We were invited to a traditional Sunday lunch today.  I made sure to pick up a Valentine box of candy since the French haven't embraced this holiday quite yet.  I have been walking past a sweet little candy shop on our way to school and made a mental note to pick some up for our hostess.  I found the most magnificent bouquet of flowers filled with roses and hyacinths as well.  It was hard to give it to our hostess, it was so pretty.  

Aren't these beautiful?!  I had them sitting in a bath of water in the kitchen overnight.  When I walked in to make my morning coffee this morning, their fragrance gave me a lift. 

This gives you an idea of their size.  It looked like a wedding bouquet. 

We took a long metro ride to Giams apartment; we had to switch trains twice.  Poor Max was leaning his head into a plastic bag from the motion sickness and Sophie was grumbling about being cold and having to wear a skirt.  I sat on the train thinking, "isn't this fun, we are going to a real French family house for Sunday lunch".  I am still in la la land.  (Max never threw up and Sophie stopped her grumbling once she sat on Daddys lap.)

The family lives in a lovely neighborhood just outside of Paris.  It looked like a postcard, but doesn't all of Paris?  The family greeted us at the front door with big smiles and handshakes.  They have four children so it was quite a welcome. 

After a champagne toast welcoming us to "their city", we sat and chatted over nuts and small snacks.  We  were then shown to our seats at the dining room table.  I sat next to Giam (Dan's collegue) and Henry (his son).  Max and Sophie sat a couple seats from me and I was thrilled.  They were close enough that I could give them "the evil eye" if they were not behaving but far enough away to ignore them playing with their food or picking their nose.   Juliette (wifey) made a traditional beef bourguinon which was divine with fresh bread, then she served salad; the lettuce tasted so sweet.  Next, she brought out a cheese plate with three cheeses and bread.   Oh the cheese was so good, I can't remember the names of them but I loved all three.  She finished off this feast with her homemade chocolate mousse.  It was heaven in a bowl.  All was quiet, the only sound you heard was the scraping of the spoons on the bowls trying to get every last bit of the mousse.  We finished all of it.

After lunch the children were released to an upstairs play area.  I was relieved they made it through their first, very long, French lunch without causing too much of a ruckus.  They were so funny sitting at the table, they would laugh when everyone else laughed, act serious when everyone else was serious, add their "two cents" when they felt the need.  

We finished the day with espresso and a chocolate from our Valentine heart.  The entire family lived in Washington for a couple of years and spoke english beautifully and identified with us and our transition when moving to a foreign country.  We rolled down their six flights of stairs around 5pm and made it home close to 6pm. 

What a wonderful experience that I will remember forever.  I am so grateful for their hospitality at such an early stage in our move.