straight buzzin' robitussin

wow. i haven't blogged in forever ever.

today was a hot hot day. i'm back in serignan after vee and i strutted and swaggered around the south of france, madrid and paris.

gladys invited me to a lunch she had today with around 11 of her close friends. they were all old adorable couples who had been together for over 35 years. so cute. the menu and point of the meal was to barbecue or have a grillade and in france they loooove to barbecue sardines. they even have a word for a sardine barbecue: sardinade. i have mentioned to gladys a couple of times how much i adore grilled veggies and so when she told me she'd figure something out for me to eat, i hinted it again.

alas, no grilled veggies for me. we started with a wicked homemade rum punch and des samosas (italicized cuz it calls for a french accent). gladys is from reunion so she has a few island influences in her cooking. des samosas only resembled samosas because they were triangular. other than that everything from dough to filling was different. the dough was more of a pastry dough and very crunchy, so it reminded me of the street onion samosas that are super greasy and heaven. she made me 2 large ones and, i kid you not, they were dripping with oil. she had placed a paper towel on the plate to soak up the oil, as you do when you fry food, and it was completely soaked through. i ate one and it was yummy, filled with red peppers and onions and some spices. but the entire time i could already feel my pores saturating and the acne ready to burst out on my face. half way through there was so much oil streaming down my fingers i needed to stop and wipe them clean.

initially i didn't want to take a bunch of paper towels and soak all the oil up, in case it seemed rude or odd or something, cuz i had 12 aged french people watching me, but for the second i did just that. less oil running down my hand but still.

then we continued appetizers or des entrees and had melon avec jambon or cantaloupe with ham. minus the ham for me. and i adore cantaloupe so i was happy and it was yummmy. then gladys put the sardines to grill. i disappeared for a bit cuz it was boiling outside and the smell of fish cooking sometimes is a smell that makes my tummy not like me so much.

i came back when they were done and watched them all eat and tell me what i was missing. each person had around 10 of them, eaten quickly, though to me it seemed a waste cuz so much of the poor animal went uneaten. though i believe a few of the old men ate the heads whole which produced a noise similar to when i bit into my samosa. they ate them with a lemon: i found it very interesting. everyone got his own lemon, and cut it as they wished and applied as much juice as they desired and then they used the remains of the lemon to clean their greasy fish hands! a good idea in my head; waste not.

what followed was a pasteque or watermelon. everyone got a large slice and it was meant to help with the digestion of the sardines. the french are big on finding things to add to their meal to help them digest better. this meal had 3 such things.

after the watermelon we had dessert: creme anglaise with a slice of a very plain white cake. the creme was hommade and yummy with real vanilla. but it was a very heavy dessert for such a hot day. to the dessert was eau petillant or sparkling water. they had a discussion over whether the bubbles were natural or gas produced and i was lost cuz i don't see how water can be naturally bubbly.

following dessert was of course, coffee. and everyone who had any, had two cups. and everyone who didn't, had a very sweet, imitation-rocher chocolate that was thoroughly melted from the afternoon's heat. and passed around were gomme d'acacia or fruit flavored gummy candies, meant to help with digestion. at this point i really thought they were kidding but everyone (save me) took one and ate it with much seriousness. i had a look at the packet and they looked like normal fruit gummy candies to me. no mention of any digestive powers whatsoever.

the old folk then began to argue about which card game to play and i excused myself into the shade of my room.

the meal took up the majority of my day. and i like it when that happens!

craving: to switch bodies with rihanna for the duration of the summer
currently listening to: bass down low- dev feat. cataracs