Photo: Balloons over Balleure at the fête, photo by Margaret Fleming
The last time Nicole, our beloved châtelaine, threw a party at Balleure, it was to celebrate her retirement, and she invited 200 of her closest friends. The catering crew? Yours truly, and the rest of our French class, with some help from friends in the village. It was fun, but it was so much work (400 homemade chocolate chip cookies take a while) that after that we all put Nicole on Party Probation.
But it didn’t take. She had a birthday this year with a big zero in it. Once more, she was out of control.
She invited a mere 150 folks this time, though, for a sit-down lunch. C’était du boulot, as they say (it was quite a job), but you had to admire the organization. Nicole hired a refrigerator truck, which was parked in the barn, and the village loaned some huge tents. The day before the fête, each of our various nationalities made a couple of dessert and salad specialties together, in the summer kitchen. For Ali, Belinda and me, that meant a few hundred brownies and we peeled 18 pounds of potatoes for our salad. At the “American Bar”, Ron (in formal attire for the occasion) and Monty set up for the margaritas and ‘Sex on the Beach’ which would be the featured cocktails for apéros. Photo: Our bartenders in their tabliers, serving up some Sex on the Beach to our Dutch friends Frank and Marjo.
As for the meat course, Henri from Lyon presided over the méchoui, the roasting of two sheep and a couple of enormous fresh hams. The cooking apparatus showcased French ingenuity: two cast iron bath tubs for the fire, a spit made from car parts, and a motor from a washing machine. The cooking crew started at 5 am.
The party went off without a hitch. The weather was fine, great food, happiness all around. After lunch the revelers gathered on the hill behind the château for a little surprise: small hot air balloons were floated into the skies, to fête the birthday girl. Of course one landed just out of reach in a peach tree and nearly started a fire, but a little drama is always good.
French lunches are never short affairs, but this one set a record: we started at noon and rolled home around 8 pm. But it appears we left too early, as most of the crowd stayed until 9:30. Joyeux Anniversaire to our dear Nicole! Now can we talk about that Party Probation again?
RECIPES: A few Party Food Ideas
If you're having a big fête, you might steal some ideas from our international salad buffet. For our potato salad, we kept it simple with the classic Old Fashioned Potato Salad from Gourmet. Maria (from the Dutch contingen) served melon slices over a bed of arugula with procuitto, pine nuts, and slices of fresh mozzarella, drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Mariella (Australian, with Italian roots), made a great seafood salad with shrimp and crunchy veggies, tossed with lettuce.
Photo: The Birthday Girl (right) shares a laugh with Pierre, Andrée, and Marie-Louise. She's getting ready to cut our local baker Adrian's fabulous cake, which had layers of fresh fruit inside.
In the COMMENTS: Last week's post on Le Sandwich prompted some good recipe ideas, from Suzanne, Jan, and Heather of the Lost in Arles blog. Natalia love Croque Monsieurs. Libby, bon voyage! And Frank is planning next year's trip to France over a bowl of gazpacho (with his own secret ingredient). Veronique of French Girl in Seattle remembers her first encounter with an American sandwich!
Photo: "la, la, la-la-la", says the crowd. I love this French tradition of celebrating. They are doing "La Bourgogne", a regional drinking song that involves clapping in rhythm and hand movements.
11 thoughts on “Au Château: Nicole, Out of Control”
Hi Lynn, Looks like so much fun and luckily we will be joining you tomorrow! We are so looking forward to seeing Nicole again and
possibly cooking in her summer kitchen or going to French class. See you soon. Connie
Wow! What a party! Nice to see someone who really enjoys a good time and shares it with friends and family.
I am hysterical over the spit and party probation – Whatta life!
Sorry to miss the party but at least I was with Nicole and Pierre when they bought the wine for the event and we stored it in the chateau’s wine cellar. You are right! They have a knack for getting everyone involved.
The spit-roasting set-up is amazing. The very idea of those slowly-cooked sheep and hams makes my mouth water. What a party.
What a great day it was. We too enjoyed the celebrations and thanks for the wonderful description.
Wow! To say a good (make that a GREAT!) time was had by all is a MAJOR understatement!!!!!!!
Seeing lamb on a spit took me back to all the happy fetes we had
with cher mere,pere, grandmere and grandpere! So wonderful!
Sometimes a pig,but lamb was always really special.(and delicious!)
THANK YOU,Lynn, for giving me the joy of recalling these memories once again!
Toute bonne to Nicole(!!) I’m sure among the blessings she is counting today are such dear friends who share her life!
What fun. Thanks for sharing the celebration and menus.
Lynn, you don’t want to ruin my life, do you?
Why talk of party probation!
We had so much fun! we’ll do it again! count on me to find a good reason to celebrate something!
What a fun description of our fabulous day!
Before I left, someone remarked that Pennsylvania to France was sure a long way to go for a birthday party, but then they don’t know our Nicole! What an honor it was to be part of it all!!! I’d do it again any day…it was worth every mile !
Lynn,
A barbecue in a bathtub is not what I expected in Burgundy! I’m just glad we already disposed of the old bathtub we ripped out when we remodeled, or Jim might get ideas. Many years ago I found an old discarded cooking range, and we had the top cut away with the wiring removed also. We painted it bright orange, put a grill on top and – Glory be! – a barbecue grill. Inside,the oven stored the charcoal. I sent a picture to Better Homes and Gardens. It didn’t win any prizes. Evidently, they had better stuff for their gardens. I’m all for bathtub barbecues!
Debbie Ambrous
http://www.AFrenchOpportunity.com