating. Lights are always turned off when you leave a room and broken things are not thrown away. Repaired or not. For example, my grandmother had three pairs of scissors in the house, all completely chewed up and horrible looking. She hasn't had a dog in years. I chucked the worst pair when she wasn't looking. The toaster had two settings, not enough and incinerated. After a week, I wanted to hurl it out the window. My grandmother, above, is 93 years old and a queen of thriftiness. I couldn't help thinking...Lady, you have two houses, and you're worried about the price of tomatoes? But she was and would put them back if she found a price she liked better. But she would wave off other things for not being good enough quality too. It was a challenge, let's just say, to do the daily grocery shopping for 6,10,12,14, and even17 people!
As you can see, they're not really fat, except for my cousin's son, Matthieu there in the middle...and that's just baby fat. ;-) That poor kid has the curse of being picky in a country where food and meals is such a part of the lifestyle. I feel like the whole day there was about food. Meal planning, grocery shopping, meal prep, serving, eating, cleaning up...start again. Anyway, Matthieu commits the daily crime of not liking much and eating mostly what would show up on a kids menu in the US. Here, he'd be a slight irritation, there was a major deal. They talked about it for DAYS before he came, and then every meal was: what's he eating now? Well, whatever his dad would make separate for him: nuggets, pizza, plain pasta. They had to explain to my grandmother what a 'nugget' was, but they did sell them in the grocery store. There, they consider it part of their upbringing to teach kids to eat meals, and table manners mattered, even when eating outside in your swimsuit, a little at least.
My kids instantly won my grandmother's affection by eating everything, especially Gigi, even if they didn't make it to dinner a few nights because it was so late. Lunch at 2:30 and dinner at 8:30, 9 pm is tough for little kids. My grandmother was really alarmed the first time I put one or the other to bed without lunch/dinner. "But when will she eat? She needs dinner!" Seriously, it worried her. It was a problem. Kids (and adults sometimes) are expected to eat a snack at 4-5pm, and cookies are completely acceptable. Other than that, I didn't really see much snacking. I grab fruit or yogurt for them or myself as necessary, and thankfully, there was plenty of that. I ate so much white flour bread, butter, full-fat cheese, and second helpings on lots of stuff (just to please my grandmother, of course) and didn't gain weight (much...but that was all the pastries I ate in Paris #noregrets). Portion, shmorshen, fiber, shmiber. Not an issue. But I did eat lots and lots of fruit because 1) it was delicious, especially the cantaloupe...to-die-for, and 2) most meals started and/or ended with fruit.
People sometimes ask me if I cook for "French food" or I want to make French food, what do I do? Here it is. Courses. It MUST be in stages. There are rules for what is served and even for who served what (men pour the wine, offer the dish to the people around you before serving yourself, the guest is served first, host sits at the head of the table, etc.).
1) First course. Everyone starts eating 1 thing. Like an appetizer, but the options are more like, in the summer, a slice of melon (cantaloupe or watermelon), carrot salad, tomato salad, cucumber salad---aka tossed in vinaigrette, or in the winter, cold cuts, pate, soup. Chips and salsa, a Texas staple, would be a pre-first course, an aperitif (served with champagne! I may defect.)
2) Main course. Meat and veg. Veal and peas, Roast beef and mashed potatoes, sausages and rice, etc.
3) Cheese course. Bread, butter and cheese.Multiple kinds of cheese. After every lunch and dinner. I don't think I've eaten cheese but once or twice since we've come back. So.much.cheese.
4) Dessert. Yogurt, fruit, and if you're lucky, cake. I did make cookies too. The 12 year old French kids said they were the best they'd ever had. :-)
Hurray for Gigi! And for Nathalie. She's my oldest girl cousin, and it was really nice to spend time with her and her 12 year old son Rudy, my unofficial godson. She was really, really sweet with my kids and dove in with the chores of food prep etc, and it was awesome. I could tell she'd made the trip up from the south of France special to see us.You can't tell, but her hair is mostly shaved except for some seriously long dread-locks. Now, you're thinking, how can she hold down a normal job with that hairstyle? Well, she doesn't; she makes purses and jewelry to sell at antique fairs and the beach, and that allows her to live a more bohemian lifestyle. She definitely doesn't fit the stereotype, and I love that about her.
