barbara pletz blog: A Beautiful Sunday Lunch with French Friends

Yesterday I had the great privilege to be invited to Sunday lunch at the beautiful home of Chantal and Jean Louis in my village. I feel so fortunate to be welcomed by these wonderful people. I met Chantal and Jean Louis through my delightful neighbors Suzette and Roger. The lunch group consisted of the close circle of friends here who get together regularly. Usually this is for appertifs at Suzette and Roger's or to a village event. This was the first time that I've been invited for a full meal and what a meal it was!

Lunch began at 12 noon and ended after 5 pm. The food was amazing - the absolutely wonderful quality, presentation, and quantity. Much wine was consumed over the 5 hour meal with John Louis literally bringing in armloads of bottles several times. Chantal is a superb cook. They were wonderful hosts sharing the serving tasks.

Their home is beautiful on the edge of the village - it abuts upon open space. They have built themselves an incredible back yard with piscine (that includes a waterfall) and patio. The setting was just lovely. It was a sunny day - and the sun got a little intense for awhile despite retractable awnings. When we were getting a bit too warm Mother Nature intervened providing clouds to cool things down and even a brief very light rain shower.

The conversation was lively with lots of laughs even though I could only get a tiny portion of what was being said. Myself and my neighbor, John, were the only native English speakers there (he's a Cockney Brit whose lived in the village for several years). Suzette and Yves also speak quite good English so they helped me out when I was totally lost. Even though my verbal communication was very limited I felt very comfortable and included.

This is our gracious hostess Chantal, chef extraordinaire.

And here is her beautiful table setting.

The piscine. John Louis and Chantal did this themselves including several mosaics on the bottom of the pool and garden wall.

Yves.

We had three different appetizers - each beautiful and delicious. This was tiny shrimps in a cool cream sauce presented with a slice of lime. Not pictured is the first appetizer which was a tiny cup of gaspacho.

Here is the third appetizer - grougeres (cheese puffs, scallops, and something that was delicious and had meat in it but I'm not sure what it was.

Conversation before lunch. That is me in the red shirt in back with Roger on my left. Suzette is in the blue dress.

Chantal serving the second appetizer.

Here is a happy, sleepy John at the conclusion of lunch.

John Louie brings out the main course - Bouride and potatoes.

Man talk. Left to right - Roger, John, Jose.

Close up of the Bouride. It is similar to Boullibase but is all monkfish (called Lotte here). Tastes of saffron and garlic - oh la la. The small toasts are spread with rouille which is a homemade mayonaise with garlic, saffron, and chile.

Most of us, despite already having had three appetizers, took second helpings.