Diner chez les Diebold (Dinner at the Diebolds)

I know, I know, all I talk about is food. Several of you have commented on how my posts make you hungry, so consider this your fair warning not to read this blog post on an empty stomach.

A lot of my eating experiences so far in France have been at restaurants, cafes, brasseries, sandwicheries, boulangeries, spaghetteries (okay, I made that last one up). Since I have been traveling for so much of the last month, I haven't had that many opportunities to eat at my host family's house. But I am looking forward to doing it more often. Noelle's cooking is superb. The entire experience is also very different from eating out. So, tonight's meal:

At 8pm sharp Sarah knocked on my door to inform me dinner was ready. I put on my shoes and walked the few feet from my apartment/room to the kitchen door. The table was already set with a basket of bread and and a salad. Orane, Joseph, and Sarah were seated. Noelle called Gaspard to the table, and then brought out the meal: a whole chicken cooked in what looked like a terra cotta dish (at least that was the color, although I think it was also the material) and a bowl of halved baked potatoes wrapped in tin foil. Joseph and Gaspard carved the chicken and we passed around olive oil, salt, and a kind of cheese with the consistancy of sour cream for the potatoes. As usual, we drank water with dinner. During the meal the family discussed the possibility of Orane participating in an exchange program through her school. Next year she would spend 6 months in Berlin. The Diebolds asked me how my placement test went today, and I tried to follow their conversation about the economic conditions in Russia (Joseph ran into a friend today who is Russian). There were also tomatoes and zucchini in the pot with the chicken. Although the meal was simple, it had great flavor. The bread tonight was not baguette, more of a multi-grain bread. I've noticed that the breads we eat with dinner are more often multi-grain or whole wheat, as opposed to the baguette with breakfast. But it really varies. I've eaten sourdough, whole-wheat, cheesy-olive bread, the works. After the main course comes the salad. Tonight it was something I've never had before: a salad of endives, sliced apples, and grapes tossed in a Swiss vinegarette (the only reason I know it is Swiss is one of them brought it up). Noelle comes from Switzerland and she often cooks Swiss dishes or uses products made by Swiss companies. It was very light and tasty. For dessert we had compote (think applesauce, but it can be made with different fruits, tonight it was pear). I have noticed that "dessert" with the Diebolds is more often fruit or yogurt or fruit compote than sugary sweets like ice cream or pastries. Maybe that's the French dietary secret. When they say dessert, they mean fruit. It's sweet though, and I have developed an affinity for plain yogurt (this time it really is plain/natural yogurt, unlike my freshman year at Wake where I thought I was eating plain yogurt for all of fall semester and it was really vanilla-flavored). I'm hoping to carry this through at home, since it's so much healthier.

So that was dinner. Some stereotypes which have not proven true:

• French dinners always involve wine.
• French dinners always last 3 hours (I am always the last to finish, everyone in the family eats very quickly)
• French dinners always involve 3 courses (tonight was unusual in that Noelle did not offer any cheese after the main course, but usual is one or two of the potential offerings of salad/cheese/dessert. And they're certainly not formal)

A stereotype which has proven true:

• French food is delicious.
  

One more thought before I resume my attempt to memorize all of the significant dates in French history between 1515-1789 (that would be the beginning of the reign of Francois I and the debut of the Renaissance through the French Revolution). I realized recently that in at least one way, in the attempt to learn a language, there is no substitute for living in a country which speaks that language. This is because here there are so many labels which demonstrate the names of items I might not know how to identify in French. Like bouche d'incendie is "fire hydrant." I would probably never learn that word without seeing a fire hydrant with the above written on a sign next to it, pointing to it. Same thing with au secours which means "Help!" or "Emergency." It's like living in a French textbook. This is probably a very infantile concept, but I have found it to be remarkably helpful. So bravo, study abroad. And bravo, my parents.