Every year, on July 14th, the French celebrate Bastille Day. It is their independence day, marking the day that the Bastille Prison in Paris was overrun by revolutionaries in 1789. It signaled the start of their Revolution, echoing the sentiments held by the newly-formed United States. Now, all that marks the location of the Bastille Prison is the Colonne de Juillet, seen below:
In Durango, there is no better place to celebrate La Fete Nationale than at my in-laws bakery. Every year, J-P goes nuts for the few weeks before July 14, ordering massive amounts of food, and generally running around like a chicken with his head cut off.
Not that this is different from any other day, but I digress...
Anyone and everyone is invited - and if you've come once, you're invited for life. There is always plenty of food...
... but you must be willing to let go of your gastronomical predispositions. There are escargots (snails), fois gras (duck liver pate), rochfort and brie (cheese - stinky cheese), and plenty of desserts. The girls were very brave and tried everything this year - I think Madison ate more escargots than her Pepe!
Years ago, food preparation for the party was a family affair, literally. It used to take all of us the better part of two full days to have everything prepared, and most years we still weren't ready when people started showing up. Now, J-P has gotten smart and had his staff prepare everything. They also staff the event, refilling the food trays and pouring beverages. We (especially my mom-in-law) can all enjoy the festivities a little easier now.
Violet, of course, ate bread.
This is our friends Chelsea & Pete's son Josiah. He came, didn't care much for the crowds, but fell in love with J-P's new delivery truck. So he sat in it for the better part of the evening.
And Josiah's dad Pete, auditioning for the new J-P spokesman model role.
Here are Kim & Phil Farrington, dear family friends and baker/cake decorator (Kim) and handyman (Phil) extraordinaire, enjoying the chairs under the canopy. It took us ten years, but we finally figured out that renting chairs and canopies was a smart idea.
Katrina and Celine took a little break from running around with the rest of the kids.
And Madison showing off her favorite part of the evening - dessert!
J-P does this really neat trick where he removes the cork from a champagne bottle with a sword. Well, usually it's really neat. This year, someone had stolen his good sword. I know, I know. Only my dad-in-law has more than one sword in the house. But, really - who steals a sword? Probably the same people who stole his truck. Did I forget to mention that? Someone (we think ex-employees who were politely told to not return to work) stole the orange-sherbert colored van, never to return. We suspect that the van is somewhere in Mexico in bits and pieces. But I digress.
J-P's bottle opening trick was a bit trickier this year, as the above-mentioned replacement sword was not nearly as sharp as the usual blade. But, he is a stubborn man, and eventually beat the bottle.
It really was a wonderful party, and one I am (weird to say) starting to actually look forward to each year. There are a lot of really neat people that we just don't get to see that often. And, if you're interested, the party actually made the Herald. No, not the police blotter. Although that has happened before. But not this year. No, there is a lovely photo and write up
here if you would care to read a guest's perspective.
