Not that we want to become removals experts but over the last couple of
weeks we have moved fridges for friends. The first was our own which we had sold to a
neighbour so we could make room for our beast of an American fridge freezer
that had been brought over from the UK as part of our van load at the beginning
of May and the second (last Saturday) a reciprocal move of her old fridge which
she was donating to a friend.
Despite an embarrassed Darren – carrying fridges through the streets of
the old town crowded with tourists is not his idea of fun and a first floor
delivery address without a lift; the jobs were carried out with relative ease.
Now clearly we didn’t offer to make these moves for our own gain but we
were offered what was to be a most welcome aperro on completion of the second.
For those of you who don’t know, the aperro is a delightful little French custom
of early evening drinks supplied with a nibble or two over a set period of time
eg. 6.30pm to 8.30pm – easy control for hosts we think!
So with absolute confidence we planned the second move for 6pm and
leaving suitable time for aperros made arrangements to meet friends for the
evening at 8.
What we had missed was the word dinatoire!
Now dinatoire is a word we were unfamiliar with and as it had just
spilled over onto the second screen of the confirmation text we had received,
one we did not even know had been used.
We now know that dinatoire is a word used to describe dinner – casual
and buffet style ……
Cheese and grape canapes
Grey prawns in their shells
King prawns served with a salad of guacamole, radish, cucumber and pink
grapefruit
Foie de Morue (believe it or not fresh cod livers) served with toasted
bread and cracked black pepper – a real revelation
Melon and cucumber salad and a main course of …..
Porc au caramel (slow cooked pork in a cider and salted caramel sauce) with rice
Porc au caramel (slow cooked pork in a cider and salted caramel sauce) with rice
We just had no room for the fruit platter desert and needless to say we
missed our 8pm rendezvous with friends.
Still new friends made and a delightful evening had – and what a great
way to learn the meaning of new French word ……
Vive
la dinatoire ……….