We got so tan spending afternoons playing in the pool, every afternoon, three hours at this beautiful pool. The weather was in the 60's in the morning and high 80's in the afternoon. Great weather for running, having lunch outside in the shade. Lovely. Except at night. No AC...so the only way to cool the house was opening the windows, so you had the choice of sweltering heat or being devoured by mosquitoes. The children looked like they had chicken pox at one point. Boo.
Lots of playing in the pool! There was a little pool for Indiana's age and even a baby pool. It was great. My grandfather, God rest his soul, was a wise man to build such a nice pool for the kids, grandkids and great-grandkids.
We celebrated two birthdays in one, Pascal my oldest cousin in the middle, and Rudy on the right's 12th birthday. Pascal, my oldest cousin, is a character. Very smart and funny but has terrible personal habits...lots of smoking and a fair amount of drinking, but he would challenge anyone who said anything about it to him to compare their blood test results with his. Not having mine available, I held my tongue. Plus, he was highly entertaining and made a beautiful Salad Nicoise. That cake, BTW, I have the recipe, and I will use it.
My cousin Adeline, standing above, came with her three kids for the last couple of days we were there. They stayed at my grandmother's city house, about 30 minutes away. She was great too. I felt like we understood each other. She's a mom, nuclear engineer and lives in a beautiful apartment in a fantastic neighborhood in Paris. She makes the best chocolate cake, or second best to my grandmother's celebration cake that Nathalie made for Rudy's birthday (in the previous picture). And she did the grocery shopping the last day, so I wouldn't have to, God bless her.
Rudy was a hoot! Indiana loved getting to play with him the first couple of days before all the other kids came. Then it was just fun all around.
Gigi loved my uncle Alain, which is very surprising, considering that's the closest to a smile that I've ever seen. But, every time he was there, he would bring the best bread and break out the wine (and champagne, for lunch, even) and he bickered with no one, unlike several other, unmentioned people. Ahem. I made fajitas for dinner one of the nights, and despite the strangeness of it, he complimented it and insisted that the red champagne he was serving with it went very nicely, and I should let people know. So, here I am. Red sparkling wine goes well with steak fajitas. Ha!
Cousins! Since I only get to see them every few years, it was really special getting to spend time with them.
More! Adeline's brother Antoine (who liked the fajitas too, God bless him) and Pascal, Nath, Indiana and me. Antoine drove up for dinner one night and showed us pictures of the two hundred year old house his family (wife and four kids!) are remodeling. They throw nothing away.
French kids do eat everything. Except Matthieu. Indiana loved the canteloupe, which is a different species from what they grow here in the US. So good. First course, at least once a day.
Rudy, demonstrating his Kung Fu. Cool kid. I'm trying to get his mom to let me take him for a summer. I spend several summers in France, and two of my cousins came to visit as well. I'd love for that to continue with the next generation.
Mamie Paulette, not sure about those fajita things. Whatever. They were perfect and delicious. I found tortillas at the store and made fresh salsa in the blender. And chocolate chip cookies for dessert. I am a culinary rock star....or at least according to the kids.
I ran almost every day there. It worked out great. No one got up before 10, so I'd get up early, run and be back and have breakfast before the house started stirring. Indiana did get up earlier, but thankfully, they have cartoons. When asked what is favorite part of France was, he'll say the cartoons. Oh, well.
He liked the food too, though. See him sneaking a taste of the uncooked 'cake' batter. 'Cake' to a French person means a savory bread. Nathalie's had leftover chicken, steamed zucchini and feta. Served with salad. Lunch, done.
Eating, and more eating! Plus, these are the only shots I have of the family together.
Gigi, eating and sitting on the oldest of her second cousin's lap, Camille, with Blanche on the left and Henri on the right.
Finally, Rudy the goof and Indiana, wanting to be just like him.
It was so fun and rewarding (and so challenging) to take my kids to another country. I hope we can do it again when they're a little bit older and will do their mother a solid and sleep on the dang plane. A mother can dream, right?
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