Guess who's coming to dinner?

Se moi (it's me)!! I went to my first French dinner party, that didn't involve family!!

Bianca, mentioned in other blogs, is a lovely Brazilian I met at Le Cordon Bleu. We have been to lunch a couple of times and she invited me to the dinner party Friday night.  Bianca left on Saturday (boo hoo) and thought it would be a good idea for me to join and meet Michel, who is very knowledgeable on all things French and others too.

 

 

 
From left is Bianca, Giselle & Michelle. Photo below is Bianca and Flavia!

The dinner was held at Michel's apartment.  Michel is a friend of Bianca and her husband, he is French, but his heart is in Brazil.  He had a successful restaurant there for some time, has also worked in Darwin in the 70's (before cyclone Tracy) and mentioned that when he was there $1.50 Aussie bought 1 US dollar.  Michel was a very generous and gracious host and I was so happy to be there.

 
As you all know by now, getting somewhere without getting lost or going the wrong ways is a 1 in 100 shot for me.  I did pretty well, I got all the metro stops wright, but when it tells you to go south or north from the metro, I have absolutely no idea where that is???  Especially in the dark.  I wandered the wrong way up the street and knew that I had gone the wrong way when there was a giant statue of an angel and no sight of the street I was supposed to be in. 
 
In this photo, clockwise from left: Bianca, Me, Luiz, Flavia, Giselle & Michel. Photo on the right is Giselle with a Macaroon.
 


I asked two ladies for directions, who turned out to be German, but - joy of joys - they spoke English and ... had a map.  I had gone left in stead of right, or north instead of south, so, I headed back the other way and eventually found the right street, Saint Sabin, only problem was I was on the wrong side!  After find numbers going up and up, I headed back the other way again and across a major intersection and towards Michel's apartment. 

Michel's street had lots of restaurants and a couple of pubs, it was busy and people were everywhere, very different from where Peter lives.  

Bianca had sent me the codes, one for the first door, one for the second door and then it was three flights up, then left and left!  Half way up I lost count .... but eventually worked out the 3rd floor and the right door.

Also at the dinner party was Giselle (Brazilian, here for 2 weeks holidays and heading back to Rio the next day) and Flavia (Brazilian, here for 3 months studying French and working as an architect).  I also got to meet Luiz ... who spoke excellent English and French!!  He and Bianca were translators for the night.

   

Photo: Bianca & Luiz

Michel's apartment is lovely .... it is a studio, but much bigger than I imagined, and he produced a beautiful dinner out of the tiniest kitchen.  We had champagne, foie gras, then a lovely salad of pear, avocado, apple, mushroom, cherry tomatoes, tips of white asparagus, what looked like tatsoi or lamps tail (but even in three languages we couldn't get one that sounded the same) and a lovely dressing.

Main was veal with zucchini and tomato and then we had CHEESE (OMG), then a gateau that was heavenly, macaroons and more champagne.  We drank white and red with dinner.

The last time I saw this much cheese on one plate was on Christmas Day at Monique and Peter's ..... that was when I fell in love.  Honestly, for lunch at Le Cordon Bleu now, I skip all the other things and have cheese and bread ... that's how good it is!!!


We had the best night listening to great music, trying to hold conversations that all of us could understand, clinking glasses and laughing!! It was so much fun.

If someone asked me 6 months ago whether or not I could have imagined being here, sitting at a table with 4 Brazilians and a Frenchman, four of which I'd only just met, the answer would have been a resounding "no".  How lucky am I?


At 2:00 am, Michel's eyes were starting to close so it was time to leave, despite his protesting.  He usually only has one wine with dinner and we had all had more than on this night.

Outside I followed Luiz, Flavia and Bianca and we were suddenly in this huge open area with people everywhere.  There was an area where we could queue for a taxi .... it seems it is the same over here??  I was sent off first and they made me write the address on a piece of paper, just in case my accent had the driver dropping me off in a completely different arrondissement (suburb)!! 


Home at 3:00am safe and sound and just in time to call my sister, Raelene, and tell her all about it.


What a great night!!


The added bonus was that my class this morning was cancelled so I didn't have to get up at 7:00am .... I slept in until 1:00pm, when my poor Nephew who had attempted to get me out of bed several times, cranked up Viva La Vida by Coldplay and came into my room clapping and jumping around!! It worked!!