A Typical French Dinner: My First Experinece

Paris is known for many things: love, lights, the Eiffel Tower, Coco Chanel, and of course, food. The French approach food with a certain passion that cannot be matched. For our first night in Paris we went to a three-course French dinner at La Maison de Verlaine, where Ernest Hemingway lived from 1921-1925! Dinner in France is not joke; a typical dinner takes hours in a restaurant from your entree (that is what the call an appetizer) to the main plate and finally to the dessert. Each course is accompanied by red wine, flat and still water and enough French bread to have prevented the French Revolution completely.

For the entree, I had a wonderful bowl of French onion soup, a culinary classic. Cheese oozed over bread toasted to a crisp, while steam abounded from the brown broth. To say it was wonderful would be an understatement. I'm a huge soup fan, so this was such a great for me.

For my main plate, I had a goat cheese salad. The cheese sat on top of toasted bread-like crackers and the cheese was warm and crumbly, the perfect combination. The lettuce was fresh and crisp, exactly what I want in a salad. The French also gave massive pieces of cheese, as evidenced by the photo. My mouth is watering looking at this photo!

For my dessert, I chose the creme brulee accompanied by raspberry puree, which happens to be my favorite dessert. The sugar cracked when I put the spoon in and dug out the creme. It was warm and so buttery that Julia Child would have certainly approved! I cannot believe how wonderful the dessert was. No dessert will ever compare to that first bite of heaven on a spoon!

 The sign outside of the restaurant that said Hemingway lived there

 Me and my friend Lexie enjoying our first French dinner

Sitting at dinner for a few hours is not what I am accustomed to, but I enjoyed really being able to stop, relax, and truly enjoy the richness of the food and the company at dinner. After this wonderful first dinner, I knew that France would be a trip for the ages, which it certainly was!