National Holiday(s)

This month of July was a bit special: I got to celebrate my first 4th of July and held my first Bastille Day party.

But let's start with the 4th. We didn't had any idea of the traditional (or popular) was to celebrate, but we were lucky to get guidance from our very first (and very dear) American friend, Kate.

Kate suggested that we should go to a baseball game and watch the fireworks from there. We found great tickets online and were excited to see our very first Brave game. Now, keep in mind we didn't grew up watching baseball but soccer, rugby or tennis... Hopefully Kate helped us understand the rules!

After a raining morning, we took the train (yay Marta!) to Georgia State and walked to the stadium. We were at security check right on time for the national anthem. Seeing everyone stop what they were doing was quite a surprise, albeit a good one. We grabbed drinks and took our seats. 

After a pretty eventful game started the fireworks. We were clearly impressed: very long and colorful, one of the best we've ever seen! Then it was time to go back home under the rain.

A few days later, we invited friends over for our first Bastille Day "apéritif". Let me state first that we call the French national holiday 14th of July, not Bastille Day. This name makes sense though as we are celebrating the people of Paris freeing the political prisoners of Bastille, a prison in the East of Paris. 

Traditional celebration would include for some watching (live or on TV) the military parade in Paris, barbecuing, avoiding (or not) the presidential speech on TV and going to watch fireworks in the city of your choice.

So we ended up eating French finger food while having the parade on mute on TV. A piece of home away from home and a great evening!

Here are most of what I made this day (I obviously forgot to take a picture of the crêpes...):

A ratatouille savory cake:

Oignon mini pies (the normal-sized version is called pissaladière):

Shrimp quiches (traditional version of quiche lorraine includes bacon):

One of my specialty, cheese puffs, also called gougères: 

 Red bell pepper with olive oil and parmesan:

Smoked salmon with avocado:

Mini bell peppers stuffed with crab meet and mayo:

And for sweets, we had crêpes, macaroons bought in a French bakery and almond and pears mini pies:

Good friends, good food, good times!