Happy Independence Day!

I certainly showed my patriotism on Friday the best way I could on the farm: preparing a feast, the American way. After all, the French helped us during our fight against the British. I should thank them for support. I think I'm making the holiday sound like Thanksgiving now with a French spin. I'll just say that I wanted to share my native culture in a foreign country on the day we celebrate our birth as a country.

I starting cooking on Thursday night. I made homemade barbeque sause. I was a bit surprised how much ketchup went into it, but the end result was great. I think the fresh ginger really boosted the flavor. On Friday morning, Chérif cut two chickens into pieces for me and salt and peppered them. I did work on the farm collecting greens to sell at Saturday's market and weeding around tomato plants. She has many varieties here. The eggplant plants are about a little more than a foot high now. I think that this plant is the corn of France then because it is "knee high by the fourth of July!"

At around 2pm, I continued my cooking. I made all of the following: fresh lemonade, watermelon and cantalope fruit salad, baked beans, corn bread, grean bean stew, fried chicken, and sweet potato fries. It took a lot of time of finish everything. I took breaks throughout the afternoon to hang up laundry, take my shower, and do other things around the farm, so I didn't finish cooking until very late: 10pm! I know that sounds strange, but it was actually good timing. We ate the neighbor's house and Ja-Ja and Fred (the neighbor) arrived just at that time from gathering things in the gardens for Saturday's market. They work very late here sometimes because there is still enough light outside until very late at night. During the middle of the day, farmers usually take a break and stay inside for some time because it is so hot outside.

Anyway, all 10 of us sat down to eat together very late. They all were looking at me a lot, probably waiting for me to say which dish is better to start with. Finally, someone asked if they should eat the fruit first. I said that you can eat whatever you want. There aren't any courses. Just put on your plate, "comme tu veux." Fred liked that. He liked telling his daughters to take whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted it. Everyone still started with the fruit, though, haha, and then went for the meat. Afterwards, more people just started taking whatever they wanted. Finally a little more freedom was at the table.

The kids (all five of them) loved the lemonade! Thanks for the idea, Uncle Rick. Naoko liked the fruit salad the best. Fruit is very expensive and somewhat luxurious in Japan, so she was very happy to be enjoying summer fruit in France. Fried chicken was a first for everyone at the table (except me, of course). They all loved it, especially with the sweet and tangy barbeque sauce! Ja-Ja and Chérif particularly liked the sweet potato fries since they love the sweet potatoes from Algeria. The way I cooked them was new to them (I baked the fries in the oven). Everyone put ketchup on them! Thanks Mom for sending the US Heintz ketchup bottle and the Old Bay seasoning! They all gasped at the size of the bottle, haha, saying it was huge! I said that they are lucky my Mom sent the big one for them to enjoy because everyone was pouring it on their plates. I also sprinkled the Old Bay seasoning on the fries. It was perfect! Everyone was very interested in the spice, so I got to show off some of my Maryland pride, too. Fred loved the baked beans, and the corn bread was nearly all finished. They thought it was very strange to put corn in bread, but then loved the idea after eating it.

Dessert was a fruit mousse cake that Chérif's brother, a professional pastry chef, made just for the occasion. It was beautiful! Don't worry, I took photos. It was good, but very light. I needed some ice cream or chocolate syrup! I still felt so happy since everyone celebrated this day with me. Fred told me that he played baseball when he was younger in school and loves the game. He also knew some of the Founding Fathers and said he liked the wine he tasted form the US, even though they were a bit sweet for his palette. He said he would love to go their and experience the big cities. I'm very glad we had dinner with the neighbors so that I could hear this from Fred and have pride in my country.

We din't go to bed until very late, but I still got up at 6:15am to go to the market. We put out the first baskets of small tomatoes and eggplants that were grown in the greenhouses. They have already grown because it is so much hotter in the greenhouses and were sheltered from all of that rain in May and June. We also brought and sold a lot of bunches of basil, four different potato varieties (one is called Mona Lisa, hehe), really large green beans, and the first batches of red currants and gooseberries. Most people looked at the goosberries awkwardly having no idea what they were. I would be with them if it wasn't for my work on the farm. I saw a lot of tourists, too: British, German, French, etc. I got to practice my German! Chérif came to help this time, which was a blessing because it was very busy. The customers came in waves and often like to chat with Ja-Ja, so his assistance was surely needed. Naoko came, too, so we were a good team behind the tables of the farm's produce.

I hope that everyone celebrated well, no matter where you were. I guess life will continue as normal now for a while. The produce is really peaking here, so the food is superb. Ja-Ja has made fresh basil pesto twice now and I can't get enough of it! The fruit is also getting very sweet. Ja-Ja had us pick all of the gooseberries from their plants because some are even drying out. The plant has lots of thorns, though, so my hands certainly didn't enjoy the work, but my tummy did!

Oh, I should mention that I never found any molasses and used brown sugar and water as a substitute. It worked, but I could tell their was a difference in the beans and barbeque sauce. I hope that you all are grilling outside this time of year and enjoying the seasonal produce as well!