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Post by bazfaz on Aug 9, 2009 8:10:51 GMT
We had two couples for dinner last night. The French brought a ready-chilled bottle of champagne. Isn't this the most welcome sort of guest?
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Post by auntieannie on Aug 9, 2009 16:23:31 GMT
What did the other bring? :-)
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Post by imec on Aug 9, 2009 16:29:04 GMT
We had two couples for dinner last night. The French brought a ready-chilled bottle of champagne. Isn't this the most welcome sort of guest? Never met a champagne bringin' guest I didn't like. |
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Post by bazfaz on Aug 9, 2009 16:44:11 GMT
The other guests brought a bottle of Bordeaux red.
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Post by BigIain on Aug 9, 2009 20:10:35 GMT
Well I can tell you by the gifts which couple will be invited back by the Wonderful Mrs Faz!!!
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Post by bazfaz on Aug 9, 2009 20:21:22 GMT
And Iain, you brought champagne too.
See you in the Lot sometime after 22 September.
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Post by traveler63 on Aug 9, 2009 22:32:52 GMT
There is no better guest in my opinion than one who brings wine!!!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 24, 2009 5:49:59 GMT
So many North Americans don't know what to bring when they are invited into a French home (or at least a home in France). I hope that this will inform them a bit!
And yet, I have seen travel sites where certain people who know 'everything' claim that you should never bring wine "because the host has already selected the appropriate wine to go with the courses of the meal." They don't seem to know that in the very rare cases where that is true (at least in my circles), we just love adding another bottle to the wine rack, even if it is not drunk immediately.
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Post by bazfaz on Aug 24, 2009 7:48:01 GMT
Yes, K is right.
It is not so much that the wine has already been matched to the food as that the bottles have already been opened. So whatever wine we are brought just gets kept for another day or to take to other people. I am sure there are bottles of wine that go round and round.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 24, 2009 14:47:41 GMT
I thought that was the beauty of bringing wine -- that it could be enjoyed by the hosts on another day, rather than the guest expecting to help guzzle his gift.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 24, 2009 16:36:42 GMT
The trouble is, in the U.S., it appears that you are supposed to gush over it along the lines of "Oh this is so sweet of you; Harvey, get the corkscrew and let's drink it right this minute!"
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 24, 2009 16:46:39 GMT
Oh, well, Americans --  -- of course those knuckle-draggers wouldn't know any better. Naturally ALL Europeans, hell, all barnyard animals know better how to act than those people.Thank god there are none here. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 24, 2009 16:59:28 GMT
You need some wine fast.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 24, 2009 17:01:21 GMT
It's only noon here. I think not.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 24, 2009 17:44:40 GMT
The field is narrowing B. We've gone from North Americans to Americans. Where do we go from here? Well, I guess you're off the hook for now.  I generally bring something that's in season from my garden or flowers to my hosts. |
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Post by hwinpp on Aug 25, 2009 7:27:34 GMT
Last Saturday I went to a birthday party for a little gilrl who just turned 1 year old. I brought a bottle of wine from Cambodia's only vineyard in Battambong, Chateau Wat Banone, I think. The little girls father put it away and must have opened it for lunch today because I just got the message on my handphone, 'poured the piss away, undrinkable!' I replied I'd treat his daughter to a can of Zorok (VN beer, tastes like it sounds) next time I came around Here, and everywhere else in SEA, it's fruit of the season, always appreciated and eaten usually on the spot or after the meal. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 25, 2009 8:21:37 GMT
Back in the old days, wine like that would have been for pouring into the vinegar jar with "the mother of the vinegar." (That's the name of the filmy bacteria culture hiding in the jar.)
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Post by Deleted on Aug 25, 2009 11:48:50 GMT
Back in the old days, wine like that would have been for pouring into the vinegar jar with "the mother of the vinegar." (That's the name of the filmy bacteria culture hiding in the jar.) Flashback,I remember when this was done. I wonder when and why this custom ceased. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 25, 2009 12:47:58 GMT
Oh, I think a lot of French villagers still do it, at least the old ones. My grandmother had an earthenware pot of vinegar until the house was sold in 1981. Branches of tarragon would also be put in the pot.
When the "mother" would get too big, you would just get rid of about 75% of it and the rest would keep going. This would also be a good time to remove the residue from the bottom of the pot, as it could get pretty nasty down there.
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Post by bazfaz on Aug 25, 2009 14:35:08 GMT
I haven't drunk Cambodian or Thai wine (though I was pretty close to their best vineyard in Loei 18 months ago). The only truly undrinkable wine I have had was in Ecuador.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 25, 2009 16:01:09 GMT
People still make vinegar here, usually with fruits as a starter. I've done it, and it's fairly easy. Start with the peel from a pineapple mixed with raw sugar and water. At one stage it turns into a fairly pleasant beer. It can be kept going forever with beer or wine, or more water, fruit, etc. It makes a mild vinegar that is used for pickled pigs feet, for instance.
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-- of course those knuckle-draggers wouldn't know any better.
