… and I’m happy to report that it was a very special evening!
Tonight was a very different experience from the couscous dinner. Isabelle invited Catherine (her friend that I like so much) and another friend Claud for dinner tonight, so with Isabelle, Fillippo and me, there were five at the table. Claud is a retired professor from the University of Aix, and he was very friendly and easy to talk to. Isabelle had told me he was a “copain,” (which can mean a romantic companion), but when I asked her more about this, she confirmed that he was just a friend whose wife was out of town.
A great dinner party (photo taken by Claude) - note the paintings in the back
The meal was very good: apertifis and little snacks to begin; long chicken legs cooked in a cream sauce with pasta (in honor of Fillippo), a salad after the main course, a cheese course with an especially good Cambembert, and another peach in raspberry coulis with some little wafer cookies. She served good wine (including the bottle of wine I brought) and had some fabulous cherries in liquor as a digestif. (The cherries are called griottines and they’re preserved in kirsch…. I’ll definitely be looking for some of these!)
I was able to follow most of the conversation tonight, and everyone talked to each other and laughed and had a good time. Catherine did talk a lot again about Darfour, and now I understand that her husband is an architect who is doing humanitarian work there. It was a very compatible group, even though everyone teased Fillippo a little about not eating vegetables. I'm sorry Kelly won't get a chance to meet him, as it would be interesting to see them interact. When she left, Catherine promised to send me her address. I would like to stay in touch with her.
Catherine and Claude, friends of Isabelle's and enjoyable dinner companions
I'm continuing to learn more about Isabelle. When I came home this evening, there were about twenty framed paintings (really nice watercolors) leaning against the buffet in the dining room. She had said something this morning about picking up some paintings from an exhibition somewhere, and so it seemed these were the paintings. I realized that some of the paintings on the walls of her house were by the same artist… and when I looked closely, I saw that the artist’s signature was “Isa”—Isabelle! She is a very good artist! I looked through all the paintings and there were several I would like, especially one that looks very much like the village of Bonnieux. Isabelle said she painted it from a post card, but it’s an awkward size for me to get home and also more money than I feel I can spend. Instead I bought a small painting of a bouquet of flowers in colors that I like.
Isabelle serves Fillippo... no vegetables in this dish!
Isabelle has turned out to be a good hostess and a very nice person, and I feel badly I was so critical at the beginning… even though I would have liked croissants for breakfast and wine with dinner! Since my French has improved, it’s much easier for us to converse. I’ve really enjoyed this week here with just the three of us: Isabelle, Fillippo and me.
