Bien joué: Raclette

Cheese. Oh hells yeah.

Ode à Raclette (that's right, enter REALLY BAD POEM at your own risk):

Lactose intolerance, beware-
To defeat you I dare
Armed with naught but some wine and a smile

Bubble, boil, but pas de trouble
Melt au pot, and then, on the double
Add your creamy kick to my ham and 'shroom pile

Friends and songs abound 'round la table
And the digestif of sorbet topped with vodka
Cuts the fat with most welcome French style

That's right. Gimme my raclette, and nobody gets hurt.

La Reine Soleil was in Paris for a visit, and invited me to a cheesy fondue party with her hilarious group of friends. Thank the goddess, because it was one of the funnest nights of my life! And most delicious. And most Frenchy - my last all-in-French dinner party! I'm not sure I'll ever stop being shy about speaking French, but looking back on my first weeks in Paris and how tongue-tied I was, I'm slightly amazed I can stumble my way through slang-filled conversations about religion, politics and wine. It's too bad the trains stop running so early, because that party could have lasted a good 12 more hours. As it happened, a few of the guys at the party lived only a few minutes from me, so we were able to rush together to catch the last metro.

On the train ride home the lovely mecs commented that they had to get up really early the next day for work, and asked if I had to as well. It was then that I taught the Frenchies a very important word en anglais: bum.

kK

Bien joué: French Brussels Sprouts

OK, so sometimes you just have to write really bad poetry to express the fabulousness of certain things you can't otherwise describe in a normal way. Ahem:
Ode to Brussels Sprouts

O fair and wonderous greens
Put now my colon at ease
You're on your way
With little thyme snips
And petit bits
Of precious sweet potatoes cooked très parfait

Wilco on jiwa croons of stars
And below, on Grande Armee, the cars
Swish sleepily through the rain...
Cute baguette man has sold us his wares
That we dollop with sweet Camemberts
While digesting great green goodness again

Santé! cried les legumes
Brussels Sprouts, patates douces and mushrooms
As we roar-laugh and sip wine
Making way for café
And déjeuner the next day,
Anticipant more sprout meals with a smile.

And that's an "I'm just sayin'" Random kK Tangent, too embarrassing to even have an assigned number. Feel free to throw tomatoes, but make sure they're fresh enough for me to be able to cook them with the next batch of brussels sprouts.
I'm just sayin'.