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An American in Paradise
Part Five
Martha K. Harrison
Tomorrow night is our first dinner party on St-Barth. In the States, I
entertain a lot.....everything from cookouts to formal dinners. I usually
cook everything soup to nuts - even for our annual December Holiday dinner party
for around 150 people.
Planning a menu here is different, because you can’t! I had several
things in my head to make and a couple of shopping lists to take to the grocery
stores to see what menu was possible this week. Not eating canned or
processed food is very difficult here, produce and even the staples of life are
catch as catch can. I recently started eating eggs for the first time in
my life and considered quiche for dinner. That is until we went to a
bakery one morning this week and I got fresh local eggs in my omelet, they were
very strong tasting and reminded me why I hated them in the first place.
So, we found fresh eggplant, penne ziti rigatte, mozzarella and ricotta cheeses
and there was even tomato paste in stock! A man and I fought for the
lettuce that had just arrived from France, I ended up with about three heads of
romaine and two of red leaf lettuce and am quite happy.
The thing about having people over from France is this: never ever attempt
to cook French food, this is why I am serving Italian! Two baked zitis -
one with eggplant, one without. Which reminds me....my sister Phyllis can
make two desserts - Mississippi Mud Pie - one with nuts, the other without.
My parents are wonderful cooks, but they forgot to teach us! Cynthia is a
master chef, I have been known to dazzle the masses with vegetarian food, and
Phyllis..... cooks two desserts and two entrees. She does them all very
well though.
The idea for a dinner party started at our health club. There is a woman
who works out with us every day who laughs at all my jokes and the faces I make
during our sessions. She seems to enjoy my sense of humor tremendously.
One day we were in the gym alone and I asked her what her name was....she looked
at me blankly and said ‘’Je ne parle pas Anglais!’’ I don’t
speak English. Well, I thought she was kidding because she had laughed at
my jokes at the perfect time for weeks! But, she speaks no English.
Through the owners of the health
club, we learned her name is Mijo and that her husband speaks some English.
We met her husband Girard and have watched fireworks with them, they have met us
at the airport to see our friends off, they worry when we aren’t at the gym,
and we occasionally meet for drinks. Did I mention: Je parle un peu le
francais? I speak a little French. We are learning - but, our
charade type sign language is better than our French!
Mijo and Girard are leaving at the end of this month, they have been house
sitting for a couple who has a huge house filled with animals here in St-Barth.
Mijo and Girard know the St-Barth veterinarian from Africa where they all once
lived. Dr. Maille, his wife, and child have settled on St-Barth and found
their friends a place to house-sit for the summer. Dr. Maille speaks
English, his wife worked in NYC for a while and she speaks English very well.
We wanted to have them over before they left, but since we don’t speak the
same language (and they don’t understand our pronunciation) we thought it best
to have Dr. Maille and his wife over, too. But of course, it isn’t fair
for two people to have to translate all night....so we invited Cebile from San
Francisco (she lives here with her French husband Rodolf), Francois (a French
Baron living here nine years), and an USAmerican named Peter O’Keefe who lives
here full time. All speak English and French so we hope we get to know
Mijo and Girard better! The danger is: will we still like them?
Mijo has a great smile and open face, as does Girard. But what if they are
zealots of some underground cult and we not only have nothing in common but we
can’t stand each other! I guess the table will be just as quiet as it
would have been if there had only been the four of us for dinner!
Sometimes you just know when you have met a person you will be friends with for
life, Mijo and Girard are two of those people for us. I have had my French
speaking friends tell them that they are my main motivation for learning the
language. I want to know about their lives in Africa and France.
When they leave here they will spend a month in northern France before settling
in Morocco for the winter. How will we know how they are doing? How
will I know if they like the ziti?
The grocery shopping has been done, the tables and chairs scrubbed and free of
mildew caused by the humidity of the Sea. The wine is already chilling in
the refrigerator, the candles and linens laid out. The glasses,
silverware, and dishes washed. The menu is planned. We will have
bruschetta, pimento and cheese finger sandwiches (south Georgia touch), and
olives as appetizers. Salad, ziti, bread, and wine for dinner. I
forgot dessert!
#6
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