I don’t drink; I never did. L’s lifetime goal is to convert me into a wine enthusiast so he can enjoy a drink with me, but that wasn’t going to happen very quickly. It’s like forcing someone (who weighs 50 kg herself) to deadlift 100 kg on the first go – I mean, mission impossible.
L started training me since early November 2023 with pretty and tasty gin and tonic, Aperol, Cinzano, and such, knowing I have a sweet tooth. Although it was only a little trial for the real boot camp in the French Riviera.
The first day: Chez Joëlle, Le Panier
Before our first dinner night in Nice, we spent some time in Antibes (our base). We stayed in Old Town Antibes, where the buildings are older than Australia’s civilization history but still have 7/22 (which I really liked because it’s 7/22 instead of 7/11). There aren’t as many bars compared to Nice in Antibes, but still plenty of wine bars to choose from. I specifically wanted to go somewhere small and cozy, without loud music or many people.
Did you see the recent viral video about an Asian girl in her French hat complaining about how the French are mean to her, and therefore she’s upset? I went to Paris alone ten years ago, thinking European countries are the best for a single woman traveling alone. People were friendly, curious, and, of course, flirty too. I even felt like I got more attention during this trip because 1. I was the only Asian in Antibes 2. We were the only interracial couple in Antibes (possibly even in Cannes and Nice, but there were more of my cousins – Asians – so we got mixed in).
Chez Joëlle is a small wine bar with two tables and four chairs. The boss lady, single-handedly operating the wine bar, has her choice of wines. L explained our situation (boot camp) to the boss lady(is her name Joëlle?), and she gave me white wine in a soju cup to try.
I never knew a soju cup could be used for wine tasting; it was the sweetest wine she had, so I had no better option. After a sip or two, I got pretty tipsy. I don’t remember the taste of the wine in detail; I recall it was crystal clear, with a very filtered and distilled taste, if that makes sense. I was more culturally amazed at how casual the bar was – very homey, like visiting Auntie’s kitchen. She had some snacks like potato chips and nuts, and after three sips, I wanted to go home immediately.
I think I feel very chilly when I’m drunk, more specifically, drunk but also sobering at the same time. Although she was very curious about us, and probably I’m her first Korean guest in her entire life, so we didn’t stop talking. We went back to our Airbnb; I passed out for a wine nap for an hour.
Le Panier in Nice, France, They offer surprise menus using seasonal (limited) ingredients, and you can choose between 5 or 7 courses. At the end of the course, I thought I did well choosing 5 instead of 7 because I was stuffed before the main dish. I’ll speak more about “limited seasonal ingredients” in the next paragraph. The food was cute (Instagrammable) and experimental. I did not like the venison dish, I never had lamb until I was 30 years old so I might be able to like venison, crocodile, frog and kangaroo when I’m like 60 years old. I had sweet red wine, maybe a sip or two again – it’s tastier because it’s sweet, but I don’t really recall its flavors again because what do I know about wine until this time. It was sweet, so more drinkable for me.
The Second day: Meet the in-laws
We spent one-third of the day planning the New Year’s dinner, another one-third for meat, cheese, and wine shopping, and the remaining one-third for the actual family gathering dine-out.
From this day onward, I started recording our dining times. We arrived at 7 pm, indulging in a feast of eating, drinking, and more eating, followed by dessert at 10:30 pm. We paid the bill and left around 11 pm. The dinner party comprised a total of 9 people seated in a large circle at the dining table, including 2 well-behaved kids. Six people were happily sipping wine, probably going through 10+ bottles, while I struggled to finish a cup of Kir Royale.
I couldn’t even recall how many dishes we had! My phone was in my coat, and the waitress took it from the beginning, so I only took photos with L’s phone sporadically whenever I remembered that I was going to write a blog about it.
They have a deep appreciation for seasonal ingredients, striving to maintain the natural flavors with minimal processing, seasoning, or sauce. For instance, as a starter, we had raw French breakfast radishes(les radis petit déjeuner in French) seasoned with a sprinkle of salt and olive oil.
While nibbling on the raw radishes like a rabbit, I couldn’t help but think about the fortune of being in the Mediterranean with plenty of varied food available throughout the four seasons. They relish the flavors while they can because the summer will bring a whole new set of ingredients. If it were in Korea, those radishes would have been salted and fermented. In Australia, Woolworth and Coles claim to have strawberries from January to December, but they taste nothing like real strawberries.
I discovered that I liked Kir Royale! It took my champagne virginity, even though I cheated with a drop of fruit syrup. I turned red like Je suis un radis petit déjeuner.(I’m a french breakfast radish.)
The in-laws were taken aback because 1. They had never seen the Asian flush before, and 2. Even before the Asian flush, they never expected someone to be this weak with alcohol consumption. Two of them genuinely panicked, wondering if they had their cortisol pen in case of an emergency. Not only was I proud of myself for sitting in one spot for more than an hour (I usually don’t even go to the cinema because my butt can’t stay in one seat for that long), but also observing those European kids was a revelation. They didn’t whine for an iPad, were super self-sufficient, brought their books and toys, and sat down without a single complaint. Meanwhile, I was tempted 102302428 times to be on my phone, doom-scrolling through Instagram feed. It’s not that their discussions on wine, cheese, politics, religion, and life were boring (and they even spoke English for me), but it was just too new for me to sit down for hours constantly eating and drinking. For me, eating is usually seen as a sin, evil, demon, horror, bad – and they were truly enjoying it.
Look, I don’t think I can write about all 7 days in one post. I’ll stop here for now. The story will be continued…
