le soirée de famille

Otherwise known as Family Night :). This fun-filled evening took place this past Tuesday which would explain the chocolate chip & banana cookies from earlier this week. Can you believe that I have not one picture of those beauties? They really did turn out well for the "figure it out as I go along" kind of baking that I did and were a hit at the party but I just could not photograph them. It always came out blurry!

What I did manage to do successfully was lead the decorating team in transforming a local church's recreation room into our printemps et Pâques themed party area.

We even managed to finish a little early! Here we are as we wait our guests arrival :). This night was basically run by us in honor of our host families hospitality and constant help.

We had a full-stocked bar, ha, with Coke, various juices, and water, both in avec gaz et sans gaz varieties.

A 3-D photo-exhibition courtesy of my very creative friend, Gloria.

And an array of homemade appetizers!

I don't care what any country says, I will forever love the "odd" combination of pb and jelly.

There was a ton of salads! Some with a base of couscous,

and others definitely more heavy on the vegetables.

But all were absolutely delicious.

Even this simple carrot one.

But especially this Spinach & Strawberry salad, a personal favorite of mine.

Or the pasta salad that my host-sister deemed as the best she'd ever had.

I had about two plates piled high and enjoyed everything so much that I missed out on the main course, ham and a vegetarian lasagna. It worked out fine though since I then had more than enough room for the next few courses.

That of cheese and...

dessert! Oh there were so many yummy things to choose from! I didn't realize that so many of us were such talented bakers. This is my friend's Zucchini bread.

Then there was an Alsatian Tarte aux Pommes that another friend made with her host-mom.

Dense, rich, and chocolicious brownies, of course,

and incredibly delicious simple peanut butter cookies!

A few people did cop-out and buy their dessert from the closest patisserie.

Supposedly these were also very though.

And if not we had a childhood favorite of Rice Krispies treats to fall back on.

But before we could even pass by the dessert table we suffered through a performance... oh. my. gosh. I am so kidding! The music students in my program are unbelievably talented and played a couple of beautiful pieces for our listening enjoyment. I will forever be in awe of them.

And between their playing and the scrumptious desserts, it was all worth the wait. It was such a successful evening. We were able to spend time with our host-families and the host-families of our closest friends in the company of great food. And now, on a ridiculously sentimental note, I'll admit that I did begin to tear up at one part of the night. I just cannot believe that I only have one month remaining in my year-long study abroad experience! It literally blows. my. mind. and I don't know what to do about it. Ugh. In the mean time though I have a great weekend planned, a trip to Nancy, Verdun, and Reims, complete with champagne-tasting. No matter how many days are left, I'm going to live up every last drop of this dream before it becomes a mere memory :).