Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Long French Lunch...

Oh my goodness...I love my neighbors!

I went walking today with my friend/neighbor Lillian, she is a retired chemist and her husband is a retired pharmacist. While walking I told her I was out of my asthma medicine so she walked with me to the pharmacy down the street, told them what I needed, and they had it ready for me when I returned with my money a few minutes later! Voila!! C'est facile non?

Once I returned to chez moi (my house) I bumped into Belly, my neighbor that lives above me. Yes, that is his name, his last name actually. He is so cute, he and his wife have lived here for like 30 years. They told me they have been married for 60 years this year. WOW! That is so cool. I will have to live to 96 to be married that long. I better start eating more fish and veggies right now. So anyway, as I told you in my previous post; I have a lot of apples from the garden of H (I think I told you this) so I offered some to Belly and told him I would bring him some. I packed up a bag and walked up the flight of stairs to drop them off, but of course you can't just drop something off here, you must come in for a drink! (Have any of you seen Bienvenue Chex Les Ch'ti? It's just like that, no kidding!) So...I came in and met Madame Belly and had a bourbon. A Kentucky Bourbon at that! Then of course they asked me to stay for lunch, being the gracious guest I am I didn't want to be rude...so I accepted. We had stuffed tomatoes, eggplant and round zucchini (yes, somehow they have round zucchini) it was fantastic. And yes, I had one of all three of the things. Plus of course it is France, so we MUST have a red wine with lunch. Bien sur!

Once the meal was complete there was (of course) a cheese plate. Mmmm...five different kinds. Surely you know that you can't just end a meal right? NO!! You must have a digestive, an after dinner drink! So out comes the "Swiss liquor that is like vodka but is not vodka". That is as close a description as I could decipher/translate from them. Anyway...it did wonders for my sinuses. Seriously, I can totally breath right now. Though I can't actually feel my nose, I can breathe.

I was supposed to post the rest of the pictures from my weekend trip, but seriously folks, I have to go take a nap. It's only 4pm here and I have had a Friday nights worth of drinks. I love the 3 hour lunch though. There is a possibility I might wake up in an hour with a hangover so I think I will post the other pictures tomorrow. :-)

Vive la France!!

5 comments:

BlondeInFrance said...

I've noticed that about the pharmacies here, there's no 20 minute waiting, they get it for you right then! But I don't like that I have to wait in a huge line just for cough drops!
You are so lucky to have nice neighbors! All I get is a brisk "Bonjour" as we pass on the stairs. :(

Justin said...

Haha, I sure hope you did not get arrested like in Bievenue chez les ch'tis!?!

Kate said...

This is my fantasy vision of life in France. The vision never gets far from the dinner table. :) Thanks, BTW, for coming over to "my place" and your words of encouragement. I told my husband everything you relayed to me, and he was heppy to know that you've totally recovered.

Susan in Lille said...

Andromeda - the trick to finding friendly neighbors is to move into a neighborhood where you are the youngest person around by about 30 years. Hehe..

Justin - thank goodness I only had to stumble down stairs and not ride my bike home!!

Kate - I have to admit, the French meals are not far from the fantastic long evenings you see in movies. Hope Simon is healing quickly, wish I could help!

Marie said...

Hahaha ! This is a fantastic description of French long meals !
With family, it's usually on Sundays, it last 3 to 5 hours and you really need a nap...in between the different entrees. Did you ever try the "Trou Normand" ? I'll tell you all about it with my Parisian experience next time we met !
And I promised, if you come at home, our lunch will be shorter...but not my talking !!!