Can You Throw a Fourth of July Party without Cool Whip?

Yes, but it won't be as much fun! And your frozen, classic-American-summer-dessert choices will be very limited!

Phil pointed out to me, that on a historical note, we had most of the countries involved in the Revolutionary War represented at our little barbecue. About twenty French, German, and British friends all came over to "celebrate" the holiday with us. It was fun to entertain and share a little casual American food tradition with them.

Speaking of the food, I wasn't super happy with how all it all turned out. I get so nervous cooking for French people. Phil always reminds me, "Don't try to out-French the French, just do your thing; they'll like that more anyway." So, our menu was as close to a typical 4th party as we could get.

We had to improvise a little. We couldn't find the right cut of pork for "real" pulled pork sandwiches. What we ended up with was alright, but not super. Soft, fresh hamburger buns are impossible to find. And then my apple pie stuck in the pie plate and came out of the dish very sloppily (in a country where presentation of food is EVERYTHING, I was embarrassed and found myself apologizing for its appearance when I passed around the plates.) Oh well, the hot dogs (no BallPark's or Hebrew National's here) and the hamburgers seemed to be a big hit. And all credit for that must go to Phil on the grill.

We had our flag hanging on our patio, tables decorated in red, white and blue, and country music playing the background. Phil had a horse-shoe set in the backyard and explained the game. The kids played with water balloons and squirt guns. Except for the language,the local rosé wine in everyone's glass, and the lack of fireworks, it was pretty good showing of a typical American fourth of July BBQ.

I don't have very many good pictures, I was running around crazily trying to keep people happy and keep Zachary from eating all thirty hotdogs on the serving table

It was very hot. We had fans all over our patio trying to keep the air circulating, but whew, the sun was intense and people shaded themselves under our giant umbrella. If this little BBQ becomes a tradition and we decide to do it again next year, I think we'll invite people over for an evening affair. And about the heat---what do you do with small refrigerators, even smaller freezers and no 7-11 in sight selling 10lb bags of ice??? Keeping drinks cold was a bit of a frustration! But no one really complained. I think that's because the priority went to keep the rosé chilled!

My dear French friend who has helped me so much to understand and learn "conversational French"

Our British friend who occasionally referred to us as the "Colonists". He had a busy day planned but still managed to come because he felt that we needed a representative of the Crown at our party.

Next year, we'll try to have some more authentic American brands - Jello, Budweiser, and maybe even some Cool Whip. But even if I did nothing to raise the opinion of American cuisine, spending an afternoon with good friends, is always a fun time.