A French fiesta

We had a great dinner last night with Thomas and Geraldine, their kids, and their friends Muriel, Sylvie and Jeremie. Geraldine had wanted to introduce Muriel to John as she has ties to one of the local Buddhist communities.

So we cracked open the Coronas and lime, offered fresh salsa, guacamole, (super-super hot) marinated green chilis and homemade tortillas and nibbled while the enchiladas finished cooking.

Everyone enjoyed it thoroughly, although it was probably the least French-like meal to be found in all of Burgundy last night, with a few small exceptions. I had to use shredded emmenthal and fresh mozzarella for the enchiladas as there was nothing close to sharp cheddar or Montery jack cheese (still tasty, though!), and instead of trying to make a traditional Mexican dessert (sopapillas or fried ice cream), I instead opted for a tarte au chocolat (with a dash of cinnamon).

And I was hugely relieved that the tarte turned out. Maybe I just needed to make a French recipe for my French baking skills to actually result in something edible? At any rate, I used Laura's wonderful and easy-peasy recipe for the pastry and found a French recipe for the chocolate part online (only to find out Geraldine has a recipe for tarte au chocolat on her blog that I should have turned to instead. Next time, I'll go there first!)

On the health front -- Katie showed no more signs of illness, thankfully, although she did take a BIG nap yesterday afternoon. So while Jack and Liv crashed before the party ended, Katie stayed awake til the end, and at midnight she was munching on chips while watching us clean up. What a party girl.

Here are a few photos of our fiesta. The first two are evidence of successful tortilla making:

Sorry about the bad shadows on the next two -- but I wanted to show off the tomato-and-(canned)-corn salsa (lots of garlic and cilantro, too) and the limey-guacamole:

The kids set the table and were happy to have their own small kids-table. In the second photo, Jack is making name cards:

I forgot to take a picture of the beer or the enchiladas -- you'll have to trust me that they were all tasty. Here is everyone at desset, and a close-up of the tarte:

And finally, a photo of the beautiful orchid Muriel and Sylvie brought us.

The French seem to have a wonderful talent for bringing the most thoughtful gifts when coming to your house for a meal. We are now the happy owners of this amazing orchid -- and, from Thomas and Geraldine, a terrific cookbook... on French cooking, of course.

Merci mes amis!