France- Day 13: Party!

So, tomorrow is my grandparents 50th anniversary, but they decided to celebrate it today. of course, this meant a big party, with friends coming from Andorra, Denmark, and France (and I think some from England too). Of course, this required preparations.

I wasn't awake for this part, but apparently some of their friends had gotten an arch that my mom and aunt assembled at 6 am. This is a special Danish tradition for anniversaries, and you have to surprise the couple (and boy, were they surprised!) According to my mom my grandpa got up for his morning walk a bit before seven. As soon as he went out and saw the arch he started calling for my grandma. Apparently they were all adorable and shocked and the stories sounded really adorable (which is rare with them!)





I got up a little bit after seven, put on my new cute dress for the party, and immediately set to work. The next hour to two hours cooking tuiles. (thin cookies that nee to be shaped almost immediately as you take them out of the oven. They burn your fingers, but the cookies are tasty, and how pretty they are is worth it!) I also whipped up some raspberry whipped cream and tossed it in the refrigerator.

Next I walked down to the garden and started cutting some flowers. there were roses, lavender, and a few other flowers, including some wildflowers. this took awhile as I hunted down good looking blooms, and dodged bees. I carried them up and started arranging six small bouquets, and one large one. The restaurant we were going to for the party wasn't going to decorate the tables, so I had been tasked with it. Then I wrapped the bouquets with wet paper towels and aluminum foil to keep them as we traveled. Everyone thought they were pretty, and I was extremely happy with how they turned out!

Then I took some laundry down that was hanging up, and suddenly it was eleven and time to head to the restaurant. At that point I wasn't feeling very well because I had't even had time to eat or drink anything.

We spent some time preparing things, and then the guests began to arrive. They had drinks (all alcoholic, so my mom got me a coca cola) and we bundled down to the table. We had set up a tv, so my grandpa gave a presentation about their lives, and it was pretty cute. Then it was time for the meal. The first course was a plate of smoked salmon. It was that slippery texture that I really hate, so my mom slipped most of it onto her plate. I did try it though! This was followed by a course of lamb (with potatoes!) that was pretty decent.

Next came the plate of cheese, which my neighbor gladly took due to my distaste for cheese! After that we had a nougat icecream dessert, and coffee. I gave my coffee to my grandmother because I dislike coffee. Also, the coffee came with these little cinnamon cookies that I really liked. Because of that my mom, my neighbors, and my grandpa all gave me theirs, and my grandpa and my neighbor both got second cups, so they both gave me their second cookie too. It was pretty funny.

After that came the real dessert! It was an iced mousse type of cake. So the edges were cake, but it was filled with layers of chilled creamy mousse flavored with either raspberry or strawberry. It was beyond delicious. Anyways, once we had devoured that it was time to head back to my grandparents house, where the party would continue.  The first thing I did when  we got back was plug the camera into the charger. It had run out of battery, which is why took so few pictures! After that I plated the lemon bars I had made on Thursday, and set to work on finishing the tuiles.



First I covered the insides with a thin layer of chocolate so that it didn't get soggy when I put the raspberry whipped cream in. I piped n the cream and placed three berries on the top of each one. Then I sprinkled them with grated white chocolate. It was an absolute hit when I took them out. Everyone thought they were fabulous, and that made me really happy! One person even told me that I could find I job in France as a baker, which is a huge compliment! After that I wandered around the party for a bit before my mom said I could go inside. I was exhausted from working, socializing, and getting up early, so I just settled down and read A Game of Thrones  for most of the rest of the day. Eventually I started talking to Luke and we ended up playing adventure quest for awhile.

At one point my grandma and grandpa came upstairs to tell me how good everything was and they thanked me for helping so much today. It was really nice (because as I've said, compliments don't come from them often, and definitely not as nicely as my grandpa was giving them). You could tell they were both in a really good mood, which was nice. They told me how much everyone liked the things I baked, and that it was a real success, and my grandma also said she really liked the bouquets. Them being nice like that really put me in a good mood!

Anyways, that is about all I have to say for the night! It was a tiring day, but in the end it was good! I am absolutely exhausted now though, so good night!