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OLD AGE WAS A FOREIGN COUNTRY. SO WAS FRANCE-Ch. 22
France Was Changing My Thoughts About Food
I drew the line at pig’s ear and horse meat; foie gras proved more complicated
In the ten days before my daughter and her husband arrived for our first Christmas in France, I thought about little else but food. I prowled Intermarché, Super U and Carrefour, carried my red basket through the Saturday markets and compiled enough menus for a month. They were staying for ten days.
I’d already had a few visitors, and I’d shopped and planned for them too, but for Carolyn and Bill it was different. Some of the best times we’d all had together were spent preparing food, including, for three straight years, catering meals for a mycology group’s annual retreats. ’Dinners inevitably included chanterelles.
For this visit, food would play a major role— particularly French food.
Five days before they arrived, I spent hours walking through the weekly market. I’d left the holiday dinner undecided, thinking we would plan it together, which would mean revisiting every market and…
