My French Family

Those of you who have been following my adventures closely may have read mention of the French family whose home I frequented, the Derimays. I stayed with them when I arrived in Nantes, escaped to their house regularly during the semester for sumptuous French home cooking, and then spent my last few days in Nantes with them, soaking up their wonderful French spirit (which totally exists if you know where to find it!). My time with them was so fantastic that I felt like they deserved their own blog post.
The family consists of Ewa (the daughter of my mother’s good friend), Dominique (master of European cuisines and an overall culinary force to be reckoned with), and their 2-year-old daughter Camille (who just hangs out and is super freaking cute).

Dinner with the Derimay’s was always highly anticipated and quickly became one of the most important events on my iCal. Usually taking place on a Friday evening, Ewa would pick me up from the Tramway stop and by the time we got home Dominique would be busy in the kitchen stirring, chopping, and mixing away. He would periodically emerge from the kitchen long enough to serve a French aperitif from his spiffy wet bar, and give a short background on the spirit’s regional characteristics.

Normally at around 9pm, “à table!” would be announced (the French equivalent of “soup’s on!”), and the 4 of us would gather round the table with wide eyes and eager stomachs. Dominique’s cooking was always immaculately and artistically plated, usually featuring some beautiful garnish highlighting the dish’s main ingredients. He’s one of those cooks that has an innate sense for food and complimentary flavors, a chef that bases everything off of a recipe but never actually needs to look at it. He just adds a dash of spice here, an extra spoonful of crème fraiche there, while frequently dipping a finger into his sauces, tasting for accuracy. Oh and he would always run out to the backyard in the middle of the cooking process to pick herbs from his garden, ensuring maximum freshness. His Friday night highlights included fettuccine pasta in a salmon crème sauce garnished with smoked salmon, Galette’s filled with Chevre cheese, honey, and hazelnuts or beef, tomatoes, and fines herbes, a rustic beef lasagna with a top layer crisp with baked Parmesan cheese and seasoned to perfection, and a Chevre and vegetable pizza drizzled with artisan olive oil and baked on a homemade, hand tossed pizza crust. Thick pieces of (you guessed it, homemade) crusty bread were also served alongside to mop up any delicious juices that might have escaped your utensils.

The desserts didn’t mess around either and included everything from a 9-lemon tarte citron to crêpes filled with a citrus curd and garnished with homemade candied orange rind to a light flan with shaved bittersweet chocolate. Whether served indoors at their long wooden country table or “en plein air” (outside) with the warm evening breeze, dinner was more than just a meal, it was a vacation.


I have had the pleasure of watching Camille’s vocabulary develop from about 6 words in January, to full sentences, short fictitious tales, and running commentary on all of her current likes and dislikes by the time I departed. In the beginning, when I would interact with her it was sort of like the blind leading the blind, full of confused blank stares at each other because neither of us spoke French very well and mutual comprehension was minimal. But, by the time I left we were chatting away… Don’t be fooled, French 2 year olds lead a totally complex life.
There was never a word of English spoken during my visits to the Derimay residence so French language immersion was always in full effect. It was with the Derimays that I got a real sense of French culture and true French family life, something that I feel would have been hard to access on my own by just floating around the centre-ville of Nantes. I believe out of all of my French acquaintances I have met over the semester, I will miss those three most of all, but I am eagerly anticipating our next rendez-vous because, due to certain recent “developments”, a fourth Derimay is expected to enter the world around Christmas day 2009.