My birthday was absolutely amazing, and I gave myself one of the best presents I have ever given me. All wrapped in a red bow came an exquisite wake up call.
February 12th I realized I had been in France for exactly a month, and that my birthday would probably be one of the most depressing because I was terribly far away from those who would genuinely want to celebrate it with me. But while I sat on my butt trying to decide whether I should start crying, go to sleep or eat some 74% chocolate, it came to me- all I really had to do was start calling people and invite them over. I don’t think I had ever actually made myself something for my birthday, since my family and friend’s have always taken care of celebrating properly by their own initiatives, but given the circumstances duty called.
So I decided to have a dinner party. I started calling friends, and surprisingly everyone was ready and willing, and that made it infinitely easier.
The harder part was figuring out what to make. I really like cooking, but it was necessary that for once it turn out right. I went for chicken in red-wine sauce (because I had a bottle of red, cooking wine) and a quiche I had learned to make last the summer with my host mother. My French teacher of first semester is now in Paris, and she had given me her mother’s recipe for crepes- so that was dessert.
The quiche was nothing short of a miracle- the pastry of the quiche came ready to be unrolled onto my pan, and the rest was vegetables, eggs and emmental cheese, which I also bought already grated. Here’s the tricky part- the cheese was
supposed to be Gruyere, but Monoprix was out of big bags of gruyere râpé, and it was supposed to have cream but I forgot to put it in (I now have this huge pot of cream sitting in my mini-fridge awaiting its trash-fate). To top it all off I didn't have a recipe where I could check at what temperature I had to cook it in, so I put it in too high, and then burnt the crust because it was cooked before the eggs. Fortunately the only part of the crust that was really burnt was the borders, so I just took off the burnt edges when the rest was done.
The last, key, ingredient in the quiche was a couple of Hail Mary's I threw in to attempt to save it. Don’t ask how, but it worked. I know I will get all your sceptical remarks eventually, but be warned that if you say anything I will make you a quiche and force you to try it.
The chicken in wine sauce was also a lot of luck. At first the chicken turned a disgusting purple colour thanks to the wine, so (I kid you not, this was my reasoning) I decided to add balsamic vinegar to make it more brownish and less disgusting-purplish. Then I spotted a bottle of mustard I bought last week at Dijon and added a teaspoon because it's yellow and would hopefully tone down the purple. And then salt and pepper, but just because they are basic.
I knew the flavour would be fine, I was just afraid for the colour. And if food comes in through the eyes, what was this disgusting purple thing I had cooking in my kitchen?
After an hour of sitting in the pot cooking slowly, the chicken got a tan and everyone was happy. Fiuf.
Fortunately people in Serbia eat a lot of crepes and are on time to dinner parties, because Milena showed up and made the crepes. I attempted the first six on my own, but I burnt my fingers, the crepes, a wooden spoon and my desire to ever make crepes again.
Everyone and their mothers showed up with flowers, and that made me very happy. Everywhere I look in my 39 m2 apartment has flowers, I love it. Another friend brought champagne, and another made me a cake I could write sonnets about, so the birthday was complete.
I had such a great time that I realized all I need to do to get my social life back to its normal order is to call people. Si, descubrí América en un vaso de agua.
