In the morning Mark and I cooked breakfast after the guests had finished . We cooked sausages, mushrooms, fried potatoes and bacon ( typically not French) . To accompany this, a champagne cocktail ,which was made with calvados ( Normandy distilled cider , (rather like apple brandy ) and rather cheap French bubbles . A great start to the days festivities!
Jon decided to celebrate the day with a couple of close English friends and we were kindly included . He cooked NZ roast lamb and potatoes, red cabbage, beans and carrots.( I did the vegetable preparation ). For dessert I made a birthday carrot cake with unusual non traditional , but never the less tasty “ fromage a la crème” icing without the cream cheese, I improvised and made it with camembert cheese and mascarpone. Needless to say it was very runny and ended up by being an topping rather than an icing. It was however enjoyed by all.
He invited two English friends Richard who is a PI and his wife Alex who live in Normandy . Alex made Jon a lemon birthday cake which was beautifully light and the icing stayed on the cake! They brought Felecia , a young student from the Bahamas' ‘studying ‘in France learning the French language.
All in all a great lunch time discussion ensued which covered a diverse range of topics from Richards job of locating people for clients and the ethics and rights of individuals preferring their whereabouts to remain unknown, to Felecia’s practices as a Seventh Day Adventist , to France making a stand on Muslim woman wearing the burqa when in France . (France have made a stand against this) Interesting points of view around the table. Do ‘we’ have the right to deny people their cultural practices ? One point of view was that by condoning the wearing of the burqa outside Muslim countries those citizens are supporting the subjugation of woman and it should not be tolerated . Is it about ‘us’ feeling uncomfortable with certain cultural practices therefore we ban these ?
On a less serious note eventually the dress ups came out and Jon, Richard and Felecia dressed up( photo)
Jon seemed to enjoy the celebration and we all thoroughly enjoyed the meal.
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