After spending nearly all day cleaning the house and getting ready, Max's birthday turned out to be quite the success. I didn't get to make cookies like I had wanted because there is no such thing as baking soda or baking powder here. While I was a little disappointed about that, it was one less thing to do and I didn't have a moment to spare. The house, while it looked clean, was filthy when I started. I swept and mopped the entire house, I cleaned the bathrooms and the kids rooms, I cleaned the kitchen, and I cleaned all the windows in the front part of the house, both inside and out, and dusted le salon.
I finished just around the time the boys came home from school and Tantie Ger seemed happy with everything that I had done. She kept asking me how everything was going and if I was ready for tonight and if I needed anything. Finally she left but then she came back and asked me what I was making for dinner the rest of the week. She was even more surprised when I had an answer: tuesday- lasagna, wednesday- chicken, thursday- spaghetti, and friday- porkroast. Then of course she was like so you need me to go grocery shopping again and I said. "Non, Roxy et moi deja faison la commision aujourd'hui." She inspected our purchases in the refrigerator and finally said ah bon, a happy à demain and she was on her way.
Then I started the boys on their homework. Max had reading and Alex had none. For not being fluent in French, I do an awfully good job helping Max. All he has to do is read the words off the page but the pronunciation practice is good for both of us. For things like that, it isn't necessary to know the material as long as you know how to teach the material. And it works. After I finished with Max I had to get the boys into the shower, the one thing they are always reluctant to do. I guess when it's cold the handheld shower head isn't much fun. I still think it wastes less water and therefore is more efficient, economical, and environmentally friendly.
Next on the list was to prepare the snacks for before dinner. Several different drinks including coke, sparkling water, cider, and a nice bottle of Bordeaux blanc, shrimp cocktail, lays potato chips, Bonne Mama butter cookies, and biscottes du fromage.
Once everyone was there, the shrimp, chips, and bordeaux were the only things anyone wanted. I still have a whole plate of the Bonne Mama cookies on the counter (minus one). Roxy recommended them and I obliged. I didn't think they were that amazing though. They are too crispy. I really have to say I am not extremely impressed by the French food I've been exposed to. Except for the bread. Baguettes are to die for. But tonights meal, prepared by me, was probably the best I've had so far- Veal blanket and rice. Even though the word veal makes me want to cringe, eating it is pretty plain. Eating cow is one thing, eating baby cow is another. But the highlight of the day is the French birthday cake. It is more of a pastry cake than a cake cake. That might be because there is no baking powder or baking soda. So it's a glazed pastry with little chunks of fruit inside, like a fruitcake. It didn't taste bad but after two slices, I'm adding birthday cake=fruit cake to my very short list of reasons I don't want to be French for the rest of my life.
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