The Art of the Table

After I was accepted into this program, I found out that one of my college professors grew up in La Réunion. I told her I was coming to teach here for a while, and she was thrilled. Her mother, who lived here longer than she did, came to visit Texas this past summer, and Madame Rebourcet arranged for us all to meet and discuss life on La Réunion. It was very sweet, and Mother Rebourcet was very helpful and very excited to talk about her island.

Mother Rebourcet lives near Paris now, but this month, she is visiting her brother here. When she sent me an email to say she was coming, I of course invited her over for dinner, which we had last night. 

I was so SO nervous. I've entertained back in the states a few times...threw a couple parties...but it was very different. There are very foreign social etiquette rules here. Like, for example, if you invite someone out to do something, (it seems) like the inviter always pays. Any time my parents invite me to lunch, or Yazid and his friends take me to do some activity, or Sylvie invites me to coffee, and I try to pay my part, they all say the same thing in the same way: "No, I invited you." And give me some strange look like I should know better. Maybe I'm wrong and they are just being nice to the foreign girl, and maybe they know we are getting paid minimum wage....but still, I feel like there is a strong rule about invitees vs. inviters here. In America, it seems like we all understand we are all broke, so someone proposes a get together, and everyone takes care of themselves, or they don't go if they can't afford to. Even with family things...if my brother ever invited me to a restaurant with him and his family, I usually paid my own tab. 

Anyway, I knew I had responsibilty as the inviter. So I was determined to make everything right. I asked Yazid about some etiquette rules: do I need wine? Do I use my wine, or the wine they bring? Do I need a salad if I have a quiche for an appetizer? Do I serve the salad with my shrimp pasta? What kind of bread do I get? Is it always on the table or just at first? 

I went to the farmer's market and got fresh veggies. I went to the fish market and got fresh shrimp. I went to a fromagerie for some good wine. Then I spent two hours dicing vegetables, peeling shrimp, getting ready. I was SO nervous when she finally arrived. 

Everything etiquette-wise went very smoothly...except maybe I didn't plan on the french habit of dragging out courses with conversation, because the quiche and the pasta were kind of cold when we got to them. But it was wonderful!! Mother Rebourcet (Rosemonde) doesn't speak much English...maybe a word here and there, and after three hours of non-stop conversation...I was thrilled. 

Three hours of non-stop conversation in French? When did that become something I could do? 

She brought us fresh melons from her brother's garden for dessert, and then I walked her down to her car, where she started talking about the Haunted House across the street! Apparently, when she was little, she would always walk down here just to see that house, it was her favorite. A rich old lady lived there with her maid, but when she died, she had no one in her life to leave the house to. So it just sits there. Rosemonde was very sad at it's current condition...covered in weeds and graffiti. I told her about my obsession with it. Even in its current state, the house is still a breathtaking sight. 

It was a great night. And totally worth the two hours it took me to clean the kitchen and do the dishes (sans dishwasher) after. It just means that after I perfect the art of entertaining here...it will be twice as easy to do back home :-) Leave it to France to domesticate me....