4th of July in Paris

Like any good American, on Sunday I celebrated the 4th of July.  And living in France didn't stop me from having (almost) the full American 4th of July experience.  We had everything - the barbeque, the hamburgers, the hot dogs (complete with the most expensive relish ever from the Thanksgiving Store), the potato salad, the coleslaw, the strawberry shortcake decorated with an American flag design as well as 7 layer dip and buffalo chicken dip and even chocolate chip cookies and American music.  All we were missing was the fireworks!

enjoying the garden

Jasmin and I decided to have a barbeque for the 4th at my apartment and we invited a ton of people.  Unfortunately, only about 12 people ended up being able to come, but it was fun anyway.  Only three of us were Americans, we had one Russian, and the rest were Frenchies, but we saw it as a great opportunity to share Independence Day with them.

relaxing outside

Jasmin and Yvan

Jasmin and I woke up early and met at 9 am (on a Sunday morning!) to head to the supermarket and pick up all the food we needed.  Then we spent the next four hours slicing and chopping and grating and mixing and baking and cooking, and it was well worth it!  We finished all the work just as the first guests arrived at 2:15 and all our hard work paid off as everyone seemed to really enjoy the truly American menu.

just a little bit of the food we made (I think we made

enough for at least 20 people and I will be eating

leftovers for the next week)

the American flag strawberry shortcake, its upside down in my picture

and unfortunately it didn't fit in my fridge so it melted some

before we got to serve it and it no longer looked like the

American flag by the time I took a picutre, however here

I think it has somewhat taken on the shape of the USA.

But whatever, it still tasted good!

Throughout the day we ate and drank and ate and drank and barbequed and drank and ate and drank and sang the national anthem and listen to American music and while the boys played poker the girls danced in the garden to songs like "Cotton Eyed Joe." 

heating up the barbeque for hamburgers and hot dogs

the boys playing poker

the girls chatting

the girls dancing

singing the Star Spangled Banner (and yes, one of the Frenchies

sang it with us Americans!)

The only thing that could have made this 4th of July better would have been if my husband hadn't been partying until very, very late Saturday night/Sunday morning (an extremely long story) and hadn't spent most of the 4th hung over and in bed.  But all in all it was a great 4th and none of us wanted it to end.  Everyone reluctantly left around 11 pm (since we all had to get up for work the next morning) and then I finished cleaning up and forced myself to bed so I could get up early and take my brother to the RER station before work so he could safely make it to the airport.

I hope all the other Americans out there had an equally amazing 4th of July!!!