Oh shut! I wish I had taken photos. I even set the camera out on the coffee table to remind myself. So sorry about that. The dinner was a great time to mingle with some Christian friends. Some of which we don’t get to see all that often. I’m still getting used to the new oven. Everything was WAY overcooked. (I really should’ve gotten photos of the food too, I’ve never see pork chops that crispy and hard in my life!) But everything got eatten, so it musn’t have been that bad. No, it was really bad. Honestly I don’t know why it all got eatten.
The dishwasher is a true blessing from God! Six people at the table and four big burnt pans. Our sink is a huge farm-style double basin, so the big giant pans get scrubbed easily. Most small city apartments settle for a single-basin tiny kitchen sink. But when you entertain like we do, you appreciate these old installations. The kitchen sink was the only thing that came with the kitchen, so we didn’t have to buy that. Praise the Lord.
So dinner went blazingly well, as dinners often do in this culture. The French love dinners, and they love dinner parties. So usually they are in a great mood when they show up and things always go smoothly, even if the food is painfully overcooked. They just enjoy the conversation around the table. And now that we have a decent couch, we can do the traditional “danse.” When they arrive they like to sit on the couch and settle in a while before eatting. Usually during this time you are served something to drink, and chips. Then you set the table, and go to the table together for the meal. Then after desert, everybody moves back to the couch to take their coffee and hang out until people start leaving. In Paris it is rude to leave a dinner before 11:30. Tonight it was kind of fun to see the “danse” happen naturally, spontaneously really, as people changed settings around our living room.
The old apartment was furnished with a tiny two-seat-er couch and no room for other furniture. In the new apartment we have over-compensated with a spacious couch and — that’s funny I hadn’t noticed before, but the only furniture we’ve purchased in the living room is all sitting furniture, no buffets, or any flat surfaces, just seating — that almost makes me laugh. Needless to say, based on the description you just got, our guests never had the option of following this tradition, that happened so naturally here in the new place. So that was like the longest explaination ever of saying that our apartment feels comfortable, feels like home, and is inviting. You should stop by for a visit some time. I’ll try to get photos at the next dinner. I’m so sad that we forgot tonight.