my first French Dinner

I had the most amazing day today! I got invited for the first time to have dinner with a french family in the little town of Elbeuf Saint Aubin. My hosts were the most adorable french people I have ever met! They even offered to come and pick me up at my schools! My choice of wine is pathetic so I brought along a dozen apples which at the time seemed like a good idea but when the host saw my gift and burst out laughing but graciously took the offering anyway. I have decided to look up Atelier de sommeliers around my area. These are work shops which specialise in wine tasting and the various how tos of wine. I also tried the infamous Foie Gras. Its liver paste of a duck or goose spread on french toast and I loved it!!! Its not too expensive in France and so if you're visiting, take advantage!! So as appetizers or apéritif, we had the foie gras and a Hungarian wine. I was told ''a secret'' by the french host that Hungarian wines are often better than french ones! *gasps*. The wine I tried would make me second that thought. The flavour was so fruity and calm, I felt as if I was tasting apples and peaches at the same time. Its a shame that Im such a dunce and forgot to take down the name of the wine :( but all the same even if I did it was pretty expensive stuff so I would not be buying it anytime soon. For our main course we had a rice and chicken curry (they didnt want me to forgo my indianess) and a red wine, followed by curry fish, bread and white wine. For dessert we had a huge strawberry cheese cake (I think) and it was the highlight of the meal because it was sooo delicious!

The couple had been to Cochin in the south of India a while back and were absolutely fascinated by the place and the welcome they had received and all they wanted to talk about was India and also about me as an Indian in France and how I was being treated here, etc, etc. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the conversation and then they proceeded to show me their 2000 photographs take were taken in India. The host was especially excited that his wife got to ride on the back of an elephant. Because ofcourse how could you go t India and not ride an elephant! What I loved about them was that they understood our culture very well and were not biased towards the various stéréotypes about India (most of which are very much alive and thriving). They live in Elbeuf which is 20 minutes by train from Rouen and since Elbeuf is a tiny village there are no trains that run beyond 8 pm. So they got out their car and dropped me back home and did not let me leave without taking the parcels of various foods she had left over (about 5 containers!) I was so touched my their kindness and Im sure these are friends I will have for life. France confuses me at times, the French seem to be all high and mighty but really they are soft at heart :) So let me assure you, french hospitality is pretty awesome (on the rare occasions that it shows up!) :)