Monday’s Leftovers is a periodical series that recaps the moments of Sunday lunches in France. They reflect upon the time gathered together, the memoires, and the emotions of the day. While brunches are popular in the US, they are something new to France, so I was eager to share the experience with family and friends.
Summer has been unseasonable cool, so our plans for a Sunday Brunch in the garden worried me. The morning started overcast, but quickly cleared and brought blue skies with a cool wind. Christophe set the table with a tablecloth from our wedding and flowers from the garden, and proclaimed it to be champêtre, or having picturesque country charm – and it did. Mixed vegetable strada, chilled pork roast, salmon galettes with dill sauce, homemade bread, and jams made from black and red currant from the garden, along with wild blackberry jam rounded out the menu. But, pancakes, not crepes, were the biggest winner of the day. Next time I’m stateside, I promised myself, I will pick up a bottle of real Vermont maple syrup.
The meal was a time to say goodbye to visiting friends and a time to welcome family for a week. It was filled with a mixed feeling of joy of welcoming guests around our table, but also some bitterness in knowing our friends’ goodbyes would be year-long. It will take another July until we see them again and catch up on the daily activities that fill the days.
Coffee was drank lackadaisically throughout the afternoon, just like it should be, and only interrupted by a random tour of the vegetable garden to see the origins of some of the products on the table. I smiled as I watched family re-serve themselves again moving from sweet foods, to savory, and back to sweet again.
Then, the cool winds of the afternoon kicked back up, so the table was cleared of what little remained, sweaters where gathered, and goodbyes were said.
Success.
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