proper french eating

Since I haven't done anything enormously exciting these past 2 days, I'd like to comment a bit on the eating habits of my host family.

1) There is only one way to arrange the silverware and plates properly. Fork on the left, facing up. Spoon above the plate, facing up, and with the tail on the right-hand side. Knife, facing inwards, on the right. Napkin on the right. Little plastic cube-y thing you set the knife on when you're done using it so not to get the table dirty - above the knife. My host fam is SO PARTICULAR about this.

2) Order of the meal: soup/salad, main course, cheese sampler, yogurt, dessert.

3) Everything requires the use of a new plate and silverware. They even use a plate for yogurt, placing it under the yogurt carton so that when you take the lid off and set it down it doesn't dirty the tablecloth.

4) Like I mentioned before - only one slice of baguette during the meal.

5) Only one more slice of baguette during the cheese course. They consistently take huge chunks of cheese and eat them all with just one slice of baguette! I, of course, always run out of bread before I've finished my fromage. I DON'T KNOW HOW THEY DO IT!

(this is what the cheese plate kind of looks like, to give you an idea)

And to continue...

6) Everyone has their own napkin and corresponding napkin ring. It took me forever to figure out the system of whose is whose.

7) I am positive that this family would never bring something still in its wrapper or container to the dinner table. Even the tablespoon of syrup for our cake tonight was poured into a pretty glass bowl. Cheese is served on the cutting board. The cake was not served in the container it was baked in, GOD NO, it was served on a pretty glass plate. It's so not worth it! They have to do so much more dishwashing than is necessary!

8) One must discuss how good the food is throughout dinner. (Although this may be because currently my host mom has to rest her back for a while, so the host dad has been doing all the cooking and perhaps needs encouragement.)

9) During breakfast they drink tea out of bowls, so it cools off faster. Smart!

10) The milk is literally half-and-half. I tried using it with my muesli in the morning but I just can't bring myself to do it anymore.

It's such a different approach to eating than I'm used to. We rarely eat at the same time at home, and at Carleton, I'm mostly on my own when it comes to making food. So this constant ceremony at dinner is incredibly new and different to me. The food is spectacular, and the cheese...well you know how I feel about cheese. Mmm. Also, the preparation is such a family affair. It was the three of us in the kitchen, cutting up vegetables and stirring sauces. Food prep takes probably 2 hours. Such a different way of life! If it took me 2 hours to make food at Carleton I would never be able to get anything done.

In other news, I'm possibly going to Barcelona over our break (April 26th-30th), after which we are going to Nice and Cote d'Azur as a group, from May 1st-5th. Then, later in May, probably the 23rd-26th, I'm planning on going to Rome (and perhaps one of those 3 whole days we'll spend in Florence!) Also, I'd like to go to Amsterdam during one of these weekends, but we'll see if that'll be possible. Can't wait to start traveling, finally! I'm also looking forward to this weekend; we're seeing "Le Misanthrope", by Moliere, at the Comedie Francaise. We've been reading the play in class, so it'll be cool to see it on stage, and, having read it already, actually know what's going on.