#ThrowBackThursday #6

“We need broccoli and an onion.”

“OK, I’ll get that and meet you in the cheese aisle,” I told my daughter, Anne. She had offered to replicate a favorite meal she often cooked while living in France when she moved there to teach English for TAPIF (Teaching Assistant Program in France). (She blogs about it HERE).

What’s the occasion? Her friend, another former TAPIF, is visiting for the weekend.
Fast forward 24 hours…

“Do you have a cutting board?” asked Hannah.

“Sure, right here,” and I pulled the wooded rectangle out of the kitchem drawer.

“Use this knife,” Anne suggested, handing Hannah a chopping knife.

After opening a bottle of wine and pouring myself a glass, I walked out of the kitchen, leaving the dinner preparations in good hands. An hour later, my husband and I joined the kitchen duo for their meal.

“What do we have here?” Brian asked.

“It is basically a French mac and cheese, with added pancetta. As Americans, we chose to add broccoli. We used the pasta Chambery is known for making, instead of elbow noodles.”

I scooped a large spoonful from the casserole dish onto my plate. Chopped pancetta, onions and broccoi were covered in cheese and mixed with small square noodles “Wow. So cheesy. So good,” I shared after my first bite.

“It is best to eat after a day of skiing the mountains of Chambery, France,” the girls explained.

As I loaded the dishwasher afterwards, I thought, my husband and I have done OK as parents. Not too bad having our youngest cook us a meal which helped her relive her amazing year teaching in France.

NOTE: This was drafted in my 2015 notebook. Anne returned to France, studied to become a certified English language teacher and now lived in Toulouse, France about to start teaching English to MS and HS French students for another year. Surely, the friends she made in Chambery and food she cooked there drew her back to this country. And last month, she became a duel citizen of both America and France.