Tuesday, May 31, 2011

The French Are Right (sometimes)

Over the weekend I had the opportunity to attend a wedding celebration in Zurich. My favorite part (besides seeing friends) was the dessert buffet. There was chocolate mousse. There was vanilla mousse. There was strawberry shortcake. There was apple strudel. And there were cream puffs. So of course I took some of everything.

While we Americans piled our plates high with sweets the French guy sitting next to me had taken just one chocolate mousse and put it in the center of his plate. He shook his head at our indulgence and told us that it was better to enjoy just one small thing than stuff yourself silly. In other words, he was very French and we were very American.

It was only the next day that I realized sometimes the French are right.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Here in Hawaii, buffets are very popular and we tend to take a little of everything even when our plate is groaning from the weight of it all.

Anonymous said...

You know, if I only knew Americans from their movies, I'd though you're doing pretty well here just because you say "French" instead of "European" :P

I'm actually surprised you got trouble with Swiss desserts, aren't yours in American even heavier? That's my impresion from the good bunch of them I've had over there, they're reaaaaally sweet! I love them, but I can only manage one!

Jess, Andrew and Family said...

We live in Basel, and when my family was visiting this past December we took them to a Christmas party. It was a potluck, and there were TONS of different desserts. My 17 year old sister went to get dessert and came back to our table with her plate piled high and her face bright red. Apparently while she was loading up a man looked at her, looked at her plate and then said, "Ah, The States".

This same sister also wore a pink "Juicy Couture" suit out in public (I advised against it) with Ugg boots. Among the many stares she received, she had the "Pink Panther" theme song sang to her and was openly mocked by an 11 year old. It was a great trip for her. :)

Dagmersellen said...

Hello. I'm new to the blogging experience, and cam across yours. I too am writing about Switzerland, and I thought it's be nice to increase the Swiss awareness round these parts :)

Greg Christensen said...

When I cram my sandwich in 8 minutes while sitting at my laptop, I sometimes think "this is so not French."

I need to get better at enjoying the one thing, too. Thanks for the reminder.

LinkWithin

Blog Widget by LinkWithin