Like a soap opera, this series continues on the subject of French dinners. Since quality in France is defined as good food and wine, it seems quite appropriate that we use dinners as markers of our progress in speaking French, knowing French culture and making friends.

In chronological order,

Dinner Two First, Martine who married into the aristocracy of Montpellier invited us over for a traditional French meal in her home, a three story flat which has been in her family for seven generations. Her mother made it clear to her that the house was not Martine's to sell only to pass on to the next generation. We gathered at noon on a Tuesday when her husband Gi was off to Paris for the day so he wouldn’t be bored with our French or excluded with our English. We spoke French almost all the time we were there.

Martine met us on the stairs in a purple skirt and matching purple shoes, looking, as always, very elegant. We entered a cozy comfortable living area with very high ceilings and a marble fire place. We sat comfortably as she served a champagne aperitif and three types of h'or d'oeuvres on a round tray —thin slices of round bread with foie gras, tomato sauce and tapenade. (Notice the preciseness of the shapes and the choice of contrasting colors) Then, to the table. Each place had three crystal goblets and six serving pieces, including a fish knife to use with the seafood salad. Absolutely excellent, and, in itself, a whole meal. The next course? Medium rare beef with potatoes that melted in our mouths. Next, the course of three cheeses. Finally, an 18 inch diameter galette de roi, the melt-in-your-mouth tart often served on Epiphany. Claude’s piece contained a small icon of the king so, by tradition, he brings the cake next year. Then coffee at the table and back in the living room. We were there for 3.5 hours bathed hospitality and the impeccable presentation of her home and hearth.

Everything was French: the home, the hostess, the meal, the history. The white napkins, 80 years old, were as big as bath towels and sparkled as though they had never been used. The wine rested in a silver bucket. As a final gift, Claude and Martine spoke French with us nearly the entire meal.

People say that in France a guest never gets invited into the kitchen. Not Martine, she wanted to share with us her home as well as her cooking. So we saw the medals for bravery earned by her husband’s father. (Her husband was retired at the age of 48 after serving in the Algerian War), her laundry room, her pantry and her kitchen. She spends two hours a day in this windowless space cooking good food for her family. She also does the laundry for her daughter’s four-person family that lives upstairs.

Her son-in-law is an excellent artist who painted us a watercolor of chickens: grand, gross and regular, mimicking in image Martine’s efforts to educate us on the right use of words. He earns his living by making cartoons to teach Arab children in Saudi Arabia and Egypt about numbers, letters and words in literary Arabic.

 

Martlne’s home of three floors houses now two or three families at a time. When things change, one simply closes a door and stops using a room so the family on the other side can appropriate it as children leave and grandparents move in. Martine has the gift of two grandchildren and a son in law upstairs who she adores.

Martine, a generous, strong, loving, powerful woman works hard making a home for two families, a career teaching English to French speaking people, and being the wife of a nobleman. Aren’t we lucky to receive such loving hospitality in the home of old French Montpellierian aristocracy?

Dinner Three. Four of our friends came from Bainbridge via Uzes to see Montpellier. Although the dinner was French food, the conversation was 80% in English. This dinner tested our capacity to find six plates that matched our enthusiasm for Montpellier. As part of the tour, we went to the Jewish quarter. Carriages did not to have a problem turning this corner!

Aren’t we lucky to be able to share Montpellier with friends from home?

Dinner Four Do you remember last November when our landlady Gill invited us over for a crepe dinner? (Three courses, all housed in crepes) We wanted to return her hospitality so invited her over for dinner last night. We served our first truly French dinner. First, we conversed in French for five straight hours.

It was like playing house to serve a French dinner with aperitifs, (mousse of duck and tapenade), hot eggplant with fromage fraiche and two vegetables that melted in your mouth, so close to the field that one can still taste the sugar. Our simple tossed salad was followed by three cheeses, and finally an Italian dessert that Gille made, Tiramisu . In France coffee or tea are a last course.