food stories.

In light of the Thanksgiving season, I thought I'd share some funny food experiences we had this week.

 

On Thanksgiving night, we were invited to have dinner with our Branch President and his family. (they didn't know it was thanksgiving). So, we were all seated at the table, having a good time.... then she brought out the soup course. Soeur Larsen shares my dislike of fish, so the both of us were equally horrified when she told us it was scallop soup. I literally gulped it down, trying to swallow it fast before I could taste it. I thought that the worst was over. THEN. she brought out the main course: salmon quiche. Salmon quiche. I looked at it and thought, " okay. I can do this. there's probably more egg than there is salmon anyway." wrong. It was mostly salmon. I tried to tell myself it was chicken. I fought through that piece of quiche, trying not to visibly gag. The whole time, I was wishing my family could see me. But it is now official: I don't like salmon. That was pretty traumatic. :)

 

Yesterday made up for my fishy Thanksgiving dinner. We went to Orléans and spent the day with our district: Elder Hayden, Elder Pieper, Elder Harevaa, Elder Dykstra, Elder Bjerga, and Elder Gunter. We made a Thanksgiving dinner for lunch! The Elders brought five little rotisserie chickens (buying a turkey wasn't realistic. But the chickens were from a Turkish butcher, so that counts!), and we had mashed potatoes and stuffing. Soeur Larsen and I brought dessert. Canned pumpkin doesn't exist here, so we went to the Farmer's market and bought a real pumpkin! After being cooked and mashed, it made beautiful pumpkin pies. We served it with home made whipped cream... I thought Richard would be so proud :) Afterwards, we all went to a school soccer field and played some American football. It was a nice little taste of home.

 

Saturday night, we were invited to have dinner with a family in our branch. We got there, and literally half the branch was there! We all sat around a big, long table and talked and laughed. The family who had us over is from La Réunion (it's an island.... is it just called The Reunion in English?), so the food was crazy. At one point, he brought out a gigantic cast iron pot and set it in front of Soeur Larsen and I. We peered over the edge and saw it was full of shrimp. With their tentacles still attached. We looked at each other in terror. But then he brought out a different, non-fishy dish, so it was okay. They served spicy, piment-y fruit for dessert... weird! It was really fun though. This branch feels like my family. Soeur Larsen and I both sat back a little bit and watched everyone banter and laugh, and it was just the best. At the end, we shared a spiritual thought. We talked about how it was Thanksgiving last week in the States and how it's a special time of year for us. We then went around the table and had each person say something they were grateful for. Everyone said something different. When it came to Clément, our baptismal date, he talked about how grateful he was that he found the church. That's what every missionary wants to hear!

 

i am grateful for

family & friends

the book of mormon

my mission

france

our investigators

my companion

the gospel

our prophet

my life.

love from the loire.

 

little mish.